Coach Eric Spoelsta will rest his two-mega superstars, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, along with point guard Mario Chalmers. This is good news for the Knicks who want to keep their winning streak alive and play their best basketball heading into the playoffs. Mike Woodson is probably going to be without his All-Star center Tyson Chandler, who hasn’t played since the Portland Trailblazers game on March 14th forcing him to miss nine straight games.

Apr 2, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) celebrates during a time out the second half against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. New York won 102-90. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

It would have been nice to see if the red hot Knicks challenge the Heat at full strength and see where they stand with them after losing to them 99-93 back on March 3rd. With LeBron and Wade out, this is very winnable game for the Knicks who are neck and neck with the Pacers for the 2nd seed. Here’s everything you need to know:

When: Tuesday, April 2nd at 8:00 P.M. EST

Where: American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida

Watch: TNT & MSG

When the Knicks have the ball: 99.4 PPG (11th in NBA), Heat: 95.3 points allowed (6th in NBA)

When the Heat have the ball: 103.3 PPG (5th in NBA), Knicks: 95.7 points allowed (8th in NBA)

Key Matchup: Kenyon Martin vs. Chris Bosh

This is basically a must win for the New York Knicks considering the game’s circumstances. Without LeBron, Wade, and Chalmers, I consider the Heat a so-so team at best. With the Pacers and Knicks in a heated race for the 2nd seed, the Knicks need to come out hard and get this victory in Miami.

Chris Bosh stepped up and beat the Spurs so Kenyon Martin will have to take him out of his element. Martin is a tough player and won’ back down from anyone. Bosh has the label of a “soft” player and will bully Bosh around. Bosh is the Heat’s best player tonight and if the Knicks can stop him, they should win this game without any problems. It is a rivalry game and the Heat did just beat the Spurs in San Antonio, so this game might not be as easy as Knicks fans think it will be.

Knicks 96
Heat 88

Now, finally some players are coming out in favor of the team. Shaq said the other day that the Knicks were the team to beat in New York. Chris Bosh went as far as to imply that The Knicks could be one of the teams to try and stand in The Heat’s way.

“I just want to say — the freakin’ Knicks, man,” Bosh told ESPN, “I think they’re going to be a good team.”

The Knicks took a lot of heat (no pun intended) this summer when they let Jeremy Lin walk. People don’t blame Lin for some reason, even though he is the one to sign a bigger deal trying to milk the Knicks for all they had thinking they had no plan B. Then comes Raymond Felton and the need for Lin disappears. There is a chance that Lin is the next big thing in this league, but the odds are against him.

The team was criticized for adding age to the roster. Veterans are called veterans for a reason; they are not geriatrics. They are all in better shape than any of the sports writers or Charles Barkley are, and they are ready to contribute to a winning team.

“Nobody’s really talking about them, and I don’t like it,” Bosh added, “They’re flying under the radar right now.”

People think that the Knicks believe the key to them winning a championship is the talent they’ve added. I don’t think that’s the case. The Knicks are expecting the talent they already had to step up and be unstoppable. That talent has a name, and his name is Carmelo Anthony. Of course, STAT and Tyson Chandler are huge pieces of this team, but if ‘Melo doesn’t elevate his game than the moves the team made will result in nothing.

The Knicks have a good coach focused on playing lock down defense and holding his players accountable when they make mistakes. They have good stars who have worked hard this offseason to come back with new moves, new attitudes, and in better shape. They have a bench that could be the starting lineup on a Charlotte Bobcats team.

Clearly the only people worried about The Knicks are players who play for (or formerly played for) the best team in the league. Maybe everyone should wake up?

“I think the Knicks are gonna be a very good team.”

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but league general managers have felt it best to surround their team with three stars and then simply attempt to fill in the rest of the pieces.

What the ‘Big Three’ leads to is very little depth, but enough star power to carry teams deep into the playoffs.

Which NBA team has the best ‘Big Three?’

Dec 25, 2011; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks power forward Amare Stoudemire (1) and small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) during the first quarter against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

Let’s take a look.

6. New York Knicks (Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler):

The Knicks sold the farm to pair Anthony with Stoudemire after things started to turn around in 2011 when Amar’e signed with New York as a free agent. They completed the trifecta by signing Chandler as a free agent this past offseason.

Yet among the ‘Big Threes’ in the NBA, the Knicks have a long way to go before they figure it out.

Melo and Stoudemire have yet to prove that they can co-exist after a rough first year and a half of the marriage, and they often have terrible floor spacing.

Unlike other ‘Big Threes,’ who have three multi-talented players, the Knicks’ ‘Big Three’ almost seems like a group of specialists.

Chandler is a great defender with a limited offensive package, while the other two have trouble spelling the word defense at times.

Melo is a scorer, and who knows what Stoudemire is anymore in the Knicks gameplan, aside from a guy whose injuries are catching up with him.

5. Boston Celtics (Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen):

They won’t be the ‘Big Three’ much longer, but for now they are still in Boston, so they make the list.

As a group, age and injury have caught up to them.

While KG may have found new life playing the 5, Allen’s best days are behind him and he may be nothing more than a role-player in the future.

As for Pierce, he’s 34, and while he may still have some big moments ahead of him, consistency is starting to become an issue. It was a good run, but it looks like it’s over.

4. Los Angeles Lakers (Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol):

The question surrounding the Lakers’ ‘Big Three’ is whether or not they will still be together next season.

The Lakers should be higher on this list, but they don’t play to their strength nearly often enough, their strength being the length of Bynum and Gasol.

Sure, Kobe is the scorer, but even though he averaged 27.9 points per game this Lakers trio isn’t nearly as dominant when the big men aren’t the primary focal point of the offense.

3. San Antonio Spurs (Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili):

Jan 16, 2011; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs players Tim Duncan (left) and Tony Parker (9), and Manu Ginobili (20) watch on the bench in the fourth quarter against the Denver Nuggets at the AT

The Spurs trio are all 30 or older, but all are still playing at a very high level.

The bottom line is that they all know how to play winning basketball and are willing to sacrifice production for the betterment of team goals.

Parker played at an MVP level this year, and Duncan and Ginobili showed that they aren’t ready to slow down just yet.

2. Miami Heat (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh):

This ‘Big Three’ was built primarily through free agency, and you’ve seen the results—the Heat don’t have much depth and likely never will, as long as these three are together.

But when you consider that you have a three-time MVP in James, and 23 combined All-Star selections between the three, you realize that this trio is very good.

The scary part is that Wade is the elder statesman at only 30 years of age.

There are only two things I don’t like about this group.

One is that Wade’s body has shown signs of breaking down this year.

The other is that Wade and LeBron are too similar in style. The both need the ball in their hands, and both are more effective in isolation mode.

Other than my nitpicking there, these guys are fantastic.

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden):

The nicest part about this trio is that they were built through the draft, allowing the Thunder to add a couple of key parts around them.

These guys are young and ultra-talented.

All they have is the three-time scoring champion in Durant, a point guard in Westbrook who averaged 23.6 points per game and the best sixth man in the game in Harden.

The scariest part is that Durant and Westbrook are only 23 and Harden is only 22.

If they win the championship this year, we could potentially see a dynasty in OKC.

Apr 30, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) during the second half of game two in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs the Miami Heat at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The focus tonight will undoubtedly be on Carmelo Anthony and his move back to the power forward spot where he had so much success in April. Because Stoudemire will miss tonight with the laceration on his hand, the Knicks will go small, thus putting Anthony back in a position he thrived at in the weeks leading up to the playoffs.

