There has to be one GM out there with the stones to go all in for him without an extension promise and dare him to leave tens of millions on the table to go….well it’s not clear where he’d really go, but somewhere I guess. If there’s one central truth in the NBA it’s that winning a chip without a premier frontline superstar is next to impossible. Now one of those guys is dangling there, and the price is going to be reasonable. These guys are next to impossible to find and they’re the NBAs most valuable commodity by far. It’s a chance you have to take.

Frank: If the Nets get DH12, they’ll be in the mix for a top 2 seed. Without Howard, I think Boston and NY are better than they are. Otherwise, what’s really so different than last year? Is Joe Johnson really that great? Joe is a nice player (obviously overpaid), but he’s not a real difference maker. Howard is, of course, another story. On my twitter timeline someone said that the Hawks are starting to get involved in direct trade talks. Horford and whoever is 1000000x better than any deal Brooklyn can offer.

The key is Howard agreeing to an extension. Otherwise, why not trade him to a western conference team?

Too bad some EC GM doesn’t offer a Landry-like Humphries a multi-year deal to kill the Howard to Nets possibility once and for all. Seems like it would be a smart move…

Boston loses a LOT without Ray Allen. I don’t know of any good 3-point shooters they have other than Pierce and (to some degree) Bradley. Unless Rondo’s jumpshot consistently becomes like that playoff game against the Heat, they’ll struggle to score. I doubt they’re better than us at this point.

Chicago will be missing Rose for just about the whole year, so they’ll be 1 or 2 in defensive efficiency but I doubt they’ll be any better than 20th on offensive efficiency. Even their defense won’t be as good without Asik.

Philly is going sideways at best.

Even if the Hawks get D12, they’ll have no one decent other than Howard and Smith.

STAT entered last season not having touched a basketball for 6 months, and gained an extra 15 lbs from muscle weight. It wasn’t until later in the season that he lost the weight and got his spring and timing back. Even if he never makes it back to the SSOL Suns STAT I’m sure he’ll be much better than he was last year.

Indy hasn’t made any major moves and now they’ll have much less flexibility after matching the max contract for Hibbert.

So as long as the Nets don’t get Howard (again, stay strong, Kris!), I think the Knicks should be the 2 seed behind Miami as long as Lin plays decent and even somewhat cuts down on his turnovers.

http://www.prosportstransactions.com/basketball/DraftTrades/Future/Knicks.htm

Dan salary 1,352,181 * 1.20 = 1622617.2.

Not much different then Vet min. So look like rest roster will be Vet min people.

Knicks have 5 open spot. I see Gadzuric as trade piece or will be waived. One of those spot will be Jared which should get some burn at PF. With Shump out look like JR possible White are only SG on roster. I really don’t want see Lin/Kidd backcourt. For Kidd health spliting 48 minute at PG is for the best.

I would say get another 3pt shooting/defensive SG.

jon abbey:
and breaking news:

Adrian Wojnarowski ?@WojYahooNBA

Boris Diaw has reached agreement on a two-year, $9 million-plus contract to stay with San Antonio, league source tells Y! Sports.

Dern..

On my twitter timeline someone said that the Hawks are starting to get involved in direct trade talks. Horford and whoever is 1000000x better than any deal Brooklyn can offer.