With the deadline for contracts to become guaranteed tomorrow, one name that was cut that I found intriguing was Mike Taylor of the LA Clippers.  The 23 year old guard made history last year for being the first player drafted out of the D League.

The Clippers have been rumored to be interested in Ramon Sessions.  There also has been a rumor that the Clippers are looking at every possible combo guard available.  I am curious to see if there is a follow-up move to come with this release.

I read Clippersblog.com to find out more, and it appears that a poor showing in the summer league (really?) did in the young PG.  Plenty of fans were sad to see him go because of his hustle and his energy.

For those of you that do not remember this guy, he did this against the Knicks last year.

The Lakers also waived Sun Yue today.  I have never seen Sun play, but he is supposed to be pretty much a 6’9 point forward.

I am surprised that the Clippers cut Taylor, but something might be brewing out there in LA.  To cut a player that performed last year as a rookie simply because of a poor summer league outing makes no sense.  I hope they do not intensify their efforts for Sessions.  Like the Knicks, the Clippers can use a shooting guard to play behind Eric Gordon.  There were rumors swirling around that the Clippers were most heavily intersted in Allen Iverson and Ramon Sessions, two names linked to the Knicks (especially Sessions).  However, can Nate Robinson be a fit out there in LA?  Nate is a star in this league (in part for the novelty of his game), and he would shine under the bright lights of Hollywood.  Unlike Iverson, Nate Robinson is younger and is used to a bench role. 

Anyway, I wonder if Walsh will show any interest in Mike Taylor or Sun Yue.

Update: The Bucks have released Bruce Bowen according to insidehoops.com…

Update: A source close to the situation tells me that Warrick chose the Bucks over the Cavs, who offered the former Syracuse star a $2 million dollar contract. Not sure how much the deal with Milwaukee is as of yet, but you’d have to assume it is more and the trade with Malik Allen shouldn’t affect the offer sheet for Sessions, which as we told you, wasn’t coming today.

Ken Berger is reportingthat the Knicks may want to negotiate with Jason Williams BEFORE offering Sessions, in a deal that makes no sense to me whatsoever.

“…Before getting involved with Sessions, the Knicks are focusing on Jason Williams and have been granted an exclusive, five-day window to negotiate a deal with the unretired point guard, Yahoo! Sports reported. Williams, 33, must navigate a minefield of beaurocracy after filing retirement papers last September, only a month after signing a one-year deal with the Clippers. L.A. relinquished its exclusive rights to negotiate with Williams last week. Any team wanting to acquire those rights would have to claim Williams off waivers first…

A play that Walsh thinks the Bucks will match??

Stay tuned…

The Bucks have dealt forward Malik Allen to the Nuggets for Sonny Weems and Walter Sharpe. From the Milwaukee Journal:

“The Bucks made the trade to clear a roster spot and achieve some financial savings, thought to be about $500,000.”

I am not sure if $500,000 is going to be the type of financial savings that the Bucks needed to keep Sessions in the mix.  I could be wrong though, but 1/2 million savings for one year just does not seem like the sticking point for the Bucks and Sessions.

As for Warrick, Cleveland apparently offered their bi-annual exception, but Warrick still signed with the Bucks.  Because of that, I am assuming that he got somewhere above $2 million.

Stay tuned for the Sessions situation…

Update 1:54pm: Tommy Dee says: Warrick to the Bucks is a done deal. No offer for Sessions yet and may not come today according to a source with knowledge of the situation. It’s coming though, and, of course, the Warrick signing is huge.

Via Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:

“Hakim Warrick, an athletic 6-foot-9 forward who played the past four seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, has reached agreement with the Bucks on a one-year deal, sources indicated Friday.

Warrick averaged 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds while appearing in all 82 games for the Grizzlies last season, primarily in a bench role.

The Grizzlies withdrew their qualifying offer to Warrick last week, making him an unrestricted free agent. A number of teams showed interest in Warrick, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and Charlotte Bobcats.”