A big part of that potential move for the Knicks, however, will hinge on whether or not Chris Bosh plays tonight. His wife just had a baby (Congrats, Boshes) and he flew down to Miami to join her. It is unknown whether or not he will rejoin the team tonight. On one hand, Bosh’s absence would seemingly give the Knicks an upper-hand, making a small team even smaller, and eliminating the third scoring option for the Heat. However, losing Bosh would also effectively eliminate the Knicks and Anthony’s mismatch as LeBron James would surely be moved to the four to match-up with ‘Melo.

Likewise, while some fans gleefully celebrated over the absence of Stoudemire and re-embraced Power Forward ‘Melo II, this move also even further diminishes the Knicks bench. Once thought of as their greatest strength (perhaps prematurely coined Mobb Deep), the Knicks will move either J.R. Smith or Steve Novak into the starting lineup to fill in for Stoudemire’s absence. This leaves Mike Bibby, Jared Jeffries, and perhaps Josh Harrellson to come off the bench – a pretty weak crew.

Nearly everything will hinge on Carmelo Anthony’s performance tonight. It seems fathomable that he could replicate his success on offense tonight (he had 42 points against the Heat three weeks ago), but he will also be the focal point of the Heat’s defense. While there is tremendous amounts of pressure on Anthony to carry the offense, Baron Davis, Landry Fields, Tyson Chandler, Smith, and Novak will also need to contribute scoring if the Knicks have any chance to beat Miami tonight.

Things have fallen to a near hopeless level because of Miami’s two crushing victories to open the playoffs, but it’s only a two-game deficit and the Knicks have an eager crowd awaiting them at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are currently flirting with a dubious distinction, so there is even more pressure to win tonight. Steal Game 3, and the Knicks have one more at home, with the possibility of Amar’e returning. Steal Game 4 as well and we’ll have a series.

Tonight is very important.

The Knicks played better, but it still wasn’t enough to stop the Heat from taking a strong 2-0 series lead with a 104-94 victory in Game 2 of the series.

Apr 30, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) is fouled by New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) during the second half of game two in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The loss of Iman Shumpert was obvious as the 2006 Finals MVP Dwyane Wade had his way early for the Heat, leading Miami with 25-points. LeBron James might be their best player, but the Heat will only go as far as their leader takes them. Landry Fields is a role player at best and just could not keep up with Wade’s speed and overall talent; especially with him feeding off his home crowd.

New York’s superstar Carmelo Anthony, who wasn’t his normal scoring self in Game 1, played like the star he was the past, scoring 15 in the first quarter. Melo needs to have EVEN BETTER quarters like these for the Knicks to have any chance at all vs. the overpowering Heat. At times in the game he looks like the only Knick who has a sense of offense.

Tyson Chandler, still battling the flu, played like he did all year, with passion and heart. A big controversy coming out of Game 1 was the officiating. This game was better than last, but one play had me cursing and scratching my head. Tyson Chandler slams home a monstrous dunk and immediately taunted the Heat players underneath him. However, Tyson didn’t get up in their face and start screaming; he didn’t even pound his chest These are grown men doing their job and playing the game they love at the highest possible level.

They are not robots, statues, holograms or paper figures. These are PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES. If you can’t show emotion on a playoff dunk vs. the league’s most hated team, then basketball in America has failed.

The Knicks showed they could hang with Miami, keeping the game moderately close the entire time. But like the last game, the seven-point deficit almost felt like a 17- point deficit. The Knicks were always that one big run away and it just never happened. This team just doesn’t have that Clippers run from Sundaynight in them. I would love to see it, but just don’t see it coming from this particular team.

By the way – where is Amar’e Stoudemire?! If I showed my grandmother the game and told her to watch No. 6 and No. 1 and asked her which one is battling the flu I’m pretty sure she would say numero uno.

A year and half ago this was your team STAT can you please start playing like it? I know you had a tough year with injuries and the loss of your brother, but this is playoff time.

The box score is going to say 18 points and 13 rebounds, but I felt like Stoudemire disappeared for most of the game. And those three missed free throws is inexcusable, by him or any professional basketball player.

I’m a plumber and if I cant use a plunger, I simply lose my job. FREE THROWS, man, FREE THROWS!

Oh and I would say punching a fire extinguisher glass case really gives you a slight advantage over the other team. You crashed the glass a little late there STAT. Good job though. I’m sure that’s going to help your free throw shooting.

For the Heat, they again showed why they are the scariest team in the East. They played hard on both sides of the floor and their superstars came to play. When LeBron, Wade, and Chris Bosh are all shooting 50% from the field and are challenging shots, it’s hard to beat them. The three combined for 65 points going 23-for-46 from the field.

Watching the game just irks you as a fan sometimes. Every shot the Knicks take the Heat seem to be all over, whether its hands in their faces or simply forcing a harder shot. Every time the Heat shot it looked like they are were in pregame warm-ups, not a defender to be found.

Game 3 brings this series back to the Mecca of basketball, but will the home team come to play? Is anyone going to show some pride on the defensive end? Can they give New Yorkers the playoff defense equivalent to when Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson and Charles Oakley played? Can anyone but Carmelo get a groove on offense and take the load off him?

The Knicks must show New York they will not lay down to the hated Heat. Show me something, show us all something. Prove them wrong.

Apr 15, 2012; New York, NY, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) causes New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) to loose the ball during the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden. Miami won 93-85. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

But with the Knicks having spent most of the last decade in a cellar of incompetence, that rivalry burned out as quickly as it had started. Only recently has it been revived, and to call it “revived” is even a bit of a stretch. The two teams have mostly become a marquee match-up because they were built in similar ways.

Recall that in the long wait for the highly anticipated summer of 2010, the Knicks were the first team to clear enough salary for two superstar free agents, LeBron James being the main target. The Miami Heat, however, one-upped the Knicks and signed three free agents (James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh), thus beginning the Knicks’ quest for their own Big 3.

New York acquired Carmelo Anthony at heavy costs, and effectively kissed cap space goodbye by pulling off a $56 million sign-and-trade for Tyson Chandler. And now here they are, seated in the seventh seed, looking up at the second-place Miami Heat who they were modeled after. Let the rivalry be renewed!

In the weeks leading up to the conclusion of the regular season, there was a great amount of debate as to whether the Knicks should purposely tank to avoid playing the Miami Heat, who swept the season series and won by an average of twelve points.

Since the Miami Big Three formed, they’ve won five of the seven meetings, and in the two Knicks victories, the game came down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter. But here I am, suggesting that we all forget what happened last season, even forget what happened this season.

The Knicks have had several different identities this season, and the Heat have never faced any of them more than once or at full health.

In January, they faced a Knicks team without Carmelo Anthony and lacking any point guard play or consistency. In February, they faced the Linsanity team with Anthony working his way back from injuries and Jeremy Lin, exhausted from his sudden, glorious emergence. Most recently, they faced a Knicks team with a red hot Anthony playing power forward, missing Amar’e Stoudemire as the other Knicks were unable to provide a secondary scoring punch against the Heat.

Now, the Knicks head into the playoffs with the roster they thought they’d have in training camp when they said they’d be going hunting in Miami. This is a team that Mike D’Antoni said “will” beat the Miami Heat, as Alan Hahn revealed.  There’s plenty to be excited for if you’re the Knicks (and being the fans we are, that means we’re part of the Knicks, and thus, we get to be excited too!).

