Free Agency. Day 5

The news of the day wasn't exactly "new". Amare finally shook hands with the Knicks. The contract is reported to be almost $100 million thru 5 years.

For the Knicks is a great move. Number one they now have something to show to their fans after two years of shredding salaries and some very bad Knicks teams they put it with. If they happen to get Lebron or Wade this Amar'e move is going to be even better for obvious reasons...which I don't see happening but still is an plausible option.

New York now has its star ( he is by far their best player for now ) a player that knows D'Antoni system and thrives on it. Somebody that can sell jerseys and put butts on MSG's chairs. Does an Amare-led Knicks team , as currently build ,can create some noise on the East? It depends what you mean with "noise". They are not going to be 50 win team but something in the range from 40 to 45 wins is not an inconceivable idea, and that is a great leap for this franchise that has struggle for more than 10 years. Also gives them a solid selling point for next year free agents , or possible free agents, like Carmelo Anthony, Tony Parker or Greg Oden. However you see its a good step forward for Walsh and company.

In the other side of the coin we have the Suns. They know have lost their second best player and only inside presence. The Nash era Suns have prove me wrong so many times but I don't know how , as currently build, they can content in the West.What's next for Nash? For Hill? For Barbosa? Are we expecting a fire sale of the Suns' roster? I just hope Nash lands in a contender. Not the Knicks.

Free Agency. Day 3 and 4

In the third day we had Dirk committing with the Mavs. The contract is for 4 years/$80 million. Now everybody can breathe and Cuban/Nelson can focus on shopping Ericka's ending contract around

Today, day fourth, Joe Johnson finally committed to the Hawks. I'll get back to this

Everything was very quiet until this Sunday afternoon. It was reported that the Knicks got a second meeting with Lebron's people ( sans Lebron) to "make sure they know about how much cap room we have" ...yeah, like that wasn't in the presentation. This is how is going. Follow me here. Amare apparently was offered a 5 year/$100 million contract by the Knicks but still we haven't heard of Amare "accepting" it. But Mr. Stoudemire is already doing some recruiting for the Knicks. Chris Broussard reported that the Knicks put that offer on the table for Amar'e with the condition that it will remain on the table as long as Lebron doesn't sign with them and he chooses another player as his sidekick. So, if Lebron goes to New York and he wants to play with Bosh or Boozer or whoever then Amar'e is shown the door, not the money. Amar'e still have meeting with the Bulls and the Nets on Tuesday, he is well aware of all this.

This was the point when JJ said to himself " Fuck it, Lebron is not going to choose me. I can't play with Wade, I'm staying here!" I think Johnson's choises outside Atlanta were only New York and Miami. I really don't see Jerry Reinsdorf maxim out JJ. As a matter of factor I only see him giving max money to Bosh if Lebron's a Bull.

So, the second meeting the Knicks had with Lebron's people was just to clear that subject. Amar'e is plan B, he can be there with Lebron if Lebron wants too, but nobody has signed anything. As simple as that.

Free Agency. Where are they going?

Straight from the Gods:

Lebron James: Chicago Bulls. And no, he is not pairing with Bosh. Carlos Boozer is coming to Chi town. That is going to hurt Cavs. Double. This is leaving Chicago enough money to round up the roster with decent role players

Chris Bosh: Miami Heat. DWade has his new sidekick. Same case as the Bulls, the are not throwing all their money in two players. They are going to spread the wealth.

Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson: New York Knicks. Well, Plan B worked.

David Lee: New Jersey Nets. He likes the area and the Russian guy is probably going to seriously overpaid to get him. Keeps him in line with his plan of turning Knicks fans into Nets fans

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen: Boston Celtics

Dirk Nowitzki: Dallas Mavericks. He is probably also getting Shaquille O'neal in a sign and trade for Butler with the Cavs. This team might be the front runners on getting Arenas next February.

Rudy Gay: L.A Clippers. They are going to overpay for him. Big time!

