Here's the article:

KNICKS HOPEFUL ABOUT JAMES

The bottom line is, despite the latest rumors that have LeBron James going to the Bulls, the Knicks aren't ready to give up on him just yet. Knicks officials will make a desperate jaunt to Los Angeles Wednesday night to attempt to lock up Joe Johnson, who has told confidants he would embrace reuniting with Mike D'Antoni in New York, so they can then arrive in suburban Akron, Ohio, on Thursday with a sudden roster upgrade that - they hope - will put them right back in contention for James.

The Knicks might look to talk to Amar'e Stoudemire Wednesday night in L.A. after they talk with Johnson, but there are major concerns about offering him a full max contract. With his history of eye and knee injuries, that kind of a guaranteed deal could be one the NBA's insurance company opts to reject. Several sources with knowledge of the situation have said the empty roster and concerns about a lengthy rebuilding process are James' greatest concerns about the Knicks. James highly respects D'Antoni and is enamored of his offensive system, but the lack of a second star makes it a tough sell, especially when the Bulls already have All-Star Derrick Rose on the team.

James respects Danilo Gallinari and sees potential in the forward, but it's still not enough for the Knicks to be an immediate championship contender. One source said the Knicks' failure to come up big in either of the last two drafts hurt them. To preserve cap space, Donnie Walsh decided not to trade up into the first round of last week's draft and came away with two very understated second-round picks in Andy Rautins and Landry Fields. Last year, the Knicks missed on Stephen Curry, a LeBron favorite, by one pick. The source said that had the Knicks somehow landed Curry - Walsh made every effort to trade up but came up empty - they would be in much better shape to lure James. In fact, the source said, "They'd have him already."

The Knicks thought they could work a sign-and-trade for free agent Chris Bosh with the Raptors by using their own free agent, David Lee, then use Bosh to entice James. But the prevailing belief is that Bosh is almost set on joining Dwyane Wade with the Heat. Meanwhile, reality has set in with the Cavaliers, who are working from their Life After LeBron playbook as the opening of the NBA free-agency season nears. James has until Wednesday to officially opt out of his contract, which is a mere formality at this point. He already has set up meetings Thursday, the first day of the free-agency period, with the Nets and Knicks.

The two-time NBA MVP essentially will pay $600,000 - the difference between his scheduled 2010-11 salary of $17.1 million and the estimated maximum of $16.5 million he can receive in the first year of a new deal - for the right to listen to pitches from other teams. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and new general manager Chris Grant have reached a state of desperation with the likely departure of their homegrown superstar. Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and GM Gar Forman are projecting a great deal of confidence in their chances.

(1) They failed to do whatever was necessary to move up in last year's draft to make sure they secured Steph Curry..Colassal mistake..To me, this kid was key for many reasons. Not only was he the perfect MDA type of player, he showed me that he absolutely could play some PG AND he's friendly with LeBron..Once I heard that, it became a no-brainer that we had to do whatever was necessary to get this guy (make that trade with Washington to leapfrog GS in the draft which we probably could've done btw - look at this disaster of a trade Wash. just made with Chicago for Christ's sake ; trade directly with GS, etc..) in order to ensure this kid ended up a Knick. They didn't. This kid would've flourished in NY and a good creative GM would've found another way of dealing off Jeffries...Strike 1.

(2) They did absolutely nothing to make themselves standout in this year's draft. All indications are that Rautins & Landry Fields would've been available after the draft or with simple trades lower in the 2nd round (picks lower than 38/39 were probably going for no more than $1M apiece, probably less, and with no salary cap ramifications). However you want to slice it, we weren't nearly as aggressive enough in reshaping this roster on draft night, and I was screamin' my friggin' head off for them to do so... Where was the trade up into the lower 1st round? There were good players picked there...And if they really didn't want to take on a 1st rounder because of cap ramifications, OK fine, where were the aggressive trades for a few high 2s, esp. after the draft began to take shape after awhile (you mean nobody in our war room saw some guys free falling by the end of the 1st round and spoke up?)?? Briggs keeps talking about Hassan Whiteside and you know what -- he's right on the money. 100%. This kid would've been perfect right now..He would've been perfect with 2 stars, even perfect in the event that we get shutout on these top FAs and decided to bring Lee back and go from there. Whiteside would've been the best guy we could've prossibly gotten in this draft to put alongside David Lee. Compliments him perfectly.. Ok, we got Jerome Jordan (or did we??), but that's too little, too late as far as I'm concerned. Small step in the right direction but not nearly enough..Rumor had it that they had quite a few guys targeted leading up to the draft (Brackins, Vasquez -- 2 guys who probably did wind up going a little too high for us but then there were guys like Darington Hobson (a guy we liked a lot that like Curry, we missed by one lousy pick ) , Armon Johnson, etc..)..We didn't get any of these guys man. Not one..I mean did they think LeBron and Bosh didn't even watch the draft?? Our complete lack of aggressiveness has made this an easy decision for these FAs I'm afraid...Donnie even talked about shot-blocking leading up to the draft and then couldn't even pull off a trade lower in the 2nd round to get Varnado or N'Diaye. We couldn't even address that problem (Jordan sort of addresses it in a way I guess but he's not the specialists these two are)...Strike 2.