Anthony is playing arguably the best basketball of his life, posting 30 ppg on 50% shooting, 7 rpg, and 4 apg in April. Amar’e Stoudemire, though not completely integrated into the lineup, looks like his back is in good condition. Just ask Tyrus Thomas. We get to watch Iman Shumpert guard Dwyane Wade. Steve Novak finished the season leading the league in 3-point percentage. Baron Davis has had sufficient rest, playing just two games over the last week and a half. J.R. Smith seems focused on being impactful off the bench.

If there was ever a team to bring out the most hostile Garden crowd, it’s the Miami Heat.  James’ crunch time struggles have been well-chronicled and that probably doesn’t bode well for the Heat to play in the Mecca of basketball with a raucous crowd that smells blood. If the Knicks can steal one game in Miami, the stakes become much greater for Miami who have much more pressure on their collective shoulders than the Knicks.

There’s plenty to be excited for in this series. And yet, that’s all the reason to be terrified. These are the New York Knicks after all, and in this wild 2011-12 season, we’ve learned that we can’t assume anything. But if there was ever a chance for a miracle to happen, it only seems fitting that it would happen now.

Amar'e Stoudemire will need to step up without Carmelo Anthony in the lineup.Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

been bothering him over the past two games.

With Melo out I would expect Bill Walker to join the starting lineup for the Knickerbockers. Walker’s range and scoring abilities should help bridge the gap as far as the starters are concerned, but it will weaken their already shallow bench.

The Knicks have lost seven of their last eight games, and getting back on track against the surging Miami Heat won’t be easy.  The Heat have won 5 of their last six and have looked great despite playing without their star guard Dwayne Wade.

If the Knicks have any hope whatsoever to win this ball game they are going to have to tighten up on D and play smart on offense.

The Miami Heat’s attack has been heavy on Chris Bosh in the past few games, so this is something the Knicks are going to need to focus on from a defensive perspective; this means that we are likely to see a heavy dose of Tyson Chandler guarding Chris Bosh—the effects of which are two-fold. By pitting their superior defensive front court player against Bosh, the Knicks are both neutralizing the Heat’s best front court player, as well as freeing up Amar’e Stoudemire to put the majority of his focus on the offense end of the floor as he will be left to guard the offensively challenged Joel Anthony.

On offense the key to the Knicks attack will once again be ball movement. Now that Anthony is out of the lineup, the Knicks will have one less player that requires their touches; this should make it much easier for the Knicks to share the wealth and spread the floor with their shooters. Look for a steady dose of pick and rolls with Stoudemire in an attempt to get him going in Anthony’s absence.  Should the Knicks be able to get some assistance from their role players, they be able to make things interesting tonight in Miami. (more…)

Carmelo Anthony On Wearing Majority Orange Ties: "I DO THIS"

* Moments after sinking the game winning 16-footer to down Memphis last night, Carmelo Anthony turned to the Grizzlies bench and shouted, “I do this!”. Who’s to disagree? Carmelo has been the Knicks’ offensive genius since coming aboard, scoring in a variety of ways in a variety of situations, but this was his first opportunity to win a ball game, flat out. Anthony did not disappoint.

* If you didn’t catch it, The Knicks Blog does a wonderful job breaking the game winner down.

* I imagine people who are into this might be intrigued by an underdog Knicks team taking on Dallas tonight.

* Some nice insight on Shawne Williams’ homecoming, and Marc Gasol might be interested in New York next year? That’s a steal.

* Looks like this Chauncey Billups thigh injury has manifested into a Chauncey Billups knee injury.

* Speaking of injuries, Amar’e should be a concern the rest of his career. How can the Knicks reduce the likelihood of trouble?

* A more in-depth look into how greatly Jared Jeffries can contribute without scoring any points.

* Hopefully Amar’e can play Mr. Nice Guy with the referees from here on out.

* I can’t believe people once thought Chris Bosh was better than Mr. Ciara. (Knickerbockers included.)

* He lives!

First, despite popular wisdom, the Knicks actually do play some very good defense at times.  Wilson Chandler, Landry Fields, Ronny Turiaf and Toney Douglas have been great at scrambling all over the court and causing chaos, while Raymond Felton can be quite the bulldog on D himself.  And Amar’e, while simply awful at one-on-one defense, can be a good help shot blocker.  Thus we’ve actually had several games where our D clamped down at the end of the games and really save the day for us.  So why am I complaining today — is it just because we lost?  No, it’s because this time D’Antoni came up with a specific defensive game plan that I feel put us in a big hole.  What was it?

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Danilo vs. Carmelo: a spirited battle of ridiculously Italian first names. (Source: Interbasket.net)

After failing to get LeBron James in the off-season, followed by a pre-season loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, things looked bleak this summer, but what a difference a few months makes.  Antony Marino takes us through the lows of our past, up to the highs of our present (without using drugs):

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LeBron James showed up strong last night, but will he ever truly be able to recover what he lost? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

In a game that many (including myself) thought would cause LeBron James to melt like the Wicked Witch Of The West meeting a bucket o’ water, the man came through impressively, silencing his critics.  Well, silencing some.  Perhaps how silenced people are has to do with how injured they were, or what exactly about his “Decision” upset them.  There are four main reasons why people were angry, and me, I fall into the fourth category.  They are:

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Don't jump to conclusions about the Heat, a team that's only had two weeks to play together, because they lost twice to the Celtics, the best defensive team in the league and a crew who've played together for three years. Come April, the Heat will be much more polished. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The media and fans (particularly in New York) are always quick, way too quick, to jump to conclusions and predict downfalls based on small sample sizes.  For the media, it’s ‘cuz they’re looking for stories.  When Amar’e Stoudemire was asked earlier in the week if he thought that the reason Andrew Bogut elbowed him extra hard was due to him being slightly involved in Bogut’s injury the previous year.  Stat’s reasonable response of “It’s possible” turned into a story of him claiming Bogut was purposefully out for payback.  Likewise, with the Knicks at 2-5 and the Heat at 5-4, suddenly people are roaring that neither team is anywhere near as good as people had expected.  Don’t buy it.  Yet.  It’s too early to know these things.  And just like how we don’t have enough information to know what’s real and what’s memorex yet, you also need to take the Golden State Warrior’s marvelous .667 winning record and the Indiana Pacers being at .500 with a skeptical eye.  Heck, I wouldn’t fault you for having two skeptical eyes either.  Let’s look at each team to better understand what’s going on:

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Nuthin' like playing with two great friends to make the game a blast. Above we see Wade, Bosh & LeBron yukking it up. (Yardbarker.com)

The world instantly judged the Miami Heat as Not Worthy after losing the opening game of the season to the Boston Celtics.  Despite them wining the next night in Philadelphia, Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, published an early eulogy for LeBron James and company.  Now I’m no fan of LeBron or the Heat, but this seems like something many men suffer from: premature evaluation.

It kinda reminds me of the scene in Monty Python’s The Holy Grail where an undertaker walks through a town calling “Bring out yer dead!” but after a body is dropped on the heap it chirps up, “I’m not quite dead yet.”  When the undertaker reveals he won’t be back for a while, the person who dropped off the body decides it’d just be in everyone’s best interest to kill this person and get it over with now.  Luckily for the Heat, there are still 80 games left, not to mention that playoff thing, so there’s no need to rush to conclusions and cold-cock ‘em over the head (much as many of us would like to do).  That said, c’mon, I’m a guy, so I want to jump to some conclusions too.  Here are mine, none of which will corpsify the Heat:

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LeBron has been pilloried by fans and media alike for his Decision. Is it a coincidence that all the media in this shot look pretty, well, white?

