Yeah that's the most logical explanation. I doubt they'll make the team and it sucks that my cable bill is going to pay for them to tryout, but at least they aren't effecting the cap or anything.

I think you missed the part where we signed a ****in 6-9 PG. The asian Magic Johnson. This essentially guarantees us 10+ championships.

He's already got more rings than LeBron.

Lee officially signs, yay
1 year, $7 million

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

Nate deals is supposedly done as well, 1 year $4-5 mil.

I don't really get it. Aren't we punting this year? What is the point of these deals?

So people will have a reason to attend the games imo.

What is the point of punting when you don't have a 1st round pick and these deals don't hurt your long term cap situation?

What would be the point of not signing these two to these deals?

You get to retain their Bird rights for next summer IMO

Yeah no first-rounder made this a no-brainer. Rubes probably just didn't realize that at the time.

Our goals for this year:
1) Feature Curry and Jeffries so we have at least a 1% chance of dumping their contracts
2) Develop Hill/Gallinari/Douglas/Chandler
3) Try to promote ourselves to the 2010 free agents by not sucking (35+ wins?)

Thinking about #1 happening makes me moist.

Summary for this offseason

-Traded QRich for Darko
-Drafted Hill and Douglas
-Re-signed Lee and Nate
-Signed a bunch of scrubs to partially guaranteed contracts

Roster:
C- Hill, Curry, Darko
PF- Lee, Harrington
SF- Gallinari, Chandler
SG- Hughes, Douglas
PG- Duhon, Nate

This is probably a better team than last year's 32-win team. The ceiling is probably a little over 40 wins if Gallinari/Hill reach their potential.

so theoretically can we sign lebron and another FA, and then go over the cap to resign lee?

I don't really know why, but I'm kind of excited about this season. I plan to be vocal in the regular season thread.

But I'd like to say Untouchable, great job in this thread. I'll be honest when I say I didn't know all of that, but you really do you know your stuff.

sadly yes. Although after all those years of Isiah I really should have just assumed we'd never have a first round pick ever again.

so has anyone started mapping out scenarios?

1. how many players from this season will actually make it to 2010?

2. who else will they go after/should we want in addition to lbj?

3. who do they go after if they cant get him?

DLee has a $1M bonus if the team makes the playoffs.

Gallinari, Hill, Chandler, and Douglas are locks.

Donnie will be trying desperately to unload Jeffries and Curry's contracts, but it's not gonna happen.

Lee and Nate are possibilities, since we retained their bird rights by re-signing them. They both want to stay in New York, and are "fan-favorites." -Note the use of quotation marks

I think Duhon may also be a possibility since we have early-bird rights on him?

Assuming we get LBJ, I'm hoping we go after Ray Allen. Hughes comes off the books, and Douglas isn't really starter material at the 2.

1.LBJ drives inside
2.Defense collapses in on him
3.Dish out to Allen outside the arc
4.Profit

I don't care. If we don't get LBJ, I'm jumping in front of traffic.

There are still pretty formidable combos of players the Knicks can get if we do not get LBJ. It would not be the end of the world.

lol at still having the 'if we get LBJ' talk.

Also, Lee and Robinson have $1 mil playoff bonuses in their contracts.

There are awesome free agents regardless. Even if they can't unload Curry/Jeffries, doesn't that just mean we get another max or near-max in '11?

you seriously want ray allen? signing an aging jumphsooter is never a good idea imo.

awesome, lets hope he gets it

Appreciate this a lot, thanks

Every signing can only be judged relative to the contract. Yes aging jump shooters often get overpaid but Ray isn't just a jump shooter, he's one of the best overall player sfor a jump shooter of all-time. He'd be a great fit with LeBron.

So what kind of odds you want to give me since there is no chance of it happening?

emotional hedging 9 months ahead of time isn't a good use of money.