As Marc Stein noted the other day, Hakim Warrick had huge implications on the Ramon Sessions situation.  It appeared that the Bucks were more concerned with using their money to sign Hakim Warrick as opposed to retaining Ramon Sessions.  Now that they have actually done that, it appears even more unlikely that they would match an offer sheet from the Knicks.  This also probably eliminates any sign and trade possibilities involving David Lee and Sessions, because the Bucks filled their void at power forward with Warrick.  I expect the Knicks to simply make a flat out offer to Sessions, and I don’t see the Bucks matching it.  Also, Gery Woelfel’s latest tweet: “Knicks waiting 4 Bowen trade – Bucks at $68.8M (Lux tax $69.9) – then make run at Ramon Sessions.”  Wait, where did we hear that?

Frank Isola keeps bringing up Iverson. I am not in his head, but it appears that Isola is having visions of Iverson lighting up the Garden with his energy, his scoring ability, and his attitude. With the Knicks set to offer Ramon Sessions a deal, is Iverson really an option?  I do not think so.

If I were to take a guess, I would say that the vast majority of Knicks fans want nothing to do with Iverson. Can I blame them? Iverson went to Detroit last year and the results were not pretty. To make matters worse, Chauncey Billups helped bring the Nuggets to the Western Conference finals, perhaps proving that Iverson’s brand of basketball does not win in the NBA. Last season was not a memorable one for Iverson. The lack of interest in the former MVP and scoring champ.

So again, is Iverson really an option? Let me play devil’s advocate for a second and present this scenario. Iverson was brought into Detroit to play the point, a position he is capable of playing, but not the position he is best at playing. He was brought to a veteran team that was well set in its ways. The incumbent roster was comfortable playing with each other. Taking out Billups and adding Iverson (two completely different players) ruined that comfort level. Iverson changed that gameplan.

The Knicks need to get Sessions in my opinion. I do not want to give him the full MLE, especially if Donnie finds himself competing against himself (LAC should not be an option for Sessions. LA would be a graveyard for his career. The only competition would be the Bucks matching at this point). Sessions is a PG… a young, talented PG. So what would Iverson bring to the table? Iverson is best suited at the SG spot. Iverson has been one of the premier shooting guards in the NBA ever since he stepped foot on the NBA hardwood. There is absolutely no denying that. On the bi-annual deal, does Iverson fit as our starting SG? Iverson wants to play for a coach that will understand his game. What exactly is his game? Quick shooting. High volume shooting. Speed. Energy. Running the fast break. Playmaking. Would D’Antoni understand how to utilize that kind of game? Iverson is not a great outside shooter, a major negative.

The Knicks need star power. The Knicks need to make the playoffs this year. We know both of those things. But is Iverson the Answer? With high volume shooters like Wilson Chandler (certain games), Al Harrington, and Larry Hughes (among others), I am not sure if Iverson fits the game plan here. Perhaps this summer has humbled Iverson. Perhaps Iverson now realizes that he cannot be the chucker that he has been for his entire career. In NY, Iverson would not be the man. He would start, but he would have to be a part of a team. If the Knicks bring back Nate Robinson, then forget about Iverson. They would play a similar role. But if we can only have either for one season, do you want Iverson or Nate? I might give Nate the edge because of his shooting ability, but my gut tells me that Iverson would help the Knicks win more games, if for nothing else than simply being a bigger presence on the floor.

Again, if I were to decide on Iverson, I am not sure what I would say. If this team was not stocked with one year mercenaries, I would say “absolutely not” to AI. But with the one year rentals, chemistry for the future is not the objective for the 2009-10 season. The Knicks right now lack a true identity. The Nuggets had Melo. The Pistons had their core. What do the Knicks have? The only big problem would be a possible negative effect on Gallo and Wilson. Iverson will take shots away from those two guys. But so will Nate.

I am up in the air on this situation. For the 1 year, bi-annual exception, would AI worth the risk? Right now, I am leaning towards NO. The reason is that Iverson does not bring this team closer to a championship, only to the playoffs. Iverson will not morph this team into an elite team in the East… I do not think at least. There is a big risk, if just for one season. But I can see the argument for why it’s worth trying. Again, I am not reading Isola’s mind, but I get the impression that he would want the guy. Others adamantly say no. As of right now, I say take care of Sessions. If Sessions does not come, then I might be more inclined to say yes to Iverson.

Your thoughts? Is Iverson really an option?

