NBA Free Agents: Where are they going?

[Hammer]

i also dont see paul going anywhere, nor do i see us giving up the curry trade chip for jason kidd. the monta ellis deal is gonna happen somehow im sure... not sure how i feel about an overpaid undersized fragile 2 guard being our 2nd big chip of the lebron class, though its not happy.

[realmofotalk]

Wait, why does Minnesota only have $7 mill in cap room? Hoopshype.com has their current payroll at 35 mill, and it's not as if Wesley Johnson's rookie salary will dramatically raise the payroll.

[Kingdom]

amare agreed to the deal with the knicks, sorry sports guy

NBA.com: Stoudemire agrees to five-year deal with Knicks

He re-tweeted his guess to switch Amare and Boozer around, probably after a billion people told him so, haha.

[Kingdom]

Would he dare run with Ellis at the point? D'Antoni that is. And is Amare the "center"?

[Kingdom]

Wait, why does Minnesota only have $7 mill in cap room? Hoopshype.com has their current payroll at 35 mill, and it's not as if Wesley Johnson's rookie salary will dramatically raise the payroll.

Minnesota Timberwolves Roster - NBA Basketball - ESPN

They have a number of salaries on the roster, only a couple are high. But they have a lot of players I didn't know existed or still played.

[realmofotalk]

Ok, so hoopshype.com hasn't accounted for Darko's new deal and missed Wilkins, Pecherov, and Pavlovic, but the payroll is still around 45 mill.

[Hammer]

the new foreigner too... pekovic or whatever it is, the guy who signed for 3 years, 13 mil. thats another 4... puts them at about 49, which would make for the 7 mil in cap space.

[Hammer]

Would he dare run with Ellis at the point? D'Antoni that is. And is Amare the "center"?

im sure thats gonna be a lineup we see plenty of this year, yea. he might use douglas more, and the team is also still interested in ray felton, so we'll see. i think, as is though, ellis would be the pg and amare at the 5, yea.

[redsfan28]

Honestly, I hope the Knicks get shut out of everyone besides Amar'e. The league is better if the Knicks suck. Plus ESPN's coverage of "Courting the King" is getting a little ridiculous.

[Hammer]

how is the league better if the knicks suck? ask david stern if he wouldnt want the knicks competing with the lakers, celtics and spurs. if its an anti-new york thing, thats fine... but realistically, how could the league be any better off if the biggest market in sports is rendered irrelevent by a bad product?

unless of course, you meant the league is better FOR YOU, if the knicks suck. in which case... fair enough.

[realmofotalk]

It's the way New York chooses to build their team - poaching superstars from others - that gets to other fans.

For instance, you wouldn't like it at all if some other team lured Darrelle Revis away from the Jets.

[Hammer]

no i wouldnt... but alas the jets are the exception to the new york poaching, theyre gonna let revis walk because they suck at life... and because he wants like 90 million dollars a year.

in either case, i was speaking that financially for the league... the knicks sucking would not be on the top of the wishlist for big dave stern. i dont really care if other fans hate the knicks and wish for unfortunate scenarios for them... thats part of the game, thats part of being a fan.

[Hammer]

two things on poaching in the nba. 1. we were a laughing stock for years because of bad signings and bad trades attempting to poach talent... so it goes either way.

2. baseball is really the only sport where poaching could legitimately be maddening, because its really the only sport where youre grooming a guy from 16-18 years old, and building him up as a ball player, only to see him snatched away due to larger market teams having more money and what not. in the nba especially, because of the draft lottery, you pretty much luck into good talents, its how you build around them, and your commitment to keeping them. the cavs couldve very easily gotten the 2nd pick in that lottery, and memphis got the 1st pick... thus meaning they keep the pick, and thusly no darko to detroit, and bron goes to memphis, and the whole landscape changes. good talents going to teams, is too much of a crap shoot, and too much luck, to really saddle the knicks with the poacher title... as much. alot of teams got their cap space in check for this offseason.

[realmofotalk]

Well, you'll get no argument from me that David Stern wants the Knicks to do well, and he probably needs them to.

[DirtyKash]

Well the great thing is that the Knicks could have drafted Amar'e in '02 but picked Nene instead and eventually traded him + Camby for McDyess. At least ultimately they do get Amar'e.