It's been too long since the biggest media market in the world had a basketball superstar (and Ewing, all warrior-related rhetoric aside, just didn't qualify). I can't understand why none of the big players in the league--especially the young ones on the cusp of becoming great--seem interested in playing at the Garden. Obviously, the whole sports marketing scene has died down somewhat, but someone like Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, etc. would be HUGE here. In purely mercenary terms it would be almost like doubling their contracts through endorsements. Granted, they (and stars lke them) already have obscene endorsement deals, but imagine how many more they'd get in New York, and what playing in New York would mean when it came time to re-negotiate existing deals. As far as the pressure of playing in New York-- we have a rabid, loyal fan base, constantly underestimated by management and the media .It's not like fans here are THAT demanding--put the Clippers in the Garden, and playoffs or not, there'll be a genuine sellout every night, as opposed to the sad, fuzzy-logic ones that MSG has taken to inventing. While we may be in a bad position as far as trades go, it wouldn't be so bad if there were any players of merit out there that actively lobbied for a trade to NY, or if we had been anything but a negotiating tactic for every big free agent to pass through town the past few summers. Not that it would necessarily translate into us getting them, but we don't even seem to make the wishlists of disgruntled stars who demand trades. Why doesn't anyone want to play here anymore?

ah, now here is a topic that has bewildered me too. Witness Chris Webber this past summer: Here is a guy who has all but admitted that he did not want to play in Sacramento, or at least that his first preference would be to play and live elsewhere, and who is marketable beyond any advertising agency's dream. He is personable, articulate and is a great basketball player. RealGM player salaries seem to be down right now, but my guess would be that a player like CWebb is getting about $12-15M a year in SacTown. Not bad. In NY he would have only been able to sign for the $4.5M exception. Now, I can do the math, but really, with the addition of endorsements this figure, it evens out a little more. Besides which, is an extra $4-5M a year (maybe a little of an endorsement stretch here) really going to change your life style, especially after you had been hauling in a cool $10M? My guess is that in NY Chris would have been a final piece to a deep playoff run for years to come; in the Western conference he is caught behind several teams. Why would you want to tread those waters (Shaq and Kobe ain't relinquishing anything, any time soon).

One thing that may actually be hurting the Knicks is that they have capped themselves out. No exceptions left, no room to trade away salary to free up cap space. They are their own worst enemy. The Knicks' brass should have anticipated Chris Webbers free agency years ahead of time (ala the Magic and Grant Hill, Tracy M). Have they made plans for Tim Duncan? I think there biggest plan last year was too big against themselves for a one dimensional player who doubles the position of their other best player.

It still confusing my why players wouldn't want to player on the biggest stage, in the biggest city, in front of the biggest stars.

Oh wait, it must be the money.