J.J. Redick: Orlando Magic. Offers are going to be there but I don't the Magic letting him go

John Salmons: Torn between Milwaukee Bucks and New Jersey Nets. Probably the latter

Brad Miller: Chicago Bulls. He likes it there. They like him

Udonis Haslem: Miami Heat

Free Agency. What are the offering?

The last post i gave a list of 8 teams that actually are players in this cute lil summer. This is a grosso modo what are they offering:

New York Knicks: The same thing they have been preaching since Donnie Walsh came aboard. Faith. Mike Wilbon said it. They have nothing more than faith. I'm aware of New York city's glamour and appeal but the main targets are taking basketball based decisions. New York has nothing more to offer than a Spike Lee and the "Meca" of basketball. I think is pretty clear that whoever they get is going to have to wait 2 years atleast to start winning seriously.

They have room for two max players. But nothing else. You are telling me that Bron, Bosh, Gallinari and Wilson Chandler surrounded by less-than-2-million-per-year role players are going through Orlando , Boston or L.A.? Please!

New Yersey Nets: This is why is important to start thinking about this right now. 6 months ago nobody was giving the Nets a chance. Now they have this owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, who is worth bizillions. He has come to spent, to shake things up. He is like a mutant Mark Cuban, like Bill Simmons calls him. This guy plus the eventual move to Brooklyn plus Brook Lopez and Devin Harris and Derrick Favors, makes the Nets are pretty good place to consider.

The bad? Those supposedly two years in Newark could became three or four. Devin Harris is not that good and the russian might get bored on his new toy. All signs point that they guy is not like that at all. He is a successful guy, he takes care of his investments and his a fan but you never know....

Chicago Bulls: Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah could be in contention in a couple of years adding the right players to the mix. This is great nucleus already and they have room for two max players ( with a little paycut). There is also the big market, the "winning tradition", the great fan base. An owner that might not be perfect but he is willing to pay. The wrinkle in this is HOW much is going to pay. Every free agent is going to ask for the assurance that Rose and Noah are going to be Bulls for a long time, not sure Reinsdorf is going for that one.

Miami Heat: Everything is working for Miami. They have DWade recruiting. They can pair DWade with two more A list players ( with discount). They have the owner. The city. The fans.

Nothing is wrong with that picture but if they manage to add two more player to play with Wade then there is no money left for role players. Right now Miami only has Chalmers and Beasley under contract. If they go the other way and sign just one max player to pair with Wade they would have enough money to overpaid another B list player ( lets say Richard Jefferson or David Lee). Just an hint...

L.A Clippers: They are the perfect fit for Lebron. Everything! Is like a glove! The players, the city, the scenario of stealing Kobe's spotlight. Good God that would be priceless. But no , Donald Sterling still running the show over there so too bad. I'm pretty sure they are going to grab a free agent. No big name but somebody is going to give it a shot.

Wizards: They have been helping teams unload contracts lately ( Nets and Bulls) so I think they holding to their cap space and "collect" those favors come February when they try to unload Arenas. You know, three or four team deals are hard to pull off.

Kings and Bucks: They are going to add somebody, some JJ Redick or Shanon Brown type of name. Both are young teams willing to roll a dice a little bit.

Celtics: I think they are staying put. They are going to spent big resigning Pierce. Don't expect any big moves from Ainge unless he decides to blow things up which is very likely now that Doc is returning

Free Agency. The facts

We have been waiting for this for more than 2 years. This is when I'm giggling like a school girl because we finally know most of the facts that we need to take an EDUCATED GUESS ( I don't think ESPN are familiar with this concept. They know things like " HITS" and "POPULARITY" things me or the Basketball Gods have no idea )

This is what you need to know:

1. The Cleveland Cavaliers did not win the championship. They didn't even get close to it. My thoughts were if Lebron wins a ring in Cleveland there is no way he's leaving. No way in hell. If the had gotten close, lets say game 6 or 7 of the NBA Finals, he wasn't going to leave neither. But he got pwned in the second round by the Boston Celtics. At that point I said "60-40" on he leaving.

