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December 10, 2011 · 5:13 pm

Daily Rounds 12/10

The Knicks are reloading, under the premise that they won’t be able to acquire Chris Paul.  Reaction is coming quick and guess what?  The Knicks may not get their superstar and the fans are ok.  The Knicks are close to moving pieces to make the Tyson Chandler signing official.  Tim Smith of the Daily News believes that THIS could be the move that finally adds the element of the game that most fans/experts knew was missing: defense.  Alan Hahn of Newsday says this move is beginning to give the team a boost of confidence that will surely help them moving forward.  Mike Vacarro of the Post says the time is now for Mike D’Antoni to deliver.  Or else.  Marc Berman in his report also had a nugget about Mike Bibby being on his way today to sign a contract to become a New York Knick this morning.  Interesting. Ian Thomsen of SI.com sees some similarities between the Knicks team getting Chandler and Boston getting Garnett.  

I’m happy that the Knicks are opting for the more realistic approach.  It seemed that they were waiting for the next superstar every single year.  Rebuilding a perennial doormat in a basketball crazy town is difficult but I believe that this move more than the CP3 move is needed.  Chris Paul would’ve been a luxury.  One more super friend added to the list.  Yes, having the offensive talents of all three would’ve been great but the game of basketball only allows ONE ball to be in play and so to have 3 guys share ONE basketball would’ve been a difficult transition for all three.  Something the Heat are still trying to master.  The Knicks however won’t have to worry about that.  This move ALMOST takes them out of the CP3 running though there is a restructuring clause that allows the three guys with the big money contracts to work around their deals to free up cap space and give the team money to make a run at him.  But let’s for a moment think realistically and admit that the CP3 deal is dead and deal with the here and now.

Here comes Tyson Chandler.  7’1 clogging up the paint as would be scorers try to have their way with quick slashing point guards and scorers.  This is what the Knicks needed.  A body occupying the paint that won’t allow teams to automatically score like its a lay up drill.  No the defense wasn’t that bad, but by most metrics Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire aren’t exactly getting All-Defensive nods.

Its interesting though to look at the parallels between that Celtics team and this current Knick team.  Chandler is not what Garnett is in terms of an offensive threat.  But Garnett eschewed that when he came to Boston and he went to work on the defensive front to ensure that they would be a formidable team on that end.  He knew what his lot on that basketball team was.  His job was to make sure nobody THOUGHT about coming into the paint and if they did, they did so at their own risk.

Now, injury aside, the Knicks did the right thing.  Kinda.  I don’t love this move because it completely throws all the risk on to Amar’e knees.  Without the amnesty clause in the Knicks back pocket they are completely unprotected from a catastrophe befalling Amar’e’s knees and killing the Knicks over the final 3 years of this contract.  For four years, Knick fans will wait with baited breath everytime Amar’e falls to the floor.  If for any reason he doesn’t get up, Knick fans will be worried and have the face they get when relatives call with bad news.  MSG cameras will find fans with hands over their mouth and wide eyes.  Guys holding their hips looking up at the jumbotron.  Guys with their hands on their heads saying nothing for five minutes and then composing themselves and offering up the biggest FUCK YOU!  You know the kind where you summon all the strength from the pit of your stomachs?  Yeah, THAT kind.

But the Knicks made the right move.  I began to think about what Donnie Walsh would’ve done in this situation.  Yes Donnie is still involved as a consultant but the decision falls on Glen Grunwald and God bless him.  This is HIS stamp.  Glen Grunwald decided that the time was NOW for the Knicks.  That Chris Paul was headed, likely, for a successful few years in Los Angeles where he would take the crown from Kobe and take over Hollywood.  Grunwald knew he couldn’t put all his eggs in one basket waiting for the chance to not have a seat once this game of musical chairs ended and thus decided to take his chances on Chandler for this, and the next four years.  Is the price high?  Depends.  That isn’t obvious to me at this point.  The only thing obvious to me is that the Knicks have gotten better on paper.

But what if the Knicks had done the patient Donnie Walsh approach?  We would most likely be looking at a Billups-Fields-Anthony-Stat-Turiaf team that never really got the chance to get a full season under them to mesh.  Fields regressed after the Anthony trade because he was unsure how he fit in.  Could they have been better?  Sure.  But the same defensive lapses would’ve been prevalent.  But now, you play the season out and you say forget CP3.  That trade, as proposed and which eventually will get done as trade talks have resumed, would’ve put the Lakers out of the running for Howard.  Howard may get traded to Dallas (for who I want to know because I see nobody on the Mavs that I would be excited about if I were the Magic), OR to New Jersey.  I don’t see him necessarily staying there.  The Knicks may have had a chance to sign Dwight Howard as a free agent.

Of course that’s a chance that if you were willing to take, could’ve been a possibility.  But there were no guarantees.  Just like this deal isn’t guaranteed to make the Knicks better.  Every deal has its finger crossing moments.  But think about how Amar’e re-did his image during the first half of last season.  He took over leadership.  We laughed when he boldly proclaimed the Knicks were back.  Who were they coming back with?  Raymond Felton?  Wilson Chandler?  Timofey Mozgov?  Give me a break.  Well, guess what?  The Knicks were back.  It made Melo get antsy watching everything happening at the Garden and want to force a trade there and they did no matter how many times I objected to it.  Had the Knicks waited for Anthony to come on board this season, imagine what the starting five would’ve been:

PG- Raymond Felton
SG- Wilson Chandler
SF- Carmelo Anthony
PF- Amar’e Stoudemire
C- Ronny Turiaf

Bench:  Mozgov, Gallinari, Fields, Douglas, Walker, Shawne Williams

That’s a legitemate contender in the East.  The Knicks don’t need an elite point guard.  Now imagine the Knicks still had that team and went up to Orlando and said, here’s Gallinari, Felton and Mozgov and we’ll sign Wilson Chandler and trade him to you to make the numbers work.  You’re telling me the Magic would’ve automatically rejected that?  You’re telling me the Knicks couldn’t have put that to the Hornets?  The Knicks would’ve had a Big 3.  Unfortunately the Knicks couldn’t wait.  They were too itchy.  They were coerced into making a trade that if you asked Donnie Walsh in private circles with a few scotches and two packs of Marlboro Reds in him whether they should’ve waited on the Anthony deal he would’ve said yes.  It was the right move.  The Knicks were building something.  They had a solid team that, if you watched them, HAD a solid young core learning to play with each other.  I liked that team.

No I loved that team.  That team made it worth it to watch the Knicks again.  They were fun.  They liked each other.  The Garden was bumping again.  They gave the Celtics fits and that team wouldn’t have laid down against the C’s like they did in Game 4.  No, that team fed its energy off the crowd.  The teams that went to the playoffs in the 90’s were built around one superstar and a bunch of guys whose careers were never promised to them, but earned.  Yes they were talented but they were not great players.  The Mavs proved that teams win championships.  Guys like Tyson Chandler are the guys that the Knicks were avoiding.  Guys like Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, are guys the Knicks were not going for.

The Knicks did the right move.  This was a basketball move to make the Knicks relevant again.  Am I sad that they have little to NO SHOT of getting Chris Paul or Dwight Howard now?  Sure.  But I saw a guy take his team through a 64 team tournament on his back.  One superstar in his one year in college.  Carmelo Anthony CAN lead his team but he needs a team.  Grunwald is building him a team.  I’m glad.  The Knicks and its fans deserve one.

Go New York! Go New York! Go!

