It’s important to note that certain NBA teams who have clinched playoff spots may be resting players and it’s equally important to recognize which lottery teams will be “showcasing” their young talent as a way to audition them for next season.

Here is my list of players you should be on the lookout for.  As always, all players listed are under 50 percent owned in ESPN and Yahoo! leagues:

Feb 22, 2013; Charlotte, NC, USA; Chicago Bulls small forward Jimmy Butler (21) dunks during the second half against the Charlotte Bobcats at Time Warner Arena . Mandatory Credit: Curtis Wilson-USA TODAY Sports

Brandon Bass- PF, C (Celtics):  After signing a three-year/$19.35 million extension with Boston in the offseason, Bass had failed to produce most of the year.  The man who was acquired in a trade that sent fan-favorite, Big Baby Davis to Orlando, was quickly becoming an afterthought in Coach Doc Rivers’ rotation, but an injury to Kevin Garnett has opened up a new window of opportunity.  Over the last 10 games, Bass has averaged 10.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, which is well over his career average of 0.6 blocks per game.  This run was culminated by a season-high 22 points in Wednesday’s win over Cleveland.  With an eye on keeping the C’s healthy for the playoffs, it looks like KG will be rested for a little while longer, and with a four-game schedule coming up next week you need to grab this guy now.  (36.9% owned ESPN, 50% owned Yahoo!)

Jimmy Butler- SG, SF (Bulls):  Like Bass, Butler is another player who has taken advantage of the recent injuries that have plagued his team.  Starting shooting guard Marco Belinelli has missed the past two games with an abdominal strain (and was ineffective for the two games prior) and there are talks of Rip Hamilton shutting it down for the year, so Butler seems poised to continue logging heavy minutes.  He brings a youthful energy to the court and Coach Tom Thibodeau has taken notice, as the Marquette product has played 33.2 minutes per game over his last five contests.  In that span he is averaging 13.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.4 three-pointers and 1.4 steals, while shooting 51 percent from the field.  Maybe the Golden Eagles’ run to the Elite 8 is inspiring him.  The Bulls finish the season with a 4-4-2 weekly schedule.  (2.8% ESPN, 9% Yahoo!)

Jerryd Bayless- PG, SG (Grizzlies):  Bayless was one of the sleepers I touted in the preseason due to the high level of success he’s had as a starter in the NBA, but it took Rudy Gay getting traded to Toronto for this to finally come to fruition.  After this week, the Grizz finish the season on a 4-3-2 weekly game schedule, and because of that Bayless is a guy that needs to be in your lineup.  With Gay gone, Coach Lionel Hollins needs another wing scorer and Bayless has been fitting that mold.  Over his past eight games he’s been lighting up the box scores to the tune of 18.6 points and 2.37 threes.  It’s crazy to me that his ownership is still so sparse, so get him immediately before people come to their senses.  (43.4% ESPN, 25% Yahoo!)

Jonas Valanciunas- C (Raptors):  The Lithuanian-born center has been a project all season long, but he finally seems to be making the best of his recent uptick in playing time.  Many fantasy basketball owners used some late-round picks on him hoping that they’d found a sleeper, but he soon fell out of favor, mostly due to the time he missed while injured as well as his relative ineffectiveness when Andrea Bargnani went down with his own injury.  Amir Johnson has seen his minutes decline lately because of “wobbly” ankles and a leg contusion, and that has only been a boon for Valanciunas, leading to 27.8 minutes over his last 10 games played.  In those games he has averaged 12.8 points and 6.7 rebounds, while shooting an incredible 70 percent from the field and a very impressive 84 percent from the line.  Numbers like that can be scarce on the waiver wire this late in the season, and are especially helpful because they are coming from the center position.  The Raptors are going nowhere and Coach Dwane Casey wants to see what he has in the 20-year old, so those increased minutes and productivity should continue.  Toronto finishes their 2012-13 campaign with weeks of 4, 3 and 2 games each.  (31.1% ESPN, 25% Yahoo!)

For Fantasy Basketball advice, as well as New York Knicks and NBA coverage, you can follow me on Twitter: @SethDaSportsMan

However it looks as if Shumpert will be ready to go when the Knicks face the Toronto Raptors on Friday.

Mar 18, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; New York Knicks small forward Iman Shumpert (21) warms up prior to a game against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Woodson said in an interview on ESPN New York 98.7 FM that Shump is fine after tweaking his knee.

“He’s fine; He’s going to be ready to go. I was just being cautious last night,” Woodson told Ryan Ruocco and Don La Greca on “The Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco Show” on Thursday.

Knicks fans had to hold their breath after Shumpert told reporters that he heard a “pop” in his knee.

“I took a step to explode and go up to the rim and felt it pop,” Shump told ESPN’s Ian Begley. “Last time I felt a pop, I was out eight months. I was nervous and more scared than anything.”

There was no swelling in his knee and didn’t even have to get x-rays taken on Thursday.

While Knicks fans finally get some positive news on the injury front, I would expect Woodson to still be cautious with Shumpert’s minutes going forward.

The good news though is that Shump will be in uniform and not join the likes of Amar’e Stoudemire (knee), Rasheed Wallace (foot) and Kurt Thomas (foot), who are expected to miss at least the rest of the regular season. Tyson Chandler is also out for approximately five more days with a neck injury.

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Feb 13, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks point guard Raymond Felton (2) puts up a layup against the Toronto Raptors during the second half at Madison Square Garden. The Raptors won the game 92-88. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

So, just short of a year later, the Knicks sort of rehashed that riveting come-from-behind win. Except while the flaming-bag-of-dog-poop execution was there for the whole 48 minutes, the spirited comeback was not. Instead, on their home floor, the Knicks squandered multiple opportunities, failing to get critical stops when they needed them, missing a litany of supremely make-able shots down the stretch.

Throughout the night, the Knicks’ offense sputtered in a way we haven’t seen this season. While the defense hasn’t been anything to rest their hats on  the Knicks’ offense has remained consistently competent, no matter the opponent. Not tonight. Perhaps with their minds on the six-day All-Star break ahead, and partying with P. Diddy, the Knicks simply missed looks that they normally make. For the game, New York shot 35% from the field, 36% from three-point range, and 71% from the free throw line. Regardless of their defense – it was solid in the first half, but they consented 56 points to the Raps in the second half – there’s very little chance of winning when a team is misfiring so frequently.

The game was wholly ugly and disappointing; I wouldn’t expect much more from the proceeding player report cards:

J.R. Smith – 34 minutes, 26 points, 8-17 FG, 5-10 3FG, 4 rebounds

Smith was the lone Knick to take over seven field goal attempts and make more than 40% of them – who woulda thought? Smith was one of the few bright spots in the Knicks’ offense tonight, canning most of his looks from the outside, but occasionally mixing it up and taking it to the basket. However, on defense, Smith’s fourth quarter lapses proved to be vital. A number of times he was abused off the dribble, allowing DeMar DeRozan and Alan Anderson to get to their preferred spots and put the ball in the basket. A hint for Smith, as it’s become a game-to-game trend: force right-handed shooters to their left.

Final Grade: B

Raymond Felton – 31 minutes, 16 points, 3-9 FG, 10-12 FT, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 4 TOs

Felton did the bulk of his scoring at the line, earning most of his free throws from hard-nosed drives to the rim. Unfortunately for Felton – and the Knicks, actually – he couldn’t get all of those inside looks to drop, missing two critical layups in the final 3:30 of the game. Felton did a decent enough job setting up teammates either off drive-and-kicks or the pick-and-roll, but as noted by the team’s overall FG%, Felton came up empty-handed on a number of assist attempts. Felton’s defensive philosophy continues to baffle, going under screens, switching off guards, but fighting over screens and trying to stick with bigger forwards.

Final Grade: B

Carmelo Anthony – 41 minutes, 12 points, 5-24 FG, 1-6 3FG, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 TOs

I’m regretting Carmelo Anthony making the All-Star team. Honorable (in a sense) as the nomination may be, Anthony could use a rest. Anthony is averaging 40 minutes per game in 2013, and it may be affecting his offense. Or maybe tonight was just one of those nights. Anthony’s shots just didn’t drop from anywhere. He rimmed out jumpers, and found himself smothered when he drove the lane and couldn’t find the opening to put the ball in the basket. The fact that he only drew four FTs on these defender-draped drives is a little suspicious. Either way, please, Melo, don’t do this to us again. Nice job on defense (Rudy Gay, his counterpart most of the night, shot just 4-21) and on the boards, though!

Final Grade: C-

Tyson Chandler – 34 minutes, 10 points, 4-6 FG, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks

Chandler pretty much stayed par for the course tonight; he did his usual Chandler things. He covered up a number of holes on defense, respectably staying in front of guards on switches, affecting attempts at the basket, and even doing some early trapping on pick-and-rolls. On offense, he finished the looks he got. The Knicks strayed from the Felton-Chandler pick-and-roll when it got hot in the fourth because…?

Final Grade: B+

Amar’e Stoudemire – 18 minutes, 10 points, 4-13 FG, 7 rebounds

At one point in the third quarter, Stoudemire leaked out, received an outlet from Anthony, and with one defender back, bricked an open layup, and then air-balled the follow-up attempt. It was that kind of night. It’s a shame that STAT’s most active game on the boards in awhile came on a night when he couldn’t get his shots to drop.

Final Grade: C

Steve Novak – 12 minutes, 9 points, 3-4 3FG, 4 rebounds

Novak was also one of the few bright spots tonight, and that was only for a quarter. Novak came off the bench in the first half and canned all his looks from downtown in the second quarter, looking like the Novak of 2011-12. He also grabbed four rebounds, which is nice, because there were plenty to spare.