Apparently last night on an interview on CNN, both LeBron James and his manager, Maverick Carter, said some of the reason that people are so furious at LeBron is due to racism, as detailed in this report:

In the interview, CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien asked about “The Decision,” the one-hour special on ESPN in which James announced that he would play for the Heat, and some of the negative headlines it generated.

“It’s just about control and not doing it the way it’s always been done or not looking the way that it always looks,” Carter said.

O’Brien asked if race played a role.

“I think so at times,” James said. “It’s always, you know, a race factor.”

Said Carter: “It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure.”

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When discussing coaches on the hot seat, consider Don Nelson's butt on fire. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

In the first part, we looked at the coaches in good positions, but today we look at the ones in bad and ugly situations.  We went over those who were Bulletproof, 95% Bulletproof (aka Impervious), Pretty Safe and Fairly Safe.  Note that this is NOT about which coaches are good or bad, simply what the chances are that they get fired during the season.

Maybe Safe… Um, Maybe Not:

Jim O’Brien – Pacers: They’ve been mediocre for several years now and Bird hasn’t fired O’Brien yet.  Although the addition of new exciting young point guard Darren Collison gives hope for the future, there’s no reason to expect this team to be any better this season without a halfway decent power forward, so unless the team’s significantly worse than last year, O’Brien should make it through the season.

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Walsh may get credit for snagging one of these All-Stars, but he definitely takes a hit for losing out on the other one. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

We’ve already evaluated Donnie Walsh based on his Drafting ability in Part I, resulting in a big ol’ zero, meaning he was neither particularly good or bad.  In Part II, when we discussed Trades, he definitely performed well, scoring a +3.  Today we’ll examine perhaps the most important aspect of his legacy so far: Free Agency.  For many execs this doesn’t play a huge role, however since Walsh’s stated goal from Day One has been to clear cap space for a run at the max players this past summer, then it’s only fair that this should be a hugely significant factor in his evaluation.  Once again, reprinting the rules:

1. I don’t believe in negative Monday morning quarterbacking, so I don’t punish people for making decisions that were widely held to be smart at the time, but ended up working out poorly.  Meaning if LeBron James breaks his leg in seventeen places in a car accident tomorrow and can never really play better than an average player again, I can’t fault Pat Riley for signing him down the road.

2. I do, however, believe in giving credit for decisions that seemed poor/insignificant at the time but turned out great.  When the Suns reacquired Steve Nash from the Dallas Mavericks, many pundits felt they overpaid due to Nash’s back issues and age.  Two MVPs and many amazing seasons later, it’s clear that was a good move.

3. Draft-wise, in addition to no negative Monday morning quarterbacking, I also don’t believe that if someone makes a pick that turns out surprisingly great, you can’t fault all the other teams for passing on the guy.  Like Isiah Thomas gets kudos for finding David Lee at #30, but since no one thought he’d be as good as he ended up being, I can’t penalize all other 29 teams for passing on him.

4. For each positive thing, I’ll add some points (the # of points will depend on how big a thing it was).  Similarly, for each negative decision, I’ll subtract some points.  We’ll keep a rolling tally.

Free Agency Signings

December 2009 – Jonathan Bender

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With the Cavs having lost the unstoppable Delonte West (plus I think some other guy?), how bad will they be? You might be surprised by our take. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

We already examined how much teams improved/regressed during the off-season, but now we’ll talk about how they stack up against each other.  Meaning, we gave Orlando a zero for their summer and the Wizards a +2, but now we’re here to tell you that yes, of course Orlando is still gonna be far better.  For those who haven’t seen those posts on off-season grades, click the following links to see what we had to say about the Northwest, Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Pacific and Southwest Divisions.  Also, we’re only gonna be talking about the regular season here.  So even though we don’t think the Celts will be a top two team record-wise, it doesn’t mean we think they’re incapable of making it through the gauntlet again.  Lastly, some teams will be put in clusters ‘cuz they’ll likely end up with similar records and what does a victory or two here and there matter?

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Miami snagged this trio over the summer. I'd say that's a pretty good off-season, wouldn't you? But how good...? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

In part III of this series, we’ll be looking at off-season moves of the teams that make up the Southeast Division: the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic & Washington Wizards. If you wanna check out the first two parts, we covered the Atlantic Division and the Central Division.  The upcoming parts will look at the Pacific Division, Southwest Division and Northwest Division.The rules, as previously stated:

1. Rather than a standard A through F grade or going for a scale of 1-10, we shall use a system that my friend Noriko loves: -5 through +5.  It helps differentiate things a bit more, ‘cuz like if a team gets a C-, it’s better than an F, but is it good?  With this scale, you can instead give the team a +1, which shows that they improved the team, but only marginally.  Or maybe they get a zero ‘cuz they didn’t hurt the team or help it.

2. These grades are not, I repeat, NOT, about how good teams will be.  It’s purely about how good their summer moves were.  For instance, the Sacramento Kings may get a higher grade than say the Orlando Magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m insane and think the Kings will be better than the Magic.  It simply means I like the Kings’ draft of DeMarcus Cousins more than the Magic’s signings of Quentin Richardson and Chris Duhon (although I haven’t fully examined those teams yet, so I dunno what grades they’ll get).

3. The grades are not just based on how good the players are, but also their contracts.  Joe Johnson is definitely a top 30 player, but with Atlanta giving him $120 million/6 yrs, the largest contract of anyone this summer, his signing turns into a negative.

4. Grades will be scaled based on what each team could have done.  Meaning the Lakers, a team over the salary cap, get major kudos for snagging Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, Theo Ratliff and bringing back Shannon Brown with their limited financial flexibility, but if say the Knicks, with all their cap space, had only made those moves, I’d pan ‘em.

5. Fit matters.  I like Kirk Hinrich a ton, and had he gone to the Pacers (a team that desperately needed a point guard before the Collison trade), I would’ve raved about the move.  However, Washington acquiring him is a bit odd considering they already have PGs in John Wall and Gilbert Arenas.

And now…

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Is Philly's drafting of Evan Turner enough to compensate for the rest of the Sixers' mostly stagnant summer? Probably not. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Okay, with all the big names off the board, it’s time to look at how each team fared during the off-season.  Here are the rules:

1. Rather than a standard A through F grade or going for a scale of 1-10, we shall use a system that my friend Noriko loves: -5 through +5.  It helps differentiate things a bit more, ‘cuz like if a team gets a C-, it’s better than an F, but is it good?  With this scale, you can instead give the team a +1, which shows that they improved the team, but only marginally.  Or maybe they get a zero ‘cuz they didn’t hurt the team or help it.

2. These grades are not, I repeat, NOT, about how good teams will be.  It’s purely about how good their summer moves were.  For instance, the Sacramento Kings may get a higher grade than say the Orlando Magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m insane and think the Kings will be better than the Magic.  It simply means I like the Kings’ draft of DeMarcus Cousins more than the Magic’s signings of Quentin Richardson and Chris Duhon (although I haven’t fully examined those teams yet, so I dunno what grades they’ll get).

3. The grades are not just based on how good the players are, but also their contracts.  Joe Johnson is definitely a top 30 player, but with Atlanta giving him $120 million/6 yrs, the largest contract of anyone this summer, his signing turns into a negative.

4. Grades will be scaled based on what each team could have done.  Meaning the Lakers, a team over the salary cap, get major kudos for snagging Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, Theo Ratliff and bringing back Shannon Brown with their limited financial flexibility, but if say the Knicks, with all their cap space, had only made those moves, I’d pan ‘em.