More reaction is coming out from that CP3 deal, which according to multiple sources is now being reworked and reframed to the Commissioner’s liking, and it ain’t good.  Mike Wilbon of ESPN thought it showed how gutless the league and David Stern had become and speaking on similar themes, Bill Simmons said this will be the moment we knew that Stern didn’t have it anymore.  Vishnu Parasuraman said the financials of the deal made no sense for the Hornets, a league owned franchise, to do.  

Most people looked at the deal from just a player perspective and said this is a fair deal.   They looked at Stern’s veto as being part of a larger fight between players and owners from their days at the bargaining table.  They saw it as something personal and not business and that’s why feelings were hurt and people took such vitriol and hatred out against Stern.  Which quite frankly was understandable.

Look, David Stern made the unpopular move but fair move considering the uncomfortable position he’s in with all 29 owners being part owners of the Hornets.  Its not an easy position to be put in but the Commissioners job has never been an easy job.  But this move seemed shady from the moment it was announced.  Then the slap in the face: it was shot down for basketball reasons.

I understood it from a business sense: Who’s going to buy a team that has no viable superstar to build the team around or prospects of having a top draft pick in 2012?  That’s why that Clippers deal was probably the best from a selling standpoint.  Get young players AND get enticing draft picks.  The Clippers offer, EVEN WITHOUT Eric Gordon would’ve been better per say.  But this deal would’ve allowed the Lakers to save $10 million, money that would’ve went into resigning Paul to a long term extension.  But you have the problem of Andrew Bynum’s contract which is a player option for next season.  Something he would’ve picked up had he remained on the team leaving the Lakers with 6 million before the luxury tax.  That’s why I felt that Bynum’s contract has to be moved in order to clear space for Howard.

But here’s the crazy part of this.  Say Dwight Howard decides that he wants to come to the Lakers.  Say the Magic and the Lakers don’t work out a trade during the season after the Lakers trade away everyone FOR Chris Paul.  The Magic don’t find any takers for Dwight Howard or can’t make a deal that appeases them.  In the offseason the Lakers can still pull a sign and trade and offer Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard which would clear out about 16 million in cap space to use that money on signing Dwight Howard.  In that scenario the Lakers could win with CP3, Bynum, Metta World Peace and Black Mamba, and then go into next year, get younger and much better with a core of CP3, Metta, Mamba, and Dwight Howard.  Now, in that scenario imagine what players who are in the I’m chasing a ring portion of their careers would think?  Wouldn’t that situation be more appealing than playing for the Miami Heat?  Somehow, Kobe wins.  LA wins and most importantly and more to the disdain of Dan Gilbert, big markets win. *
*= This is all pending that I’m understanding this new CBA correctly.  

But the hate towards Stern was expected but given the fact that the Lakers were basically giving themselves cap space to sign Howard and CP3, this looked bad.  But we see, thanks to Grantland’s Vishnu, that it was bad financially for the league’s teams.  Why would owners agree to a deal that virtually had them paying more for a team they are in direct competition with?  That doesn’t make sense.  It makes sense for the teams involved.  The Lakers we know why it makes sense.  For the Rockets it gives them a big man to fill the space that Yao Ming left when he retired and then they could’ve made a run at Nene by offering him a lot more money than I’m getting the feeling that Denver is actually willing to give up to sign him.  The Hornets would’ve had a nice complement of talent and a number one draft pick (to be fair barring a complete collapse and multiple injuries that pick from the Knicks is going to be a late first rounder).  They would’ve been a playoff competitor.  Yet, Stern’s actions gave rise to the theory that perhaps Stern has more control that we care to admit, but it also created a situation where fans reacted before knowing the full story.  What does that mean?  That fans don’t trust Stern and maybe, Simmons is right: Stern’s power and influence being questioned is a sign that nobody is scared of him anymore.

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December 9, 2011 · 4:45 pm

Daily Rounds 12/9/2011 Part 2

In Part One, we took a look at all the NBA crazyness leading into the first day of training camps.  In Part two we look at the Pujols contract and reaction.  A crazy game in Pittsburgh that came down to the wire and a bum leg.  And other small mini notes including breaking news regarding one of my favorite players in the NBA.
Albert Pujols is a Los Angeles (of Anaheim) Angel.  In a stunning turn of events that was confirmed by multiple outlets Albert Pujols agreed to a 10 year $255 million deal to go from the St Louis Cardinals and the National League to the LA Angels and the American League.  Bernie Miklasz of the St Louis Post Dispatch says save the blame game, its just a business.  Bryan Burwell doesn’t believe the Cardinals did everything they could to keep the superstar a Cardinal for life.  Vincent Bonsignore of the LA Daily News shows his reaction.  Bill Plaschke of the LA Times  says this makes the Angels relevant in LA just as much as it does in the AL.  Kevin Baxter writes that Pujols’ Hispanic heritage won’t be that huge here given the low Dominican population in Southern California.  However his reputation could take a hit.  And Boy DOES IT EVER and from an unusual place.  Joel Sherman of the NY Post asks the Angels “have we learned NOTHING from the idiocy of handing a soon to be 32 year old slugger a 10 year contract?” John Harper meanwhile says that the Yankees may be forced to react to this news if the dominoes fall the way that some suggest it will.  Gil Lebreton of the Fort-Worth Star Telegram says that the Rangers insist they aren’t going to budge from their plan and business model.   I agree with Steve Henson of Yahoo Sports that the real winner here was Prince Fielder who’s agent is a fella by the name of Scott Boras.  

The question on everyone’s mind this morning is: IS this deal a good idea for the Angels?  Just take for a second to remove the emotion of a long time Cardinal leaving the only place he knows for bigger dollars and a bigger tank.  Is Albert Pujols worth 10 years $255 million (reportedly)?  (for that matter is ANY player worth that much for that long?)  My answer is yes.  A HUGE yes.  A resounding yes.

Kevin Baxter is right.  There is no latino influence like he would’ve had if he had chosen to go to Miami in South Beach.  Pujols decision to move to Los Angeles was purely based on dollars.  It was a business decision.  And it was a business decision on both sides.

For years I’ve said that Arte Moreno operated his ball club like a weird rich kid.  Unsure about spending all of his money, instead he made smaller purchases to keep people believing that they were big spenders.  Kind of like what the Coupon family did two winters ago when they signed Jason Bay.  I guess Moreno got tired of shopping at the mall and went to Fifth Ave and swallowed up Albert Pujols and got a discount on CJ Wilson.  This is a huge deal for Moreno because now was the time to strike.

The Dodgers are a financial mess and despite their bumbling problems, they will soon be on the receiving end of a huge multi-year TV deal that will make them even richer and they will get new ownership soon, one group rumored to include Magic Johnson.  So now was the time to strike.  Before the Dodgers got their affairs in order.  It was time to get some sour Dodger fans to turn and stare at the red of the Angels while the Dodgers remained blue in the face.  These are the kind of bombs you land when you are fighting a turf battle.  These are the things that give you victory.

Pujols immediately gives them legitemacy.  Wilson gives the Angels another arm on a team full of capable arms.  The Angels move to get Vernon Wells looks dumber now considering they could’ve had an outfield of Torii Wilson, Peter Bourjos and Mike Trout the whiz kid 19 year old who will eventually be a superstar if all the scouts are right.  The Angels have the kind of long term commitment from Pujols that will allow them to win a few battles in the presses and will give the Angels the ability to hold their head high when they walk in this town long run by the Dodgers.

