Chauncey Billups is at the point in his career where he’s giving more advice than he’s receiving. Billups had to work for years to become a legitimate NBA point guard and went on to win a championship with Detroit. He’s also a five-time all-star and ranks 10th all-time in three-pointers made. So when Billups talks about basketball, people should probably listen.
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It’s not cheap to go to a game at Madison Square Garden. In fact, it’s a huge ripoff. It would be nice to see a quality product when you pay that much money. But that’s not the case with the Knicks. The team will sell out 28 games this year even though they may win less than 15 home games. But that’s nothing compared to the early 2010-11 season ticket sales.
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Dear LeBron,
Let’s start with full disclosure – I am a born and raised Knicks fan. So I’ll spend a few sentences pleading with you to sign with the Knicks. Please, please, please sign with the Knicks this offseason. We Knicks fans have been suffering for so long now. We need you. Ok, now that that’s out of my system, let me explain why you should sign with the New York Knickerbockers this coming summer in the most unbiased way possible.
Tags: chris bosh, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, NBA, new york knicks
Well, that didn’t take long. Less than a week after acquiring another option, Chris Duhon is no longer the starting point guard for the New York Knicks. After starting 130 of the Knicks’ last 137 games, Mike D’Antoni made the announcement on Monday noting that “there doesn’t seem to be pop” with Duhon’s play.
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If you didn’t already know, the Knicks made some major moves at the trade deadline. The three deals give them a lot more flexibility for a run at free agents during the offseason. Here are the three trades that went down:
You have to give Donnie Walsh credit here. While it may not be the absolutely ideal scenario, he managed to unload a ton of salary obligations. Here’s analysis of the moves via KnickerBlogger:
But these are the facts, and they are undisputed: The Knicks, even by the most pessimistic cap projections, will have $32 million in cap space next year. The Knicks have retained David Lee, who can be used in a sign-and-trade this summer. The Knicks have retained Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, the two players who most fans feared would have to be sacrificed to unload Jared Jeffries contract. And the Knicks will enter next season, no matter the free agent machinations, with Eddy Curry’s $11 million dollar expiring contract, allowing them to either make a mid-season trade or add another very good player in the summer of 2011. Make no mistake, the Knicks paid dearly to get here, and if they strike out in free agency, the lost draft picks could haunt them for a decade.
The $32 million of cap space for 2010 is gigantic. That will allow the Knicks to sign up to two max free agents. At the same time, having David Lee and acquiring Tracy McGrady provides flexibility. Even if the Knicks do strike out in free agency, they can probably retain those two players and hope to deal Eddy Curry for value in 2011. McGrady has already expressed interest in staying in New York. We’ll just have to wait and see what Donnie does next.
Tags: 2010, basketball, Donnie Walsh, free agents, NBA, new york knicks, tracy mcgrady, trades
As a Pistons fan, I have to respect the legacy of Chuck Daly. He’s almost the last “real” coach the franchise has had other than Larry Brown’s two-and-done and the Rick Carlisle/Flip Saunders years. But apparently, one Cavaliers fan wasn’t so high on Daly. The AP reports that the FBI investigated a “series of threatening letters” sent to Daly from 1989-90.
Back, then the Pistons were the “Bad Boys” and were actually very good. The team included Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, and the human formerly known as Dennis Rodman. They were hated for their physical style of play. A Cavaliers fan must’ve shared that sentiment because he mailed a number of threats from Cleveland and Royal Oak, Michigan. Here are a few excerpts from the letters:
“God made me realize that YOU, not Laimbeer, Mahorn or any of the others are the one possessed by (Satan),” the author wrote in the one-page handwritten letter addressed to “Mr. Chuck Daly.”
Another letter, this one typewritten and postmarked Royal Oak, Mich., on Feb. 16, 1990, also was addressed to Daly and claimed the Pistons didn’t “know the meaning of the word ‘sportsmanship’” and would “pay dearly.”
I can pretty much picture Steve Buscemi writing that then putting some lipstick on while he strokes his rifle. Daly must not’ve been fazed by the threats because Joe Dumars said that he’d “never heard of them.”
Tags: bad boys, basketball, chuck daly, detroit pistons, fbi, letters, NBA, threats
The Lakers start an eight-game, 12-day road trip today in Washington. They’ll be stopping by the Barack’s House and will spend some time with the President. The Lakers haven’t been to the White House since 2002.
The visit is expected to last about an hour and Phil Jackson and Magic Johnson will be honored by Barack Obama in the White House’s Palm Room. When asked about the trip, Ron Artest said he woudn’t be excited to meet the President. Here’s his logic behind that statement:
“I’m not that excited to meet him because I look at him as a regular person. That’s how he comes across on TV. He doesn’t come across as somebody that can’t be touched, that’s not going to be warm and welcoming.”
Obama is said to be a fan of Phil Jackson dating back to his days as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls. It just so happens that Jackson is an Obama fan as well. The Lakers head coach donated $2300 to Obama’s primary campaign in 2007.
Tags: barack obama, basketball, Kobe Bryant, magic johnson, NBA, phil jackson, president, washington dc, white house
Ron Artest has a new injury… or injuries. The Lakers’ small forward has developed plantar fasciitis in both feet. Head coach Phil Jackson thinks that the cause of the injury might be Artest’s footwear.