2. The L.A. Lakers won the championship. Proving that you need two big GAME players to make it. Lebron does not have that on Cleveland, neither does Bosh on Toronto. Cleveland try to pull on of those shameless steals ala Pau Gasol and all they got was Shaq and Antawn Jamison.Not bad players to have in your roster but there is no way they are second bananas. Third option in Jamison case. First big from the bench for Shaq.

3. The cap will be $56.1.

4. This are the teams that cap and cards on this game:

1. New York Knicks

2. Chicago Bulls

3. New Jersey Nets.

4. Miami Heat

5. Milwaukee Bucks

6. Boston Celtics

7. Washington Wizards

8. L.A. Clippers

5. All the big names you were expecting to opt-out did. Also crashing the party came: Dirk, Paul Pierce and Richard Jefferson

6. Something you already now , just in case lets put it on paper, one or two free agents are going to get seriously overpaid. This is a huge factor to keep an eye on. Lets say Atlanta offers Joe Johnson 13 millions but the Russian guy goes out an offer the max ( around 16.7 millions). Guess were JJ is going....

Dont' hold your breath for...

This are the thing you are not going to see happening this season:

1. I don't see the Celtics repeating. The hunger will be there but the health and those lucky bounces might not be there this year. And the chances of a team as soft as the Lakers getting out of the West are very poor.

2. The Knicks wining more than 34 games. There's going to be trades, lineup shuffling, mardbury complains,etc..just keeping the drama going.

3. Jermaine O'neal is not coming back to his old form pre-melee. I like the guy, he's a great post player and we don't much of those left and I just hope he plays enough time and there's enough game in him to open up the game a little for Chris Bosh

4. Corey Maggette celebrating a championship (I know cheap shot for selecting the Warriors over the Spurs)

5. The Suns getting out of the first round. They do have enough talent in there for a 55 win season but I don't care how much the slow down I can't see Amare , Nash and Shaq defeating the Spurs, Hornets or Jazz.

6. Lebron's first ring. Might be his MVP season ( if he doesn't start cruising 20 games in the season) but Mo Williams doesn't strike as the Scottie Pippen type of player and their shooters have never been that stone cold!

7. The Pistons holding their fourth O'brien Trophy. I think this guys' run ended in Lebron's 48 point game. They need to retool and pronto.

8. The Hornets having another season like last one. Something tells me this guys are going to take a step back, maybe Chandler or West but I'm see them as a 6th or 5th seed and get kick in their buts by the Lakers or Jazz at some point in the playoffs.

9. Bibby staying in Atlanta. Come on, seriously? What's that guy doing there?!

10. Michael Beasley competing and behaving. I just get a weird vibe from this guy. When the Heat are 8-20 and the Wolves just beat the crap out of them by 36 you are going to see the real Michael Beasley

11. Gilbert Arenas earning his money. But he can write a mean wicked blog!

12. The Nuggets in the playoffs unless the new Melo Carmelo has been talking about is actually Lebron James.

13. The Blazers reaching the 40 win plateau. I know they are the fashion team and everything but Oden still not ready, although 2 block shots per game is almost a guarantee. They need to trade somebody of their young guns and again just a gut feeling they may regrese a little bit on us.

Guide to the Casual NBA Fan

This is the second part of this post, this one is meant for the casual fan. This is the first one

Here we go


1. MJ is gone. Do the league need somebody to take his place?

Basketball Gods: Yes MJ is gone. The league has spent more than 8 years recovering from that. Once the league hit the "mainstream" - popularity wise - in the 80's they haven't face a challengue like that. When Bird and Magic retired there was MJ. When MJ went to swing bad pitches the league had Penny and Shaq, Malone and Stockton and the Knicks. They hold the fort for those couple of years. When he left in 1998 (he wasn't the same when he played for the Wizards) all those personalities and high profile players felt short of taking MJ's torch and the league suddenly didnt't know how to sell itself and everybody had this "I miss the 90's" type of feeling.

In some way the league is still looking for MJ's replacemente but in a diferent way: no more it's waiting for the next high scoring charismatic shooting guard, now we are just waiting for the next dominant force.