The notion that he is a traitor OR even did anything remotely bad here needs to stop.  I find it hilarious that its New York reporters who are crying foul of this deal though it makes sense.  The A-Rod contract looks like it will be a stain on the Yankees for years and something they won’t be able to remove anytime soon.  But there are several reasons why this deal makes sense and not only that he deserves it:

This is a guy who TOOK a hometown discount already.  His last contract paid him $100 million which was hugely under-market deal.  So Pujols took the hometown discount once.  He wasnt, at the age of 32(?) going to take it again and I don’t blame him.  Its once in a life time that a player of his talents come along and enter the free agent market and any team would’ve been right to offer him that contract.  Leaving St Louis somehow makes this deal a bad one?  Retiring a Cardinal would’ve made sense.  Yes, they offered north of $200 million but their payroll restrictions didn’t allow the Cardinals to go further or take that extra step.

But that’s not what cost them Pujols.  They never, in his mind made that extra push prior to last season to make him an offer he felt he was worthy of.  If we learned anything following the Jose Reyes press conference, its that stars need to be pampered and felt like they are wanted.  They are insecure and shallow and need the reassurance like little kids that they will be looked after.  Pujols CAN be looked at in that light but it wouldn’t be fair.  The Cardinals had an exclusive window to talk contract extension and if they said 10 years $240 million, they would’ve gotten him then.  This would not be going on.  I’m not mad at Pujols for taking the money.  You get offered that kind of money, you would be dumb to NOT take it because this is a business and in the end you take care of yourself, family and loved ones and nobody else.  Everyone else is periphery and don’t really matter.  Pujols’ fans in St Louis need to know that.

I was a fan of Reyes and I know that he did the right thing.  I don’t blame him for wanting out of the Mets, and their current situation, and taking the bigger contract.  He did the right thing.  I don’t begrudge him as a Met fan and I don’t hate the Mets for letting him leave.  This was right for both parties.  It was the right time.  Was there a better way like trading him?  Sure.  But either way I don’t blame Sandy for not offering that kind of money that signed Reyes and I’m not mad at Reyes for not taking the offer.

The Wilson deal part of it makes sense because he won’t be asked to be the number one guy.  That role is Jered Weaver’s.  They have a four man staff that could be Phillies lite and given that Roy Oswalt is no longer there could be better than the Phillies overall.  This gives them needed depth that they can augment with a very strong bullpen which they have.  I like this move because they also got him on a bit of a discount if you believe the rumors that the Marlins offered him 6 years.

The Pujols deal also makes sense because he will instantly improve a lineup that scored 200 runs less than their immediate competitor the Texas Rangers.  For two years the Angels have watched the Rangers go to the World Series and there’s no end in sight in Arlington, so the Angels had to wait for the right guy.  What about the guy that led the team that just crushed your hearts?  What about the guy who had an all-time great World Series game against them?  Pujols is a major swing at the Texas Rangers who may be forced to respond.

What if the Rangers now get crazy and sign Prince Fielder to a 9 year $200 million contract?  What if they post for Yu Darvish who just came on the market?  Doesn’t this mean the Yankees and Red Sox have to respond in kind?  The Yankees would then feel the need to trade for Gio Gonzalez or Wandy Rodriguez even.  So goodbye valuable young assets and future Yankee stars, and hello immediate response to a major league arms race.  Suddenly the Red Sox, would also need to make a big play.  What about trading for Jon Niese AND David Wright?

All scenarios are in play.  But the next few days could be intense and could lead to deals.  This Pujols/Wilson play has major repercussions and I can’t wait to see it play itself out.

Thursday Night Football somehow, seems to get its share of drama to run with and boy did they get it yesterday.  Ben Roethlisberger’s ankle looked like a pretzel…after snapping, and somehow he still managed to get up and throw a game winning touchdown and play a whole second half on a badly injured ankle limping his way on the field.  Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette was as impressed as I was.  Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review says he was also awed at Ben’s stand.  

I only got to watch the second half but I read on twitter about his injury and then saw it replayed.  It looked gruesome.  The kind that would make the average human being turn their head away or make their face have the look whenever you eat something sour.  It just was insane.  Then you saw him come back out.  You suddenly realized the important.  7-3 ballgame.  Season was on the line.  Steelers had to win this game and ensure they would.  Could their defense hold?  Sure.  But you couldn’t, if you were Ben, take that chance.

Consider that Ben plays behind a very porous offensive line that usually leaves him writing on the floor in a considerable amount of pain.  Nobody would’ve faulted the Steelers for leaving Charlie Batch in for the rest of the game.  But these are the moments that superstars rise and make a name for themselves.  Against a division rival, Big Ben lived up to his name and forever earned my respect.  For all intents and purposes he was hopping like a rabbit out there.  He couldnt put any weight on that foot which was so vital to him planting and being able to drive in through his throws.  His passing would be compromised.  Yet somehow, someway, he threw a 79 yard TD pass to Antonio Brown who made a few guys miss with a few moves and his speed and did most of the leg work.

But it was Ben’s heart that won them this game.  I believe in momentum shifts and small little things like this that may go unnoticed to the average eye that can propel a team to a Super Bowl.  Yes the Ravens swept the Steelers.  Yes the Steelers offensive line is an absolute mess and at times, yes, the defense has looked old.  But last night was something different.

The onus on all the other players to step up their game is ten fold now.  Nobody’s injury is that important that they can’t suck it up.  Lamar Woodley.  You hear me?  No more being laid out because of a hamstring.  That’s bullshit.  This game could’ve galvanized this Steeler team.  Now they get 10 days and for a team nursing injuries and being old and needing rest it couldn’t have come at a better time.  Big Ben showed up last night and now expect a veteran ball club like the Steelers to show up for him.  This victory could be even more special and can be the turning point for the Steelers.  Stay tuned.

Finally, according to Adrian Woj of Yahoo sports, Brandon Roy may have to retire due to medical reasons.  USA Today is reporting it as well.  Sad day for Brandon.  He could’ve been a game changer.  This of course means that depending on his contract status, the Blazers may be in the clear if his contract was insured.  Sad day.   


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December 9, 2011 · 3:28 pm

Daily Rounds 12/9/2011 Part 1

So how was your day yesterday?  In a day of whirlwind of activity of mega deals, mini-mega deals, and deals that got nixed at the 11th hour, the world of sports has plenty to talk and discuss this morning and here we go.  We’re going to go even more in depth with even more links.  More reaction.  More coverage.  More opinion. (One) More angry Dan Gilbert letter for us all to take in on the Daily Rounds.  Compose yourself and get ready.  Its so much we had to break it up into two parts.  Part One is all NBA.