Final Grade: C+

Iman Shumpert – 21 minutes, 5 points, 1-3 FG, 7 rebounds, 1 steal

Shumpert’s placement at small forward has done absolutely nothing for him, and it’s about time the experiment ended. My guy feeling is that Shump has been feeling discomfort in his knee (perhaps just regular wear and tear), and it has thrown off his game. He is hesitant on offense, far less aggressive on defense, and generally a non-factor on the court. Perhaps some rest time and a move to a bench role could revitalize him.

Final Grade: C-

Jason Kidd – 32 minutes, 0 points, 0-3 FG, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Kidd has dragged himself into the All-Star break, averaging 3.5 points on 23% shooting from the field. Unlike Shumpert above, whomay need a break and role change, Kidd absolutely needs time off and reduced role. He can’t hit anything outside, he’s lost his step that was helping the Knicks’ offense flow, and putting him on bigger and/or faster guards isn’t helping the cause

Final Grade: C-

Pablo Prigioni – 7 minutes, 0 points, 0-0 FG, 1 rebound, 1 assist

With trade rumors floating around the Knicks and Timberwolves, it’s possible Prigioni may not come back from All-Star break a Knick (if a deal does transpire, which seems like a stretch right now. OK. Breathe. Sorry. I’m OK. Just… I like Pablo). However, at this point, Prigioni doesn’t seem to be included in any major part of the Knicks’ ultimate success. His minutes are dwindling and his production is pretty uneven.

Well, that concludes the “first half” of the season. I can honestly say I hope to see this exact same group of Knicks return next week, hopefully 100% healthy, and see what they can do in the remaining 32 games. No doubt, though, the Knicks go into this break limping pretty noticeably.

February 6, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Raptors forward-center Andrea Bargnani (7) passes the ball as Boston Celtics center Jason Collins (98) defends during the first half at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

With Derrick Rose coming back soon, the Bulls could be looking to make some moves for the second half of the season.

With the trade deadline only a couple of weeks away, the latest NBA Trade Rumor has the Bulls and Toronto Raptors discussing  deal that would send Carlos Boozer to Toronto in exchange for former No.  1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com of  first reported the rumor and did note that more pieces will need to be added as Boozer makes $5 million more than Bargnani this season.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, says talks were initiated by the Bulls. Talks aren’t currently active, but could be revisited by the Raps and could also expand to include Nate Robinson and John Lucas III.

It would be  big deal for the Bulls, who would finally be able to unload  Boozer’s hefty contract. In addition, Bargnani would give the Bulls the perimeter shooting that they are desperately missing. Bargnani is averaging 15.9 PPG and 4.3 RPG in 22 games this season.

Boozer would give the Raptors, who already made a big move in acquiring Rudy Gay,  a legitimate post presence in their attempt to make a push for the playoffs. He is  averaging 15.7 PPG and 9.6 RPG in 45 games.

The proposed deal makes some sense for both teams, but I can’t see it happening as it makes less sense from the Raptors perspective.

Boozer makes over $15 million this season and is set to make over $16 million next season and that is a contract Toronto just doesn’t need right now.  In addition, adding Boozer would put the Raptors well over the luxury tax line next year.

However adding a post-player such as Boozer could make the up-and-coming Raptors a handful in the Atlantic Division for the Knicks for the next couple of seasons.

However, my gut feeling is that this deal doesn’t happen. It’s just another big name being rumored to change teams. There is just too much financial problems the Raptors could see in the future by making this type of move.

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ESPN’s Marc Stein has reported that Grizzlies are engaged in active trade discussions with the Raptors centering on Rudy Gay.

Jan 28, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay (22) is defended by Philadelphia 76ers guard Evan Turner (12) during the first quarter at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

While Stein is reporting that news, he also notes that while the Raptors are Gay’s most active suitor, no initial framework for a deal has been agreed upon. Stein notes that The Raptors have been determined in their pursuit of Gay and also are interested in Grizzlies forward Darrell Arthur.  Toronto is offering up Jose Calderon and third-year forward Ed Davis as two of the main pieces in a potential deal.

The Boston Celtics also appear interested in acquiring Gay, but it is doubtful that happens as they would likely have to deal Paul Pierce.

A potential Gay deal to Toronto would have some impact on the Knicks as it would bring just another talented player into the Atlantic Division, as the Knicks would have to see an improved Raptors team four times a season.

It makes sense for Toronto as they can sure up the small forward spot and can dangle Calderon’s expiring contract as bait, even though Calderon has been fantastic. Stein also notes that the Raptors are also looking to ship Kyle Lowry out as well.

Currently the Raptors are only five games out of a playoff spot, so as the deadline approaches, they will be looking to actively improve their team.

Memphis isn’t in a hurry to trade Gay, so it is doubtful a deal happens.

The Grizzlies are right in the thick of things in a tough Western Conference playoff race. After last week’s trade of Marreese Speights and others, the Grizzlies are under the tax line, so they won’t have to break up their current group of Gay, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Mike Conley for financial reasons.

However, there is concern that the Grizzlies won’t be able to improve the roster a great deal in the future so if they do decide to trade Gay, you can bet they will be demanding a couple of first-round picks in any deal.

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Although it wasn’t Amar’e Stoudemire who opened eyes, but instead Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani who dominated the Knicks, scoring 20 points, leading the Raptors to a 107-88 win over the Knicks.

May 9, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; New York Knicks power forward Amare Stoudemire (left) with small forward Carmelo Anthony (right) after Stoudemire fouls out of the game during the second half of game five in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Miami Heat of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Bargnani got off to a good start last season, but was limited to only 31 games last season because of calf strains. He was back in the Raptors’ starting lineup after he bruised his left calf and departed in the third quarter of Toronto’s 104-101 victory over Washington on Wednesday.

Toronto has won three in a row and improved to 4-1 on the preseason, outscoring New York 30-20 in the third quarter to take command of the game. Kyle Lowry finished with 17 points for Toronto and Amir Johnson contributed 14.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 24 points followed by Stoudemire’s 18 in his preseason debut after missing New York’s first two games because of pain in his left knee.

After shooting the light’s out in their opening preseason game, shooting has been an issue for the Knicks since, who knocked down only 5-of-27 (.185) attempts from behind the arc and shot only 65.4 percent from the free-throw line on the night.

Anthony led the team in rebounds with six and also had two blocks, while point guard Pablo Prigioni led the Knicks in assists with five and steals (2).

James White got the start at the 2 while the likes of Rasheed Wallace, Marcus Camby, J.R and Chris Smith, Ronnie Brewer and Iman Shumpert all did not play due to recent injuries.

It was also the first look for the Knicks at former teammate Landry Fields in a Raptors’ uniform. Fields started and finished with six points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals on 3-of-9 shooting.

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Today, we’re taking a peak at how the future showdowns between the Knicks and the Toronto Raptors may shake out.

In the case of the Raptors, they’re a very interesting team to forecast. Heading into this off-season, they had two clear objectives on their to-do list, and only accomplished one. They were able to bring over 2011 first round draft pick Jonas Valanciunas from Europe, but were unable to land their prize on the free agent market, Steve Nash. But, their off-season remained topsy-tervy after missing out on Nash. Plenty of experts around the NBA gave the Raptors tons of love for getting point guard Kyle Lowry from the Rockets for very little after missing on Nash. Yet, at the same time, nobody truly enjoys the contract handed out to former Knicks role player Landry Fields, which was offered, at the time, as a way to keep the Knicks out of the Nash sweepstakes. Still, the Raptors have seemed to improved on paper from what was a semi-competitive team last year. So, let’s look at how they match up with New York position-by-position.

Point Guard: Kyle Lowry/Jose Calderon (TOR) v. Raymond Felton/Jason Kidd (NY)

Of the four players that will primarily be serving as their teams point guards, its possible that the Raptors have both the best of the bunch (Lowry) and the worst (Calderon). Lowry has steadily improved each year since being drafted by the Grizzlies in the first round out of Villanova, culminating last year in his best year to date, averaging 14.3 points and 6.6 assists a night while limiting his turnovers. He’s a steady hand that can guide an offense in both the half court set and in transition, and is a massive improvement over the play from Calderon last year, who’s been one of the biggest enigmas in the NBA for the past couple of seasons.

As for the Knicks, we’ve discussed the new point men for New York at length, and the jury is still out on how the likes of Felton and Kidd will react in the Mike Woodson offense. If Felton returns to his run-and-gun peak he flashed with the Knicks before being traded to Denver, he could emerge as the best option either team has to offer at the point. With Kidd, we know he brings leadership, defense and three point potential, but we aren’t sure how much he’ll be able to contribute on a nightly basis at age 38. On paper, the Raptors seemed to have more of a sure thing in their starter than the Knicks have in either of their options. For that, they deserve the slightest of edges in this aspect of the match-up.

Edge: Toronto (slightly)

Shooting Guard: DeMar DeRozan (TOR) v. J.R. Smith (NY)

Many were expecting DeRozan to take the next step in his progression after averaging 17.2 points per game in his second season out of USC. Unfortunately for Raptors fans, that didn’t happen. While he still averaged 16.7 points a night last year, DeRozan saw his field goal percentage, rebounding and steals all take a dip, even though he saw more court time than the year prior. At this point in his career, DeRozan appears to be nothing more than a slasher with an ability to pop on a line score with a big scoring night from time to time. He doesn’t have any other peripheral skill that puts fear in opposing teams or the need to plan any extra for him as opposed to others that could see time at shooting guard in Toronto and may be best served down the road in his career as a sixth man.

Speaking of players better suited as sixth men, this brings us to J.R. Smith. With Iman Shumpert shelved at the start of the season as he recovers from that devastating knee injury in last year’s playoffs, Smith will more than likely take the role as starting two-guard for New York. In comparison to DeRozan, Smith’s game is much more dynamic, as he plays better defense and can kill a team from beyond the arc. While Smith commands more attention on offense, he also goes into funks where ball movement seems to die when it gets to J.R. for spurts during the game. Even when Smith is in his most selfish of moods, he’s still a better player, right now, than DeRozan.