5. Fit matters.  I like Kirk Hinrich a ton, and had he gone to the Pacers (a team that desperately need a point guard before yesterday’s Collison trade), I would’ve raved about the move.  However, Washington acquiring him is a bit odd considering they already have PGs in John Wall and Gilbert Arenas.

The upcoming parts will look at the Central Division, Southeast Division, Pacific Division, Southwest Division and Northwest Division. Okay, so without further ado, here’s Part I, where we start out in our own backyard, examining…

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Did the "injured" Chris Bosh sit out SIX more games after he was cleared to play? At least he looked engaged, cheering his team on from the bench. Oh wait... (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Some pretty damning comments from Raptors’ GM Bryan Colangelo about how Chris Bosh was healthy enough to play for the team during the final push for a playoff spot, but he bailed on them.  ESPN reports:

“Despite limited swelling and any excessive damage on an MRI, he felt like he needed to sit for six more games,” Colangelo said on 590 The Fan on Monday.

“I’m not even questioning Chris’ injury. I’m telling you he was cleared to play subject to tolerance on his part, and the tolerance just apparently wasn’t there and he chose not to play.”

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The second one I’m unable to embed, so you’re gonna have to go to ESPN to check it out.  For the ESPY awards Steve Carell and Paul Rudd did a parody of LeBron’s “The Decision.”

Many wondered if Cleveland's Game 6 was the last time we'd view LeBron in a Cavs uniform. Few guessed it'd be the last we viewed him as a transcendent hero. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

By choosing to go to Miami, LeBron James has decided to try to become one of the great winners in NBA history instead of one of the most heroic. Had he gone to almost any other team he would’ve had a shot at both, but by joining the Heat he’ll have lost his shot at heroism. Well, except possibly to Miami Heat fans. Although even that will be tempered amongst Miamians by the fact that they also have another arriving hero in Chris Bosh, not to mention the happy news of their returning hero, Dwayne Wade. The thing is, it’s easy to find winners in the NBA: every year we crown a champ. However, a true transcendent inspirational hero, that’s a rare diamond to unearth.

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"Got Em!" says the trio

Alan Hahn of Newsday is reporting that Lebron to Miami is a done deal.

I don’t know how things could get any worse for the NBA if this is indeed the case. The Heat will have formed an Olympic caliber team and will put the East on lock for at least the next 5 years.

The Lakers already are in complete control of the West as well so if this does go down we could be looking at the same finals matchups for the next 5 seasons.

Let’s hope this isn’t the case because two top 3 players and a top 20 player on the same team is just not fair and will make the NBA almost unwatchable.

Wade will lift Bosh up so Chris can finally get past the first round. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Chris Bosh has agreed to join Dwayne Wade on the Miami Heat. Toronto has said they’re not interested in doing a sign-and-trade with Miami, although they might yet change their mind. Bosh has said even if the Raptors won’t play ball, he’s still going (meaning he’d get $30 million less and a 5-year contract rather than 6 years).

As we wait for tomorrow’s one-hour LeBron Special Announcement Insanity, this might help us narrow down his possibilities. Since he’s scheduled a time to declare this, we can assume he’s now finally already decided where he wants to go. As I see it (and yes, this is pure speculation), which of these teams are still in the horse race:

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Who wants to play in Cleveland?

It appears LeBron may be on his own if he returns to Cleveland.

Amar'e, already acting like a regular New Yawker, caught a Yankee Game on July 4th. Can he draw other stars here? Or will we end up not even giving him an offer? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Amar’e Stoudemire, out on the town catching a musical, revealed that he’s already trying to recruit players to join him in New York:

“I’ve talked to Carmelo Anthony that he needs to come out here,” Stoudemire said. “I’ve talked to Tony Parker. Both guys are ready to join me if I decide to come here. So we will see if we can work it out.”

Discussing that possibility, ESPN’s Chris Sheridan wrongly reports:

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This could be the last time you see Dwayne Wade by himself. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Knicks’ fans beware, the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls have positioned themselves to outdo us in their free agency pitch to LeBron James, Chris Bosh and the rest.  Yes, yes, I hear there’s some draft tonight that might turn around the fates of some franchises, but we Knick fans know our real chance for change comes July 1st, the start of the free agency wooing period.  While we didn’t have the best roster, we did have the space for two max players, something only New Jersey and Miami could match.  Unfortunately, in the last 36 hours Miami has created even more cap room, while Chicago seems ready to join the group too.  Before reading any further, I’d recommend you step back from any steep ledges ‘cuz by the end you might feel compelled to throw yourself off ‘em.

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Chris Bosh wanted to be The Man BEFORE the season started. Since then the Raps missed the playoffs, with Bosh finding himself triple-teamed by the likes of the lowly Nets here. NOW he's open to a wee bit more help... (source: Yardbarker.com)

Regular Bucket reader Brian posted a comment about the “new” article on NBA.com that reveals that Chris Bosh doesn’t want to be the #2 option on some team — he feels he’s good enough to be The Man on a championship squad.  I wrote a long response and decided I should just turn it into a post, with a few more things added.

The first time I heard about Chris Bosh not wanting to play sidekick was in the middle of the season when TrueHoop had an article on it.  Thus, at that point I figured there’d be no way he’d come to NY w/LeBron (I think I may’ve even posted that somewhere on Buckets).  However, not to be quoting early Emilio Estevez classics, but That Was Then, This Is Now.

After the Raps failed to even make the post-season, everything I read seemed to indicate that Bosh was no longer quite so adamant about being The Man. So I was darn surprised to see a current article stating in even stronger terms that he still wouldn’t be a #2. But then I looked more closely at the article and saw:

“I don’t want to be mentioned as an addition to a team,” Bosh said PRIOR to the season [video below].

The bold-facing is mine, but that’s kind of a big thing that’s only mentioned at that one point.  All the actual quotes are from before the season, but the implication is that these are new things that he’s just come out and said.  However, the only thing that directly references recent thoughts is:

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Quite Frankly, I miss this guy

There has been a new rumor released by former ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, a New York native, on where Lebron is leaning on signing and that is the New York Knicks.

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Shhh, LeBron and Wade are on their way to the mythical Superstar Free Agency Summit. There's even a secret handshake to get in the door. (source: Yardbarker.com)

With LeBron-frenzy-ation reaching new heights as we approach hunting seasonfree agency’s opening day, lots of incorrect info is being bandied about.  And I won’t stand for poor bandying.  Thus I sit here writing about what’s a Myth or Irrelevant.

1. Bosh’s List Of 5 Teams – Myth

Yes, yes, I know even I reported it, but it turns out it’s bogus.  The claim was that his agent submitted the list of the 5 teams Bosh was interested in playing for next season.  Now it’s come out that his agent has debunked this story.  Which makes sense.  Would someone really wanna limit their options like that this early on?  Shouldn’t you wait and hear what offers you get?  Maybe say Orlando pops out of the woodwork, with the ability to do a sign-and-trade involving Rashard Lewis?  Bosh and Dwight Howard are supposedly somewhat close, and after playing with the defensively inept Bargnani, it’s gotta look pretty appealing to team-up with Superman.  I mean, yes, I completely made this up, but the point is it’s just good business to wait and see what options are out there before you start closing any doors.

2. Free-Agent Powerhouse Summit With Dwayne Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Joe Johnson, A’m'a’r'e, and Matt Barnes – Myth

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Future Kings of New York?

