Players Lost Respect for Lebron

I’m not thinking about this CP3 Melo on the knicks stuff. It’s absurd to me. Sure it’d be great, but what is the likelihood? I’m actually excited for Knicks basketball, i’m done thinking about players not on the team. We can’t trade for BOTH of them, it would require literally every player on our team aside from amare, and even then, it might not be enough. If we wait for next offseason, we only have money for melo. Great, I would love to have him. But the Hornets can trade Paul to any team they want, it is far from a one horse race.

I have one question pertaining to contracts though.

The knicks have team options for Douglas, Gallo, Walker and Randolph for next year. I believe they had this for Walker this year, which enabled them to not have to sign him or have him count against the cap until after free agents were signed. That is almost 10 million in cap space that MAY be able to be used. Anybody know the deal with that?

the team option still counts against the cap..

The knicks had until July 11th (i think) to exercise the Walker team option .. If they declined it he came off the cap..

with TD, Gallo, AR.. they are RFA so they have to enter a qualifying offer to retain the rights and that number stays on the cap throughout free agency.

Walker is different because he was a second pick round

I think alot of people – fans and players lost respect for Lebron. He went the easy route to get a championship at such a young age. Maybe he didn’t believe in himself that he could get it done that he needed a closer like D-Wade.
All I know is, Lebron will no longer be getting cheered at MSG or any other arena anymore. That Miami Heat team now has a bulls-eye on it. Anyone hear the crap they were saying at their introduction on Saturday. Things like “the best three ever”…”the Three Kings”. Hope they don’t win anything.

“the three donkeys”

What it all boils down to is this.. If you are a star player in the NBA working hard to get a ring and you see what happened in the 2010 free agency, you must feel threatened. You may not ever win a championship as a star player. Carmelo, CP3, Williams, Dirk, and Howard have to feel that with the threesome joining forces in South Beach, may lead to them never being able to win a ring in the prime of their careers. So the only counter move for the power move in Miami is to counter it with a power move in another city. To stay under the cap in 2011 is even more important now then it was in 2010. The NYK will be competing with other teams in Free Agency again to get the superstars available to match up with the SUPER TRIO in Miami. We are favored to be the team to pick up the services of Melo and CP3, at this time. We only hope that another team does not have the cap space and a better opportunity for the Super Free Agents to go to. We have to be competitive this year because Melo and CP3 will be watching.

lol

I want to see some knick fights this year, I want Amare to knock LBJ on his back, no easy layups.

why dont we sign RAJA BELL?

damn RIP to “THE BOSS”…

I know hindsight is 20/20 but I think Lebron choose Miami mostly because he wanted to be a part of a team where he wouldn’t have to be the leader. LBJ may have all the tools but he’s been carrying teams his whole basketball career. He didn’t want that responsibility anymore but he still wants the rings. It doesn’t make him admirable and I bet it weakens his rep in the eyes of the other players but it doesn’t make him that different than the majority of people out there. Most people aren’t leaders regardless of their other skill sets. Props to Amar’e for taking on NYC, if he doesn’t screw up he’ll get rewarded. We’ve finally got a young team worth rooting for regardless of where they finish. Now it’s time for D’antoni to earn his pay.

Yeah maybe the mosgov or turiaf will put lebron on his butt, and the same goes for wade and bosh, we need that toughness again. And R.I.P. To Stenbrenner!

You damn right D’antoni has to earn his pay. I hope he relaizes that and teaches some defense. With the players we now have, there is no reason that we shouldn’t at least cause some havoc on the defensive end. No more easy layups, no more miscommunication. Coach has to prepare the players better.

why would we sign him?

RIP to Steinbrenner. If only the Knicks could have ownership like that.

Whatever,, of course everyone wants to beat him they always have he’s the self appointed KING! Who hasen’t won nothing… But why are all the players ready to go to MIA and take a huge pay cut.

The real Drop is he’s the best player in the league (or 1B Kobe)and all 6 teams wanted him BAD!!! If i was 25 and could play with my two best freinds in Miami I would too. Better than playing with Mo Williams in Clevland..

Shout out to Noah – who the hell wants to go to Clevland..

Gilbert: His emotions are understandable, but this goes aggainst all business practice he really hurt his team with those comments. Players already don’t want to play there now he just made it worse.