Rights Reserved Getty images

Early yesterday, after hopes had been dashed that the New Orleans Hornets were nearing a deal to send Chris Paul elsewhere the Knicks moved fast and decisively and were on the verge of signing Tyson Chandler, Paul’s buddy to a deal.  Marc Berman said it was a surprising set of events that started with the notion that they would not be able to pull off a deal for Chris Paul according to multiple sources (aka common sense).  Here’s where it gets weird.  A three team trade had been agreed to in principle that would’ve looked like as follows was nixed by league officials citing “basketball reasons” for their reasoning:

Lakers GET:               PG Chris Paul

Rockets GET:        C/PF  Pau Gasol

Hornets GET:        C/PF  Luis Scola
                                        SG  Kevin Martin
                                        PF  Lamar Odom
                                        G    Goran Dragic
2012 First Round Draft Pick (Top Five protected) 

The NBA, owners of the Hornets stepped in and decided to squash the deal on account of a majority of owners complaining to David Stern about the deal.  We have reaction.  JA Adande says leave it to the league to kill this.  John Reid of the Times-Picauyne says this will make for an awkward start of training camp.  Johnathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle opines: move over Donald Sterling, we have a new worst owner in all of basketball.  Mark Medina of the LA Times says it will be MORE controversial and MORE talked about than the Decision last summer…and like that, will have its share of consequences.  Ian Thomsen of SI.com says this shows the problem with the NBA owning the Hornets.  “The owners half-pushed this, and Stern took it the rest of the way,” a league source told Yahoo! Sports according to Adrian Wojnarowski putting full impetus on the ownership of the Hornets.  Mark Kriegel of Fox Sports says the the NBA robbed him of writing his story and now he wants revenge.  (hilarious story, please read).  Yahoo Sports put the entire Dan Gilbert letter to the commissioner up on its website.  Finally, Phil Jackson, the Zen master and hopefully soon to be coach of the New York Knicks saw this happening a year ago.  

Here is by far the funniest tweet I’ve heard yet about the proposed trade so far:

Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN)
12/8/11 6:37 PM
Give Derek Fisher all the credit. All those hours negotiating with David Stern & Lakers end up with Chris Paul. Another clutch Fisher moment

That’s just a sampling of the countrywide set of articles that will appear in Newspapers across the country.  First off, let’s begin by saying that the proposed three team trade that would’ve sent Chris Paul to the Lakers was fair.  You hear me Knick fans?  That was a fair deal.  Not many times can you say that the Lakers got an all star player back without feeling as though they had muscled that deal through but in this case it was.  The Lakers were trading the reigning sixth man of the year and a perennial all star big man and compromising their size to get an elite PG in his prime.  The Hornets made out like bandits because they got Odom, a serviceable back up PG in Dragic who I loved (in Phoenix) and a rebounder/masher in Scola who’s 18 pts and 8 rebounds would’ve adequately replaced David West’s 18 points and 8 rebounds.  And the Rockets would’ve gotten a center in his prime to replace the one they lost and reports are circulating that had this deal gone through, they would’ve paired him up with Nene whom the Rockets were thought to be going after hard.  Which would’ve given them the two center pairing they craved.  That draft pick?   That’s the Knicks draft pick they traded to the Rockets so the Knicks, relatively, are involved.

This was by all accounts a great deal for everybody involved.  Everyone but party pooper Stern and the 29 other owners who decided that it was best that the rich NOT get richer and the poor MUST stay poorer.  IF the deal is indeed nixed, this leaves EVERY OTHER trade possibility out of the question for Dell Demps the Hornets GM who got the best possible deal he was going to get.  No way in hell does the league push through any other deal no matter what kind of haul under any circumstances.  This effectively has put the NBA in a no-win situation.  The same thing the owners had fought for; taking the leverage out of superstar player’s hands, is exactly what was at work here.  David Stern, the tactician knew that no explanation would’ve sufficed except the most logical one.

How in the hell can he possibly sell a franchise to a rich person in this recession IF the Hornets are superstar-less.  Chris Paul IS the major draw.  He’s the face of the franchise.  A face that is certainly souring on the possibility that a trade that he would’ve welcomed has now been nixed because the NBA decided that for basketball reasons it was not fair.  Give me a break.  Now the 29 owners and David Stern are analysts and GMs?  No, they have guys who are paid to evaluate talent.  They are paid by other people so they can PAY their superstar employees and small market owners were probably up in arms about the NBA possibly sending another superstar to another big market team for a haul.

Of course the chance that any of these owners even SAW the pieces moving in this trade are slim.  All they heard were the principals in the deal trading superstars for elite superstar.  Now the NBA has firmly placed itself in Darth Vader territory.  David Stern is now seen as the ultimate overlord who will NEVER play nice with players and sets up a situation in which his decision making and his overall attitude towards players have turned nasty.  Those Wade rumors about yelling at Stern to not talk to him like a kid sound just about right.  Stern is NOT going to come out of this unscathed and now, we can add to his obituary that he tried to control the fate of superstars and it eventually cost him his job.  Look, I don’t think Stern WIL lose his job but this is the kind of defiant, in the face of logic just to get your way kind of decision that will always engender ill will between you and the constituency that you are negotiating with.  This will put pressure on owners to either stand behind him 100%, where three already won’t and I’m sure Miami, New York won’t either considering they are in the superstar team building business.  That kind of public pressure to step down will force Stern to re-evaluate whether, at 69 this is even worth it anymore.  He saved the NBA from a long nuclear winter and got the league back in time for an upcoming season that promises to be watched more and talked about more than any in recent memory.  If the lockout hadn’t already whet your appetite, prepare for the main course of a season and a dessert of a playoffs that will surely be the payoff for all the drama and labor strife we had to go through.  This only further proves that despite a labor deal the owners are going to always raise a fuss and try and limit player movement anyway they can.

This also sets a dangerous precedent moving forward.  Forget any deal involving Paul this year.  If this doesn’t go down no deal can, is the thinking here.  The NBA saying this is for basketball reasons is more salt to the wound of three fan bases that thought they had a fair deal.  This was going to effectively take away the huge advantage the Lakers had with their size in the paint.  All Pau was missing last season was heart.  All Bynum is missing is his ability to stay healthy all season and yet you’re betting against a guy who’s mettle can be fixed against a guy who’s got metal fixed in him?  Surgically?  I loved this move because I thought this weakened the Lakers and CP3 was not a definite to sign there long term, even though the Knicks made a move that would’ve made a move to NY impossible, but to nix this deal for basketball reasons is almost spitting in the face of sure fire logic.  A bunch of owners who were cry babies, namely Dan Gilbert (again), enabled Stern to pull this off and now Stern alone fights this battle.  We all know Gilbert is crazy.

As for possible legal action that CP3 and the union can take against the NBA, I can’t see how that would be possible given the fact that the NBA owns the team.  The only recourse they have is to fight a long drawn out legal battle challenging the league’s legal right to own one of its franchises which competes with the other 29 which I think they could win but I don’t think either side is ready and willing to go through with that which makes this basically a dead issue in terms of actually happening but one which has legs and will follow Stern for a long time.  We always thought David Stern had more power than he did, now we know.  So now the rumors of fixing lottery drafts (Knicks) and every other shady deal during his tenure has to be fair game right?  Stern has to be seen like Michael Corleone in the Godfather.  All these reporters are like Kay wanting Stern to admit he has final control.  Stern unwilling to acknowledge it gives us all one opportunity to admit he nixed this deal, does he lie to our face?  He will get in front of a microphone eventually to address this, as he should.  I’ll be interested to hear what he has to say.

As stated earlier and to give further backdrop to the main story, the Knicks did NOT wait around for a deal they knew they could not complete.  They surprised the NBA world by being “98%” close to signing Tyson Chandler.  Howard Beck of the New York Times says this immediately improves the front court, making it one of the best in the league and effectively ends their CP3 pursuit as they will be over the salary cap.  Some hurdles exist including clearing Chauncey Billups’ $14.2 million contract for this season in order to accomodate Chandler’s 4 year $58 million deal which would be through the amnesty clause, something Billups is sour on.  Marc Berman of the Post looks at all the consequences this deal has for the Knicks in the short term but lauds this deal as forming the biggest frontcourt in NBA history.  I dont know about all that Marc, but providing they all stay healthy this should be good.  BUT, cheer up Knick fans, a provision in the newly ratified CBA as of yesterday would allow the CP3 to Knicks to STILL happen.  It will all depend on Amare and Melo though according to Alan Hahn of Newsday.  Here is his plan for the Knicks regarding this provision.  