Artest, along with Jason Kidd and Shane Battier, have deals with a Chinese shoe company called Peak Shoes. Phil Jackson has noted that the shoes seem less than top quality:
“I’ve called his shoes concrete boots for about the last month. Those shoes look like they are made for the Hudson River. But he stays with them and he gets his feet worked on. But he does not move really quickly. He looks like he’s clogging around out there.”
Jackson also said that Artest may have to sit if his poor play continues. TruWarier had announced the injury himself on twitter on Sunday. He also said later that the injury has “gotten a lot better.” In other news, Phil Jackson gave out books to the entire team and chose Sacred Hoops for Ron Artest. The author of Sacred Hoops is… Phil Jackson.
Tags: basketball, china, chinese, injuries, NBA, peak shoes, phil jackson, plantar fasciitis, ron artest
ScoresFromLastNight is our daily roundup of last night’s happenings. Today’s edition is brought to you by BigLeagueScrew’s World Class Women.
Nate Robinson poured in 27 points including five threes off the bench to lead the Knicks to victory. David Lee had yet another double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds. Rodney Stuckey went 8 for 26 in the losing effort. [NYT]
The Nets lost even though Brooks Lopez and Kris Humphries combined to go 19 of 27. The rest of the team shot 19 for 56. [ESPN]
Andy Rautlins had 21 while Wesley Johnson had 22 in the win for Syracuse. Notre Dame attempted a whopping 30 three pointers and only connected on eight of them. [ESPN]
Matt Moulson scored twice for the Islanders and Rick DiPietro made 20 saves in the shutout. Martin Brodeur was pulled after allowing four goals on 32 shots. The Isles had 46 shots in the game. [AP]
The last time we saw Steph he was rabblerousing on YouTube and UStream. But apparently his unemployment benefits ran out… because Starbury got himself a new job. Marbury will be joining Shanxi of the Chinese Basketball Association. He’s expected to arrive in China next week. Shanxi head man Wang Xingjiang said that Marbury won’t make a huge salary and mostly wants to promote his line of shoes.
Shanxi coach Bob Weiss, formerly head coach of the Spurs, Hawks, Clippers, and Sonics, will be the man tasked with controlling Marbury. And Shanxi hasn’t had much luck with that in the past. They’d signed Bonzi Wells last year and terminated his contract when he didn’t return from vacation on time. But that would NEVER happen with Steph.
Tags: basketball, bob weiss, china, chinese basketball association, NBA, new york knicks, shanxi, stephon marbury
Tell me if you’ve heard this story before. A previously anonymous “model” has come forward making damaging claims in an attempt to get money from one of sports’ biggest stars. This time Shaquille O’Neal is in the crosshairs.
I almost wish that the old days of simply getting pregnant by an athlete was the best way to shakedown an athlete. The jersey chasers of 2010 have much more advanced tools: Gloria Allred, tabloids, and gossip blogs. Now a girl can make a buck for simply learning the intimate details of an athlete’s sex life. Nice work if you can get it.
Shaquille O’Neal finds himself in the unenviable position of fending off claims from alleged former mistress Vanessa Lopez and her lawyer. Lopez says that Shaq harassed her and told an associate to “shut dat bitch up.” That quote is money. The Orlando-based model says that she feels somebody is “after her.” Lopez’ lawyer Gloria Allred claims Shaq coaxed her into a relationship then freaked out when he found out she could be pregnant.
I don’t blame Shaq for trying to shut dat bitch up. Of course, O’Neal was in the wrong for cheating on his wife and potentially harassing Lopez. But Shaq probably didn’t people knowing that he was slam-dunking a girl that has been with Delonte West, J.J. Redick, and Kenyon Martin. This girl even went so far as to steal Martin’s credit card and order $6500 worth of clothes.
Tags: basketball, cleveland cavaliers, gloria allred, harassment, NBA, shaq, shaquille o'neal, shut dat bitch up, vanessa lopez
We’re about five weeks away from the NBA trade deadline. With the February 18th date approaching, Chris Bosh is apparently generating a lot of interest. ESPN’s Chad Ford reports that interest in Bosh from the Lakers and Rockets could have a big impact on the LeBron Sweepstakes as well.
Sources from both the Knicks and Nets have told Ford that they don’t expect to land any major free agents unless they can pair that player with another big-time signing. He also notes that the Nets were already starting to question the prospect of a big move:
Even before the rumors surfaced this weekend, the Nets were having second thoughts about their 2010 summer strategy. A source close to the Nets’ thinking told me that they are concerned that if they don’t land LeBron or Bosh, they may be stuck in the same situation the Pistons were in last summer — with no elite free agents on the market, the Pistons were forced to overpay role players to fill out their roster.
The Knicks may also be re-thinking their strategy for 2010. The same factors may force Donnie Walsh’s hand to make a move soon or to wait until the dust settles in the 2010 free agency period. Nets team president Rod Thorn said that he expects “major deals” before the deadline. On the Lebron front, the latest rumor is that Pat Riley may go “all in” on LBJ.
Tags: 2010, chris bosh, cleveland cavaliers, free agents, houston rockets, LeBron James, los angeles lakers, NBA, new york knicks, trade deadline
