Knicks and Nets set to get LeBron James

July 1 is just a few days away, and so is the beginning of the much ballyhooed NBA free agent period, where LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Joe Johnson are all ready to make it rich this off-season.

James is the pearl of the pack. The former Cavalier, has been rumored to head to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, but who really knows?

Both New York and New Jersey have been trying to put their best foot forward to court James since the middle of winter. Whether it be Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Donald Trump, C.C. Sabathia (who is James old buddy, who Sabathia played in Cleveland with the Indians), Spike Lee, Mikahl Prokorov, or rapper Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Queen Latifa, every top celebrity has tried to send messages to James to come to the Big Apple.

The attraction? Its New York. Who wouldn't want to play in New York, where we treat champions like heroes forever. I have heard arguments that there is nothing like winning in New York for weeks; it's true in many ways. New York fans never forgot the 1968-69 Jets, the 1986 Giants, the 1986 Mets, the 1994 Rangers, the 1996 and 1998 Yankees - those teams are cherished in this city to this day.

But as of late, let me ask you, other than the Yankees, what is like to win in New York? The only teams to win a world title in this town in the last 15 years, other than the Yankees were the Giants in 2007-2008 and Devils. The Giants were treated as gods for about a year; now people talk about Tom Couglin getting fired again. The Devils won three Stanley Cups in this time frame, and nobody in New York and New Jersey really cared; heck they celebrated their championships in the Meadowlands parking lot.

In short, it hasn't been easy for teams in this area to bring home the gold. The Knicks and Nets are not even close to being contenders this year, and maybe for the next two to three years. Does someone like LeBron James want to be on a team that really can't win right away? As great a place as New York is to play, it is as unforgiving as place when teams lose. Does LeBron really want that?

James will never come to a city where he will not be the number one sports personality in the city, and where he cannot win a championship. Dream New York, as in dream on.