could be done by monday.

I have a fear that nothing Isiah planned will come to fruition. We cannot go to camp with the same team.

Reality bite! Look, Isiah said not much would be done and he liked the group he had. He is working it hard, but shows he can't screw up by taking on stupid contracts.

Damp at 5 years is shorter than I read before, but the hawks are smart to do that. We can't give warriors more than 8.6 mil in contracts to sign and trade. If we did that, we'd have to go 7years! Damp would be a bad contract at some point.

Caves need KT! We need big Z!

I prefer that to signing him to a seven year contract.

http://www.nypost.com/sports/25316.htm

KNICK VANEXEL?

July 18, 2004 --

...

The Knicks are getting infinitesimally close to solidifying a sign-and-trade arrangement with the Warriors accenting epicenter Erick Dampier; and you thought Jamaal Magloire has seen his last All-Star daylight now that the Hornets have shifted to the Western Conference.

Frustrated at being unable to entice various teams to commit to an inordinately larger deal, Isiah Thomas, according to a plant foreman, is attempting to push ahead by his lonesome. Engineering such a caper minus a middleman or two, of course, figures to be considerably more expensive.

Aside from acquiring Dampier, the Knicks may be obliged to relieve the Warriors of Nick Van Exel's bloated contract. Logic dictates Chris Mullin wouldn't dare recruit free agent Derek Fisher to subsidize Speedy Claxton at the point if the Golden State exec didn't have a port to unload Little Nicky's $25.5M, two-year guarantee; if he's not heading to New York, go to sleep on him being shipped out somewhere.

Compensation should not be nearly as problematical as it was before Mullin promoted Adonal Foyle to the starting lineup by virtue of investing $41M in his re-signing. Now all the Warriors need is a competent backup, which the Knicks can provide in Nazr Mohammed. After that it's simply a matter of filling in the blanks with players on the end of their contracts (Dikembe Mutombo and Othella Harrington) until the amount comes within 15 percent (plus 100G) of Van Exel's salary and whatever Dampier re-enlists for.

My only questions are whether Thomas is slick enough to dump Moochie Norris' $3.8M and $4.2M salary on the dock of the bay area? And can Kurt Thomas/Frank Williams be kept out of the equation to use as part payment to obtain Antoine Walker from the Mavericks? As mentioned last Sunday, as long as the deal is reasonable, owner Mark Cuban is willing to satisfy his incompatible (with Dirk Nowitzki) forward's feverish desire to play for the Knicks or the Sixers.

Come to think of it, if the Knicks are compelled to throw Kurt into the Warriors' pot, shouldn't the Mavs desperately want to reacquaint themselves with Van Exel in lieu of Steve Nash's re-routing to Phoenix? Rookie Devin Harris and Avery Johnson, I submit, are not good enough to lose with in the first round of the playoffs.

is it just me or are peter vecey articals painful as **** to read... they barely make sense and its like h barely writing in english grammer... i dont know... but idont believe jack **** he reports.. but i wish we would get Dampier

Nick Van Exel has a 1 year 11mm $ contract. The NY POST and Peter Vescey lie so much that they arent even taking the time to atleast publish public information with validity.

the truth is there is little faint hope that we can do a sign and trade for dampier--it would take 3 teams and would also take GS to increase payroll close to OR over the LT--something they have never done.

NVE is not so stupid. Its an ending deal, and he can be part of a 3 man rotation. Its a short term fix and perhaps gets us something else. We also dump shandon on some team at the same time.

I don't see the point in Nick Van Exel. And if his contract is expiring, I don't see why Mullin would be in such a rush to move him.

Yea- why would Atlanta want to go long on someone as old.

Then again, they have a lot of cap room.

Golden State is probably waiting to see if any team will step up and offer a better deal than what the Knicks are offering. If not, they will probably take the Knicks deal so they don't lose Dampier for nothing.