2. Is Tim Duncan overrated?

Basketball Gods: You know last year I was asking myselft that very same question. There are several factors going agains Tim Duncan: First, he plays in San Antonio, Texas. Second, Tim Duncan is a quiet and introvert individual. Third, his game is no flashy, is fundamental as hell. Add all those things together and it's pretty hard to sell the guy to the average fan. Another factor is that he's not a clutch player, he's a post up player. Is quiet difficult to have a post player taking the last shot of the game.

Taking all that in considerations, the guy is as good as they come. His defense one on one, his team defense, his rebouding, he demands a double team every time he touches the ball because of his array of post up moves makes him a 30 point game waiting to happen if single coveraged. His game make the game of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobilig happen. He makes the Spurs happen.

So, no he's not overrated. His game isn't easy to the eye,that's it.


3. Why there are a more good teams in the West than in the East?


Basketball Gods: Again, there's a bunch of factors. Luck, good management and CAP management are the main reasons. Luck because the have won the lottery or they have high draft picks and they have been able to select the right players. They have scouted and found hidden gems with low draft picks or in the second round. Let me explained you with examples:

• Duncan was the first pick in 1997. Philly (East) took Keith Van Horn with the 2nd pick while Tracy McGrady and Chauncey Billups were available.

• In1998 Dallas picked Dirk Nowitzki with the 9th pick. Same spot that Phoenix found Shawn Marion the next year.

• In 1999 Ginobili was drafted with 57th pick..that's in the second round!

• In 2001 Washington (East) won the lottery and select Kwame Brown (and total bust so far). Memphis traded for Pau Gasol, selected 3rd and Portland grabbed Zach Randolph with the 19th pick.

• In 2002 Yao was the first pick. Chicago (East) selected Jay Williams with the next pick. Amare Stoudemire and Tayshaun Prince were available
  

I'm not saying all East teams draft bad and all the West teams are genius, that's why I say there's a little of luck involve. Good CAPmanagement also comes to the table. Take Phoenix as an example, they traded Mardbury and Penny Hardaway to the Knicks (East) to have enough money to offer to Steve Nash. With Nash the Suns have won an average of 59 games per season. The Spurs have signed Parker, Ginobili and Duncan for long terms contracts but still have room to make key adquisitions like Michael Finley year in and year out and make trades without going over the CAP

Smart people are sucessful no matter what business are they in.


4. The Knicks have sucked for awhile now. What's the deal?

Basketball Gods: Isiah Thomas. Worst GM in the history of that franchise ...by a long shot. They also have an owner, James Dolan, that doesn't really care about the basketball side of the franchise. According to Forbes the Knicks are still the most valuable NBA franchise despite that they haven't won a playoff series in 9 years and they haven't even qualified to the last four years.


5. I heard the Bulls were winning again. Can they win it all?

Basketball Gods: Three years ago a young and scrappy Bulls team took everybody by surprise and won 47 games (out of 82) . They did it with defense and outworking pretty much everybody night in a night out. They have a couple of good years after that even going to the second round of the playoffs last year. But this team lacks 2 major components necessary for winning in these league: a post up player and a superstar that takes control when game is on the line.

The Bulls are fill with young talented players. Their names pop up almost every year in trade rumors in exchange for a big name post up player (Garnett, Gasol, Jermaine O'neal) but management had never pull the trigger. Now this team looks tired and frustrated despite being the younger team in the league and their record is showing it (25-38 as this morning). There's still a chance of salvating this Bulls but if history have taught us something this management group, lead by ex player John Paxson, won't be capable of doing it.


6. Vince Carter. He looked as the next big thing! Why I haven't heard anything from him?

Basketball Gods: Carter is probably one of the most talented and gifted athletes in the league. His problem: work ethic. Plain and simple. Vince has never been the hard working type of guy it shows in his game , it shows in his body and his teammates know this. He could be as good as Kobe if he had that same work ethic. As a fan, I think we could had something special.


7. Is the Chinese giant that good?

Basketball Gods: I guess you are talking about Yao Ming. Yes, he's that good. For the last two or three years he's been a top three center in the league.


