NBA Insider: Nothing like MSG, King says

Bernard King firmly believes that if Al Bianchi had re-signed him in 1987, he and Patrick Ewing would have won a championship with the Knicks.

Is the opportunity coming around again? With Amar'e Stoudemire, the Knicks have a dominant big man, and if they somehow can land Carmelo Anthony, you'd have a 1-2 scoring punch similar to the one that King and Ewing might have been.

Anthony grew up a Knicks fan and idolized King, who led the NBA in scoring with a career-high 32.9 points per game for the Knicks in 1984-85, the season before Ewing joined the team. King, a Brooklynite just like Anthony who played for the Knicks and Nets, recently said the choice should be easy to make.

"I know that Carmelo probably has some thoughts about the Knicks, thoughts about the Nets . . . I'm sure he's being thrust in several directions," King said. "But I do know that there is no better place to play professional basketball in the world than Madison Square Garden, with fans who understand and appreciate the game of basketball, not just at the scoring end of the floor, but when you dive for a loose ball, when you come up off that floor, you get a hand from the people in the stands."

King said he was disappointed that LeBron James didn't take the challenge of playing in New York, but he understood the lure of playing with Dwyane Wade in Miami. "But from a peripheral standpoint, I relished the challenge of wanting to play in New York City, playing for a historic organization and playing on Broadway every night. There's nothing like it."

King added that he is excited about the Nets' move to Brooklyn and envisions a day in the future when kids from that borough grow up dreaming of playing for the Nets. "But Carmelo's dream was to be a New York Knick," King said. "And I would love to see that dream come true for him.''

Incidentally, after tearing his ACL in March 1985, King returned on April 10, 1987, and averaged 22.7 points in six games; Ewing averaged 21.5 that season but did not play after March 19, so they never were on the court together. After Bianchi opted not to re-sign him, King averaged 17.2 points at age 31 in 1987-88 for the Washington Bullets and had averages of 20.7, 22.4 and 28.4 the next three seasons.

SEE PHOTOSTop 10 Knicks ever

Knicks no longer a joke

Perhaps the last line David Letterman used during Stoudemire's appearance on "The Late Show'' on Thursday night was the most telling.

"It's great fun to have you in town," Letterman said to Stoudemire, "and all of a sudden we can't make jokes about the Knicks anymore."

"Perfect," Stoudemire replied.

Stoudemire appeared on the show in October to read the Top 10 list - No. 5 was, "If I played in Miami, I'd never get to touch the damn ball" - and Letterman liked Stoudemire enough to ask him back for a full interview on the couch.

Stoudemire, very much at ease in the appearance, talked about his eye injury and said his plan is to make wearing goggles "fashionable." When Letterman asked how his knee is, Stoudemire said, "If I can get you to come out to a Knicks game, you'll see how I can cut and shoot."

Three ball, corner pocket

When Shawne Williams found out he leads the NBA in three-point shooting, he covered his ears. "I didn't even know that," he said with a grin. "I don't even want to hear that."

When you're a shooter, you prefer to be unconscious. Williams - who was 7-for-8 from three-point range against the Jazz Wednesday night - entered Friday night's game hitting a blistering 58.9 percent from downtown (33-for-56) in 21 games. He had attempted nine more three-point shots than two-pointers and was shooting a respectable 46.8 percent from inside the arc.

Most of the time, you'll find him doing his damage from the corner. "I'm just really smart about being in the corner because you know that's the highest-percentage shots you can get," Williams said. "I'm going to roll with the statistics."

The NBA three-point arc is 23 feet, 9 inches from the basket at the top of the key, but because of the width constrictions on the court, the three-point line is only 22 feet from the basket in the corners.

"It's like a college three," Williams said (the NCAA men's basketball three-pointer actually is 20 feet, 9 inches away). "So I'm just going to stay right there."

Camby: Knicks

had their chance

Aside from Carmelo, the Knicks are in the hunt for a starting-quality center to give them some much-needed size and experience on the front line and allow Stoudemire to slide back to his more natural position at power forward. One perfect fit would be Marcus Camby, but the former Knick says his preference is to finish his career in Portland.

Camby, who was a big part of the Knicks' run to the NBA Finals in 1999 and played four seasons in New York, spoke glowingly of a possible return last season, only to sign a two-year, $21-million extension with the Trail Blazers just days later.

"There's always been talks about them wanting to bring me back and stuff like that," Camby told The New York Times. "But nothing ever materialized."

When told he never gave the Knicks a chance by signing the extension, Camby replied, "I did. They traded me away."

Clearly, some bitterness lingers. Camby was a main piece in the Antonio McDyess trade with the Denver Nuggets in 2002.

Around the NBA

Forget Carmelo; the first All-Star who could be traded this season might be Gerald Wallace, who reports say could be moved to the desperate Cavaliers. All indications are that the Bobcats will look to trade Wallace, who has three years and $31.5 million left on his contract, before the Feb. 24 trade deadline . . . There have been rumors for weeks that Rasheed Wallace is poised to come out of retirement to join the Celtics for a playoff run. He has been seen around the Celtics' practice facility; some saw that as a sign that he misses the game. But word is he's quite happy in retirement and, considering the NBA crackdown on excessive reactions toward officials - otherwise known as the "Sheed Rule" - the notorious Wallace might get a technical for just signing a contract . . . There have been suggestions that the Knicks would target a big man such as Marc Gasol with their salary-cap space after this season, but Gasol will be a restricted free agent, and multiple sources say there's no chance the Grizzlies will let another Gasol go. Word is he'll be signed to an extension and that any offer sheet made to him will be matched. Of course, no one really knows what the situation will be under a new collective-bargaining agreement, so anything is possible . . . Boris Diaw recently purchased a Segway and uses it to commute from his home in downtown Charlotte to Time Warner Cable Arena, which is just blocks away. Diaw decided to sell one of his cars and buy the Segway as a more economical mode of transportation to work. "You can go anywhere, go in the arena," he told the Charlotte Observer. "It's better than parking in the parking deck."

Tweet of the week

RonnyTuriaf14: 100% official. I hate this weather. Seriously! Just landed in NY. My face is frozen! Ray was dying laughing cuz I was so cold n angry! Ha!