Edge: New York

Small Forward: Landry Fields (TOR) vs. Carmelo Anthony (NY)

There is actually a lot of debate as to who will be the starting small forward for the Raptors this season. They could go small and start either Fields, their high-priced free agent acquisition, or even first round draft pick Terrence Ross. Or, they could insert Olympics sharpshooter Linas Kleiza into the line-up to add some more offensive punch. They could even play Amir Johnson, traditionally considered a power forward, to add more grit defensively. Then there’s the much ballyhooed Croatian Tomislav Zubcic, who could turn out to be the best of the bunch, though widely considered the least experienced. It may come down to a matter of match-ups as to who gets the start on any night.

Either way, none will even come close to the level of play Carmelo Anthony resides at. On his best of nights, ‘Melo is arguably the best scorer in the NBA and is in the conversation with Kevin Durant for the title of best small forward in the entire league (yes, I’m considering LeBron James more of a hybrid 4). Should Anthony’s play from the Olympics carry over into the regular season, the star forward could be on his way to a historic year.

Edge: New York

Power Forward: Andrea Bargnani (TOR) vs. Amar’e Stoudemire (NY)

On paper, it would seem that Stoudemire has the advantage. However, we all know games are not played on paper. And, Knicks fans are all too familiar with the games Bargnani has put up against New York in recent memory. For some reason, Bargnani loves playing the Knicks. He always has huge nights both on the glass and from beyond the arc, as the 7-footer can step outside and drain 3s at a Steve Novak-like rate. Even with the amount of joy I get every time Clyde tries to say “Bargnani” during a broadcast, few players in the league are as big of an offensive threat to the Knicks historically as the tall Italian.

Even with all that said, there are two reasons why I’m still in favor of giving Stoudemire the edge. The first of which is Mike Woodson’s new emphasis on defense with this unit. I don’t believe the looks Bargnani has gotten in the past against the team will be available to him anymore. The Knicks will have the ability to let STAT follow Bargnani out along the wing without sacrificing size underneath the basket with the likes of Tyson Chandler or Marcus Camby in the lane. Second, I still think Stoudemire was playing last season well below 100% in terms of health. I don’t know if we’ll ever see the MVP-type level Stoudemire first flashed when he arrived to New York, but he is certainly much better than he played last year. The Knicks will also have a much deeper bench, which will only give them more flexibility to keep Amar’e fresh.

Edge: New York

Center: Jonas Valanciunas (TOR) vs. Tyson Chandler (NY)

This is a case of the what we know against what we might think someone will be. For all the raves and reviews given to the big Lithuanian, we haven’t seen him perform on a nightly basis against the best competition in the world, so it truly is unfair to rate his ability against a well established center like Chandler, the defending Defensive Player of the Year. Until further notice, the Knicks will have the edge in the big man department.

Edge: New York

Bench: Terrence Ross, John Lucas, Amir Johnson, Linas Kleiza (TOR) vs. Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, Ronnie Brewer, Kurt Thomas (NY)

The Raptors have a lot of young players with something to prove off their bench, while the Knicks boast veterans who know how to play their roles as far as the structure of the team. We know Steve Novak can drain 3s all day, every day and walk away with a 15+ point performance from time to time. We also know Marcus Camby will grab plenty of rebounds and play a strong defense while occasionally cleaning up the garbage offensively and getting some buckets here and there. The sneaky addition to the Knicks bench was Brewer, who puts an emphasis on defense and may play himself into the Knicks starting line-up without Shumpert because of his shutdown abilities and Smith’s instant offense capabilities.

For the Raptors, if you aren’t going to have veterans with established roles, their bench is what you would want ideally. Anyone who gets into the game will be hungry to prove a point to management and assert themselves to get more playing time. However, that type of strategy could backfire, as some players may in turn try to do more than they should and do more damage than good. Until the Raptors bench loses some of the green that is on them and get more experience, you have to like the Knicks depth more than what Toronto can counter with.

Edge: New York

Final Verdict: Knicks with a significant edge over the Raptors

If the trade goes through (and it seems it will), it would complete a shake-up, rebuild, or strengthening of all five teams in the division. The New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and 76ers have all changed their rosters fairly drastically this offseason. Big moves or signings could still happen, of course, but if things stand as they are, here are my predictions for how the Atlantic Division will breakdown:

1.) Boston Celtics

Last Year: 39-27, first in division, fourth in conference

Key Additions/Retained Players: Jason Terry, Jeff Green, Fab Melo (R), Jared Sullinger (R), Courtney Lee, Jason Collins, Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox, Keyon Dooling

Lost: Ray Allen, Greg Stiemsma, Ryan Hollins

As tough as it is to say, the Boston Celtics have made themselves title contenders again. Not that they were far away. Last year, the Celtics were one win away from going to the NBA Finals instead of the Miami Heat. Now, with a productive offseason, they’ve retained depth upfront, bringing back Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass, while adding some in rookies Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo, and signing Jason Collins. Their center rotation is still weak, but they have plenty of size.

Meanwhile on the wings and in the backcourt, they brought back Jeff Green (in a $36-million overpay), used a sign-and-trade to get Courtney Lee from the Rockets, and used their mid-level exception to snag Jason Terry. The Terry move could be a particularly critical move that gives the Celtics someone to space the floor and be a secondary playmaker next to Rajon Rondo, or to run the offense when Rondo is off the floor. Combined with the eventual return of Avery Bradley, the Celtics figure to have a productive, four-deep backcourt.

Simply said, the Celtics have bolstered their frontcourt and their backcourt, added both youth (Green, Sullinger, Lee) and veterans (Terry), and have become deeper and more athletic. Add their new toys to the always-steady, now-Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo, and the Celtics will likely remain the kings of the Atlantic Division unless the pieces somehow don’t all mesh.

2.) New York Knicks

Last Year: 36-30, second in division, seventh in conference

Key Additions/Retained Players: Raymond Felton, Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas, Jason Kidd, Ronnie Brewer, Pablo Prigioni, J.R Smith, Steve Novak

Lost: Jeremy Lin, Landry Fields, Jared Jeffries, Josh Harrellson, Toney Douglas, Jerome Jordan

The Knicks’ offseason exploits have been well-documented across all platforms of media this summer, and it seems the general consensus is this: they’ve gotten better, deeper, but is it enough? Minus the back-stories, drama, and tactical plots, the Knicks were essentially outbid for Jeremy Lin and Landry Fields, two of the only young, productive players on the team heading into the offseason. The Knicks have undeniable depth – they can go two-, or even three-deep at some positions with a fully healthy roster. But again, is it enough to vault them into the elite category in the Eastern Conference?

While the Knicks made the controversial decision of not matching Lin, they did acquire two steady hands (four hands, technically) at the point guard in Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd. They re-upped J.R Smith and Steve Novak, two bench scorers with a good chemistry, and really the only two outside threats on the team. Ronnie Brewer was a sneaky veteran’s-minimum signing who could play an important role as a wing-stopper for the Knicks. Upfront, the Knicks got older, but tougher with the acquisitions of Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas.

The Knicks figure to be a good defensive team, and a capable offensive team, but despite their multitude of weapons on their depth chart, their ultimate success depends on how well Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler can mesh, and that still remains to be seen.

3.) Brooklyn Nets

Last Year: 22-44, fifth in division, twelfth in conference

Key Additions/Retained Players: Joe Johnson, C.J Watson, Mirza Teletovic, Reggie Evans, Keith Bogans, Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace, Brook Lopex, Kris Humphries

Lost: Jordan Farmar, Johan Petro, DeShawn Stevenson, Anthony Morrow, Gerald Green

The Brooklyn Nets have had one of the most interesting offseasons in the NBA. They managed to re-sign (albeit overpaying) Gerald Wallace, pulled off an unlikely trade for Atlanta’s All-Star guard Joe Johnson – which was enough to convince Deron Williams to re-sign -, and after months of flirting, came oh-so-close to trading for Dwight Howard. But alas, that trade fell through and the Nets re-upped their big men, Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries. The Nets also quietly put together a bench that figures to be productive with C.J Watson as the back-up point guard, MarShon Brooks entering his second season, the Bosnian scorer Teletovic, who figures to be a stretch-four type player, and Reggie Evans.

The Nets have a chance to be one of the most productive offensive teams in the NBA. Deron Williams is a top-five point guard on his worst days; perhaps the best point guard in the NBA on his best days. Johnson is a consistent scoring threat, who can also set other players up. Lopez is one of the best offensive centers in the league when he’s healthy. And the rest of the crew aren’t slouches at scoring the ball either. Defense and rebounding will be the Nets’ real struggles. Johnson is a competent defender and Wallace is excellent at times, and Humphries and Evans can both rebound the ball, but neither have ever carved out vital roles on successful teams. If Lopez can stay healthy, he has to improve on his abysmal rebounding numbers – 6 rebounds per game in 2010-11.

The Nets will outscore teams on a lot of nights, but close games often come down to stops, and on paper, the Nets don’t figure to be a team that’ll lock their opponents down very often. In the long run, that may end up hurting the Nets from becoming an elite team.

4.) Philadelphia 76ers

Last Year: 35-31, third in division, eighth in conference

Key Additions/Retained Players: Andrew Bynum, Dorrell Wright, Nick Young, Kwame Brown, Spencer Hawes, Lavoy Allen

Lost: Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Maurice Harkless (R), Nikola Vucevic

Up until the Dwight Howard trade broke through, the Sixers looked one of the losers of the offseason. They used the amnesty clause on Elton Brand and then proceeded to re-sign Spencer Hawes to huge money, acquire Dorrell Wright, Nick Young, and Kwame Brown. For a team with youth, potential, and money to spend, they hadn’t really taken the necessary next step to become the contenders many people contended they would be. But this Andrew Bynum deal shakes it up a bit. Bynum gives them the second best offensive force in the post in the league, with real size on rebounds and in the paint on defense. He also gives them (potentially) a go-to scorer, which they lacked most of the time.

