Comments on: Knicks 128, Spurs 115

By: bockadoo

bockadoo — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 02:28:41 +0000

@97 –
lupica is a great writer? come on. he’s a negative, all knowing blowhard. i can’t believe he actually wrote a positive article about any ny team or athlete. i’m embarrased that he’s ny’s most nationally known sportswriter. guys like mitch albom, bob ryan, etc…put him to shame. i’m so proud of myself for not having read anything he’s written going on two years now. vaccaro from the post is 10 times better than cocky little lupie. we get camby and we win it THIS year.

By: latke

latke — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:50:29 +0000

This just occurred to me: in 2012, Felton and Fields will not have full bird rights. If we are over the cap, it appears Felton would qualify for the non-bird exception, which means a contract starting at 120% of his previous year’s salary ($8.4 million). Fields only qualifies for baby bird rights, which means regardless of our cap situation we can give him a contract that starts at a maximum of the league average salary (about $6 million that year probably). If we signed either of them to an extra one year contract, they would both have full bird rights and we would be able to give them more $s than any other team.

I’m not sure how much this matters. With that exception, we could offer Felton 5 years, $50 million. Early bird would allow us to offer Fields about 5 years, $36 million ($7.2 million/year avg). Those two contracts might be enough to secure Felton and Fields, but if not, it makes the contract situation after next season pretty complicated.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:00:11 +0000

Sadly, the Suns seem pretty committed to Nash ending his career in Phoenix (at least ending his current contract in Phoenix). If Nash asked to be dealt, I believe they would deal him, but he hasn’t made any sort of hint that he wants to be traded. Remember, this is a guy who re-upped for three years with the Suns when it looked like they were going to be terrible (and, after one year of Amar’e, that turned out to be true), so he might just really like Phoenix.

By: ess-dog

ess-dog — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:22:58 +0000

latke: You can’t sign Williams and resign Fields, Gallo and Felton. You have to renounce their bird rights to get the cap space for williams. Your dream lineup is probably more like : D. Williams, Melo, Stat, + 10 budget dudes. Unless, of course, you trade for Deron at the 2k12 deadline, but unless Williams demands a trade, that won’t happen.

Didn't do the math but I figured it'd be either Williams or Felton. I can't imagine the owners getting a hard cap next year. It would hinder a lot of movement and just cripple some teams.

By: d-mar

d-mar — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:15:20 +0000

OK one more article and I promise I’ll stop (slow day here at work) but this one actually gave me chills:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2011/01/06/2011-01-06_amare_stoudemires_not_afraid_to_carry_the_load_and_help_the_knicks_command_the_b.html

Lupica is a superb writer, and really does a great job summing up what Amare has meant to this franchise.

OK, I’m done!

By: d-mar

d-mar — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:06:17 +0000

On the other hand, pathological Knick hater Mitch Lawrence has a column in the Daily News entitled: “Nice win, sure, but Knicks aren’t elite” Who ever suggested they were? I won’t even provide the link, as you shouldn’t even bother expending the energy to click on it and read his garbage (I read the first paragraph and couldn’t hit the back button fast enough)

By: Frank O.

Frank O. — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:01:52 +0000

ghill: what about something like:http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=234fm5c (Quote)

I'm against any trade for Oden. The dude has done nothing but break down, physically. And giving up two promising young players for a man that breaks bones so easily and consistently...nope.

By: d-mar

d-mar — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:29:56 +0000

Great blog by Hahn on Chandler today. He points out that Will spends a lot of time practicing corner 3′s because D’Antoni told him he’ll get a lot of looks from there because of doubling on STAT. And have you noticed that he’s almost automatic from there?

That’s just great coaching and great work habits

By: latke

latke — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:24:26 +0000

ess-dog: Then in 2012, getting Deron Williams via free agency creating a dream rotation of Felton, Williams, Fields, Melo, Stat, Gallo, Chandler, TD, and Shawne.

You can't sign Williams and resign Fields, Gallo and Felton. You have to renounce their bird rights to get the cap space for williams. Your dream lineup is probably more like : D. Williams, Melo, Stat, + 10 budget dudes. Unless, of course, you trade for Deron at the 2k12 deadline, but unless Williams demands a trade, that won't happen.

By: Ben R

Ben R — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:57:08 +0000

Frank – I wouldn’t mind trading with Pheonix but we are young and I think trading for Nash or Hill is shortsighted. I would rather see if we can get Frye, who’s lost his starting job, Lopez, who has played less than 15 minutes in 5 out of the 6 games since the trade, or Childress, who’s fallen out of the rotation entirely, for expirings.

I think Pheonix might jump at a chance to save money. We could do:

Azubuike + Mason + Rautins for Childress
Curry for Childress + Frye
Mason + Rautins + 3 million and a future draft pick for Lopez