8. Which foreign players are better between latin americans or europeans?

Basketball Gods: In general terms: europeans. They have more fundamentals, better shooters and have shown a lot more discipline that latins. If you change that question and ask me how's better between argentinians and europeans, I'll have to say argentinians. I just feel they are smarter, more blue collar and most important they are way more team oriented.


9. Give me a reason to go back

Basketball Gods: You'll be a little harder to convince that the Ex NBA fan becuase you have an idea of what's happening. What I can say is that there is more real talent right now that in recent years. There are more competitive teams. The competition is harder.

But my strongest allegation here has a name: Lebron James. This guy is too damn good. You can look in this blog for information about him or the web ( there's a google box on your right :) ) or whatever. This guy is 23 years old, has been in the league since age 17. He's 6'9 , 260 (something like Karl Malone) , he's fast, strong, excellent court vision and can fly with the best of them. Has a career average of 27.3. Lead a crappy Cleveland team to the NBA Finals las June. Just look him up.

Remember how MJ surpassed Magic, Bird. This guy will surpass MJ. I think you might wanna be witness of that.

Staying put

14 total trades. 4 Blockbusters. 24 teams adquired new players somehow. Yeap, there were lots of movement around the league. For a more complete analysis go read Holllinger's piece about all those 14 trades.

There's always the other side of the coin. Those teams that didn't make any real moves, those players that didn't get a fresh start and that all are looking for next summer to a needed "shake up". Here are some of those teams and players




Mike Miller:Heat, Spurs, Rockets, Hornets, Magic, etc. They all were trying to get Miller. He's a great shooter, can put the ball on the floor and create his own shot and has a decent contract. As we all know Memphis is cutting lose of every contract they can but they were asking for high draft picks and most of the teams looking to get Miller were contenders, hence, low draft picks.


Ron Artest: Apparently the trade to Denver didn't went through 'cause the Nuggets didn't want to give Linas Kleiza. Why would Denver go after Artest? What's the point? The guy is crazy. He really is out there. Any team the appreciates locker room peace and chemistry and stuff like that should stay apart of Artest. For real. You know what, I'd really like to see Artest on New York. Don't know why. It would be fun.


Sam Cassell: Trade him! Buy him out! Do something with this guy. Why would the Clippers keep him? They could easily get at least a draft pick. They maybe holding him for next year when Livingston and Brand get back, but it will be far cheaper for them to sign a cheap back up for Livingston that having Cassell around.


Vince Carter: Are the Nets in rebuilding mode 'cause they traded their franchise player? I don't think so, Kidd wanted out all year long and one of the reason was Vince Carter. When the guy is not motivated (Because millions of dollars doesn't motivate him) he can really be a pain to his team and teammates. This is the reason why the Nets are trying to trade him to anywhere. Rumored deals to New York and Indiana never got rolling.


Jermaine O'neal: It is me or JO have like 2 more seasons in the tank. Seriously, since the brawl neither Jermaine nor the Pacers have been the same. Any team trading for O'neal have to had a Boston-Celtics-win-now approach.


Al Harrington and Mickael Pietrus: Both of this poor souls are in Don Nelson's doghouse since his comeback to Golden State. They are good players and should be quite effective in the right scheme. Harrington was linked to Chicago, Cleveland and New Jersey among other. Pietrus was courted by San Antonio, the Lakers, Rockets and Mavs.


New York Knicks: They had to do something. They needed to separte Randolph and Curry. They needed to get a real point guard. They needed to decide what to do with Quentin Richardson. Isiah Thomas is pretty sure that if they "keep working hard" everything would be a'right and the championship would surely follow them


Orlando Magic: They still need a enforcer to play alongside Howard and a veteran point guard never hurts. JJ Redick have been crying for a while to get traded and he could be useful for a team that actually plays him.


Toronto Raptors: Perhaps the biggest looser of the trading frenzy. They practically did nothing and their closer competitor, Lebron, got lot's of help. The team doesn't look hungry enough to make some real noice

Do Something!