In very odd timing, the Knicks front office revealed this summer’s major targets, and none of the names come as a surprise. Lebron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade were noted as Walsh’s biggest targets for the upcoming summer.

Two names were left off which I found surprising, Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson were left off Walsh’s list for whatever reason and that is actually pretty releaving because I really don’t want to see either in a Knick uniform.

So without further a do let me break down Walsh’s wish list.

Chris Bosh:

So, obviously adding Bosh would be great but not without adding Lebron or Wade. Now, a lot of people may wonder what Bosh brings to the table that David Lee doesn’t. Lee is a consistent scorer on the offensive end, but Lee’s game is very limited and really is not even close to the level Bosh is currently at. Bosh can command the post like few in this game, and can virtually score from anywhere around basket.

Bosh plays a very similar style to Pau Gasol. Gasol gets a lot of unwarranted hate for being “soft” much like Bosh. Gasol is perhaps one of the most underrated post players in the game today, but since Bosh has been surrounded by players who don’t mesh at all Bosh’s game has suffered mightily. Both players are the perfect #2 options on championship teams, so placing Bosh with either Lebron or Wade would without a doubt make us a contender.

Now comes the very difficult part; Dwyane Wade or Lebron James? Let us first dive into Wade’s World.

Dwyane Wade:

Wade is already ahead of James on my wish list for one reason and one reason only; he’s won a championship. Granted, Wade has struggled with injuries over last few seasons, but the simple fact of the matter is Wade has done something Lebron has not and that is win an NBA title. Wade’s game resembles Allen Iverson’s in a lot of ways, except Wade’s defense is miles ahead of Iverson’s and is a much better team player then Iverson ever was. Granted, I don’t think Wade would of won his championship without Shaq but that is perhaps one of the stupidest arguments in basketball.

Well, Kobe wouldn’t have won any titles without Shaq or Pau, Jordan without Pippen or Rodman, Pierce without KG, the list goes on and on. This argument is tossed around ESPN all the time and it’s beyond infuriating. Wade was the #1 option on the Heat’s championship campaign and Shaq came through as the #2 option, which propelled the Heat to become NBA champions. Kobe has been the #1 option on a championship team once, which was last season. Duncan never would have won any titles without the help of Ginobli and Parker as well.

Wade is one of the best #1 options in the league and has proven he’s capable of carrying a team on his back into the playoffs, but EVERY #1 option needs a #2 option to win a championship and Chris Bosh fills that void.

Wade would absolutely dominate in D’Antoni’s system, but playing alongside Toney Douglas might not be the best fit going forward. Wade won a championship with two of the best passers this game has ever seen in Gary Payton and Jason Williams at the point. If the Knicks can bring in Tony Parker or another veteran point to play with Wade and Bosh anything short of championship would be unacceptable.

Lebron James:

Lebron James is the greatest player in the game today, there is no argument anymore. So obviously I’d love to have him come to the Big Apple, but there are still a lot of question marks that come with Lebron. After watching Lebron take Game 5 and 6 off in this year’s NBA playoffs I lost a lot of respect for Lebron as a player. Wade may not be as talented as Lebron, but Wade would never have taken games off like Lebron did. Lebron is still a very immature player, and that’s pretty frustrating considering just how good he is.

Another big concern I have with Lebron being in New York is all the distractions and pressure he’d have. Lebron is the king of Cleveland, but I’m not sure he could handle being the king of New York. Lebron also plays the same position as 3/4 of our returning players going into next season, including our top-10 lottery pick just two years ago in Danilo Gallinari. We’re already crowded with forwards so adding Lebron would still not fill our major holes on the roster.

Final Verdict:

In closing, adding Bosh and Lebron/Wade would instantly propel the Knicks into contenders going into next season, but in regards to who would be the best fit?

The answer is quite simply, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Yeah, Dirk is annoyed about losing, but that has nothing to do with why he's opting-out of his contract (source: Yardbarker.com)

ESPN reported that Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki is likely to opt-out of his contract, ostensibly add his name to the free agency pool, and as an unrestricted free agent at that.  What does that mean for Knick fans?  Quite possibly not a damn thing.  Even if he 100% wants to return to the Mavs, he’d still do this for contractual reasons, so it doesn’t imply he’s contemplating leaving in the slightest.   What’re the contractual reasons?

Opting out to sign a new deal, for starters, would lock in terms based on the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement through the life of the next contract. Under the league’s current system, Nowitzki is eligible for a four-year maximum contract from Dallas worth $96.2 million once he opts out. The most he could receive from another team is a four-year deal worth $93.1 million.

Signing a three-year extension to the last remaining season on his current contract, by contrast, would expose Nowitzki to potential after-the-fact reductions to his annual wage if league owners are successful in their attempts to lower the value of maximum salaries in the next collective bargaining agreement.

[...] Another motivation for Nowitzki to opt out as opposed to signing an extension is the ability to secure a no-trade clause.

If Dirk played for anyone else besides Mark Cuban, I’d say this also was a good maneuver to put pressure on management to improve the team, but Cuban’s already made public his plans to go after LeBron.

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Where is LeBron going? No, no, not in the picture, in free agency. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Even President Obama is getting in on the action:

“He doesn’t want to tamper,” senior adviser to the president — and former Bulls season-ticket holder — David Axelrod said. “But as a Chicago fan, the president thinks LeBron would look great in a Bulls uniform.”

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Despite my post disagreeing with Bill Simmons‘ diminished assessment of LeBron, he does bring up some interesting points about free agency.  Actually, one point which he brings up as something that won’t bring a title, I think is the opposite and is the way that Cleveland can get LeBron to stay:
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Could this be LeBron's final press conference in Cleveland? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

LeBron James coming to New York has always been a slim possibility.  Well, unless the Yankees are playing, then he’ll come.  But joining the Knicks?  Probably not.  For me, the most compelling reason for him to come, as I discussed in an older post, is that legacy-wise, for some inexplicable reason, winning championships in a major market carries more caché.  To me, because of his otherworldly abilities, I assumed his free agency thought process would really be more about “Where would I like to get some rings?” rather than “Where can I get enough help to win a championship?”  If he loses now, in just the second round, would that change his mental approach to the latter question?

There are still games to play, and I wouldn’t be surprised if LeBron willed the Cavs to victory yet.  And if he does go out now, it might not even effect his mindset at all.  However, since idle (or idol) speculation is all we’ve got left in New York right now, let’s look at possible ways that the King’s summer free agency could be effected by this surprise turn of events:

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"Wake up, Al! It's not a dream: in the All-NBA vote I got 43 times the points of former MVP Kevin Garnett!" (source: Yardbarker.com)

No, of course David Lee didn’t make First, Second, or Third All-NBA Team.  However, getting the third highest point total out of the runner-ups is pretty impressive.  Free agent and potential Knick, Chris Bosh, received 80 points, while All-Star Playoff stud Rajon Rondo notched 47.  Oh, you want to know who actually MADE the teams?  Here’s the list:

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Duhon may shoot the ball like a blind paraplegic, but he's one of the few Knicks to play some defense. Is that enough to warrant keeping him? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

For those of you who are new to the neighborhood, no, the title of the post isn’t a stab at Chris Bosh’s recent Twitter post — it’s a Clash homage.  We introduced the idea to this series a couple of weeks ago: an analysis of the 10 Knicks who we don’t have under contract for next year.  Going alphabetically, we already examined Earl Barron and Jonathan Bender.  Skipping over definite returnees Wilson Chandler, Eddy Curry & Toney Douglas, we now arrive at the man who was our starting point guard for the majority of the last two seasons: Christopher Riley Duhon.  Okay, I made up the Riley part, but it sounds right, don’t it?