However, they just lost Andre Iguodala, who is the almost the perfect complementary player on any roster. He’s one of the best wing defenders in the NBA, and plays like a LeBron James-lite: scoring, passing, running players, rebounding, just at a lower rate. Lou Williams was the team’s leading scorer last year, and while Nick Young isn’t the smartest player, or as good as Williams, he replaces Williams as a floor-spreader, and someone who can create their own shot.

Doug Collins has proven to be perfect for the Sixers, getting the most he can out of every player. They’ve got plenty of youth and potential on their team – Evan Turner, Jrue Holiday, Bynum, and Young – and if those guys grow into all that they could be, the Sixers will be in a good position. The problem is, we’re still waiting for Holiday, Bynum, and Young to actually turn into those players, and the time is winding down. Unless one of them takes a big leap into an elite positional player (and they all have the potential to do so), the Sixers still won’t be much more than a solid playoff team.

5.) Toronto Raptors

Last Year: 23-43, fourth in division, eleventh in conference

Key Additions/Retained Players: Kyle Lowry, Landry Fields, Jonas Valanciunas, John Lucas III, Terrence Ross (R), Aaron Gray

Lost: Gary Forbes, James Johnson

Predicting the Raptors to finish last in the division isn’t meant to be a slight to the team; I actually quite like what they’ve done this offseason. However, there’s a clear difference between them and the rest of the teams in the Atlantic Division. That said, the Raptors figure to at least make a playoff push this season. The point guard combination of Jose Calderon and Kyle Lowry is one of the best in the league, and gives them a nice mixture of scoring, passing, and defense. The Raptors highly overpaid for Landry Fields, in an attempt to lure Steve Nash back to Canada, and strip the Knicks of trade assets to Phoenix. But given the Raptors’ team, Fields may return to being the player we saw in the productive early months of his rookie season. The Raptors have spacing and good passers, which will open up the floor for Fields to cut, slash, and run backdoor for easy hoops. DeMar DeRozan has emerged as young, impactful scorer and slasher on the wings.

Upfront, the Raptors are OK, but nothing terribly impressive. Andrea Bargnani has still never reached the franchise-center level he was projected to be. At his best, he’s a high scoring center who doesn’t bring much more than average rebounding and below average defense. Ed Davis and Amir Johnson are both role players who can rebound, block shots, and scrap for points. Incoming rookie, 2011-12 lottery pick Jonas Valaciunas has had a disappointing Olympic tournament, and hasn’t inspired much confidence.

The Raptors will likely be good enough to make the playoffs, and they’ve certainly upgraded the talent on their team, but they’re currently outmatched in a soon-to-be competitive division.

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According to New York Newsday’s Al Iannazzone the Knicks won’t be matching the three-year, $19-20 million offer sheet to the second-year pro from Stanford.

The Knicks are not matching the offer sheet to Landry Fields, his agent said.

— Al Iannazzone (@Al_Iannazzone) July 15, 2012

May 9, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; New York Knicks guard Landry Fields (2) dunks past Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) during the first half of game five in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Fields certainly wasn’t worth over what was reported $10 million in the third year of the deal, but allowing Fields to walk means the Knicks are very thin at the 2-guard spot, especially with Iman Shumpert out until January with a knee injury. That means currently, J.R. Smith is the only healthy shooting guard on the roster.

The Stanford product was a good locker room guy and a young player that gave effort at both ends of the floor.

The Knicks’ reluctance to match is not shocking.  Fields, 24, had a solid rookie season after making the team roster as a second-round selection. But Fields took a step back last year as he averaged just 8.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He also saw his shooting percentages drop, hitting just 46 percent of his field goals and 25.6 percent of his threes.

As a rookie, Fields made 49.7 percent of his field goals and 39.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc, averaging 9.7 points on the season.

Fields is a player who did nothing special in a Knicks uniform, but could be counted on to do the little things. But in light of his sophomore slump it’s hard to justify paying him $19 million-plus.

Now general manager Glen Grunwald must find an alternative to Fields. One that will be able to bring it on the defensive end as well.

The only things in the Big Apple that is certain is that the Knicks roster is ever changing, they are getting older by the day and will be attempting to win a championship without the services of Fields.

Follow Matt Shetler on Twitter for news, reaction and analysis from around the NBA.

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There’s a pretty good reason we’ve lost Fields in the shuffle: nobody around the Knicks believe he’s a $20 million player at this point in his career.

In his brief two-year career, Fields has played in 148 games, starting in all of them except five. He’s averaged exactly 30 minutes a night. He’s put up 9.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists each night while playing the shooting guard position. After a surprising and stellar rookie season, Fields’ production dropped to 8.8 points, 4.2 reboudns and saw his shooting percentage drop from 49.7% to 46.0%. Not to mention, from the free throw line, he tumbled from a 76.9% in his rookie year all the way to 56.2% as a sophomore.

Every Knicks fan loved the intangibles Fields brought to the floor each night. He hustled, he grabbed important rebounds and he even had energetic sideline dunks that got fans out of their seats. However, of all the numbers I’ve listed above, do any signal to you that he’s worth $20 million over the next three seasons?

The reason the Raptors gave Fields this large of a contract was in part to keep the Knicks further out of the Steve Nash sweepstakes. Toronto believed that the Knicks best shot at snagging Nash, a player the Raptors front office circled at the top of their off-season agenda, was including Fields in a sign-and-trade offer to Phoenix. So, the Raptors brass offered Fields a “poison pill” contract that, if the Knicks matched, would be almost undesirable. That plan backfired in three crucial steps for Toronto.

The first, the Knicks came out almost immediately and said they wouldn’t match that offer. Second, the Knicks surprised a lot of people by showing their willingness to include promising guard Iman Shumpert in a sign-and-trade deal if it meant acquiring Nash. And, most importantly, the Suns eventually agreed to trade Nash to Los Angeles, making all of these efforts null and void. Yikes.

As for the Knicks, there has been a lot of talk recently that losing Fields hurts the Knicks depth off the bench. I don’t agree with that sentiment. Yes, obviously losing Fields doesn’t immediately make the Knicks bench any better than last season, that much is true. But, its important to remember that swingmen in the NBA are a dime a dozen. Every year, it seems at least one team finds a hybrid two-guard off the scrap heep that not only makes the team out of training camp, but then plays a strong role either off the bench or in the starting line-up. We’ve seen it with Willie Green in Atlanta, Gerald Green in New Jersey Brooklyn, or looking even further back to players like Shannon Brown, Jared Dudley, Lou Williams, or, you know, Landry Fields.

I’m not saying James White is going to be the next Landry Fields. I am, however, saying one is out there that the Knicks can find either on the waiver wire or at a veteran minimum. They exist.

So, let me ask you one very important question. Would you pay $20 million to a player you can replace with 1/20th the amount of money?

After the Rockets shipped last year’s starting point guard Kyle Lowry to the Toronto Raptors for a draft pick, even more momentum seemed to be building towards the inevitable. Now, the predictable has happened.

ESPN is reporting that the Rockets and Lin have verbally agreed to a four-year, $30 million offer sheet that will be backloaded for the final two seasons.

It’s hard to say any of this is a surprise. I don’t have much more to add that I didn’t say yesterday, except for this:

As much money as that is, is there anybody on the market that could possibly provide the Knicks with the same kind of production that Lin can? Even at the elevated price the Knicks will be forced to pay if they choose to match, there isn’t a soul the Knicks could bring in, right now, that will provide the same type of potential. Even with Jason Kidd in the fold now, point guard is one of the clear weaknesses the Knicks, currently constructed, have. Lin would go a long way to fixing those flaws.

Is $30 million a lot of money to give to a player that has all but 25 starts next to his name? Absolutely. No question.

However, is $30 million of Jeremy Lin better than any million of a Raymond Felton or John Lucas III? If you even have to think about that scenario, you’re crazier than I thought.

The Knicks have to match. They really don’t have a choice in the matter.

So, let me get this straight. The Knicks have presumably lost Landry Fields to the Raptors, they’re on the verge of losing Jeremy Lin to the Rockets, and they completely lost the Steve Nash sweepstakes to the Lakers. I’m looking for the silver lining as a fan, but its hard to find one.

I can only look at this move from a Lakers perspective. My god, they’re loaded. Think about their two potential starting fives:

Nash, Bryant, Metta, Gasol, Bynum.

Or, Nash, Bryant, Hedo, Gasol, Howard.

Both of those line-ups are just unfair. The rich get richer, for sure.

As for the Knicks, yeah. I joked with a buddy on Facebook earlier today that we should start preparing ourselves for the second-coming of the Raymond Felton Era. Now? That’s looking like a best-case scenario. Best case! How did this all happen? The team is down to Jason Kidd and/or Felton. They’re going to have to sign both if they lose Jeremy Lin to the Rockets.

I hate to be that pessimistic Knicks fan, but I’m getting that sinking feeling in my gut that this is going in the absolute wrong direction. I need a pick-me-up. And his name isn’t James White.

According to a report by The New York Post, the Houston Rockets are prepared to offer free agent point guard Jeremy Lin a four-year, $30 million contract. The reported deal would pay Lin an annual salary of $5 million for the first two seasons, then escalate to $10 million for the final two years of the contract.

It is believed that the maximum offer the Knicks can counter with to Jeremy Lin is a four-year, $24.5 million contract.

