New York sells itself.
That’s what Chris Bosh said when asked about the Knicks while co-hosting on ESPN Radio this morning.
“They have great fans,” Bosh said. “New York is New York. I think it’s something people don’t even have to sell. It’s New York; what’s to think about it?”
Bosh, who is near the top of the Knicks’ free-agent wish list, said he believes part of the their lure is the chance to play at Madison Square Garden 41 times a season.
“The Garden is one of the greatest, if not the best place to play, in the league,” Bosh said. “We all have memories of Madison Square Garden.”
Since bringing in Donnie Walsh as team president two seasons ago, the Knicks’ goal was to open enough salary cap space to afford two max free agents this offseason. Walsh accomplished the goal right before the trade deadline, and in the Knicks’ dream scenario they would land LeBron James and Bosh to play in New York next season after free agency begins July 1.
“They put all their chips in one basket, so it will be interesting to see what happens with them,” Bosh said. “I am sure they are pulling out all the tricks that they have and I am sure they are going to be aggressive because they’ve been very aggressive getting themselves in this position.”
Bosh recently said in an interview with SNY that he won’t be waiting around for James to sign, but he acknowledged today that the King will come first.
“Am I waiting on LeBron? Pretty much,” Bosh said. “I think everyone has to. I have to as well. He’s a great player and I would be crazy to think that all the teams that are considering him, they would talk to somebody else first.I think everybody is going to be going at him first.
“They’ll probably call him at 12:01. Hopefully they’ll call me at 12:02.”
Bosh will have many suitors, including the Heat, Bulls, Lakers, Rockets. There’s the possibility he can re-sign with the Raptors, for whom he played the first seven seasons of his NBA career.
Bosh said he is curious to see how the whole thing plays out and did not indicate which way he was leaning.
“Nobody really knows what’s going to happen and the draft is a key part of it and there’s going to be a lot of teams doing a lot of things,” Bosh said. “So, I mean, this is something we’ve kind of been talking about for four years now. And the day is finally here. It’s kind of scary but it’s exciting at the same time.”
Bosh said he plans on taking some recruiting trips.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if teams really start pulling some tricks out of their sleeves,” Bosh said. “There’s no telling what’s going to happen. People have been planning on these meetings for years now.”
With the Associated Press