I read the Knicks are after Camby and Stoudemire this summer. "Hahn goes on to say that "the Knicks envision a front line of Stoudemire and free agent Marcus Camby as a much-needed size upgrade." This scenario leaves David Lee on the outside looking in, though he'll have no shortage of suitors." http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=NBA&id=856
So, the Knicks initially were gung-ho for LeBron and now they're going after Amare and Marcus? I like Marcus as much as the next guy, but that's a big time downgrade.
Maybe they know they probably are not getting Lebron and putting out info now so the fans won't be disappointed.
Let's see. Stoudemire, D'Antoni, and a much worse supporting cast than they both had in PHX. Plus, Camby will be asked to play at one of the fastest paces in the NBA at age 37. Good luck with that.
Camby on courtside tonight said he would like to finish his career here, and that not the first time I've heard him say it. He knows this team and fan-base is special. However, there are going to be allot of teams throwing stuff at him, kinda like what we did to Millsaps, so it will be a crab shoot. I think it's all about how we do in the playoff's, if he feels we can win big next year he'll stay.
But they have enough cap space to sign Amare, LeBron, and Camby. That is, if they all wanted to go there.
This is all going to come down to contracts and especially contract lengths...do we want to be paying $8 mil in a couple years to our backup Center who is 39? Those are the kinds of of tough calls Wark is going to have to make this offseason...
I also read the Knicks were interested in Shaun Livingston. How far has this guy come back since his injury? I did notice a couple good box score from him. Wonder if the Blazers should be interested?
Who woulda thunk that Camby would be the most popular FA this summer. By popular I mean by the number of teams interested and make offers. We know there are better players but only a few teams can afford them. With Camby you're going to get a lot of bang for less money and shorter term because of age. That makes him available to more teams. Even if he ends up signing elsewhere we'll still most likely be able to get something in return via sign and trade. And I bet it will be a lot more than Blake and Outlaw.
How high do you think the cap's going to be? They can sign LBJ at around 18M (30% of the cap). They have Curry (11.3M), Gallinari (3.3M), Chandler (2.1M) and Douglas (1.1M). So there's 17.8M locked up. Add LBJ's 18M and you have 35.8M. Add in the 7 minimum salary slots they're required to keep (even if they renounce Sergio, Walker and Lee) and that's another 3M, bringing you to ~39M. The NBA's stated 50.6M to 53.3M range for the cap. Even assuming it all the way up to 55, they have 16M to fill out 7 players. And their lineup? Chandler, Douglas, LBJ, Gallinari, Curry. And 16M to fix it. If it's the low end of that, they have 12M for those 7 players. LBJ+Amare+Camby all going to the Knicks at Market Value is literally an impossibility.
I doubt LeBron is going to agree to take less money to play on a team that would be worse off than the Cavs are currently.
A) He has enough money and earning potential to last him a lifetime. B) How would the Knicks be worse off? The LeBron-less Cavs aren't better than the current Knicks and the Knicks would be adding more pieces than just LeBron. I think the Knicks could win the title next season just like when Boston added KG and Allen and immediately won the title.
The Knicks will regret letting David Lee go if they head down this rout. LeBron isn't going to NY. Their best FA option is probably Chis Bosh. I still think they cleared all this cap space and will get stuck with someone like Rudy Gay or Amare.