Last night Moose and I talked about the state of the Knicks, including my thoughts on Ramon Sessions, should Walsh divert from the 2010 plan, and will Nate Robinson and David Lee be on the roster this year.

Listen to podcast…

Via Marc Stein

“…There were strong indications Thursday night that the New York Knicks were assembling the final details of an offer sheet they believe will ultimately land Milwaukee Bucks restricted free agent Ramon Sessions.

Terms of the proposed deal were not immediately available, but NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com that the Bucks were indeed bracing for the offer sheet and also more likely to pool the free-agent cash they’re prepared to spend this summer to try to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers to the signature of athletic power forward Hakim Warrick rather than matching what’s coming to Sessions from the Knicks.

One trusted source insists that the Knicks believe they can extend Sessions far enough to dissuade Milwaukee from matching but without affecting their well-chronicled strategy to leave enough salary-cap space to recruit one maximum-salaried free agent in the summer of 2010. An offer sheet to a restricted free agent must be for at least two years, but it remains unclear how much of New York’s $5.9 million mid-level exception Sessions would receive.

Committing the next two seasons (or more) to Sessions, after fruitless free-agent flirtations with Jason Kidd and Grant Hill earlier this month, becomes easier for the Knicks to stomach if restricted free agents David Lee and Nate Robinson indeed return on one-year contracts bumped into the $6 million range. Lee and Robinson would thus become unrestricted free agents next summer while helping the Knicks maintain maximum flexibility.

ESPN.com reported earlier Thursday evening that Warrick, who was transformed from a restricted free agent to an unrestricted free agent last week when the Grizzlies withdrew their qualifying offer, was deciding between Cleveland, Philadelphia and Milwaukee and preparing to choose his new team as early as Friday.

He averaged 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds last season for the Grizz. If the Cavs could add Warrick to Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon — with their $2 million bi-annual exception to offer, as Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer helpfully reminds — that would be three interesting bargains to supplement their trade for Shaquille O’Neal and the pricey re-signing of Anderson Varejao.

Outbidding Cleveland for Warrick, though, would still be far cheaper for the Bucks than trying to win the Sessions game. Milwaukee would still have rookie Brandon Jennings and Luke Ridnour at point guard if the Warrick-over-Sessions signals prove true…”

There was a report yesterday that Walsh and Bucks GM John Hammond had talks that were apparently unproductive, It will be a risky play for Walsh, but it seems as if it’s a calculated one.

Just wanted to give the Gym Rats the heads up that I will be on with Marc Malusis once again tonight to talk about Sessions and the Knicks.

If you missed my last appearance with Tony Paige you can listen to it here.

Should be on during the overnight hours so I’ll have my coffee brewed up and ready to go.

The podcast will be up tomorrow am.

The wreck is the irony.

I wonder if “the devil” has GEICO?

finger point to Blazers Edge

ESPN.com is reporting that Lamar Odom is returning to the Lakers for 4 years and $33 million.  The fourth year is a team option, and the first three years are for a guaranteed $25 million.

Millsap got 4 years and $32 million.  Odom gets 4 years and $33 million.  Can someone lend David Lee a pen?

Seriously though, Odom is a more established and probably a better player than Lee overall.  Mark Bartelstein can wait all he wants, but Walsh is not going to move off of his contract numbers.  With the Millsap and Odom deals, as well as with Jordan Hill and Al Harrington (possible short term solution) in the fold, Walsh is not going to give Lee the insane kind of money he is seeking.

Frank Isola is reporting that the Knicks will make a decision on whether to offer to Ramon Sessions or Jamal Tinsley by week’s end.

Gery Woelfel, who covers the Bucks for The Journal Times, tweeted that John Hammond and Donnie Walsh spoke on Wednesday.

Woelfel believes that the subject of their conversation was the possibility of the two clubs completing a sign-and-trade deal.

I reported yesterday that Sessions was most certainly still in the team’s plans, despite reports to the contrary,  and that the idea, I was told, was to wait to see what the Bucks’ move would be come August 1st and whether they had their sites on signing a free agent in the wake of letting Bruce Bowen walk.

Clearly, a sign and trade is a possibility here, especially if Walsh is convinced that the Bucks would match an offer sheet.