There are a few moving parts here that need to be addressed.  First, Berman’s report while highly praising to the Knicks, reminds us that optimism must be guarded.  First, the Knicks have to weigh all options including how to remove Billups contract and how to get rid of Turiaf’s contract.  Both together would free up over $18 million in cap space that would go to signing Chandler and the two rookies the Knicks drafted this year, Josh Harrelson and Imam Shumpert.  This takes them out of the Grant Hill sweepstakes who is deciding between Phoenix and San Antonio who decided they were going to amnesty Richard Jefferson, although that hasn’t been confirmed.  Until all those secondary moves can be done, and it won’t be easy, the Knicks will NOT be able to push that Chandler deal through.  Unless of course, they just decide to enter luxury tax territory for this year and the next which I think they should.

Now comes this from Alan Hahn that says that players CAN restructure contracts in order to fit under the salary cap in order to make room for others on their team.  Now obviously this doesn’t mean that New York would be the only place Paul looks but if he wanted to come play with Carmelo as badly as people hinted and if both Stat and Melo would be willing to restructure their deals this COULD happen.  So forget all I said about the  Melo deal effectively ruining any chance of us getting Chris Paul this year.  That’s on hold.  Now, Melo has a chance to really put his money where his mouth is.  You really wanna win Melo?  Prove it.  Convince Amar’e to do the same.  Show that you guys are about the greater good.  Do this for Knick fans who have gone through a dry spell.  We look fondly on a 90’s team that went to TWO FINALS in an entire decade like it was a team that went to 8 finals and won 5 championships.  This is a city that lives and breathes basketball.  Playing in an arena that means more to basketball than any other arena means to any other sport.

Even if he doesn’t come, the Knicks can still get a PG in the free agent market.  Jamaal Tinsley who I liked, signed with Utah and perhaps a reunion with Raymond Felton may be in the works.  How about Steve Nash?  Would he come even if D’Antoni ISNT with the team next year?  These are all questions that can’t be answered right now but this decision doesn’t mean doors are closed to a CP3 future but it also means that the Knicks can turn their attention to other areas where they have more pressing needs.

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What does Chandler coming to the Knicks mean?  It means that the Knicks have effectively decided that in order to really improve, the Knicks need to bring someone defensive minded to anchor the center of the court which is precisely what Chandler will do.  When healthy, Chandler thinks about rebounding, defense and scoring on easy passes.  We’re talking about a guy who will for once think about ONLY one thing.  Think Patrick Ewing but ONLY defense, not also having the burden of offensively carrying his team.  His size will give the Knicks a front court that has Melo as the shortest guy at 6’7, and Amar’e playing the position he was meant to play at PF.  The Knicks are a MUCH improved ball club with this trade.  Only worry I have is his injury history and the Knicks history with big men post-Ewing is worrysome but he’s 29 and all we’re asking him to do is play defense so that should help.  Hopefully he doesn’t go Eddy Curry on us.

Here’s the bad part of this deal.  Sources are saying that Billups upon hearing that he would likely be amnestied, leaving him open for bidding to all 30 franchises without the option of choosing his next destination which COULD end up being a bad team, was irate according to his agent and without the Knicks blessing packed his stuff up and went home.  Billups is a professional who has done his fair share of traveling and has a collection of uniforms with his name on the back that could make any jersey collector blush.  But he was really set on playing for the Knicks and then leaving for Denver at the end of this season.  He returns to Denver as training camps around the NBA open today and deals can be made official.  I didn’t expect Billups to take such a poor turn on this deal but I understand.  Its not easy to leave Denver the way he did.  He never wanted to come to the Knicks in the first place.  His roots are in Denver and he left his children at home and so with these new developments, it appears that Billups will be headed into another situation that he is not pleased with and let’s be fair: he has every right to be pissed.  I would be too.  This is a veteran chasing after one more ring before he eventually retires and goes to work in the Denver front office.  I’m sad for him but I got one message: this is a business.  Move on.  You’re a pro, start acting like one.

The problem isn’t getting rid of Billups as he was never a realistic part of the long term plan here, its using the amnesty on him.  The Knicks by rule get to use the amnesty clause only once and only for players signed prior to July 1, 2011 which may have come in handy should Amar’e Stoudemire’s knees blow out one day driving to the hoop.  The contract as we all know is uninsured for 5 years and $100 million.  Its just a lot of risk involved here.  The amnesty clause by definition would erase one  contract off a team’s cap to give them salary relief.  It can only be used once and the player would still be owed that money by the team who originally was responsible for it.  That player would then be entered into a bidding war in which the team with the highest bid would automatically get the player giving the player absolutely NO SAY in the process.  THIS is why Billups is pissed because he wants to go to a winner, a wish the Knicks wanted to honor but unfortunately could not because the Mavs refused to take Billups salary as part of a sign and trade for Chandler.

 

Today’s start of training camps and official opening to free agency also means that deals can be announced and one major announcement came this morning: Dwight Howard would like to be traded.  It appears his first option is…wait for it…NEW JERSEY.  The Nets could offer 2 draft picks and Brook Lopez and take back any stinky contract (paging Hedo Turkoglou) that Orlando has giving the Magic unbelievable amounts of cap space for the upcoming offseason.  This according to the Orlando Sentinel who believe Howard has made his wishes known already.  

As much as Otis Smith will view this deal as the best deal, the CP3 nixed trade will have repercussions because the Lakers may say screw it and go after Dwight and offer up Bynum and Odom effectively ending any chances that CP3 ends up in LA LA land as well because the haul that the Hornets get would be compromised with no Odom involved.  That’s if the Hornets are still ABLE to deal Paul to the Lakers and IF the Hornets were willing to get back everyone minus Odom in the deal.  They would probably have to get back another player or draft pick somehow in the deal.  It gets complicated but the Lakers have options here and it appears they only have one now that the league has made it clear to every single team that NOBODY will be trading for Chris Paul.  Paul will now be a free agent and this sets up a scenario where teams will try to get way under the cap to sign him, or Deron Williams OR Dwight Howard.

The Dwight Howard to Nets makes sense because of what the Nets WILL become in the future.  The Nets can offer Dwight the big market next year he craves.  They can give him the star player wingman in Deron Williams who told the Nets he likes the organization and what they are building.  There’s a lot to like about New Jersey for Dwight and the chance to build his own legacy, completely unique as opposed to being another name in a list of names that have come in the past HAS to be appealing to Dwight who has to be the most appetizing piece of free agency meat thrown in.

Who comes out winners?  The Clippers.  They just signed Caron Butler for 3 years and $24 million.  The Power of Blake allowed the Clips for once to outbid a team for the services of a player who I feel can come back strong and help.  Yes, Butler is coming off major knee surgery. Yes he’s going to the Clippers where ONLY bad things can happen and playing for an owner that ultimately he will grow to despise. But he’s going to a young team with loads of promise that pending the CP3 trade won’t be made can contend in the Western Conference.  We shall see.

The Magic can basically get the Lakers and Nets to bid against each other over 48hours and get the absolute best offer and take it.  Otis Smith the Magic GM knows he is NOT going to be able to retain the services of one, Dwight Howard, and no amount of drunk calls from rich white guys is going to stop him from exploring his options on the free market.  One which could open up wide for the big smile-having guy.