From the last blog post…ESPN always has been a media wh*re. A better description is a Boston wh*re.

RIP Mr. Steinbrenner. One of the greatest men to ever grace this earth.

RIP George. The most dedicated owner in the history of sports. As a Yankees fan, and a sports fan, its very sad to see him go.

greatest owner, not greatest men

he is 35

Stranger things have happened.

GEORGE WAS SUCH A GREAT OWNER…. NOW LETS GET BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND. I CANT WAIT TO BOOOOOOOOOO THE HEAT IN THE GARDEN.

What I don’t understand is why some knicks fans are still upset we didn’t get him.

you should be happy, he showed that he doesn’t have the confidence in his own abilities to lead a team to a championship, everything we thought he would find appealing (bright lights, ny legend, icon status), are the things he is running away from.

NY sells itself. Let people come here who want the challenge, quit forcing it on people who can’t handle it.

I would assume Stoudemire knew LeBron wasn’t coming, and only reached out publicly to him to appease the fans. We should applaud Stoudemire for taking on this challenge himself. He seems like he has character, and other star players will recognize that and follow if they appreciate those qualities and exhibit them themselves.

Next offseason only Chandler is a RFA, Gallo and AR the following year and TD the year after that.

The amazing thing about George Steinbrenner passing is that Dolan still isn’t one of the best owners in New York.

Miss _avi_ Lee already.

That is the real Drop Joe V. If he would’ve handled it with a little more class and not turned it into a dog and pony show he could’ve came out looking a whole lot better.

Him trying to pimp the the public into ESPN ratings (which as successful), getting all third person on us throughout the interview, saying corny things like “I respect (d-wade and Bosh) games the most” or “I’m gonna bring my talents to South Beach” lol…how can anyone not think he’s a cornball.

In regards to Gilbert’s comments, he spoke out of anger and I think if you’re a smart individual and player, you’d understand he felt betrayed. Lebron and his “CAMP” whatever they wanted in Cleveland and Gilbert turned a blind eye. He was just angry that Lebron played them more so than the fact he left. His anger was warranted albeit over the top.

Loyalty is a big part of sports, and that organization and state was very loyal to the him and they deserved more respect.

Where is this “news” about melo and paul wanting to come to the knicks. I know melo has said in the past that he would like playing here, and i know paul is fed up with not winning, but is there some other, more recent story that i somehow missed?

Link?

True that this is finally the time for D’Antoni to earn his paycheck. We will need to play respectable defense, and i know we will; we are equipped with some really good defensive tools; better than the suns ever had who finished in the top 10 at one point under D’Antoni.

See the summer league game yesterday? We were clogging EVERYTHING, and blocking just about everything else. It was because of the types of players on the floor. We now have those types on our real roster also.

Greatest men sounds about right, although who are we to judge him? He was one of the most giving, charitable people in the sports world. IMO more than anybody in the history of sports, he understood the passion of us fans. Nobody is perfect, he made his mistakes, paid for them and never made excuses.

The good that man did far outweighs the bad.

Someone tell me what this kid is talking about?

lol

here read this…

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/LeBron-James-booed-at-Carmelo-Anthony-s-wedding?urn=nba,255384

Final takes on the LBJ thing: Stern knows that without an investigation (Arison, Gilbert, Riley, agents, CAA, players, friends of players) there is no proof of a long term conspiracy.

That being said fans do not have a burden of proof that high. Of course they talked about it years ago, that is why they had opt outs at the same time. Did Riley get tipped off by Wade? C’mon I was born at night but it wasn’t last night, of course he was. That is why he didn’t sign anyone past 2010 and traded nearly everyone but Wade.

So what was the difference between Walsh 2010 plan and Riley’s 2010 plan? Walsh hoped he would be able to get LeBron, and Riley knew (via Wade) that he could get LeBron.

What else…oh yeah, LeBron’s inner circle are friends trying to be business people. A la “Jerry McGuire” this ain’t show friends it show business. The 1 hour Decision was downright dumb. It didn’t elevate the brand it crushed it.

Last thing…he doesn’t want to shoulder the load. LBJ doesn’t want to be THE man. It’s Wade’s team. Everything we learned about LeBron over the past few weeks made him less than he was a few months ago.