I’ve thought that the Tinsley situation was a smokescreen, who knows, maybe the bond with Walsh is that tight and like Frank says, he is a cheap option. But again, where on earth does that leave Nate? You’d have to think that he’s part of the sign and trade discussions, because adding another guard to the roster would leave too big of a glut.I’ve thought that during each and every rumor of the team adding a guard.

Via Frank Isola:

“Donnie Walsh is expected to decide within one day or two whether to make an offer to Jamaal Tinsley or Ramon Sessions.

The Knicks believe that either point guard represents an upgrade over incumbent Chris Duhon, whose play and fitness fell off dramatically over the final 30 games last season. Tinsley is a short-term solution with a more impressive resume than Sessions. Plus, he is cheaper to sign.

Sessions, though, is only 23 and is only going to get better. Steve Nash enjoyed his best years in Mike D’Antoni’s offense so perhaps taking a chance on Sessions, a restricted free agent, is worth the risk.

The other long-shot candidate is Allen Iverson. The Knicks have debated whether to take a one-year flier on Iverson, who flamed out last season in Detroit. Walsh and Iverson’s agent, Leon Rose, have held preliminary talks but the Knicks have not and probably won’t make an offer.

But if you’re looking to be a playoff team next season – remember, the Knicks don’t have a first-round pick for the 2010 NBA Draft – which player gives you the best chance to succeed; Tinsley, Sessions or Iverson?

For better or worse, Iverson will create more buzz. Plus, he has the most to lose since this coming season may be his last to prove whether he can still be a productive player.”

Obviously I would choose Sessions hands down if I had the choice, but I just want to know:  If you go with Duhon or Tinsley, what do you do in 2010 with Steve Nash off the market and no draft pick?  Just no to Allen Iverson.  Isola is better than that.

According to a report in today’s NY Post:

“Knicks team president Donnie Walsh and coach Mike D’Antoni met with former Pacers point guard Jamaal Tinsley yesterday in what was described as a feeling-out meeting to gauge mutual interest.

“No offer was made and money was not discussed, said one person close to the situation.”

More to come as more comes out…

I’ll be on with Moose tonight on WFAN to yap about the Sessions situation and the State of the Knicks.

via the Fanhouse:

“Point guard Jason Williams, who is trying to return to the NBA after a self-imposed, one-year retirement, will be in Memphis this weekend for a meeting and a workout with the Grizzlies.

Williams, 33, is expected to formally clear waivers Thursday, making him an unrestricted free agent and available to any team in the league. The Clippers, who had signed him to a contract a year ago before he retired, waived their exclusive right to him last week.

The Knicks also have shown interest in Williams, according to NBA sources. Williams, who last played for the Miami Heat (2005-2008), has been working out in Orlando, where he makes his off-season home.”

Hopefully, things do not get this far.  I would not mind Williams, but if the Knicks bring him in here, that would mean that they lost out on Jamaal Tinsley and Ramon Sessions.  Back in his day, Williams was a pretty good PG.  He was the starting PG on a Miami Heat title team.  But the Heat wanted him out of Miami in a bad way during the final months of his tenure there.  I remember his knees appeared shot.

At the very least, the Knicks need a third PG to pair with Toney Douglas and Chris Duhon.  I am all for trying to develop Douglas, but if he does not pan out right away (how many rookies actually do?), then I do not want to see D’Antoni sticking with Duhon for 40 mpg.  D’Antoni wants to win games, regardless of who is on the floor.  I do not think he is the type of guy to get wrapped up in which guy has a big contract or which guy is a young player here for the future.  While many of us want to see Douglas develop, D’Antoni has not proven to be a coach that will allow a developing player to play big minutes while being overmatched.  That is where the third PG comes into the picture.

As of right now, I think it would be a miracle to get Sessions for less than the MLE and for less than five years.  His restricted status hurts that idea.  But he is still #1 on my list.  Next, depending on the meeting yesterday, I would prefer Tinsley.  He is a NY guy and has apparently stated that he wants to be here next year to revive his career.  At 31 years old, he is not ancient and he probably has plenty left in the tank.  He is a very good passer that can form a good tandem with Chris Duhon.  Douglas can still find time with those two.  Don’t worry about that.

Depth at the point is a an important thing to have.  Last year proved that.