During the free agency period back in 2010 the Knicks aggressively pursued LeBron James amongst others, eventually landing Amar’e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton, while watching their prized possession take his talents to South Beach. While the idea of playing with his buddies Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade was more than likely what yielded the most influence in LeBron’s decision, part of me can’t help but think that a small fraction of James’ decision not to come play in The Big Apple had something to do with the possible parting gift he may have received from Knicks owner James Dolan.
According to a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, Dolan made it a habit to hand out CDs of his band JD and The Straight Shot to free agents visiting New York.
When New York Knicks executives chased free agents in the summer of 2010, owner James Dolan made himself a part of the presentations. He isn’t the most engaging, enchanting man, but Dolan does fancy himself a musician. So, yes, there were player and agent meetings four years ago when Dolan delivered a parting gift on the way out of the room.
“He passed out copies of his CD,” said a source, who stuffed his copy of one into a bag and no longer remembers where it’s gone.
It featured the melodies of JD and the Straight Shot, Dolan’s corner-bar band that bought itself into the opening act on tour with the Eagles. Dolan’s world revolves around the Eagles, and no one has helped meld his fantasy camp/groupie life of bad teams and super groups more gloriously than notorious ball-busting Eagles business manager Irving Azoff.
Hey, give James Dolan credit for hustling and networking with some of the most influential names in the NBA to get his band out there. Not his fault that LeBron and the other free agents that didn’t choose New York weren’t all that big into blues fused with classic rock—at least not in 2010, and at least not enough to come play for Dolan and the Knicks.
Have a listen and judge for yourself whether JD and The Straight Shot is a deal killer or not.
Not bad, and certainly not a deal breaker. At least this year when trying to woo big name free agents Dolan can do the smart thing and leave the CDs in the basement and let new toy Phil Jackson do all the dirty work.