PS – if it was really, “all about winning” he should have gone to Chicago. But he didn’t so what was it really all about?

Of course players lost respect for Lebron. He looked like a biatch on live tv in front of millions.

Can someone please tell me why Denver has only offered Melo 3yrs on his contract???

A) people are assuming new CBA will be lower, so they aren’t going to want to tie up a player for 6 years or so under the old much higher max.

B) Good chance they already know he doesn’t want to be there much longer and feel like there’s a better chance to keep him for 3 years than a longer commitment.

Lebron did us justice,by having his pending FA,the Knicks where forced to get cap space and become flexible and relevant.Can we honestly say that Miami is not better than Chicago?On so many levels it is better to be in Miami over Chicago and ÑY…it hurts to say that,but its the truth(ie)Tax Break,Playing with 2 of the top 10players in the league(opp to win many championships),playing for Pat Riley(who will go out & get players)and last but not least….lifestyle(South Beach).If where talking about him not accepting the challenge,I concur,but its an opportunity for the Knicks to accept the challenge of beatn the Heat….honestly it will that more enjoyable!

Lebron did us justice,by having his pending FA,the Knicks where forced to get cap space and become flexible and relevant.Can we honestly say that Miami is not better than Chicago?On so many levels it is better to be in Miami over Chicago and ÑY…it hurts to say that,but its the truth(ie)Tax Break,Playing with 2 of the top 10players in the league(opp to win many championships),playing for Pat Riley(who will go out & get players)and last but not least….lifestyle(South Beach).If where talking about him not accepting the challenge,I concur,but its an opportunity for the Knicks to accept the challenge of beatn the Heat….honestly it will that more enjoyable!

biggie only chandler is an rfa. The others are team options. I know the rfa hurts the cap already.

R.I.P to the Boss. Now If the knicks was to ever make a trade for melo and cp3 or d-will, then it will have to look similar to this. If not then how would it look to you.

(credit to itachi123a)

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2blmmpr

before I start, RIP George Steinbrenner. An amazing and influential figure, a true visionary and a winner.

Now as for the small forward on the Heat, of course players would lose respect for him. People know what his talents are, and for him to concede that he is a Pippen, a Gasol, is downright pathetic. People say he should be compared to Magic, but cmon this clown wore #23 like he was Jordan, he raved about Jordan being his idol, and lets face it he had a chance to transcend basketball as some sort of Jordan/Magic hybrid the likes of which we have never seen before. Now unless he’s averaging 40ppg and hits every single clutch shot come playoff time, he will simply be a footnote in NBA history, and he will never be considered a top 15 player. Heck not even top 25 player.

Can someone explain how, on top of the big three’s salaries, the Heat are signing players to multi million dollar contracts?!!

i would assume felton would be in one of the trades especially with billups getting older and the hornets losing their star pg. collison and flynn are great but they could potentially use them in trades that would land them with other players to lessen the blow of losing their stars.
i don’t think we would end up losing both gallo and randolph, and i think its more likely (if we we’re trying to get both) that we would trade for one (whichever one had the more favorable trade for us)and sign the other as a free agent

I dont know what Mike Miller’s contract was but I’m sure he took less money, and then I think they have other players who can sign for the veteran’s minimum. Don’t take my word for it, I’m just as confused as you as how this is even possible. F the Heat, as a Jets fan I thought I hated the Dolphins, as a Knicks lifer I dont have the words for my hate towards the Miami Heat.

big three took 14,14 and 14.5 as starting salaries instead of the max which was around 16.5

Question….beyond conspiracy theories….Can anyone find quotes attributed to Don Nelson on why he chose not to play Anthony Randolph?

I was wondering the same. Miller, now Haslem and they are still trying to get Fisher. Now I’m waiting for Shaq to join them for free just to even his ring race with Kobe. It’s really disgusting..

How bout “the pointer sisters”?

You’re apparently right on the big three bbrody1…
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=coon_larry&page=heatbuildingtime-100709

That from Larry Coon. ESPN…basically says $8.3 mil left, and on top of this, they reupped Haslem for $4mil per and have Miller on the hook apparently. Leaves 4-6 players to sign, with no money?