Wow, there are trade rumors everywhere, I love this time of year.



The Nuggets, who are slowly convincing themselves they need a little something extra to be real contenders in the West, are talking with the Kings about Ron Artest. Good idea trying to get Artest. Bad idea weakening their bench.


Apparently Kidd is staying put at least that's what Cuban is saying



Austin Crosshere want's an opportunity. I don't get why this guy is not being used by Nelson, he's a hustler and works hard on defense. He's a great guy to bring ofthe bench if you are a contender. Funny, I thought the Warriors were contenders.



Jermaine O'neal wants to play for Isiah. What's wrong with this guy? Have this guy seen the Knicks play the last three years? You think the Pacers are bad? Dear God, you are in for a surprise. Anyhow, they could trade for Zach Randolph or Eddy Curry. Is amazing that Isiah as a GM still exists. He makes this blockbuster trade to get Randolph and 6 months later he's shopping him. Isn't that bad management? Does he think this things through? Does he think at all?


The worst part is that he wants to trade Eddy Curry after he gave the Bulls two lottery picks that became Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah.If you think about it, with a little bit of luck they could be Greg Oden and LaMarcus Alridge. That's a frontcourt that works



The Bulls have been busy rumor-wise. They have talked with the Knicks about getting a bunch of scrubs in exchange for Ben Wallace. Man, only the Knicks would take him. Only the Knicks. But hey, I'm making a promise here: If Isiah Thomas takes Ben Wallace I would not write anything bad about him or the Knicks for the remaining of the season and the playoffs. Please, Basketball Gods' let this happen!


Sam Smith smoked something blue and with a weird odor and came out with this trade: Kirilenko for Wallace and then he smoked something green and alive and an Al Harrington - Duhon trade pop up in his twisted balding head


I can't think in any real scenario where Paxson has the chance of getting rid of Wallace, you know one where Isiah Thomas is not involved. My advise to Bulls' fans - my being one of them - keep in mind they are just rumors and that Sam Smith smokes a lot of weird things he grows beneath is bed.

Gods' Final Standings Predictions

If the Basketball God's make a prediction, is that like cheating? Probably. So for u all you in Las Vegas, you perhaps might wanna take a look at this Nostradamus-ish statments.

1. The Celitcs will win 65 games. The Pistons 55
2. The Bulls will qualify to the playoffs with a 39 -43 record, beating the Hawks by 2 games for the final spot.
3. The Heat will play close to .500 once Pat Riley resigns. There's no shot in hell they will qualify.
4. Indiana colapses in the second half going 11- 29
5. The Knicks closes the season with the worst record of the East at 22 - 60

Intersting playoff matchups:

1. 1 Celtics vrs 8 Bulls: The team that got KG against the team that was supposed to get KG. The team that overachieve every expectation against well, the Bulls.
2. 4 Cavs vrs 5 Wizards: If Arenas is playing this is a hell of a matchup.

1. The Suns will be the number one seed with 56 wins
2. 7 teams qualify to the playoffs with 50 or more wins. The Lakers are the 8th seed after winning 47 games
3. Denver and New Orleans win their respective divisions
4. Dallas qualifies as the 5th seed. One game separated them for the number 2 seed.
5. Utah (47 - 35 ) and Houston (46 -36) become lottery teams
6. Minnesota end the season with 13 wins. Seattle with 19.

Intersting playoff matchups:

1. 1 Suns vrs 8 Lakers: Maybethe third time is the charmed.
2. 2 Hornets vrs 7 Blazers: Paul vrs Roy

Boo! U suck!

Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Flea just give a good ol' scolding to Lakers fans for booing Kwame Brown. Is pretty crappy to boo a player of the team you are rooting for. he has a point all those boos can get in the way of winning the game, for whatever reason.

People shouldn't boo a player just because they don't like the guy. Boo they guy because he sucks. Does Kwame sucks? Yes. Although, this year he hasn't had significant playing time, now that Bynum went down Lakers fan should be giving they guy a break 'cause Kobe and Co need all they help they can get to stay alive in the West.