In 35 games last year with the Knicks, Lin averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists, going from end of the bench afterthought to rising star point guard inserted into the starting line-up. Lin was actually under team control of the Rockets last season before the team was forced to cut him due to having too many active players on their roster after their botched attempt of acquiring Pau Gasol from the Lakers in the Chris Paul three-team deal.

First things first, wow. This is a kick to the gut. A lot of people in the media and around the team have figured they will be able to re-sign Lin and that it won’t be that big of a deal or difficult. Then, something like this happens and it reminds us all how unpredictable the NBA free agency process can all be.

Even though I truly believe the Knicks need to re-sign Lin and allow him to continue his development with this nucleus, $40 million is a lot of money to give a player that has only started 25 games in his career. That’s a lot of eggs to put into the “Lin is a lock to be this productive” basket.

This situation is very different from the Landry Fields contract offer from Toronto. There is no conceivable scenario where the Knicks view Fields as a $20 million player over the next three years. That’s not to say Fields won’t be a very good player during that time period. He very well could, and should, be. He’s a rebounding two-guard with the ability to score 10-15 points a night, both very valuable skills, especially if his role isn’t as a starter. However, nobody sees that as being enough to justify the kind of money the Raptors threw at him. And, the only reason Fields got that kind of money was a plan by the Toronto front office to limit the Knicks ability to acquire Steve Nash in a sign-and-trade.

With Lin, its a completely different animal. I wouldn’t go so far to say the Knicks need to re-sign Jeremy Lin, especially if they acquire Nash. But, if they don’t acquire Nash, then the Knicks are in possibly a worse situation than last year. It will force this team to throw more money at Raymond Felton that they’re probably uncomfortable with, but he’ll be the last reasonable free agent point guard that can start left on the market. Andre Miller re-upped in Denver. If they lose Lin to the Rockets and Nash to another team, they’re in serious trouble. Enough trouble that they could finish next year worse than the 7th seed they got this season.

I’m not positive the Knicks have the flexibility to lock up Lin for the same figures the Rockets are offering, but they might have to swallow this vicious poison pill, just to make sure they have someone starting for them at the point guard position.

Knicks, Suns are in the critical stages of discussions on a sign-and-trade deal that would pay Nash $27M-$30M over 3 years,

Mar. 16, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash during game against the Detroit Pistons at the US Airways Center. The Suns defeated the Pistons 109-101. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

sources tell Y!

Wojnarowski also mentioned that the trade will likely include Iman Shumpert, Toney Douglas, and three other cheap players. Dan Gadzuric, Marc Berman noted, will be included in all trades because of his $1.4 million non-guaranteed salary, which was a tactic Glen Grunwald purposely played.

For Knicks fans, the trade is sure to bring about mixed feelings. Iman Shumpert represents the ’90s Knicks teams the fans so adored with his gritty defense and constant effort. Likewise, he’s got All-Star potential with nearly unparalleled athleticism, already-elite defense, and the ability to knock down shots off catch-and-shoot opportunities (though he still must become more consistent in the latter category). When the Knicks’ Big Three reaches the end of their respective primes (and contracts), Shumpert could be a useful building block going forward.

With Landry Fields likely going to Toronto, and J.R. Smith still a free agent, the Knicks two-guard rotation would be nearly decimated. However, if the Knicks did trade Shumpert, it’s possible that the Knicks would entertain matching Toronto’s offer sheet as to keep some depth at the shooting guard.

Not to mention Steve Nash has a chronic back issue that has been appeased by the leagues indisputable best training staff in Phoenix. I have my doubts about the Knicks’ training staff; see: Davis, Baron, 2011-12.

However, the idea of acquiring Steve Nash has to be appealing to everyone, regardless of their stance on Shumpert. Nash is an all-time great point guard, whose numbers last season paralleled the numbers he put up in his two MVP seasons in Phoenix. With great finishers in Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire (he and Nash were preeettty great together in Phoenix, in case you didn’t know), and a guy like Steve Novak to space the floor, the Knicks offense could be deadly with Nash at the helm. His guidance for the future of Jeremy Lin would be immensely helpful.

Undoubtedly, the trade would put the Knicks in official “win now” mode.

The details are still being hammered out, but this is a big story that’s currently in the process of being broken.

First and foremost, there is nothing wrong with what the Raptors are doing. Are they purposely making it difficult for the Knicks to match the offer and be competitive on the current free agent market? Absolutely. But, they’re also taking a chance that the Knicks don’t match and get stuck with the contract themselves, which is clearly a risk they’re willing to take.

Looking at this contract from the perspective of an NBA fan, this move is sheer brilliance by the Raptors. The only logical way the Knicks were going to acquire Steve Nash would have been through a sign-and-trade. The Phoenix Suns, according to sources, have stated that any sign-and-trade would have to include Fields as the focal point in what they receive in compensation.

Now, the Raptors have locked Fields into a contract that wouldn’t be ideal for Phoenix or the Knicks, which eliminates most scenarios in which the Knicks and Suns would be able to agree on a package in trade. This move could take the Knicks completely out of the Nash sweepstakes, which only improve the Raptors chances of signing the free agent point guard, who they offered a three-year, $36 million contract earlier in the week. The cap space is there for Toronto, especially if they amnesty Jose Calderon, to make both of these moves.

As for the Knicks in all of this, what a crushing blow. If they match the offer, they’re even more limited on the free agent front as far as salary cap flexibility. If they don’t match the offer, their bench becomes even more depleted, and the need to re-sign all of J.R. Smith, Steve Novak and Jeremy Lin exponentially increase.

The Raptors know perfectly well they’re drastically overpaying for Landry Fields. However, their big catch isn’t the Fields contract. They’ve figured out a way to not only force the Knicks hand, but to eliminate a competitor in the Steve Nash sweepstakes. Its a genius play, really is.

With all that being said, I don’t see how the Knicks match this offer. Its a gross overpay for a player the team views as a back-up wing man that isn’t even the first player off the bench. The team has three days to make a decision, and I just don’t know how the team could put this type of money into a player like Fields. Its the hard truth.

Either way, the Raptors have seriously opened some eyes with this move.

Tonight, the New York Knicks will try for their sixth win in a row against the Toronto Raptors. They are currently on a season-high five-game winning streak. Much of the credit goes to Jeremy Lin. The undrafted point guard from Harvard has gone from the end of the Knicks’ bench to NBA stardom. Lin is drawing comparisons to Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash. He is carrying the Knicks with his clutch scoring and playmaking abilities.

Tonight’s game will have a new flavor, as Amar’e Stoudemire returns to the lineup. Stoudemire left the team

Amar'e Stoudemire returns to the lineup tonight for the New York Knicks. Picture Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

Lin has been on a blistering pace. He is averaging 28.3 points and 8.3 assists during this winning streak. He can’t possibly keep this up, can he? Will he finally have a bad game tonight against the Raptors? Maybe not. Lin will have plenty of fan support from the strong Asian community in Toronto.

Carmelo Anthony is still on the mend. He could return by the end of the week. There are questions as to whether or not Anthony can gel with the already flowing Knicks offense. Anthony insists that he can.

Things are not going so well for the Raptors. They have lost four of the last five games. They are the fourth-worst scoring team in the NBA at just 88.2 points per game. Their leading scorer Andrea Bargnani is out indefinitely with a calf injury.

In the last meeting between the two teams, the Raptors defeated the Knicks 90-85 at Madison Square Garden. But the Knicks are a very different team now. They are one of the hottest teams in the NBA, playing complete team basketball. The Raptors have won just four home games all season.

The New York Knicks are must-see TV right now. Tipoff is 7:00 pm. Don’t miss it!

Edwin Torres was born in New York City. He has been a Knicks fan since the early 1980s. He has visited Madison Square Garden on many occasions to watch the Knicks and his favorite player, Patrick Ewing. For more articles, follow him on Twitter @FlipPoker.

Sources:
SI.com – NBA
NBA – Statistics – Yahoo! Sports

Hottest Seats:

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The New York Knickerbockers beat the Toronto Raptors last night, winning their sixth straight game and 11 out of their last 12, but it took Amar’e Stoudemire once again performing like an MVP, and Raymond Felton’s clinching three-pointer bouncing off the rim five times (plus once off the backboard) before falling in.  With our record at 14-9, it’s the best we’ve been since 2001.  And tonight we have one last easy game (against Washington, who also might likely be playing without John Wall, perhaps their best player).  Then the true test begins when we finally start playing teams with winning records.
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See how Amar'e received the ball here in a position where he could easily get past his own guy, forcing the little guy to either foul or tickle him in the armpit? Earlier in the year he never got the rock like that. No wonder he wasn't laughing and smiling until now. (Source: AP)

While many of us were thrilled that the Knicks beat the New Orleans Hornets Friday night because they were the first team with a winning record we’d gone up against in a while, stat-heads likely were just as impressed (if not more so) with our commanding 116-99 victory over the Toronto Raptors because of the huge point differential.  In the world of advanced statistical analysis, one surprising revelation has been that a better indicator of team success is not whether you defeat good teams, but rather by how many points you outscore your opponent.

One of the leaders of basketball’s new statistical revolution is ESPN’s John Hollinger.  As of today, he gives the Knicks a phenomenal 87.7% chance of making it to the playoffs.  His worst case scenario, meaning rock bottom awful, is that we only win 29 games this year.  In other words, even if everything goes to hell from here on out, we’d at least still match last season’s total.  What’s the best case?  60 wins.  That seems incredibly unlikely, which all the more makes you realize that it’s equally incredibly unlikely that we only equal our ’09-’10 results.  Meanwhile, Amar’e Stoudemire’s former team, the Phoenix Suns, is listed as having only a 56.5% playoff chance and with a maximum win total of 58 games.  Although in all fairness, that’s because there are so many more good teams in the West that it’s harder to predict with certainty.  It’s not that hard to imagine teams like Portland, Houston, Memphis or Golden State going on a run and getting into the playoff picture.  Yet even the most fertile imagination and most fervent local fan probably has trouble seeing a future where Detroit, Philadelphia or New Jersey can be amongst the top 8 Eastsiders this season.