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Anthony has been in the league 7 years now and been out of the first round once. Now, let that sink in for a second. The best scorer in the league (yes, I went there) and arguably the second best overall player in the league has been out of the first round once. Anthony is just now hitting his prime and the way he plays the game he’ll be playing at this level for years to come.

But back to the Nuggets failures, anyone who actually thought the Nuggets had a shot at making any noise this postseason obviously did not look at this roster or how they play without George Karl. With Karl now dealing with throat and neck cancer his coaching tenure with the Nuggets is in serious jeopardy, and the Nuggets don’t have many options out there.

Billups and Martin come off the books soon, Nene is getting up there in age, Birdman has regressed in a major way, and JR Smith is one of the most selfish players in the game.

But the question that the Nuggets front office is going to have address very soon is whether or not Melo is going to re-sign next summer.

With all the talk surrounding this summer and what LeBron is going to do the media is forgetting one major component and that is Carmelo Anthony.
I can say with the utmost confidence the Knicks have a better chance of landing Melo then LeBron. If the Cavs don’t somehow win it all this summer, I don’t want any part of LeBron.

LeBron also has the luxury of being in the eastern conference, while Melo has to deal with one of the toughest divisions in the NBA every year.

As I’ve said before, Melo has been in the league 7 years and made it out of the first round once. If Melo does bolt to NY next summer, he could quite possibly have the luxury of playing with Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, and who knows maybe David Lee.

Melo is rotting away in Denver, save him Donnie.

Should I stay or should I go?

Could this mean he’s a regular reader of Buckets Over Broadway’s new series and is out to help promote us over here?  Or is he finally revealing his overwhelming love for the Clash?

Either way, it ain’t a good sign for his Toronto fans…

It doesn't matter if you hate Chicago's Derrick Rose. As a Knicks' fan you should root for him to expose Cleveland's Mo Williams so that a certain King will get frustrated and wanna leave the Cavs. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

It’s Fan Appreciation 101 to root for your team to win, but as anyone who’s taken higher classes in Team Supportation knows, that’s just the tip o’ the iceberg.  Sometimes you gotta see the larger picture, which may require you to hope your team actually loses for say a better draft position.  The Indiana Pacers finished the season playing some of their best ball, but that annoyed many true-blooded Indy fans since it destroyed their lottery chances.  Other times, you may root for your team to lose so that the owner finally wises up and sees it has to fire that crappy coach or GM (or both — hello Isiah Thomas and Mike Dunleavy Sr.).

Frequently, as a member of the faithful, you may even have to root for outcomes in games featuring other teams.  Say you’re battling for the 8th seed in the playoffs, then you gotta watch the games involving the other teams in the battle so you can root against them.  Or maybe you’re assured of being in the playoffs, but you know you match up against one team better than another.  Now you gotta cheer for the right teams to win and the wrong ones to lose all so that everything falls perfectly for your one true team.

However, with the Knicks’ eliminated from the playoffs long-ago, what’s a Knick fan to root for?  Things that will help us out in free agency.  I spent the last month of the regular season caring less about the Knicks’ wins/loss total than about the outcome of the Raptors/Bulls’ battle for the final playoff spot.  I figured that if the Raptors don’t make the playoffs, then surely Chris Bosh’s chances of remaining in Toronto drop rapidly.  Does this mean he’s a sure-fire Knick, or even that he’s my top choice?  No, but I like to improve my odds as much as possible.  Had the Pacers finished with the fifth worst record instead of the tenth, they still might not have won the lottery, but it wouldn’t have hurt.

Thus, for a true Knick fan, here are the things for which we should be rooting in order to increase our chances during the free agency period:

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Can NY afford to get David Lee, Chris Bosh AND Rudy Gay? Thanks to the new salary cap and a loophole, let's Barack the answer: Yes we can. (source: Yardbarker.com)

As ESPN reported today:

The New York Knicks and other teams hoarding salary-cap space got some good news Friday when they were told at the league’s Board of Governors meeting that the projected 2010-11 salary cap will be $56.1 million.

That figure was $2 million to $3 million more than most teams had been expecting, and for the Knicks it ensures they have enough cap space this summer to sign two maximum-salary free agents.

Just yesterday Chris Sheridan was reporting that people were expecting the salary cap to be between $52.5 and $54 million, and that anything less than that upper end would make it tough for us to sign two max free agents.  In other words, wipe away that sweat, we’re sitting pretty now.  A few other interesting things gleaned from his article:

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You may not be able to tell from the looks on the Raptors' bench, but Toronto won the game. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Toronto annihilated the Knicks last night 131-113 (if we were playing Mastermind we’d say at least the Knicks’ score got all the same correct #s as Toronto, but just in the wrong order).  In the first half, the Raptors shot 70%.  No, not from the free-throw line, but from the field where you’re supposedly allowed to play defense.  The Canadian fans were excited, so why the depressed looks on the bench?  While Toronto needed this final win to get into the playoffs as the eighth seed, they also needed something else: the Chicago Bulls to lose their simultaneous game against the Charlotte Bobcats.  The Bulls didn’t play their part, instead winning and thus hanging onto their last-minute theft of that final playoff spot.

More depressing to the people of Toronto is that perhaps this helped further the death knell of Raptors’ all-time-scoring-and-rebounding-leader Chris Bosh’s stay north of the border.  The man is on record as having said he wants to be surrounded by enough talent to make his team a contender.  It’s pretty clear that Toronto ain’t nowhere near that.

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Wade's coming in for a landing. A free agent landing. (source: Yardbarker.com)

After ESPN’s focus on LeBron James’ free agency last week, this week they turn to Wade:

Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: Wade has complained openly about wanting to play with better teammates. The Heat have schemed blatantly to get major cap room. They are required to sign about a dozen more players. And there are tons of free agents on the market. It’s a lock the Heat will add lots of new talent. It’s not at all a lock, however, that one of those new players will be LeBron James or Chris Bosh. James, I think, will be in Cleveland, and deep-pocketed front offices in Chicago and New York will be pushing hard to add top-shelf talent. Most likely is that the Heat convince Wade to stay with a revamped roster in which he’s the only superstar … unless New York or Chicago can talk Wade into leaving.

First, let’s make it clear it’s less that Wade’s complained and more that he’s made it clear he wants to win.  ”Complaining” makes it sound like he’s some spoiled kid, but he’s said what any star should say: he wants a chance to play for the title during his prime.  While his buddy LeBron has been rather nebulous in his desires, Wade’s been pretty clear and forthright: he wants to stay in Miami as long as they’re competitive.  So while I think it’s extremely unlikely Wade will leave Miami, I gotta disagree with Abbott on his conclusion that Wade will remain there even if he’s the only star.

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Andrew Bogut, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, David Lee, Kevin Love, Troy Murphy, Steve Nash, Joakim Noah, Chris Paul, Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace and Deron Williams.

Me, I was surprised to learn that Gerald Wallace has averaged over 10 rebounds a game this season, but what surprised Ridiculous was the one player I hid:

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The Celtics' Rajon Rondo drives to the hoop and is shocked to find that the Knicks have a 7-footer playing defense there. Meet Earl Barron. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Two seasons ago the Boston Celtics were the cream of the crop with Kevin Garnett leading their monstrous defense.  Last season they started out strong until KG went down with a knee injury which kept him out of the playoffs.  As a result, they struggled to get past the Chicago Bulls, then were eliminated in just the second round.  This year Garnett is back and ostensibly healthy.  But the mojo is gone.