In the other hand, booing the Bulls and the Knicks is totally acceptable because they don't even try most nights and if I'm paying whatever disproportionate and ridiculuous amount of money to attend the game I want to see Curry at least trying to jump to get a rebound.

Joy to the League. Part II

Indiana Pacers: Jamaal Tinsley is still alive and they are 15-13 playing in the Eastern conference.

New Jersey Nets: Richard Jefferson is becoming a scoring machine thanks in part to the way Jason Kidd is playing (11.3 ppg, 10.3 apg, 8.8 rpg, 1.8 spg). They got back Marcus Williams this past month.

Seattle Supersonics: Kevin Durant. Jeff Green. They're going to be in rebuilding mode for the next 3 years at least but Durant ofensive proweness will help the cause, on an off the court.

Philadelphia Sixers: Billy King is out. Andre Miller's still playing for them so there is hope that once they trade him they probabbly get something good and valuable in return.

Houston Rockets: Yao Ming generates them lots of money. They are pretty good team when TMac is healthy.

L.A. Clippers: Chris Kaman will give them some comfort in case Elton Brand leaves. Rebuilding using a big man of the 2003 class as centerpiece is not that bad.

Sacramento Kings: Ron Artest hasn't gone wild yet. They are winning a fair amount of (11 -15) games without Bibby, Martin and Shareff

Washington Wizards: Caron Butler is playing more and more like a true star which is a very good thing because they need somebody to care more on winning games than self promoting his own ass (Sorry Gilbert the Basketball Gods are huge fans of your blog and your antics and everything you do, including your game, but they do know which is you priority)

Memphis Grizzlies: New coach, new system, new star. Rudy Gay is leading the team in points (19.6 ppg ) and showing some true leadership skills. Mike Miller have also been a bright spot this season. And Gasol is happy playing with his buddy Calderon.

Chicago Bulls: They had a shot at greatness for the second time in franchise history. Now they've fired their coach and their GM likes to give gifts to everybody around the league.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Al Jefferson and the rest of the team play hard night after night and they seem like a close team.

Charlotte Bobcats: Michael Jordan called out Felton and the rest of the team. They responded with 2 straight wins. That's the best thing MJ have done for a basketball team since 1998

Miami Heat: Wade appears to be headed to the All Star game and Riley still haven't abandoned the ship.

New York Knicks: Their fans can be very organized

The Knicks and the Bulls

They woke up this morning with a combined 7 -20 record with a 1-14 away record. They are both big disappointments in this young NBA season, specially Chicago they we're called to be a contender for the East title and the Knicks were expected to make at least a decent push to get into the playoffs. I never thought I would be writing a blog where I compare the Knicks to the Bulls, last year the Bulls were a perfect example of a team with great chemistry, a team with heart, a team fight each possession and that could defeat any team any given night. The Knicks in the other hand were the opposite: a team with bad chemistry, bad locker room influences and without a true identity as a team. This year they are awfully similar and their histories are linked together far before this season.


In 1984 Jerry Krause drafted a high scoring, electric shooting guard from North Carolina. We know what happened to this kid, he ended up reigning the league for an entire decade. In this reign he became the mayor obstacle for a lot of players and franchises in their way to the promised land, one of this franchises were the New York Knicks. In 1985 they got the prize of the year: a 3 time All-American 7'0 feet Jamaican center from Georgetown. Ewing was called the guy who was going to take one of the most important franchises in the league back to their hey days. The Bulls and the Knicks battled for the better part of the early 90's producing one of the best rivalries of that decade and some of the most physical games (Part II) in recent history. True be told, there was lots of hate between those two (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C , just head to YouTube and look for all the videos from the 92 and 93 playoffs series between Knicks and Bulls)





Rivalry aside, they also have helped each other. In June, 1988 the Bulls traded one of their most popular players, Charles Oakley, to the Knicks for 31 year old Bill Cartwright to have someone who can score in the middle but the main objective was to have a big body to defend the likes of Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and Moses Malone. The Knicks got a though defender, a mean guy if you want and helped the Knicks build that defensive and physical identity that took them to the upper scheledon in the Pat Riley era. As the nineties finished so did the rivalry, MJ retired for a second time, Scottie was shipped to Houston and the Knicks retooled to fight with the new breed of Eastern powerhouses: Indiana, Miami and Orlando.