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Kobe bites his shirt! Does that mean he's worried the Lakers won't be on top this year? Nah, probably he just forgot to eat dinner. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

With the season beginning tonight, it’s time to rank how strong all the teams are at this point.  This isn’t who will be strongest at the end of the season or who will have the best regular season.  This measures how strong each team is right NOW.  If a team engaged in a seven game series today with any of the teams listed below them, I’m saying they’d win.  So yeah, injuries count big time.  And chemistry.  And like, how good they are.  It’s basically a highly complex formula that you mere mortals wouldn’t understand.  Either that or it’s all based on pure opinion.

1. Los Angeles Lakers — Even with the recovering Kobe shooting 28% this pre-season they’d still beat everyone.  Hell, he only shot 24% in Game 7 of Finals.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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Evaluating players before the draft is not easy, but at least you know who you are talking about. Predicting who is going to get picked when is harder. Everyone has their own ranking system, but the big question is whether a team is going to pick the best player available or pick the player who best addresses the team’s needs.

The other question is, what on earth was that GM thinking? The most recent “what was he thinking” award goes to the Minnesota Timberwolves, for using the 5th and 6th draft picks on point guards (Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio), followed by having one of them (Rubio) make noises that he would never play for the Wolves, and creating a situation where the other, Flynn, felt unsure of the team’s commitment to him, and for good reason.

So for me to say who will make which pick is guesswork, because every year there are inexplicable decisions made, and there are players drafted in the top 20 whose name you hear when he is selected, but then never again. Comparing mock drafts, I have seen players’ names move twenty spots or more.

Mostly, I’m seeing mocks that describe players, not why they will be picked or what the team is thinking. I already wrote about the players likely to be drafted in the first round, so instead, lets’ discuss what the team should do, not what they will do, because many teams have a weird tendency to pick the same type of player over and over regardless of the results. (Lakers trying to find a point guard, Bulls drafting post players, Houston drafting 3’s, Warriors drafting skilled bigs, etc.) Redundancy makes sense for some teams, but for others it’s stupid. I’ll take those case by case.
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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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Even ref Joey Crawford is pointing for LeBron to leave Cleveland (Source: Yardbarker.com)

New York Magazine has a funny, phenomenal, and pretty darn convincing, pitch for LeBron to come to New York. Here are some of the highlights:

1. If You Want to Make That First Billion Before You Turn 30, This Is the Place to Do It

Features a great picture of the Chrysler Building, and if you look closely, there’s a basketball hoop on top with James dunking it.

3. Allow Us to Introduce You to Chris Bosh

Before the 2009 All-Star Game, you told a reporter, “I would definitely love to play with Chris Bosh. Being around him last summer [in the Olympics], I got to see how smart he is. His basketball IQ is unbelievable.” We completely agree with your assessment, and, as you two may have discussed, Bosh also happens to be a free agent this summer. Are you thinking what we’re thinking?

The Toronto Raptors’ big man is perfect for you. David Thorpe, the private coach to some of the NBA’s best players and one of the game’s greatest minds, told us the first thing you would need to succeed here is a lithe, shot-blocking, rebounding big man who can make the outlet pass and push the offense into motion. Bosh is nearly seven feet tall, runs like a deer, and is one of the five best rebounders in the game. Thorpe says the combination of you two would be devastating—two fast, powerful players in their primes. Realistically, New York is the one place where you two can play together without leaving money on the table. You’ve never played with someone of Bosh’s caliber before, and you probably won’t get another chance.

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Don't let Oakley's refined dapper look fool you: He ain't someone with whom ya wanna get into a feud. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Inspired by Quentin Richardson and Paul Pierce’s recent war of words, SB Nation put together a fun little Haters’ Guide On NBA Feuds in recent years.  Amongst the list:

Charles Oakley and Tyrone Hill

Easily the most hilarious of any NBA feuds and a good lesson to all of us. After Sixers’ forward Tyrone Hill failed to pay a gambling debt of $54,000, then-Raptor Charles Oakley waded into the 76ers shootaround in Toronto and pegged a basketball at Hill, nailing him right in the head. Pretty insane, right? Charles Oakley showing up out of nowhere, no doubt spewing expletives, and probably throwing multiple basketballs at Hill (no way he hit him on the first shot).

[...] Oh, and what’s the lesson? DO NOT. MESS. WITH OAK.

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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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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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The Knicks' gave the Garden Faithful something to cheer about as they left their final home game. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Last night, the final home game of the season, the Knicks gave the crowd something to cheer for on Fan Appreciation Night.  Losing wouldn’t help our lottery chances, winning wouldn’t help our playoff chances.  We were going up against an equally sucky team in the Washington Wizards, a team without even an exciting superstar.  And yet if you listened to the amazing crowd at Madison Square Garden last night, you’d've thought it was Game 7 of the Finals.

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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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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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Sadly, Big Al goes in for the layup even if it means shoving others aside. (Source: Yardbarker)

Maybe all the cold weather in New York this year has made the Knicks think it’s still Christmas, ‘cuz they’ve been non-stop giving out the gift of victories to any team that comes near them.  The New Jersey Nets, who had won only 6 our of 61 games, were on a path to be the team with the worst record in NBA history.  The previous record low is only 9 games (out of an 82 game season) held by Washington in like 1982 or something (their leading scorer was Fred Carter).  If the Nets kept at that 6 of 61 pace, they not only would’ve been unable to win more than those 9 games, they wouldn’t have even won 9.  Now though at 7 of 62 after we let them whup us on Saturday, suddenly they’re on pace to out-do those 9 games.  Not a bad gift from their cross-river rivals?  This is one mark in the record book for which ya don’t wanna become famous.

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Bosh revealed that he’s not necessarily interested in playing anywhere that he’s not the clear-cut franchise player.

“That’s a good question,” Bosh said when asked by ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher if he’s bothered by the widespread perception that he’s determined to follow either LeBron James or Dwyane Wade by signing on with one of the teams they choose starting July 1.

“It’s funny you say that, because I was thinking about it. I was just looking at what people say and it’s like, ‘Chris is going to go here and play with him or this, this and that.’ I’m like, ‘Wait a minute.’ I feel like I should be built around. And maybe that’s just my ego talking, but I feel that I’m a very good player in this league and I’m only going to get better. So … maybe we should be getting somebody [in Toronto].”

Bosh would probably be outta Toronto in a sec if one of the three teams in home state Texas were in the running

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And New Yorkers are buying into this hook, line & worm (why is it supposed to be sinker — I mean when a fish really falls for it he goes after the worm, much like an alcoholic with a bottle of tequila).  Darren Rovell who discuses the business side of sports tweeted yesterday that “Knicks 2010/11 tickets went on presale last Thursday. They’re on record pace, having sold 770 new tickets so far.”  Record pace???  Do fans realize we haven’t signed ANYONE yet?  If we end up looking like we’re gonna suck, even one-legged Tracy McGrady will look to leave town.  So this is a two-part look at what to realistically expect.  Part II will be sometime next week.

Let’s look at this first based on the available teams.  First, here are the ones who’ll be competing for poaching rights:

New York Knicks: $18.64 million in 2010-11 payroll
Miami Heat: $26.07 million in 2010-11 payroll
New Jersey Nets: $26.63 million in 2010-11 payroll
Chicago Bulls: $31.85 million in 2010-11 payroll
Los Angeles Clippers: $33.53 million in 2010-11 payroll

Sacramento Kings: $34.0 million in 2010-11 payroll

The Washington Wizards and Minnesota Timberwolves could also conceivably get in on the bidding, but they seem unlikely to join the chase.  I doubt Sacramento will even seriously look into trying to grab a big name and instead will prefer to build up a bit more from the ground up through draft picks.  It’s also kinda erroneous to list Miami as only having about $26 million.  Well, first the reason I list them even that low is ‘cuz I assume there’s no way they pick up James Jones’ $4.6 million option.  However, what makes them even lower is that their payroll includes Dwayne Wade’s $17.15 million contract that he’s said he’s gonna opt out of.  In other words, they’ll have less than $10 million in committed contracts!  So they could pay a max salary to both Wade & LeBron and still have say $10 million to offer to say Carlos Boozer.

Next let’s look at what each of the five teams has to offer (I’m excluding Sac).

The Knicks:

1. the second most cap space (after Miami),

2. the mass market of New York to provide much richer endorsement deals and better national exposure,

3. Perhaps the allure of playing at Madison Square Garden, aka “The Mecca of Basketball”,

4. An open and willing wallet (& now a well-respected GM in Donnie Walsh to make you feel they’ll spend wisely),

5. Coach Mike D’Antoni has a good rep as a “player’s coach” and as an assistant coach on Team USA he’s actually worked with most of these guys before.

Cons: 1. David Lee could likely be gone, meaning they’d be coming to a team with literally only Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler (oh yeah, plus Eddy Curry in the trainer’s room),

2. Perhaps a feeling that you’d have to sorta start from nothing.

The Heat:

1.For Wade it’s the only team he’s known(&he’d get more $), and for others it might feel less risky to jump with someone else to a brand new team rather than to join someone on their current team,

2. No income taxes in Florida,

3. Perhaps Pat Riley?,

4. A solid young player in Michael Beasley, and

5. The weather (& yes, that is a real factor for players).

Cons: 1.For some players it might actually be less appealing to join “Wade’s team” rather than go with him to a new place where it could be “our team” (kinda like how it’s usually better for a young couple to move into a new place rather than say just the gal moving into the guy’s place ‘cuz then it’ll always feel like “his place.”),

2.The fact that the Heat/Riley haven’t really looked for help for Wade since the championship year might make some concerned (including Wade) that this isn’t a franchise that will do whatever it takes to win the trophy.