Makes the rest of the season interesting.

Also, if you want to know about the amnesty provision, Larry Coon of ESPN’s TrueHoop Blog puts it in terms even a 5 year old can understand.  Just cause I can and I love, LOVE his articles and his unique writing style which I’ve tried to copy myself to no avail, Peter Vecsey’s Hoop Du Jour column is back and starts with this stunning turn of events and his take and how believes this is SAVING NOLA.  

These two articles were found late and added later, but here’s the gist of Vecsey’s column which makes sense.  New Orleans is losing the superstar.  They are giving up the most.  A town that has lost so much since Katrina is now losing its star player and who knows what happens once a new owner takes over?  And by the way, what owner will be willing to buy a franchise star-less franchise?  The value of the team would go down and may be had on the cheap.  Now that may sound appealing to somebody out there but the NBA’s owners may not feel this way.  If they rejected this deal, what then would they say is a fair market value for a team that is about to lose their superstar point guard sooner or later.  Vecsey believes Stern came out a hero in New Orleans while looking like an idiot everywhere else.

I agree somewhat with Peter’s logic.  Without Paul and with the pieces they were going to get back they were no better than a .500 ball club and no one loves that.  With Paul they were a few shots away from taking down the Lakers.  Think about that.  The LAKERS.  That’s the CP3 difference and that’s what needs to be taken into account.  Paul’s “WoW” tweet notwithstanding, he’s beloved in this community and everywhere around the league.  You can believe the hyperbole and rumor that this was payback for Paul’s presence during labor meetings (the only daily superstar presence by the way) from the other owners in the small markets namely Dan Gilbert, but I don’t think that was it.  This was about the greater good in the owner’s eyes.  However, this won’t stop Paul from exploring his options.  In fact, now there is NO WAY he signs with any of the small market teams and EVERY CHANCE he goes to one of the big markets to further stick it into the teams.  Whatever Gilbert was fighting for, he is going to lose in the long run.  This is going hardest back on to Stern and on to Gilbert who star players already view with a slanted look and now won’t get a patted eyelash his way.

I hope the NBA is happy.  They got what they want.  For this season.  Next season look for superstars to talk and make sure they don’t let this happen again.

 

 

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December 8, 2011 · 12:52 pm

Daily Rounds 12/8/2011

The annual war of words between the Giants and Cowboys have begun.  CP3 talks have slowed to a crawl.  The Marlins continue to shop and continue to shop in the expensive stores.  Some scheduling news and why the best owner for the Dodgers could be….oh you’ll have to wait for it. Finally a crazy wrestling link and more in today’s edition.

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–Justin Tuck does not like the Cowboys and it appears the feeling is mutual.  DeMarcus Ware fired back which is unusual for him since he doesn’t usually entertain such back and forth usually but perhaps the tone is changing given how important this set of games are for both teams as they are the only ones left in the race for the division.  Ebenezer Samuel of the Daily News has more on that.  

The Cowboys and Giants don’t need any added fuel to the fire but that’s what we got and from a very unlikely source.  The Giants on Sunday played valiantly and more importantly had a fire that they lacked for two weeks prior to that when they basically pulled a no-show against Philly and New Orleans.  Philly they could’ve beaten while New Orleans just absolutely decimated them.  Now comes the real challenge thanks to Sunday’s gaffe by the Cowboys.  If you’re not familiar, here is a short summary of events.  With the score tied at 13, the Cowboys were driving to set up for a field goal attempt.  When Dan Bailey went for the attempt at a 48 yard field goal, Jason Garrett decided to call a timeout effectively icing his own kicker.  The kick went up and it was good.  The explanation Garret gave was that the play clock was running down and he couldn’t risk them not getting it off which is a viable excuse and if he had been called for the delay of game penalty the level of difficulty would’ve been raised and in a game the Cowboys HAD to win to give them separation from the Giants, they had to ensure the shortest field goal attempt they could.  They kicked it a second time and wouldn’t you know it?  No good.  You know how the story goes from here, they go into overtime.  The home team gets the ball and they score on a short bubble screen that goes for 52 yards.  The Giants who had lost four in a row now effectively control their own fate.  Win out, and the Giants are in.  Win 3 out of 4 and the Giants probably need some help.  But thanks to the Cowboys mishap, the Giants are masters of their own destiny which is where you want to be as a football team regardless of what anyone says.

As for wanting to be a Cowboy?  Let’s be real Ware.  The Cowboys have been colossaly overrated for years now and every single season they seem to have a stretch where they invite fans to hope and dream again before they make one bone headed play after another.  The Cowboys could’ve opened the season 6-0 and there’s a fair argument to be made there but the coaching up and down of Tony Romo due to his rib injury earlier in the season and the constant miscues continue to haunt the Boys as they look to get to their first Super Bowl since 1995.  In fact, the Cowboys would like to win a playoff game, which would be their first since 1996.  Meanwhile Tuck’s New York Giants annual December slide notwithstanding, he has a Super Bowl to his credit.  One that came on the back of a victory over the Cowboys when the Boys were the number two seed in the NFC and the Giants were a measly six seed.  Sunday’s game is must win for both so the SNF game should be entertaining and hard hitting and could get chippy.

While the Mets and Yankees were rather quiet on the trade/acquisition front another rivalry was beginning to fizzle.  Bobby Valentine fired the first salvo which should make Yankee-Red Sox games even MORE fun given the new manager’s experience against the Yankees as Mets manager.  Ken Davidoff says he’s just having fun.  Meanwhile the Jose Reyes press conference introducing him as a Marlins player happened yesterday and it was painful for any Met fan to watch as Jose Reyes said what every Met fan probably thought: they never made a real offer.  They didn’t want me here.  Sandy Alderson also had something to say about that.  Ken Davidoff says the Mets were in a no-win position during the Reyes derby.  John Harper of the Daily News says the hurt kid in Reyes came out during the press conference.  

Yesterday’s press conference was admittedly tough to watch but even tougher when Reyes said what was virtually on every single Met fan’s mind.  He felt the Mets never went out to retain him like the Marlins did and that’s the plain old facts no matter what great line that Sandy Alderson had in response to Reyes’ sad story about the Mets (lack of) pursuit of him this winter.  And trust me it was a good one.  But like Sandy said, his gift bag of flowers and chocolates would not have cost $106 million and that signals a significant rift between what Reyes felt his value was and what the Mets determined it to be.  Remember, the Met front office now are inundated with stat geeks who make personnel decisions based on projection models and come up with contract figures they feel comfortable in giving and their admitted comfort in handing a long term contract in the range of six years and north of $100 million was a problem.

Here’s the problem: I don’t think the Mets WANTED to go for six years and I don’t think the Mets COULD go over $100 million.  Two of Reyes’ major qualifications for resigning him.  Meanwhile the full court press was on Reyes by Jeffrey Loria who came into his meeting with Reyes wearing a Jose Reyes Miami Marlin uniform underneath a trench coat which sounds about as odd and weird and endearing as he could make it sound.  The Mets were in kind of a pickle and despite all the referendum about Reyes’ legs being a concern given his style of play, he was a home grown player and a New York team should be able to resign that home grown player if not for anything other than the fact than as a good faith effort to their fan base which is who is really being affected in all of this.  A fan base who’s heard rumors abound that every player NOT named David Wright is being put on the block.  In fact, the Mets were listening in on offers on Jon Niese who got several nibbles and Ike Davis, surprisingly, who got several nibbles notably from the Pirates who came away disappointed in how high the price tag was.