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(source: Yardbarker.com) Like a little girl in puppy love, New York hopes we're the one LeBron's eyeing.

Seems ESPN has launched ESPN NewYork.com today and decided to promote it by rehashing the ol’ Will LeBron James Go To New York story.  There’s a surprisingly large amount of Nothing New, mixed in with Shameless Sensationalizing, Idiotic Conclusions Based On Personal Feelings, and just Awful Math.  That said, there were maybe a couple of Intriguing Bits to me, but it might all feel redundant to y’all.  Without further ado:

Idiotic Conclusions:

The worst part was where the sportswriters speculated the percent chance of LeBron going to one team or another.  Let’s start with Mark Stein saying there’s a 10% chance that LeBron will go to Dallas.  10%???  10% means 1 in 10!  You’re going out tonight and your choosing between your ten favorite restaurants — that gives each one a really good shot at being chosen.  Thankfully, of the four other Dallas writers, they all only gave it a 1-3% chance.  I like Stein’s writing a bunch, but his thesis his based on this you-can-substitute-LeBron’s-name-with-anyone statement:

I firmly believe LeBron likes the thought of playing with Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, trusts Mark Cuban to be an owner who will always spend whatever it takes to contend and loves the city of Dallas and Cowboys football

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Earlier this week, Walsh questioned the value of Chris Bosh. Sources close to Walsh believe Walsh would rather retain Lee for smaller contract then a max contract on Bosh.

Well Donnie, things won’t pan out like that. Lee is absolutely fed up with being underpaid and has contributed just as much if not more then Bosh has done with Toronto.

If we intend to keep Lee it’s going to have be a long-term deal worth a lot more money then Lee is currently making. Lee is one of the most consistent players in the league and has been nothing short of sensational since being drafted here. Lee is a workhorse who’s earned the right to maybe even a max contract, just not from us.

Bosh is a player you can build around, Lee is some you can’t. Toronto blew up a great core by adding Barngani and Turkgolu to produce one of the worst defensive teams in recent memory. Bosh and Lee both play for teams with minimal talent, but Bosh is the better player now.

Bosh is a game-changer and adding him to this team would be huge, but that would also mean the end for Lee. Lee deserves to be on a good team and as it stands right now Walsh has no interest in paying him the money he deserves.

There’s also been rumblings of trading Wilson Chandler. Chandler, another starter has been solid all season long and recently lost his father. Now, with a few games left in the season trade talks start to surface that the Knicks are looking to move Chandler?

I’m not going to put all the blame on Donnie, but this is just setting a bad president going forward into this summer.

Why hasn't the NBA tried to make the league more female-friendly? The Laker Girls may be friendly females, but that ain't the same, now is it? (source: Yardbarker.com)

Across ESPN’s TrueHoop and a few other sites, there has been a back-and-forth about female basketball fans that I find fascinating.  The initial highly intelligent post on Hardwood Paroxysm was written by Sarah Tolcser, co-author of HornetsHype, and who’s Twitter nom de plume is ticktock6 (yes, that was just my shameless excuse to write “nom de plume” and attempt to sound smart-like).  Unfortunately, a lot of the conversation has gotten caught up in whether the current usage of cheerleaders is an evil, sexist thing, but I find that to be limiting.  The question of how (and perhaps even “whether”) to appeal to female NBA fans is a much larger, more intriguing question to me.

Tolcser cites a stat that 40% of NBA fans are female, a number which shocked me.  I mean I’d always thought instead of the slogan “Where amazing happens” that the league could’ve always used “Where sausage fest happens.”  After all, most sports reporters and writers (and by writers I mean even going all the way down to the people who choose to write comments on blogs like this) tend to be people of the testicular-persuasion.  And honestly, I tend to view males as more the type to get obsessive when they follow ANYTHING, be it sports, Lord Of The Rings, indie-rock bands, whatever.  That’s not to say that there aren’t hard-core female indie-rock followers, but when I picture the over-the-top fan who brags that he only listens to vinyl and has a collection of 6,000 vintage small-label original recordings, I can only see that dork being a guy. (more…)

Let's start a rumor that this Team USA moment (where Wade jealously catches LeBron and Kobe laughingly bond) caused a rift. As a defense mechanism, Wade will now pursue Amar'e, while LeBron's goes for Joe. Can't they see true love is right there next to them? --No, not Kobe! I'm talking about each other! (source: Yardbarker.com)

In an ESPN.com article, Mark Stein writes:

It is widely assumed that LeBron James and Chris Bosh are the two marquee free agents Dwyane Wade wants the Heat to pursue starting July 1.

The reality, though, is that Amare Stoudemire should be regarded as no less than an equal in this conversation.

Given all the options and potential outcomes of LeBron’s foray into free agency — and Bosh’s recent insistence during All-Star Weekend that he’s in no rush to relocate just to be regarded as someone else’s sidekick — Stoudemire would appear to be the most signable of the three.

One source close to the situation insisted this week that Wade and Stoudemire are closer than advertised as pals even though they haven’t played together on Team USA since 2004.

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Joe Johnson – Atlanta Hawks

As we discussed after the recent Knicks/Hawks game, JJ has a nice relationship with Coach Mike D’Antoni from their time together in Phoenix, plus the Knicks have somehow managed to look competitive this year in the three games he played against us.  When JJ was on those D’Antoni Suns teams, although he was huge for them, at the time he was considered to be at best their fourth most important player (after Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudamire & Shawn Marion).  Joe rightly felt he could be more, a centerpiece, and he wanted to be paid accordingly.  Having achieved all that with the Hawks, he now has reached the point most vets get to: the main thing he wants now is the chance to play for a championship.  He is even one of the few stars who has literally put his money where his mouth is and has stated he’d be willing to take a bunch less money to be on such a team.

Now don’t misunderstand: he knows he has a very good thing going with the Hawks and that they are a really, really good team.  He’s not gonna just leave them to play on a mid-level Knick team.  So ignore this quote in the NY Daily News:

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After playing so well, Gallo felt like he was sitting on air. (source: yardbarker)

This year the Atlanta Hawks picked up former Knick Jamal Crawford, who is second on the team in scoring and is the likely winner of the Sixth Man Of The Year Award for the most valuable player off the bench.  In addition, their should-be-All-Star power forward, Josh Smith, aka JSmoove, has taken his game to the next level by no longer settling for hoisting up three-pointers, thus greatly improving his field goal percentage (& shot selection).  As a result, the Hawks have taken that next step to where they’re almost up there with the big boys in the league.  No one would likely pick them to beat Cleveland or Orlando in a seven game series, but they’re no longer the gimmes they used to be.  And if the Cavs or Magic came out with less than their A game, the Hawks could easily come out as victors. All of which makes it more amazing that the Knicks beat the Hawks yet again last night.  Particularly right after losing to one of the historically worst teams ever in the Nets.

To further highlight the difference, in the Nets game the Knicks made negative NBA history by attempting the most threes (18) without hitting one (aka 0).  Against the Hawks, the Knicks came out and went four-for-four from out deep to start the game.  Of course they didn’t keep up that insane pace, but they still finished off hitting 10 of 15, for a whopping 66.6%.  Teams would kill to shoot that well from two-point range, so to do that from beyond the arc is just downright amazing.  And don’t kid yourself into thinking that it has anything to do with the other team’s defense — the Nets are one of the worst teams at defending from the three-point line.

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