The Nets:

1. Jay-Z is part-owner (& you bet that’s a factor for this hip-hop idolizing generation),

2. Will be moving to Brooklyn, giving it that New York mass market appeal, plus a chance to sorta “recreate” this franchise from the ground up in this new location,

3. Potentially a stud rookie (like John Wall),

4. Some decent players in the spots that are often toughest to fill: Brook Lopez at center and Devin Harris at point.

Cons: 1. They will be coming off a season where they were either the historically worst team ever or darn close to it,

2. It’ll be at least one year, if not two or more, until the team does actually make it to Brooklyn and the crowds ain’t been stellar in Jersey,

3.Uninspiring coach and front office,

4. If the NY angle is exciting, why wouldn’t ya just go to the Knicks?

The Bulls:

1.A chance to play alongside a franchise player in Derrick Rose, as well as solid pieces like Joakim Noah and Luol Deng,

2. Get to play in the house that Jordan built,

3. For Wade a chance to go home,

4.Good media market and good city.

Cons: 1. You’re playing in the house that Jordan built so you’ll likely always be second in the city’s heart to him,

2.Not enough $ to get a second max player so you’d have to feel that the addition of you alone can turn this team into a contender,

3. Questionable coach in Vinny Del Negro, and a timid front office that’s proven to be afraid to go all in (like by refusing to give up Luol Deng for Pau Gasol).

The Clippers:

1.Best nucleus of players with Baron Davis at point, potential all-star second-year player Eric Gordon at shooting guard, Blake Griffin at power forward, and Chris Kaman at center.  Throw in LeBron James at small forward and they could be contenders ‘cuz you could make a legit argument that the Clips would be stronger at every position than the Cavs supporting cast,

2. The huge market of Los Angeles,

3. The warm weather and Hollywood connections/glamor of LA,

4. A chance to do the impossible and turn a cursed laughingstock into a champion.  Even Jordan couldn’t have saved the Clips,

5. The chance to out-do Kobe Bryant in his own arena.

Cons: 1. It’s the Clippers,

2. Cheapskate owner Donald T. Sterling, so basically what you see is what you get — don’t expect any help walking through that door,

3.The injury curse — Wade gets hurt enough as it is, if he joined the Clips his torso would probably fall off his legs,

4. It’s Kobe’s arena and it’s a Laker town, even LeBron bringing the Clips three championships in a row still might not catapult him and the team to town favorite,

5. It’s the Clippers.

"Dude, you said the Knicks sucked!" "Yeah, well you said TMac was done!"

The Oklahoma Thunder have made one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NBA history.  After winning only 21 games last year (or in a glass half-empty view, losing 61 games), they now are 5th in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.  They are in the middle of the longest current winning streak in the league (nine games), and they have third-year phenom, Kevin Durant, a legit MVP candidate.  It could be argued that Durant is second in the MVP race to only LeBron.  Plus, he’s in the middle of a streak of having scored 25+ points in 27 straight games.  At first that last statement didn’t seem that impressive to me, ‘cuz after all like LeBron and Carmelo are averaging nearly 30 a game, while others like Kobe and Allen Iverson have averaged that much (or more) for a whole season too.  However, in the last 35 years there is only one person who has ever accomplished that feat: Michael Jordan.  Yup, no other active player has done it.  Not LeBron, Kobe, Wade, Shaq, AI or even the Knicks’ newbie, TMac (a man who’s lead the league in scoring a couple of times).

All of which goes to say that after the way the Knicks have been playing, it was pretty darn remarkable we almost won this game, let alone played well.  The big story, as everyone’s already heard, is Tracy McGrady’s big game.  That he’s back.  Not to be glass-half-empty again (what am I, thirsty or something?), but I’m skeptical that he can bring that kind of production regularly.  What I do think that he can help keep bringing back is the energy in the Garden.  The crowd was more alive than they are on Free Taco Night.  Okay, there’s no Free Taco Night (the correct question here is: why the hell not?), but Madison Square was rocking Saturday night.  For once, people came to see the Knicks, not the other team, or just to be “seen.”

McGrady's most athletic play of the night: When a Thunder-ite goes to block his shot on the right, mid-air Tmac does a loopedy-loop and scoops it in lefty

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With a few of them likely to sit out this summer so they don’t injure themselves before they get a new contract (in other words the guys the Knicks would chase after: LeBron, Wade, Bosh, plus A’mare Stoudamire who made the pool too), it does provide some openings.  Not to mention that say a banged up Kobe might need to take the summer off to get his body healthy again.  Of course, included in those free agents-to-be are none other than David Lee, so he himself might have to bow out.  Oh, and another thing in Lee’s favor is that once again the Knicks’ coach Mike D’Antoni will be one of the assistant coaches on the USA team.  It’s always nice having someone on the inside to help plead your case.

Anyway, the remaining invitees include the Denver Nuggets’ Chauncey Billups, LA Lakers’ Lamar Odom, plus a who’s-who of all the young and upcoming players in the NBA according to ESPN: the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant (pretty much a lock to make the final roster since he almost made it last time and he’s only gotten better), Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose,

Minnesota‘s Al Jefferson and Kevin Love; Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo of Memphis; Philadelphia‘s Andre Iguodala; Boston‘s Kendrick Perkins; Indiana‘s Danny Granger; New York‘s David Lee; New Jersey center Brook Lopez; Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook; Portland‘s LaMarcus Aldridge; Charlotte‘s Gerald Wallace; and Clippers guard Eric Gordon.

The Americans will choose a group from the roster to take part in their minicamp in Las Vegas in July. They are expected to play an exhibition game in New York before heading to Turkey for the world championships, which they haven’t won since 1994.

David Lee: "Excuse me, Bosh, if you won't let me into the All-Star game with you, will you at least let me go by 'cuz, well, I'm trying to hold it in, but I gotta piss."

David Lee found out shortly before the game that he was not one of the players chosen by the coaches to be an All-Star this year.  He was bummed, but as he realized, it seemed that the coaches only chose players from teams that are .500 or better.  The Knicks ain’t.  The odd thing was that the Hawks’ center, Al Horford, was chosen.  Horford’s been good, but not as good as David Lee, and not even as good as his own teammate, Josh Smith, who was snubbed too.  So it was kinda odd.  The other unexpected choice for me was Chicago’s Derrick Rose, ‘cuz as I stated yesterday, the dude didn’t seem to realize the season started in October.  He only came out to play in January.  And while his resurgence has brought the Bulls back into respectability, I think he hasn’t been consistent long enough this season.  Sure, he came into the season recovering from injuries & that’s why he started out slow, but I still think Josh Smith should be on the team, followed by Lee.

But onto to the game.  First, I actually attended this one in flesh.  I probably haven’t seen a game at the Garden in like 7 or 8 years, so that was pretty darn cool.  There is a magical quality to the place that seems to be missing from other arenas.  I even walked around to the front before going in so I could get the full spectacle.  One thing I’d forgotten was the excitement of going up those escalators.  It’s a slow build of tension, floor after floor, waiting to burst out onto your level.  In LA, at most you go one flight, and the escalators are open so you can see everything, so there’s no build in excitement.  I dunno, maybe it was just nostalgia, but the anticipation everyone’s feeling as they’re going up, waiting for their turn to go off, seemed like a palpable thing to me.  That said, after the game, waiting forever to get down those escalators was darn painful.  Dunno if something happened last night after the game, or if it’s always a 20-minute journey to get downstairs.

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Not so fast, Sparky.  One slight difference between the rules for the coaches’ voting and the fans’ voting is big.  The coaches are allowed to vote for a player in a different position than the one they play if they think that person can play that spot.  Meaning, Chris Bosh may like to call himself a power forward, but he (like many others such as Tim Duncan) should really play center.  Thus, Bosh is the guy most likely to get that backup center spot.  Meaning David Lee’s chances boil down to the two Wild Card spots.  But to determine who he’ll be going up against, we kinda gotta figure out who’ll be left after the 2 guard & fwd spots are filled.

Top Eastern forwards: Josh Smith, Paul Pierce, Gerald Wallace.  Even though Luol Deng, Danny Granger, Andre Iguodala & Antawn Jamison have had solid statistical years, they’ve all seemed pretty ineffective in bringing about wins on their teams, and most of ‘em have had better years in the past.  Leaving it down to Smith, Pierce & Wallace.  Honestly, I think they all deserve to go, and rather than pick specifics, we’ll say two get the forward spots and one gets one of the Wild Card spots.  That leaves one possible wild card spot remaining for Lee.

Top Eastern guards vying for the last spots: Joe Johnson, Rajon Rondo, Stephen Jackson, maybe Derrick Rose or Jamal Crawford.  Joe’s a definite.  Derrick Rose’s last few games have been great, and more importantly it seems like he’s hit his groove so we should expect the same going forward.  Unfortunately for him the voters had already sent their votes in and he came out sucking not swinging at the beginning of the season.  Crawford’s been great off the bench, but I think the fact that he’s on the bench will mean he won’t get a spot.  Meaning we’re down to Rondo & Stephen Jackson.  I honestly haven’t actually visually seen (as opposed to emotionally seeing?) either of them that much this season.  Some pundits have said Rondo has to make it.  Others have left him off their list.  In terms of Stephen Jackson, some people feel the Bobcats don’t deserve to have two All-Stars so you need to choose between him and Gerald Wallace.  I’ve got no idea.  One of ‘em will take that second guard spot.  The question is: will the other one take the last remaining Wild Card spot away from David Lee?  Honestly, I don’t know.  Guess I’ll have to wait these next few hours.