New York went to finals in 1999 and to the Conference Finals the next year. After that they faded while Scott Layden started to economically dismantle the franchise highlighted by the trade of Patrick Ewing, their franchise player, to the Sonics. While Chicago was playing guys like Marco Fizer, Dalibor Bagaric and John Starks (couldn't find a picture if somebody have one of Starks in a Bulls uniform please, please send it to me).

Both teams went to a dark era at the start of this decade but the Bulls were the first team to see the light with a management crew lead by GM John Paxson and Coach Scott Skiles. They built a team filled with character players coming from either winning college programs or European teams, they built a team identity of defense, hustle and team work and in a matter of 4 years they were called contenders. Meanwhile the Knicks seems to like the dark era, they went from Scott Layden to the Isiah Thomas (how came from declaring CBA's bankruptcy) darker era. Deals like the aforementioned Ewing Trade, the Jerome James deal, tons of buyouts (Larry Johnson, Jalen Rose) and bad acquisitions (Marbury, Steve Francis, Glen Rice) had defined Thomas tenure in New York.



Among those senseless moves the Knicks found Chicago as a trade partner twice. First in the Jamaal Crawford trade and later with the Eddy Curry trade which, eventually, almost landed KG in the Windy City. These trades may seem ok and even fair on paper but the Bulls got rid of two defensive liabilities that didn't match with the team culture, let's not mention Curry's heart, while the Knicks haven´t been able to mesh as a team.




A year ago the Bulls went to win 49 games, defeat an half-powered Miami Heat team and lost to the Detroit Pistons. The Knicks have won 56 games the last two years combined and had mixed their on court failures with off court embarrassments. This year things seems to even out for these teams as the Bulls have "regressed in their progress" for whatever reason you might wanna think - Kobe's trade, contract extensions or they are just tired of Skiles - the true is they are not winning and they're not even close to do it. The Knicks had a nice offseason adquiring Zach Randolph from the Trail Blazers creating a more than decent frontcourt for Eastern Conference standards of Curry and Randolph. This is a team with a lot of talent and offensive firepower but as their record( 4 - 10) and their last game shows they haven't found a winning formula... in over 7 years.



In the NBA there's always somebody to blame and this franchises need something drastic to change their fortunes if they want to live up to their offseason expectations, expect some firing or trading coming from this teams, probably the earliest. In the other, they both look like they're going to have a great chance to get OJ Mayo. Go Knicks! Go Bulls!

Preparing for the best: NY Knicks

I'm not very into other sports so I can't really say that James Dolan is the worst owner in the history of pro sports but he has to be in the conversation. Either Dolan has this weird man - crush with Isiah Thomas that's not letting him see things straight or he has a "there's no way I was wrong with this guy" stand that is burying the knicks deeper that we all think.

Not only they are in crappy salary cap position but their team chemistry is getting sour by each passing game and that's reflecting in their record. Everybody outside the Knicks organization knew for two years now that Thomas needs to go but he always had Dolan's and his players support, now he's missing the last. Allowing Mardbury's AWOL to pass only with a financial slap on the wrist ( I know he took away his starting spot but have you seen Marbury talk about it, he doesn't give a rat ass) producing some "discontent" with the rest of the Knicks players.

Look I've never played professional basketball, I'll never play professional basketball, but one thing I know for sure: If you don't trust your teammate, if you don't even like your teammates, there's no way in hell your are going to function like a team and if you want to win games you need some team cohesion and that applies to pretty much anything you do as a group. Bad chemistry have destroyed great teams and the Knicks are not a great team.

Sometime down the line Isiah will be fired, Marbury will be released or traded, Q, Jamal Crawford and Malik Rose among other will be traded for draft picks and young players with a "clean soul". The Knicks need to rebuild the right way and that way doesn't include Zeke. It is the time