Obviously LeBron wasn’t up for a challenge. I’m sure he’ll never be cheered at the Garden again. Time for the Knicks to move on.

Amar’e's the only free agent out there with any balls. Much more respect for Amar’e.

We’re getting down to the wire. Knicks are still in play.

I think it’s a cop-out. Any super-competitive person would rather beat Dwyane Wade than play with him. Don’t you want to find the Ali to your Frazier and have that rival pull the greatness out of you? That’s why I’m holding out hope that LeBron signs with New York or Chicago (or stays in Cleveland), because he’d be saying, “Fine. Kobe, Dwight and Melo all have their teams. Wade and Bosh have their team. The Celtics are still there. Durant’s team is coming. I’m gonna go out and build MY team, and I’m kicking all their asses.” That’s what Jordan would have done. Hell, that’s what Kobe would have done.

Simmons hits the nail right on the head. If LeBron’s announcement tonight is that he’s signing with the Heat, it’s a cop-out. His competitive fire must be frozen. He’s taking the easy route to a championship. Anybody can tag along with two other stars and make a run at a title. Not anyone can resurrect a franchise and city, like he could do in New York. No, Amar’e isn’t Wade and Bosh, but wouldn’t LeBron want to beat Wade and Bosh instead of joining them? Wouldn’t he want a bigger task on his plate than what would be if he joins Miami? Play with those guys on the Olympic squad and in the All-Star game. Don’t ruin what could be an incredible, immortal legacy and take the easy route. Take the road less traveled. Revive a franchise. Revive a basketball city. I’ll guarantee that his legacy won’t be what it could have been, no matter how many rings he wins with Wade and Bosh in Miami.

Simmons continues:

LeBron joining Wade after his 2010 playoffs flameout, in my opinion, is like Conan O’Brien getting kicked in the teeth by NBC, then overreacting and forming a late-night version of “The View” with Chris Rock, Adam Carolla and Jeffrey Ross over trying to create his own show somewhere else. (Note to Carolla and Ross: Don’t get excited, it’s only a hypothetical.) Total cop-out. The move of someone who, deep down, doesn’t totally trust his own talents any more. And maybe he doesn’t.

Simmons’ article is a great read, make sure to take the time to read it.

Where is the logical place to form another “Big 3″?

New York.

With Amar’e Stoudemire on the Knicks already, two other stars, such as Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, may need to join Amar’e on the Knicks to have a chance at winning. Miami could become a dynasty during the prime years of Anthony and Paul’s careers. Anthony and Paul may find that they won’t be able to do it alone, just as LeBron figured out.

Why choose New York over another city? For starters, Amar’e Stoudemire is already in place. Secondly, and most importantly, the Knicks can make it work under the cap. They spent two years clearing the cap for this summer and don’t intend on going crazy refilling it with junk. They have signed Amar’e to a max deal. If they can keep the cap open by signing a few one-year deals, make some other moves to open up even more space, and combine that with the $11 million that comes off the books when Eddy Curry’s contract expires next summer, they could offer both Anthony and Paul max deals together.

Even if it’s not Anthony and Paul, there could be other big names who could come to the Knicks together to team up with Amar’e.

I have a feeling that Anthony and Paul are going to take a page out of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James’ book and look to put themselves in a situation where they could team up and form a “Big 3″. New York may miss out this summer, but they could clean up next summer thanks to LeBron James’ decision.

According to Tommy Dee of The Knicks Blog:

Word I’m getting doesn’t look good from a Knicks fans perspective. I’ve heard “done deal” a few times. But that can be tricky. Apparently the Knicks have been told by Lebron’s people that they will be calling him 5 minutes before the show goes live…

The Knicks can go in several directions without LeBron, but this is going to sting, especially since he is heading to Miami and creating a three-headed monster over there under Pat Riley. With Amar’e on board and the Knicks talking about acquiring Anthony Randolph from the Warriors, a decent point guard will be needed to facilitate D’Antoni’s offense.

A slight bit of hope remains that LeBron may choose the Knicks tonight. But I’ve already told myself it’s not happening. It will hurt, yes, but the Knicks will move forward and I’m confident the team will get better. With cap flexibility, they can go several different things to improve.

I wish, however, that reports and tweets about LeBron coming to New York didn’t happen yesterday. I won’t lie, the tweets and reports got me excited and for the first time I truly believed he was coming to New York. Silly me. I got my hopes up.

Life will go on without LeBron. It’s not like we had him to begin with. But we did go through two years of suffering to get under the cap for him. After tonight, we can put this behind us and try to build around Amar’e Stoudemire, a guy that doesn’t fear New York and the challenge ahead.