It would be smarter to sign melo in the offseason, then trade for Paul. That way we can keep most of our talent

Really interesting read from a blogger in Golden state about the trade. Doesn’t really provide answers regarding why Nelson didn’t play Randolph but seems like noone really knows the real reason.

Would help to include the link:

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/warriors/2010/07/08/reckless-burning-anthony-randolphs-brief-bright-run-and-what-comes-next/

“…As for the second question, I think the stories of Randolph’s uncoachability have been greatly exaggerated. The stories surrounding his problems in his rookie season were an early example of the Warriors’ excuse machine: first Randolph wasn’t practicing hard enough, then he was practicing too hard, then when everyone else was injured he finally got on the court and the critics were never heard from again”

“…but given the expectations set on Randolph’s shoulders coming into the season, they look a bit low. Of course, when you take the 6 games (yup, only 6) last season when Randolph played 30 or more minutes, things look up. In those 6 games, he averaged 33 minutes, 17.3 points, 9.3 rebounds (3.3 offensive), 2.7 blocks, 2.2 assists and 1.3 turnovers.”

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/warriors/2010/04/21/grades-the-power-forwards/

They all took less money so the three of them could team up with Mike Miller. Its always been about Mike Miller people, always.

great find, AlexMSG. It’s exciting to read this from a Warrior insider. Not only his assessment of Randolph’s potential but also Turiaf’s and Azubuike’s defensive abilities. It appears we really pulled off a good trade here all around..

I dont kno who this big former NBA influential is? But I disagree wholeHEArTedly that players feel cuz of Gilbert’s comments, they have 2 back LePew-why? Cuz the man dint lie-I wud hav luvd 2 hav been in sum players’ homes afta da decision-Charles Barkley must be “rollin round in his grave”

If I’m Amare, I’m like, Damn, u mean my boys think dat teamin w/Whoopie was better than hookin up w/me?! I already kno I’m gonna ‘Danson’ Whoopie’s azz on da court but friends or not, Batman & robin gonna get @!#%*POW’d when dey come 2 Gotham STAT CITY! Fn MIAMI LICE!

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/11/v-fullstory/1725091/lebron-james-loved-hated-misunderstood.html

A puke worthy article. 352 bandwagon Heat fans commenting and maybe some reasonable people hating. I was considering registering, but its not worth my time discussing with these fools. Lebron James has “Chosen1″ tattood on his back. nuff said.

“The Queen” “D-iva-Wade” and “Miss Bosh”

AKA

“The Dreamgirls”

“We’re your dreamgirls, dreamgirls will never leave you”

Top 3 Hated Miami List:

1) SF Heat
2) Pat Riley
3) Dan Lebatard

Wow 17 and 9 in 33 minutes! That’s sick!

“We forget that this kind of instinct is greedy and not easily controlled, no matter how superhuman its owner. Jordan, patron saint for winning, punched teammate Steve Kerr in the face. Bryant made a big public mess in demanding a trade. They did this emotionally when frustrated. James is frustrated now, too. But not emotional.”

WTF? So LeBron delegating himself to be the 2nd (maybe 3rd) option and onto the backseat towards a possible championship is the same as Jordan’s crazy determination to get it done that lead to the ill-advised (but, let’s be honest, also hilarious)punch? Yeah, right.

In a decade from now nobody will question Jordan’s and Kobe’s superiority to LeBron. Their willpower and single-minded focus to get it done is far beyond leBron’s “I wanna play with my friends and date my college sweetheart” attitude.

this whole CP3, Melo, and Amare thing is about as farfetched and fantasy driven as the Lebron episode. Salary wise the knicks would have to do a whole lot to secure these players. Remember the knicks did enough to sign one more max player will someone please tell me where more max money is coming to sign a player Like Paul. Are we giving up on Gallo, Chandler and Randolph because we would probably have to inorder to pay Melo, Amare and CP3. Remember, we cant do what miami did because Amare already took MAx money so that eliminates the possibility of Amare, Melo and CP3 all taking less money. So Amare makes 16.5 mill. If MElo refuses to sign the extension and next year the knicks lose curry and AZU which is 11 mil and 3.3 mil plus about 3 mil they have remaining from this year thats about a max contract to offer Melo. Lets say New Orleans best offer comes from the Knicks and they can trade for him, CP3 has 2 years remaining and his salary this year was close to 15 mil. Now you say salaries need not match up when you are under the salary cap however with MElo your either over already or almost there. So in order to even make a trade you who probably have to not only throw in draft picks but most likely chandler, Randoplh and Gallo. THere goes the depth of your roster right there. So not only would the knicks have to sacrifice these players like miami they would have to rely on vet players to take a a lot less money while also giving up on their young players.
That being said New Orleans could get much better offers for Paul plus first round selections. And this is if they even considered trading him. You also have to pray Melo does not take the extension seeing a lockout on the horizon.