(3) As of right now, we've failed to pull the trigger on any major trade for an attractive roster upgrade --- Okafor/Collison, Tony Parker (who's telling people close to him that he wants to be a Knick btw), a draft day trade for Rudy Fernandez and pick 22, etc...Unless these teams are really holding Donnie ransom in these scenarios there's no reason in the world why we haven't executed on one of these deals right now...Strike 3.

Bottom line, we're giving these major FAs absolutely nothing to hang their hats on as far as coming here goes...The inactivity is mind-boggling to me...To recap: We failed to properly visualize and forecast what drafting Steph Curry could've meant to this franchise right now, we **** the bed in this year's draft and as of right now we look scared to pull the trigger on a deal to make us better and more attractive...Have I missed anything?? We have nothing but ourselves to blame when this whole thing comes crashing down in a matter of hours now...I hope I'm wrong and I hope we're still in this but I just don't see it anymore...We're doing nothing to make ourselves standout from these other clubs...I just can't believe we went the whole nine to clear all this cap room and then failed to follow up with the next logical steps in the process....Disgusting...

BasketballJones wrote:

Solace wrote:No point in calling doomsday before we know if it's actually the apocalypse. Let's just wait, relax. If he doesn't sign, there will be plenty of time for "I told you so's". I'm sick of being negative based on the media, who has so far confirmed that LeBron will be playing for every team in the NBA next season... simultaneously.

Ha ha. The newspapers are ****ing with our heads and loving every minute of it.

I'm still waiting to hear that LeBron is also considering EuroLeague, playing in China, the country of Japan, the continent of South America, the planet Earth and possibly even forming his own team on Mars. I mean if it's totally professional to just make up news, in the absence of it, we might as well go for the gusto.

I will panic if we find out Lebron, Wade and Bosh all have signed elsewhere. But, we're not at that point yet, so let's just see what happens. By July 4th, we're going to have some very good indications, or maybe even the entire answer.

A week ago the articles are about how Walsh is continuing to groom people and grow the front office, how the Knicks hired this guru just to court James and how its all being mishandled. Kinda funny because nothing has happened yet.

James has yet to meet with Walsh.

If you think about the fact that our core right now should be Brandon Jennings, Brook Lopez and Wilson Chandler... I mean, the mind just reels. Especially when you hear Bron wants a team with a big man. And he wants to play in Chicago with a point guard and a big man.

crzymdups wrote:looking at last season, does a team of:

Brandon Jennings / Duhon
Chandler / Nate
Harrington/ Chandler
DLee / Jeffries
Brook Lopez / Barron

make the playoffs? it certainly has a nicer looking future.

the draft is the big flaw in donnie's execution. everything else has been good.

(You have Chandler twice)

Anyway, that's true, but the roster you mention might be at the expense of only being able to afford one max free agent. So, I guess you have to pick your poison.

fishmike wrote:you cant look back at every draft say we screwed up by not taking the best guy.

The Hill pick sucked. I agree 100%. That was a waste. I love the Gallo pick and Douglas also.

Brandon Jennings is not a star. He's not the best player on that team either (not even close)
http://www.82games.com/0910/0910MIL.HTM

Jennings is 6'1 and 165 pounds and shoots 37%. Its not like Walsh passed on a sure fire hall of famer. I hate PAC10 big men but Hill was ranked higher in ever draft than Jennings for some legit reasons. They were all wrong, but this wasnt a no brainer. Cmon.