David Lee: "Gimme that ball, Kevin Love! I'll show you how a real white boy plays!"

After being severely, and historically, whupped by Dallas by 50 points the other day, last night the Knicks came out determined to show their stuff and won by nearly 30 points.  Jared Jeffries got the team off on the right note.  The first two times Minnesota tried to bring it up court, the 6’11″ Jeffries stole it from the Timberwolves’ maybe 6″ point guard, Jonny Flynn, before he even made it across half-court.  Both resulted in baskets.  Flynn, who played in Syracuse last year and was part of an epic 6-OT extravaganza, was darn psyched to play in NYC for the first time.  Unfortunately for him, the Knicks’ gambit of covering him with Jeffries worked wonders.  The kid is darn quick, but he clearly doesn’t trust his jumper.  Whenever he started to drive, Jeffries would back further and further up, often leaving Flynn open enough to shoot a jumper from as close as the free-throw line.  Flynn never stopped and shot it.  Instead he had 6 turnovers in just 25 minutes.

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The nice thing is that the team is developing a consistency.  We come out flat at the beginning of every game, let the opponent get a nice lead, and then make runs throughout where we turn it into a game.  The final part is where our variance comes in: often after we turn it into a game we then like to lose, but as shown on Monday and last week in Philly, sometimes we actually win.  The first part though, that’s apparently written in stone.

What’s the issue, you may ask?  Or maybe you don’t, but I’m answering it either way.  Coaches tend to always say focus on defense when things are awry, but I’mna buck that trend and go with offense (and hey, Mike D’s an offensive-minded coach, so it’s only appropriate).  In three-out-of-four of our last games, we’ve kept the opponent under 94 points.  That’s pretty solid in today’s high-scoring game.  However, we come out shooting awfully.  Duhon’s in the middle of a horrible shooting slump, and finally D’Antoni decided to limit Chris’ playing time Monday, giving him just 20 minutes and letting Nate Robinson run the point.  Of course, afterward D’Antoni said something to the effect of how he’d have a heart attack if he keeps running Nate at point, due to Nate’s uh… questionable decision making.

That said, it hasn’t just been Duhon.  For a few games Gallinari came out cold.  The last two games he finally got hot, but it almost made me wonder if Gallo would do better coming off the bench.  Maybe he’s the type who needs to get a sense of the game before he can get going.  The other he needs to work on is knowing when to shoot the three and when to drive.  There were a bunch of times he had an open three but he passed it up and drove because he’s obviously been told to do that once teams overplay him on the jump shot.  Thing is, what usually happens is that rather than get to the rim, he only goes a foot or two closer and has to shoot while his defender is lunging at him.  The idea is that by shooting closer, it becomes a higher-percentage shot.  However, since it goes from being a three-pointer to a two-pointer, it also becomes a less valuable shot.

There was some recent study (which I’m too lazy to look up) which I believe showed that the best, most valuable shot was one right at the rim.  Second to that though was not like five feet out, it was the three-pointer.  Or maybe it was five feet out and then the three-pointer?  Regardless, the three was definitely much more valuable than the ten-footer, and worlds better than the 15-22 footer inside the arc.  The math to show it is pretty simple.  If you shot 50% from within the two-point range (which usually only big men who operate by the basket can do), and you took 6 shots, you’d make 3, right?  And with each one being 2 points, it’d be worth 6 points.  On the other hand if you shot 6 three-pointers and hit only a third of them (aka 33%), you’d make only two shots.  But since each was a three, that’d also be worth 6 points.   Now let’s look at Gallo.  He shoots much better than 33% from three-point land: he’s at 41.6%.  However, from two-point land he’s much worse than 50%: he’s only 45.9%.  In other words it’s clearly better for him to go for the big one.

Now I’m not advocating that Gallo only jack up threes and turn into an Italian version of Antoine Walker.  He needs to keep driving when teams stick too close to him.  But he needs to be more aware of when they are too close.  Right now, he’s too into his head.  You can see that sometimes after he hits a three, the next trip down he’s already decided to fake the shot and drive to “fool” the defender.  But you can’t decide beforehand.  You need to actually go for the shot, and then if you see the defender closing too fast, you instinctively put the ball on the floor instead.  And then either go all the way to the hole or start to drive and kick it out to someone else.  They say the mid-range game is a lost art, but the truth is that’s because it’s often a poor choice.

But the losses aren’t all on Gallo — I just went off on a tangent about him.  Really Duhon is more the issue.  It’s not simply that Duhon’s shot is off, it’s more that he’s lost his confidence so much that he passes up open shots, often resulting in him either turning it over or forcing a teammate to make a tougher shot.  If say Wilson Chandler drives and kicks the ball out to Duhon, even if Duhon’s wide open he’ll pass it around the circle to the next guy (say Al Harrington) when Harrington’s defender is right by him.  As a result, Wilson’s drive was for naught, and now Harrington needs to create something with even less time on the clock.  Truth is it’s similar to how Gallo needs to learn to read the charging defender before deciding whether to shoot or drive.  Particularly as a point guard Duhon should have enough court vision that when he gets it he should know whether he’s open or whether he should shoot it.  If it’s his man who let’s say doubled Chandler, then he’s gotta put it up.  Even worse is when Duhon drives and actually gets all the way to the basket, he’s too nervous to shoot, so he suddenly looks to pass it to someone.  But that close to the basket he’s usually surrounded and a pass will result in a turn.  One time he drove past Ben Wallace on a pick, had an easy open layup, but didn’t shoot it.  Realizing he should’ve shot it, he then went in a little loop right underneath the basket (with Wallace following after him — it was actually kinda funny), and then threw up an awkward off-balance shot because he was worried Big Ben would block him (but Ben wasn’t anywhere close enough).  It was a simple play that he mucked up ‘cuz he’s all in his head.  And Duhon’s so in his head, that it isn’t even like this was because he was shooting 1 for 9 or something.  In the second Detroit game he only took 3 shots.

It’s even more important that he shoots because the fifth man on the floor is usually Jared Jeffries, who isn’t much of an offensive threat.  It’s like we’re already playing 4-on-5.  If Du’ won’t shoot, that brings us down to 3-on-5.  Plus, since Wilson Chandler now tries to get a higher percentage shot because he struggles at the three-point-line, it means we really only have one player out there who can stretch the other team’s D out to the arc (either Gallo or Al Harrington).

Oh, one nice thing that happened over those three games is that it seems that rookie Jordan Hill’s hard work at practices has finally gotten him some playing time.  He seems to have taken Jonathan Bender’s place in the rotation (or maybe Bender’s hurt and I haven’t heard about it).  Either way, it’s good.  He needs minutes to develop.  His outside jumper is pretty darn good for a big man.  He still gets over-excited and makes those rookie mistakes (like falling for pump fakes, thus fouling his guy & bailing him out).  But he could be good.

Okay, so I didn’t go too indepth on any of the three individual games, but this is all you’re gonna get from me.

Until I make another post.

The NBA announced Nate Robinson will be in this year’s slam-dunk contest, defending his title. Actually, although this is just a fun little side-show, Nate has a chance to make history. He’s already won the contest twice (as have many other players), but no one has ever won it THREE times. Who’d've thunk the Knicks would have a chance at historical greatness this year? Yeah, yeah, so they might not even make it to the playoffs, but if Krypto-Nate wins, ain’t nobody able to take that away from us. …Okay, okay, so nobody would even want to take such a frivolous award away, but we’ll take what we can get.

The dunk contest will have one new part to it this year. And no, it’s not that LeBron will participate (even though he promised he would last year). Hold on a sec, there’s an article about him being a scaredy-cat… right here.  If only he was like Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly in the “Back To The Future…s” so that if we called him chicken, he’d have to compete to prove he wasn’t yeller (that’s “yellow” in cowboy-speak, in honor of the third “Back” being set in the Wild West — man, this is a long, dumb tangent).  Oh yeah, so the new component is that so far only three players are in the dunk contest (Nate, Gerald Wallace of the Charlotte Bobcats, and Shannon Brown of the Lakers).  However, during halftime of the rookie/sophomore game, two players (Eric Gordon of the Clippers and DeMar DeRozen of the Toronto Raptors) will have a dunk-off to see who gets the final spot.  Yeah, it’s nothing too exciting.

Y’know, I just had an idea.  If they really wanted to do something like that, they should have dunk-offs between every team, now, leading up to the All-Star game.  It’d be pretty fun if during halftime of the regular season games now, each of the two teams submitted one player and they have a dunk-off.  Whoever wins goes onto the next level.  Think of how much fun and drama that would create!  Highlights on Sports Center every night as we get closer and closer to All-Star weekend, winnowing out the weak from the strong.  Then fans would come into the All-Star Weekend with favorites who they’ve been watching.  Like as someone who lives in LA, all the Laker games are shown on tv, so I’ve seen them a bunch.  And Shannon Brown is a phenomenal athlete who’s had some crazy dunks.  But for the rest of the world, they don’t know Shannon Brown from James Brown.  However if they got to watch him compete in dunks week after week, he’d get a huge following and people would turn on the dunk contest just to see how their boy Shannon’s doing.

Man, I sure can babble.  This was just supposed to be a two-sentence thing, followed by video highlights to get you psyched up.  Well, let’s get to that now.  A couple of my faves in this mix, beside the dunks from the contests, include the 5’8″ Nate blocking 7’6″ Yao Ming, him crossing-over Jose Calderon so badly that Calderon literally ends up on his butt, and another move where he steps back, totally freezing Steve Blake, then zooms right past him.

Enjoy.

Of the four guys (including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Joe Johnson) generating the most drooling out of the potentially NBA landscape-altering free agent class of 2010, Bosh is losing ranking as the most likely to disappoint.

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