Max Contracts Are Dropping After This Year And sice if we would’tm of had Eddy’s contract we could of afforded a Big 3 of our own at max’s im pretty sure we can afford Paul, Melo, and Amare.
If thats not enough Donnie said we will have enough for max’s in the future.
This isn’t a dream created by fas Melo, CP3 And Amar’e manifested this making it completely different than lebron

There might be a hard salary cap after this year too. Basically all this speculation is pointless. Making predictions about salaries and payrolls and max deals and whatever if a fool’s errand until we see what the new CBA looks like.

Enough with this Raja Bell thang! Create your own Raja Bell clone with your own! Start with Fields. plus you can save money!

Speaking of fools, where is the NBAPA on this? The MLBPA would never let a superstar sign for less money – anyone remember ARod trying to bo to Boston, only to end up traded to the Yankees? Where is the NBAPA rep to tell us where they stand? They just threw their members under a semi by underselling their three highest valued commodities!

Its Not Speculation The Max Contract Value Is Dropping Next Year Significantly Might I Add.
Point Is If We Could Of Afforded 3 This Year (With Eddy Off The Books)Then We can afford 3 Next Year!

Dantoni have a history of building players careers from other teams, so I’m confident he will be instrumental in developing our new additions. This will also come with growing pains, which we all probably don’t mind, if it benefits us down the road.

Having flexibility is the key to always have an option to keep improving. I just hope they use their flexibility wisely.

r.i.p. the boss…wish the knicks had ownership like that…anyway guys lets move on with the lebron thing…hes a little p@$$y and we all know that…i ma really looking forward to this knicks team..as far as the center position, i think its the spot most fluid and hopefully dantoni will play it right..on nights we play big centers like howard, haywood, shaq and yao, we should start turiaf cuz he looks like the stopper right now…

I can’t wait till we knock the Heat out of the playoffs. Thats gonna be a sweet victory!!

yeah like Miami’s team nobody saw that coming…

I agree w/ everything or saying LeBron did look like a jerk but people need to get over it, he ain’t ready for the primetime stage he wants to be in a boyband like NSYNC or something,, LOL
He’s a cornball..

but you are wrong there is no more loyalty in sports, there’s to much $money$ in this now..

3 years is the max they can offer in an extension you have to remember he’s under contract next year (’10-’11) and then has a player option the following year (’11-’12). He would have to opt out after next season to be a free agent.

[...] Players Lost R&#101&#115&#112ect for Lebron | TheKnicksBlog.com [...]

Vet minimums don’t count against the contract if I’m not mistaken. That’s what they were offering Fisher and that’s what Ilgauskas (probably spelled that wrong) accepted.

Too cool for school.

Raja Bell would be a great signing for the Heat. He’d probably take the vet minimum to play for a title. If he’s going to play for a team not in contention that has cap space I’m sure he’s going to look to get paid.

“I can’t wait till we knock the Heat out of the playoffs. Thats gonna be a sweet victory!!”

I think we’ve got a great shot at it in 10 years or so.

The Raja Bell Kool Aid is loose!

“Oh Yeah!”

True I feel you, loyalty is a wrap in sports, but don’t act like the “home town boy” then get all Hollywood on people on national television. I expected it tho and I think so did the smart people in Cleveland. He’s a bird.

There is no better place than NY to be an athlete period. Get a Clue.

I think you need a copy of the “The Secret” DVD HaS.

The power of positive thinking is real, very real.

@Gallo

Lets see what our record is at the allstar break before we start talking about knocking anybody out of the post season.