Thats the thing with the draft. EVERY GM blows one or more. You have to look at guy for 4-5 years and see what he does on draft day with what he's got to work with.

i know the draft is hard and dicey. BUT, we've been hurting at the center and point guard position for years and they were clear gaping holes on our roster.

in the jordan hill draft, we could have drafted Jennings (who despite poor shooting numbers KNOWS how to WIN and LEAD) or Ty Lawson or Darren Collison.

we were DESPERATE for a point guard. DESPERATE. so desperate we actually let chris duhon play for us. we should have examined EVERY SINGLE point guard in the 09 draft with a microscope. We should have Jennings, Lawson or Collison running the point for us. it's that simple.

the gallo draft is another story. I would have taken Anthony Randolph once Westbrook was off the board. I don't like Brook Lopez, but he's being cited as a reason that Bron is considering New Jersey. Because you need size and defense to win. I actually like Gallo okay now, but it's a hard argument to make that 6'11" 240lb gallo can be part of a strong defensive team. he's too slow laterally to guard SFs and too weak to guard PFs. where does he fit on defense?

Finestrg wrote:Hahn saying in today's Newsday that "several sources with knowledge of the situation" have told him the big reasons LeBron probably turns us down are an empty roster, concerns about a lengthy rebuilding process and the failure to really do anything in the last two drafts (esp. losing out on Steph Curry last year by 1 lousy pick)..I mean what have I been saying?? I've touched on all of these topics for over a year up to the present until I was blue in the face. Now reality is really starting to hit home boy...

Here's the article:

KNICKS HOPEFUL ABOUT JAMES

The bottom line is, despite the latest rumors that have LeBron James going to the Bulls, the Knicks aren't ready to give up on him just yet. Knicks officials will make a desperate jaunt to Los Angeles Wednesday night to attempt to lock up Joe Johnson, who has told confidants he would embrace reuniting with Mike D'Antoni in New York, so they can then arrive in suburban Akron, Ohio, on Thursday with a sudden roster upgrade that - they hope - will put them right back in contention for James.

The Knicks might look to talk to Amar'e Stoudemire Wednesday night in L.A. after they talk with Johnson, but there are major concerns about offering him a full max contract. With his history of eye and knee injuries, that kind of a guaranteed deal could be one the NBA's insurance company opts to reject. Several sources with knowledge of the situation have said the empty roster and concerns about a lengthy rebuilding process are James' greatest concerns about the Knicks. James highly respects D'Antoni and is enamored of his offensive system, but the lack of a second star makes it a tough sell, especially when the Bulls already have All-Star Derrick Rose on the team.

James respects Danilo Gallinari and sees potential in the forward, but it's still not enough for the Knicks to be an immediate championship contender. One source said the Knicks' failure to come up big in either of the last two drafts hurt them. To preserve cap space, Donnie Walsh decided not to trade up into the first round of last week's draft and came away with two very understated second-round picks in Andy Rautins and Landry Fields. Last year, the Knicks missed on Stephen Curry, a LeBron favorite, by one pick. The source said that had the Knicks somehow landed Curry - Walsh made every effort to trade up but came up empty - they would be in much better shape to lure James. In fact, the source said, "They'd have him already."

The Knicks thought they could work a sign-and-trade for free agent Chris Bosh with the Raptors by using their own free agent, David Lee, then use Bosh to entice James. But the prevailing belief is that Bosh is almost set on joining Dwyane Wade with the Heat. Meanwhile, reality has set in with the Cavaliers, who are working from their Life After LeBron playbook as the opening of the NBA free-agency season nears. James has until Wednesday to officially opt out of his contract, which is a mere formality at this point. He already has set up meetings Thursday, the first day of the free-agency period, with the Nets and Knicks.

The two-time NBA MVP essentially will pay $600,000 - the difference between his scheduled 2010-11 salary of $17.1 million and the estimated maximum of $16.5 million he can receive in the first year of a new deal - for the right to listen to pitches from other teams. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and new general manager Chris Grant have reached a state of desperation with the likely departure of their homegrown superstar. Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and GM Gar Forman are projecting a great deal of confidence in their chances.

(1) They failed to do whatever was necessary to move up in last year's draft to make sure they secured Steph Curry..Colassal mistake..To me, this kid was key for many reasons. Not only was he the perfect MDA type of player, he showed me that he absolutely could play some PG AND he's friendly with LeBron..Once I heard that, it became a no-brainer that we had to do whatever was necessary to get this guy (make that trade with Washington to leapfrog GS in the draft which we probably could've done btw - look at this disaster of a trade Wash. just made with Chicago for Christ's sake ; trade directly with GS, etc..) in order to ensure this kid ended up a Knick. They didn't. This kid would've flourished in NY and a good creative GM would've found another way of dealing off Jeffries...Strike 1.

