“No comparison,” James said. “I spent seven years in Cleveland; I grew up 35 minutes away from the arena.”

The stakes and emotional investment were never as high for New York, but they were considerable.

The Knicks spent two years ripping up their roster in a vain quest to land James, losing dozens of games along the way. Their backup plan has worked out well enough.

Amar’e Stoudemire, who signed a $100 million contract with the Knicks  with the hope of luring James  has led them to a 16-11 record, their best start in 10 years. New Yorkers have plenty to be happy about, with or without the self-styled Chosen One.

In fact, the city should probably thank him. Thanks to James, the Knicks finally committed to rebuilding, to clearing the roster of endless flotsam. The dream of landing James helped everyone remain patient through two painful seasons.

The Knicks missed on James, but they got Stoudemire and Raymond Felton and a cache of reasonably priced role players. They are relevant again, competitive and promising. They cannot yet match the pure prowess of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but they are coming.

“I think the Knicks is a really good team,” James said. “Every night, I think you know now that you have to mentally prepare yourself, have a game plan for every one of those guys, because they’re all dangerous out on the basketball court. And Coach D’Antoni’s putting those guys in a position to be successful.”

That was not the case, James said, during his seven years in Cleveland.

Still, the disappointment among Knicks fans was understandable. They had bathed James in adoration for two years, in hopes he would one day return the love. James would smile and soak it in, while the actual Knicks  the ones who were being sacrificed in a payroll purge  gritted their teeth through the unfaithful cheers.