New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter says he won't help recruit LeBron James to New York, despite Knicks president Donnie Walsh's plea for as many New Yorkers as possible to help convince James to chose the Knicks. Jeter says to ESPNNewYork.com: "It wouldn't make sense." James is good friends with Jay-Z, part owner of the New York Nets, but Jay-Z...
LeBron James drains a shot over Chicago's Luol Deng.New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter says he won't help recruit LeBron James to New York, despite Knicks president Donnie Walsh's plea for as many New Yorkers as possible to help convince James to chose the Knicks.
Jeter says to ESPNNewYork.com:
"It wouldn't make sense."
James is good friends with Jay-Z, part owner of the New York Nets, but Jay-Z says it's James' decision.
CC Sabathia is also friends with James, but admitted he didn't know what he'd say to persuade James to pick New York.
"You don't have to sell winning in New York," Jeter said.
Jeter hypothetically compared it to if he were going to be recruited by one of the Los Angeles teams and Magic Johnson called him.
"If I were going to another baseball team, how would a basketball player help?" Jeter said. "I don't play basketball. I have nothing to do with that."
Oakley speaks against New York
Cleveland native Charles Oakley is not sure where LeBron James will play next year, but he is sure where he wouldn't want James to go.
"I can't tell him to go to New York," Oakley said. "New York treated me bad.
... When I go to the Knicks games, do you know that they have somebody that follows me around to see what I say to the press?"
Oakley, who played for the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets, says he would point James to the Miami Heat if asked.
"I said maybe Chicago or Miami . I think him and (Dwyane) Wade would be great together," Oakley said.
Chicago hire means nothing
Melissa Isaacson writes on ESPNChicago.com that the selection of Boston Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau as the next head coach of the Bulls is neither a plus nor a minus when it comes to LeBron James landing in Chicago.
The Bulls were told by a few people close to James that the hiring of Thibodeau would not influence his decision on coming to Chicago one way or the other, and that after reports surfaced that John Calipari might be a candidate for Bulls coach, James let it be known he did not want to be part of those decisions for any prospective team unless it involved someone he really did not like.