The bottom line is so far, Lebron has been rumored to want to play with Bosh and/or Johnson on teams X,Y,Z. He wants to pair up with one of those two. To me that is a fact. Too much smoke. You never hear he wants to team with Wade, Boozer, Amare....

I am gonna preface this with I do not think Johnson is worth the max. But it only matters if Lebron thinks he is worth the max. I can't fault Donnie giving him the max if that extra $2 mil per to Johnson will get LBJ here. If that is what Donnie feels is his best shot he has to take it.

Now personally if Johnson will sign here for a couple mil less that is great. It makes a dream scenario possible if getting Johnson, Lebron-through outright signings- and a guy like Bosh(Curry, Chandler, $3 mil or a S&T with Lee and $3 mil).

C
Bosh
Gallo
Johnson
Lebron

Edit: there ia absolutely no way I see Amare coming here in a sign and trade. No way will either party (MikeD or PHX) help each other in a situation like that.

VDesai wrote:I don't get why you'd go out and offer this guy the max as your first move. Its almost as if you just want to make sure you dont come away empty handed. Just getting Johnson wouldn't make this team better.

Johnson is the best player we would have had since Ewing, he's more complete then houston and sprewell were in their primes. If you can lock in a top 20 player in the league right away you do it. It's not like the Knicks can only pick one player, they can pick two. Get one right away then weigh options for the second. Johnson is the one top FA who can blend well with all of the others. And he makes sense for this roster. The plan is obvious at this point and it's a good one. Lock in JJ early and use it as a recruiting pitch for lebron, and if you lose out, settle for Amare or Boozer or S&T lee for Parker. Either way we leave this thing with 2 all-stars, which many of you will be disappointed with but shouldn't be. We will be relevant again and can be creative to add pieces and develop our current pieces to compete for a title.

Panos wrote:

Solace wrote:My nightmare is we sign Joe Johnson and Carlos Boozer, both for max. I will then stop watching the Knicks altogether.

+1 dude.

when things are down, and you are in despair...there's always another place to turn to for salvation...

if you believe that Joe Johnson only averaging 13 points in the Hawks debacle in the playoffs is the byproduct of a flawed system with greedy players... Put yo hands up in the air

and wave em like you just don't care

Knixkik wrote:

VDesai wrote:I don't get why you'd go out and offer this guy the max as your first move. Its almost as if you just want to make sure you dont come away empty handed. Just getting Johnson wouldn't make this team better.

Johnson is the best player we would have had since Ewing, he's more complete then houston and sprewell were in their primes. If you can lock in a top 20 player in the league right away you do it. It's not like the Knicks can only pick one player, they can pick two. Get one right away then weigh options for the second. Johnson is the one top FA who can blend well with all of the others. And he makes sense for this roster. The plan is obvious at this point and it's a good one. Lock in JJ early and use it as a recruiting pitch for lebron, and if you lose out, settle for Amare or Boozer or S&T lee for Parker. Either way we leave this thing with 2 all-stars, which many of you will be disappointed with but shouldn't be. We will be relevant again and can be creative to add pieces and develop our current pieces to compete for a title.

Joe Johnson isn't as good as Marbury when we first acquired him. Marbury is nutso and a shell of his former self over the last several years but Joe Johnson is not as good as he was when we first traded for him. And just like Marbs he won't be able make us a .500 or better team.

I'm not loving this idea of going after one 2nd tier guy first because if thats all your left with at the max contract than your at the same predicament you used to be at before you cleared the cap space. A lot of second tier guys getting first tier salaries.

BigSm00th wrote:OMG if we wasted 2 seasons, jordan hill, the 2011 and 2012 draft picks to clear room and get....JOE JOHNSON and AMARE I just won't know what to do with myself. why are all of these people so retarded? joe johnson turns 29 yrs old tomorrow. a 5 yr max deal means we will get him at age 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33. oh dear lord, its allan houston version 2.0.

amare is just not that good. these guys are 2nd and 3rd bananas. if joe wants to sign for 10 mil/yr and amare the max and their plan is to go to lebron and say "we have joe johnson and amare signed with enough room for you leftover at the max" maybe that is what they are thinking. if the summer ends and the knicks have maxed out joe johnson and amare that is it. i will renounce my ultimateknicks membership and start watching english premier league.

you wouldn't trade Jordan Hill, Jefferies, 2011 swap and 2012 for Amare?

BigSm00th wrote:OMG if we wasted 2 seasons, jordan hill, the 2011 and 2012 draft picks to clear room and get....JOE JOHNSON and AMARE I just won't know what to do with myself. why are all of these people so retarded? joe johnson turns 29 yrs old tomorrow. a 5 yr max deal means we will get him at age 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33. oh dear lord, its allan houston version 2.0.

amare is just not that good. these guys are 2nd and 3rd bananas. if joe wants to sign for 10 mil/yr and amare the max and their plan is to go to lebron and say "we have joe johnson and amare signed with enough room for you leftover at the max" maybe that is what they are thinking. if the summer ends and the knicks have maxed out joe johnson and amare that is it. i will renounce my ultimateknicks membership and start watching english premier league.

So signing two allstars this offseason will be the straw that broke the camels back for you yet you remained here through the whole decade of the '00's and witnessed signings of Weatherspoon, Jerome James, giving up picks for Curry, Jared Jeffries, sex scandals, etc......