The first major NBA free agent signings have been officially declared, with Amare Stoudemire joining the New York Knicks on Tuesday, while Chris Bosh chooses to team-up w/ Dwyane Wade in Miami.

The final key piece before all the other free agents start getting targeted by teams looking to fill their holes?

LeBron James is to decide his future tomorrow at 9PM (EST) on ESPN. Once James declares his destination, expect a slew of smaller deals to start happening much more quickly. Everyone has been waiting for the Top 5 (or so) guys to sign and everything else should start falling in place.

The question in James’ case is… Did he wait too long to declare? While he could certainly still go to Miami, New Jersey, NY, Chicago or even stay in Cleveland, he’s no longer what everyone else is waiting on.

Miami Improves Moderately

While Miami improves, their roster is somewhat scarce and they are looking to make even more moves to free up more money for free agents. Michael Beasley could be on his way out if the Heat can find a taker for him.  The addition of Bosh helps, but they really need to fill a few more holes to be considered a top competitor in the Eastern Conference. I would still rate Miami behind Cleveland, Boston, Orlando and Atlanta with Chicago challenging.

Knicks Make Splash, But Are They Improved?

New York on the other hand, is about as barren as the Phoenix desert (now minus Amare too ironically). They lack a point guard, center and essentially replaced David Lee with Amare Stoudemire – not exactly a huge upgrade. I think they should try re-signing Lee and letting them split center duties for the first season, while they wait for additional opportunities to add to the lineup next year.

There’s still a lot of time for things to shake out, but it looks like a couple teams are going to be “losers” in the sweepstakes for the top-tier free agents. Unless he signs with them, the Chicago Bulls and New Jersey Nets are going to have a lot of cap room to spend, but on who is the question?