The Mets are asking for a lot for many of their players as they should.  They are giving  up salary controlled players years before arbitration in hopes they get strong positional talent of which they have very little of in the minor leagues.  The Mets have future aces in Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, Jenry Mejia, and Zach Wheeler but very little in terms of positional talent which is what they are seeking.  The Mets are right to be shopping everyone BUT Wright and I believe they should trade Wright but they are correct in not dealing him now while his value is low.  Let him get some hacks at the shortened fences in Citi and hopefully it will help.

Meanwhile, Davidoff is right, for all the love and angst over Reyes leaving this is a guy that in 9 years has led the Mets to one postseason appearance.  Let’s not make him out to be this all time great.  Of course I’m in the bandwagon that the Mets should’ve made some sort of pursuit during the beginning hours and perhaps he would not have felt like they had no intent on signing him but it is what it is and we can move on.  Either way Reyes was going to take the money, money the Mets did NOT have.

By the way, in other Winter meeting news, the Marlins struck out on Albert Pujols who was thought to be re-signing with the Cardinals until a mystery team entered the fray and now that team is known NOT to be the Angels because they are no longer a mystery team.  They are the second team in pursuit of Pujols while there are sources who indicate that the mystery team are the Cubs who just want to drive the price up.  Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports finds a report indicating the Angels only having a certain amount of money to spend laughable considering their true intentions on signing both CJ Wilson AND Albert Pujols.  Meanwhile, the Prince Fielder market won’t shape up until Pujols is signed and don’t be surprised if you see the Marlins go hard after Prince who is after all 4 years younger than Pujols’ given age and is a rock though not as defensively inclined given his body can’t cline as much as Pujols if you know what I mean.  The Gio Gonzalez trade market is all but done as no team is willing to give up the Ubaldo Jiminez package for him as A’s GM Billy Beane had been hoping.  

Amazing that the Marlins are continuing to spend that kind of money though the no, no-trade clause in contracts should scare any free agent given the Marlins history of winning a title and then throwing away expensive parts as far away as possible for cheaper ones.  Its a business model that works for them so the promise of winning a title may be enough to lure these guys and then they can worry about the other stuff later but I’d be kind of worried also given their SEC case pending.  As for the Gio Gonzalez trade market, I think that was kind of a tester to feel out what teams were inclined to give and who would give up more or stay firm.  Billy Beane is smarter than you or me and it would appear he’s setting up the pieces to score big on Gio Gonzalez as it is a buyer’s market on pitchers with no free agent pitcher looking like a safe bet.  Would YOU give CJ Wilson a 6 year contract?   Sure he doesn’t have the wear and tear on his arm that Mark Buerlhe does but Buerlhe isn’t a hard thrower.  I like the Buerhle signing for one reason: he gives you stability.  With the condition of Josh Johnson’s arm you never know how long you will have him in any given season and Buerhle is an innings eater and a consistent presence on the mound.  Not great performance but good and he gives you plenty of starts.  Meanwhile, I expect Prince to get his 8 year $200 million contract especially if the Angels are going to be spenders and especially if the Marlins are uber aggressive and then you add the Cubs and perhaps a late push by Mark Attanasio and the Brewers.  There could be even more hype and hysteria behind Prince once this Pujols to St Louis thing gets sorted out because let’s face it, nobody believes that Pujols is leaving St Louis.

The NBA season is soon to begin and by that I mean the trades, signings and all that will turn from rumor and innuendo to fact and misery for teams who will eventually sign one player to a long term extension that their fan base will immediately be pissed off about.  Happens every year, and no new CBA will change that.  Speaking of CBA, more facts keep coming out about the CBA every day like a clause that gives teams up to $500,000 to spend on freeing up players from their contracts overseas which is important for those trying to free up the JR Smiths and Wilson Chandler’s of the world and Howard Beck of the New York Times looks back fondly on his days spent in hotels and 4Am Press conferences.  Meanwhile, with NHL announcing realignment, JA Adande wonders openly about what the NBA would look like under that same process.  Sam Amick of SI.com AND Bill Simmons look at the leaders in the CP3 sweepstakes (hint: they’re all from California) which went quiet yesterday but are soon to pick up as most insiders believe a deal will be announced in 48 hours.  His label mate Zack Lowe (who writes one of the more underrated sports blogs in Point Forward) writes about how the new schedule with its back to back to backs may be….fair?  Marc Berman says the Knicks have officially bowed out of the CP3 trade-a-thon believing they will get their guy in free agency.  

The Dwight Howard trade talks are just plain weird.  But the CP3 sweepstakes should be interesting given that CP3 will most certainly welcome a change but won’t commit and will definitely opt out at the end of the season.  It looks as though the Knicks won’t have the ability to trade for him so that means he won’t be able to get his max contract there unless something crazy happens in the next 48 hours.  Simmons is right, Hornets GM Dell Demps is playing this right.  Since he took the job he’s been preparing for this moment and the time has come and he’s moving swiftly and decisively.  Unfortunately the Clippers wont give up Eric Gordon (understandably), the Warriors won’t give up Stephan Curry (curiously) and the Lakers want Dwight (I get that) more than CP3.

I’ve said I could live with Deron Williams if they don’t get CP3 and that looks realistic.  CP3 will have to make a huge pay concession to play in New York and I hope he’s willing to do that as a Knick fan, if not I go back to that Melo trade as to why we didn’t get CP3.  Remember that trade.

Finally Chris Erskine says the best owner for the Dodgers would be….the fans.  While I found an awesome link about the greatest feuds in Wrestling history.  

Although I’m sure they wouldn’t want those crazy Dodger fans who attacked Brian Stowe.  I’m sure those guys watched a ton of wrestling growing up…and now.

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December 7, 2011 · 12:57 pm

Daily Rounds 12/07/2011

A day after losing their franchise player the Mets went on the offensive and you may or may not like the moves.  The Chris Paul sweepstakes got sweeter and the Dwight Howard sweepstakes got even weirder.  Then there are those pesky Marlins who are making news during baseball’s winter meetings.  Plus more in today’s links links links links!

The Mets decided to be aggressive on the trade and free agent front and made a few moves a day after officially losing Jose Reyes to the Miami Marlins.  According to multiple reports, the Mets traded Angel Pagan for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez and signed Jon Rauch to a one year deal and Frank Francisco to a two year deal.  

Ok, these aren’t earth shattering deals meant to make everyone forget that one of their franchise cornerstones just left for one of their division rivals.  But the thinking, I believe, is to spread the money they would’ve allocated to Reyes on several parts which they need.  The Mets don’t have depth on the major league level and in a move to address that they traded and got a two for one.  They got pretty much the same player in Andres Torres for Angel Pagan.  Torres can hit for more power and is more patient and will take walks and is a nice prototypical leadoff man while Ramon Ramirez is a hard throwing righty who instantly upgrades their bullpen.  All three players in the deal are up for arbitration but the 31 year old Torres is under team control for another year beyond this one.  The Mets meanwhile addressed the closer situation somewhat by adding two candidates who will evidently compete for the job.  Jon Rauch is the former Washington National so Met fans will be familiar with him.  Frank Francisco is the former Texas Ranger closer who famously threw a chair into the stands and went and attacked a fan.

