"LeBron James compared the Miami Dream Team's slow start last season to the Knicks' current malaise, but stopped short of calling them contenders for the Eastern Conference title.

"It takes time,'' James said Wednesday night from Detroit. "It's never going to work right overnight, and we were the prime example of that. It took us time. We were 9-8 at one point, but it took us even longer after that to become a good team, to know each other, to learn each other, what works for each other, what don't work. I think they're going through the same thing right now but people want results now. That's just the league and the world we leave in.''"