(2) They did absolutely nothing to make themselves standout in this year's draft. All indications are that Rautins & Landry Fields would've been available after the draft or with simple trades lower in the 2nd round (picks lower than 38/39 were probably going for no more than $1M apiece, probably less, and with no salary cap ramifications). However you want to slice it, we weren't nearly as aggressive enough in reshaping this roster on draft night, and I was screamin' my friggin' head off for them to do so... Where was the trade up into the lower 1st round? There were good players picked there...And if they really didn't want to take on a 1st rounder because of cap ramifications, OK fine, where were the aggressive trades for a few high 2s, esp. after the draft began to take shape after awhile (you mean nobody in our war room saw some guys free falling by the end of the 1st round and spoke up?)?? Briggs keeps talking about Hassan Whiteside and you know what -- he's right on the money. 100%. This kid would've been perfect right now..He would've been perfect with 2 stars, even perfect in the event that we get shutout on these top FAs and decided to bring Lee back and go from there. Whiteside would've been the best guy we could've prossibly gotten in this draft to put alongside David Lee. Compliments him perfectly.. Ok, we got Jerome Jordan (or did we??), but that's too little, too late as far as I'm concerned. Small step in the right direction but not nearly enough..Rumor had it that they had quite a few guys targeted leading up to the draft (Brackins, Vasquez -- 2 guys who probably did wind up going a little too high for us but then there were guys like Darington Hobson (a guy we liked a lot that like Curry, we missed by one lousy pick ) , Armon Johnson, etc..)..We didn't get any of these guys man. Not one..I mean did they think LeBron and Bosh didn't even watch the draft?? Our complete lack of aggressiveness has made this an easy decision for these FAs I'm afraid...Donnie even talked about shot-blocking leading up to the draft and then couldn't even pull off a trade lower in the 2nd round to get Varnado or N'Diaye. We couldn't even address that problem (Jordan sort of addresses it in a way I guess but he's not the specialists these two are)...Strike 2.

(3) As of right now, we've failed to pull the trigger on any major trade for an attractive roster upgrade --- Okafor/Collison, Tony Parker (who's telling people close to him that he wants to be a Knick btw), a draft day trade for Rudy Fernandez and pick 22, etc...Unless these teams are really holding Donnie ransom in these scenarios there's no reason in the world why we haven't executed on one of these deals right now...Strike 3.

Bottom line, we're giving these major FAs absolutely nothing to hang their hats on as far as coming here goes...The inactivity is mind-boggling to me...To recap: We failed to properly visualize and forecast what drafting Steph Curry could've meant to this franchise right now, we **** the bed in this year's draft and as of right now we look scared to pull the trigger on a deal to make us better and more attractive...Have I missed anything?? We have nothing but ourselves to blame when this whole thing comes crashing down in a matter of hours now...I hope I'm wrong and I hope we're still in this but I just don't see it anymore...We're doing nothing to make ourselves standout from these other clubs...I just can't believe we went the whole nine to clear all this cap room and then failed to follow up with the next logical steps in the process....Disgusting...

Dead on target my man

But I must counter you here. When is the last time you saw a 7 athletic length freshmen in college [who has the build to get stronger] lead the entire NCAA id shot-blocking--have the ability[and good form] to hit the mid range J and while somewhat raw still own decent post up moves. Could he pass--well Patrick Ewing couldn't pass but given a fresh slate Im sure he could figure out how to pass out of a double team and move the ball. Tell me the last time you saw a freshmen who has those skills (both basketball wise and physical) lead the NCAAs in shot-blocking while nearly avg a double double with a PER of 15--1 above Landry Fields:)
It wasnt about year 1 with Whiteside although I do believe in the 2nd half of the year he couldve really helped--its about years 2-12

I put Whiteside in Bynum's class as a prospect out of HS with the on year in--the only reason I didnt have 600 posts is because I thought he would be picked top 12.

BRIGGS wrote:Paladin55--I understand that Hassan is not all the way there yet--go back to my Andrey Blatche picked 49 post.

But I must counter you here. When is the last time you saw a 7 athletic length freshmen in college [who has the build to get stronger] lead the entire NCAA id shot-blocking--have the ability[and good form] to hit the mid range J and while somewhat raw still own decent post up moves. Could he pass--well Patrick Ewing couldn't pass but given a fresh slate Im sure he could figure out how to pass out of a double team and move the ball. Tell me the last time you saw a freshmen who has those skills (both basketball wise and physical) lead the NCAAs in shot-blocking while nearly avg a double double with a PER of 15--1 above Landry Fields:)
It wasnt about year 1 with Whiteside although I do believe in the 2nd half of the year he couldve really helped--its about years 2-12

I put Whiteside in Bynum's class as a prospect out of HS with the on year in--the only reason I didnt have 600 posts is because I thought he would be picked top 12.

Whiteside just turned 21. Bynum turned 22 just this past Oct. BIG diff