Knicks fans are focused on one player — and one player only — and Donnie Walsh knows it.
“I wish that wasn’t true because that’s not the way I’m approaching it, but I understand it, of course,” the Knicks president said this morning on WFAN, one day after clearing as much salary-cap room as he could for a run at LeBron James.
But if the Knicks are unable to sign James as a free agent, there are so many other things Walsh can do — even if it takes until the Summer of 2011.
“I’m gonna do the best I can to get the best players as quick as I can,” Walsh told morning host Craig Carton.
With about $32 million in available cap room, that could mean signing two players this offseason from a group that includes James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson.
Or, as Carton pointed out, maybe waiting until 2011, when Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant could be on the market.
“I’m not looking at any one player. There will be a list, as of July 1, that will say ‘Here are the free agents’ and then we’re going to go after the best guys on that list,” Walsh said. “But I don’t know who’s going to be out there so I’m not focused on any one person.”
Walsh, a longtime Pacers executive, said he thought he would lose Reggie Miller three times but never did. So Walsh said he realizes James could choose to stay in Cleveland.
“It’s very difficult to get a guy to come out of his hometown if he’s had success there,” Walsh said.
But, if James were to look around …
“New York should be a destination spot for any free agent basketball player because it is a special place,” Walsh said.
Tracy McGrady, acquired in the cap-clearing deadline-day trade, agreed with his new boss.
“Talk about big city, bright lights. This is New York, man,” McGrady said. “Every player should want to play here. I’m sure they’re looking at it that way from a marketability standpoint. From everything. It’s everything you want.”
Now, with money to spend, Mike D’Antoni knows the Kinicks at least have a chance to attract at least one superstar.
“Of course we do,” D’Antoni said. “Now, am I just whistling Dixie? I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t know. But we’ve got a good shot at it. We’ve got the best shot that we can have at it.
“And we’ll get some good guys in here. Now, you don’t know how it’s going to play out, nobody does. But we will have a bunch of money to get a bunch of good players.”
The Knicks indeed are poised to add talent they haven’t had since before Isiah Thomas was in charge.
“When I got here two years ago, this was a very inflexible organization as far as players. You had the players you had, they didn’t have a lot of value, you were $40 million over the cap,” Walsh said. “When you’re in that position, if teams don’t want to trade with you, there’s no way for you to get better in any kind of reasonable time frame.
“So that’s what I’ve been doing, is trying to get this organization at a place where you have options. And each option that comes up you’ve got to go after the best option you can get. But if you don’t get that, you still have options.
“But I don’t want to put the franchise in the position that it was in before, where you’re signing mediocre players to make it look good but it isn’t good. I’m going to be conscious of that.”