GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Given the opportunity on July 1, and if the Knicks still want him after this season, Tracy McGrady gladly will do all he can to bring LeBron James to New York.
But tonight in Cleveland, where the two teams meet for the final time this season, it won’t be about trying to impress "King James," as McGrady called him Sunday, a first time for the newest Knick and the last time for his new team. That’s because he and Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni doesn’t believe that will matter.
"Nobody knows what LeBron James is going to do but LeBron James," said McGrady, who expects to play tonight after sitting out the second half of Saturday’s 120-109 loss to Memphis with stiffness and soreness in his surgically repaired left knee. "We can’t control that. We have no control over that. …
"Come July 1 I will certainly … I would like to play with a lot of those guys that are going to be a free agent. And I’m sure this is a very attractive place to play. You have the bright lights, big stage every night. You have the most passionate fans in basketball. It’s the Mecca of basketball. This is it.
"It’s a very attractive place and I’m sure a lot of guys will definitely consider that."
"I’m just going to put a nice suit on," D’Antoni said of impressing LeBron. "That’s all I know."
Yet, they know LBJ torched them for 47 points, including 35 in the first half, less than a month ago in a 113-106 victory. And they also know that they won’t have the defender who started on him that night and would have again tonight, Wilson Chandler, who left the team Sunday for personal reasons.
That means Danilo Gallinari starts on LeBron, D’Antoni said, and gets a chance to show what the Knicks’ coach has called his improved defensive prowess.
And McGrady gets to show whether he can bounce back from Saturday’s setback and, even though he won’t say so, demonstrate to LeBron that he could be a suitable sidekick next season, presuming the Knicks keep him.
Actually, the possibility of James coming to New York with another max-salary sidekick next season is somewhat similar to McGrady leaving Toronto for Orlando 10 years ago to play with Grant Hill.
The difference: Hill played just 114 games overall during their four seasons together, including only 18 their first two seasons. That allowed McGrady, who played in the shadow of Vince Carter in Toronto, to emerge as a star in Orlando.
James already is that and beyond. And McGrady, who said Sunday, "I think I made a smart decision" signing with the Magic, is trying to be both smart and positive, even though he now seems almost as fragile as Hill.
"It’s been a really tough road for me and the only way I’m thinking now is positive thinking," he said. "I’ve had so many negative thoughts going through everything that I went through.
"Now it’s just all positive for me."
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