Remember last year the heat just kept signing player after player after player after the decision? Those players were trying to hop aboard the gravy train. So why aren’t players beating down the door to sign with the Knicks and make their OWN championship run?

Simple.

Chris Paul.

The same idea holds true for Tyson Chandler and Nene, both rumored to be high on the Nets wish list. But in the case of either, or any talented NBAer who wants to fit a need for the Knicks, why come to a situation only to be part of a package deal for a superstar?

Why have a big contract on a bad team?

Granted, it would appear more likely that Paul will land in NY than Howard in Brooklyn (or maybe not) but I think the Knicks are in a bind as it relates to bringing aboard talent. Plus the big men that they so desire, like Foster, aren’t interested in only 1 year guaranteed contracts.

So while we wait for the amnesty casualties keep in mind that New York isn’t the holy grail for championship seekers just yet, that will be next year, which is why the Knicks will be cost savvy now and players will be leery of where they put their signatures.

Chris Paul’s(notes) agent informed New Orleans officials on Wednesday that his client will not sign a contract extension and wants to be traded to the New York Knicks, league sources told Yahoo! Sports…The Hornets will be motivated to make a deal as soon as possible for Paul, and aren’t completely determined to get a point guard in return for him, sources said. They’re willing to play Jarrett Jack(notes) as the starter for the rest of the season, and mostly want to gather the best possible package of overall talent and draft picks…If Paul were to opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent after this season, he could sign a maximum four-year, $74 million deal with another team. The Knicks currently would have enough salary-cap room to offer him a four-year, $55.5 million contract with a starting salary of $13 million.

Could it happen sooner before later?

The Blazers tried to include New Orleans in a mega-deal that would have sent Chris Paul to Portland, Devin Harris, Kris Humphries and a host of Blazers to the Hornets, Favors to Denver and Anthony and Andre Miller to the Nets, league sources said.

The Portland-proposed deal would have been a great trade for the Nets and Blazers. But the talks didn’t really go anywhere.

Via Denver Post

The source said Anthony’s camp is getting increasingly frustrated that he has yet to be dealt, desirably to an East Coast team, notably New York or New Jersey. The source maintained Anthony would also agree to a trade with Chicago, but the Nuggets won’t make the trade unless it involves Joakim Noah. The source confirmed that it is highly unlikely Anthony agrees to a trade to Philadelphia or the Clippers.

The plot thickens…or nothing has changed.

The Hornets have quickly found themselves in a similar situation to that of the Denver Nuggets and their star forward Carmelo Anthony. Both players want out of their current situations and will just walk away from the team via free agency when their contracts expire. For Carmelo Anthony that day will come after this season, while Chris Paul must wait until after the 2011-2012 season. The Nuggets and Hornets watched what happened to the Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers, who saw their star players leave via free agency and got nothing at all in return. Instead they were left as two broken down organizations who will start anew and likely will not see any success for quite a while. The Hornets are handcuffed in their situation and may wind up dealing Chris Paul if a decent enough offer arises because they will face the reality that whatever they get in a trade will be better than nothing if he leaves as a free agent. Today, two things happened: Chris Paul gained more leverage in his pursuit of changing teams and the New York Knicks have seen a ray of hope in obtaining an all-star player who has publicly expressed desire to play for them.

In regards to Mitch Lawrence’s fine story a few days back uncovering the dealings with Hornets ownership, I think it is safe to say that there could be a swing in momentum. They were on a good path and they were spending money. Both situations should have been direct messages to Paul. I wonder how much that’s changed.

Via ESPN (finger point to HaS)

The easy/fantasy solution, of course, would be for the Hornets to make David West and Marcus Thornton available with Stojakovic to try to assemble the winning multiteam trade that convinces the Nuggets — and Anthony — that New Orleans is Melo’s most sensible destination. One source close to the situation confirmed to ESPN.com that word has indeed been transmitted from Paul to Anthony that teaming up in the Bayou might be the solution for both of them.

Yet that was one of the subjects that Paul, during Sunday’s 15-minute chat, waved off. Paul passed on the invitation to elaborate on the toast he gave at Anthony’s July 11 wedding where, according to an Aug. 16 report from ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher, he “playfully” suggested that Melo leave Denver for the New York Knicks to join new Knicks signee Amare Stoudemire. He declined to speculate about Anthony’s eventual landing spot or the Hornets’ chances of getting in the mix. Paul swore that he’s “not envious” about the star trio James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have assembled in Miami … and had little to say in response to speculation that his summer switch of agents — from Jeff Austin and Lance Young at Octagon to Leon Rose at CAA — was made with the hope that CAA could help him form a star trio of his own.

The Hornets can be seen as a dark horse although it’s hard to call them that with CP3 on the roster. Do they have the pieces to motivate Denver into dealing Carmelo there? Amar’e is in NY and CP3 is in New Orleans, I’d still give the Knicks an edge based on being a Eastern Conference team.

“We exchanged numerous texts, and he said he wanted to be involved in the process,” Demps said of Paul. “We thought that this was a good opportunity to involve him. It’s a player’s league, it’s a player’s game, why not ask the guys that are playing? It was not running (the trade) by him, but asking questions. You can never ask too many questions.”

Demps said that the decision to part with Darren Collison in order to bring back Trevor Ariza was a difficult one.

“It was tough to trade Darren, it was really hard to do that,” Demps said. “It’s one of those situations where it’s a win-win for everyone. Darren’s going to get the opportunity to go play at Indiana. They called on him numerous times. From the moment I started (in the latter half of July), he’s been getting so many calls. But I think he’s in a situation where he’ll (thrive).

I think what can be said more than anything here is that bringing in Ariza proves the Hornets are willing to spend and add young athletes around Paul. And his involvement shows that they both sides seem committed to staying together…at this point.

Oneandonlycp3

CP3

@Oneandonlycp3: “The meeting went well.  It was great to get an opportunity to sit down with Coach Williams, President Weber (cont) http://tl.gd/2ooelf

Jul 26, 2010 @ 05:36 PM from UberTwitter

Clearly, to me, this statement signifies the Hornets are in zero rush to deal him. But anything can happen.

Discuss.

Sources told ESPN.com that teams inquiring about Paul’s availability in recent days — and there have been several after persistent media reports suggesting that Paul will formally request to be traded at Monday’s meeting — were greeted with the same resistance to Paul offers that the Hornets have maintained for months.

“They say they aren’t moving him,” one rival team executive said of the Hornets.

Who are the Hornets’ rivals? The Thunder? Memphis? A team from Texas? The Nuggets? Ah. It’s a Marc Stein story so it’s definitely an executive of the Mavericks, whom the Hornets took out in the first round of the playoffs a few years back.

A source close to Paul said he has not yet formally told the Hornets to trade him, but he plans to inform them during Monday’s meeting he would be willing to play elsewhere if they cannot accommodate his wishes to improve the roster.

Nothing new, other than confirming the sense that this may move forward quickly. I’ve heard otherwise, but that can change quickly.