Pagan was regressing last year after a breakout 2010 campaign which gave Met fans hope for a future that never was.  Hear that Sandy?  Hope that never was.  But he is a very able lead off man but he doesn’t draw walks, isn’t patient at the plate and is very wild in his approach.  Sometimes he takes weird angles at the baseball and its difficult to make a case that they absolutely had to keep him.  Now, could the Mets have gotten a better offer during the year?  Possibly.  But you don’t bet on someone like Pagan to get better.  I thought the front office did a great job here by getting a power relief arm and a comparable Center field option who most scouts believe is a better defensive solution there than Pagan with a bit more pop.

Look, it is what it is.  The Mets are operating under a small market philosophy and business wise I get what Sandy is saying.  If the Mets win and attract gate receipts the ability to expand payroll will come but they have to get out of the negative first and that’s a legitemate concern for an ownership group that is obviously bleeding money and need to save wherever they can.  Of course the Mets have no wiggle room this season if indeed they hope to compete seeing what the Marlins are doing and what the Phillies are already doing and what the Nationals have in store for the future and beyond.  The Mets are in trouble and had better fix this thing going forward.

As always for more analysis, you can go to Metsblog.com and read up on all the latest Met news as it relates to the Winter meetings.

Get ready for what I’m about to tell you.  The Miami Marlins have made a legit 10 year offer to Albert Pujols which is rumored to be more than $200 million which he is mulling over as we speak.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Marlins have hijacked the Winter Meetings with their spending spree, but Ken Davidoff of Newsday is highly doubtful that the Marlins can sustain this model.  Brian Burwell of the St Louis Post Dispatch says that the Cardinals are playing a dangerous game with the face of their franchise and Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald says that this offer to Pujols needs some perspective.  

Most people were pretty curious as to whether the Marlins were for real after talking about making a splash this winter and boy have they been.  After getting their closer Heath Bell signed to a 3 year/$27 million deal, they went and stole former New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes for 6 years/$106 million.  The news making its rounds yesterday was that the Marlins had made a 10 year offer to Albert Pujols and had even went to the Commissioner’s Office to submit their proposal and perhaps run it by them to see if it worked under the parameters of the new CBA.  The buzz was that Albert would decide last night but as of 7:30 AM EST, he had not decided on either club.  This obviously forced the Cards to up their former 9 year offer to 10 and over the $200 million mark that they had not budged on prior to the Marlins major sales push.  Also adding to the intrigue is that the Cubs have made a mystery offer which most folks speculate is not nearly as long as either the Marlins or Cardinals offer but offers more per year than both deals while a mystery team has also put in a deal north of $200 million which seems to be the market for the best slugger not linked to steroids of this generation.

Look, in the end I think he resigns with the Cardinals because he understands that his legacy would take a hit by leaving St Louis and doing it for the money.  The Marlins and Cardinals share the same spring training facility which would make things pretty dicey and interesting come February if he were to switch teams.  I think the Marlins have to outbid the Cards by atleast $20-30 million for Pujols to ever realistically consider their offer which is what most think he’s doing.  I think the Cardinals offer isn’t that much better and may be feeling a bit peeved that he’s even in this position.  He’s helped this team win two World Series, 3 MVP trophies and had a better first ten years to his career than any player in baseball history.  Are we all surprised that he even made free agency?  Yes.  But the fact that he was looking at Alex Rodriguez’s 10 year/$275 million contract for comparison may have scared off the Cardinals who probably could play within that framework but don’t want to.  And if its a will issue then the representatives for Pujols, Dan Lazano may tell Pujols that maybe his services would be better appreciated in a warmer climate with a much bigger Latin fan base and a team that is clearly making an all out push.

Here’s the thing that will ultimately hurt the Marlins.  They did not offer Pujols a no-trade and as per company policy will NOT do so for any player.  Even Albert Pujols.  Which given their history should be troubling to any free agent.  There is no certainty that they will be able to draw in that market and so the possibility that they will have to sell off parts is very high considering that this is a franchise known for doing so.  They did it in 1997 after winning a World Series and did it in 2003 after using those parts received in 1997 to win.  But again, they wound up winning the World Series so there is SOME good news if you are a Marlins fan.  You can expect a World Series, pending all these acquisitions, in about two years max.  But I think Pujols won’t go, and I think he stays in St Louis but begrudgingly.

The Cubs are there to drive the price up obviously as I believe their main focus is Prince Fielder who has a history with their new manager Dave Sveum and is atleast four years younger than Albert Pujols and is very sturdy.  Sources however indicate that the Mariners may be in the lead to acquire Prince.  Their GM Jack Zrudineck drafted Prince originally in the Milwaukee system.  The mystery team in the Pujols sweepstakes is rumored to be the Angels who have denied that they are despite reports indicating the opposite.  Meanwhile within Joel Sherman’s news and notes he indicates that the Yankees are unlikely to move one of their major prospect pieces for either John Danks (whom officials close to trade negotiations with the White Sox believe are asking for a Ubaldo Jiminez like package) or Gio Gonzalez who suddenly have new suitors in the…you ready for this?  The Phillies.

Day two of coverage of the Winter Meetings can be followed on the usual websites or MLBTradeRumors.com

The NBA schedule for all 30 franchises was released and obviously the Knicks are a front burner team who will appear nationally 27 times.  Chris Sheridan of Sheridanhoops.com lays out the entire schedule while Howard Beck of the New York Times dissects the schedule for the Knicks.  

The Knicks will open the season of course on Christmas as part of the NBA’s national opener with the Celtics at noon.  They go out west and play teams with losing records from last year 7 out of the next 8 including Los Angeles after Boston.  The Knicks one back to back to back features a meet with the Chicago Bulls on February 2nd, a trip to Boston on the 3rd, and back home against the Nets (who may have Dwight Howard alongside Deron Williams at that point).  The Knicks play four games in five nights four times and appear nationally a healthy 27 out of 66 times which should feed the consensus that the league is very top heavy and friendly towards the big markets.

There are ways to go about this free agent process if you are the Hornets or Magic.  One way is to explore all trade options and according to Adrian Woj of Yahoo Sports the CP3 trade talks are heating up with Stephan Curry’s name, Eric Gordon’s name and Rajon Rondo’s name being thrown as possible chips being dangled.  Another is to have your now former CEO drunk dial your superstar center in the hopes of convincing him to stay.  

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Ok what?  As deals are pretty much finalizing before making them official on Friday, teams with superstars are holding on to them for dear life.  The rumor mill is buzzing that the Lakers make a play at both CP3 and Dwight Howard.  My thinking is that they get Dwight Howard after offering Odom and Bynum and a number one pick which I think the Magic would take.  The CP3 sweepstakes is a bit tougher to understand because now stories are coming up that he will think about signing an extension if a team that acquires him signs Tyson Chandler.  That would take a long term commitment which I’m not sure any team would be willing to do.  Don’t get me wrong Chandler is a great defensive presence to have and obviously he and CP3 are close from their New Orleans days but how can any team go in blindly on Chandler without securing the services off CP3 who is destined to explore the free agent market and sign with a team of his choice.  No matter what, I don’t believe his lust to go to New York has died down, but if its true that Eric Gordon is off the table for the Clips and the Warriors are not willing to trade Stephan Curry those teams don’t stand a chance and it may come down to taking an offer from New York which would be considerably worse than an offer from Los Angeles who could give them Pau Gasol.  Here’s why I believe the Lakers have a small chance at landing both.  The Lakers are motivated to make a move and I think if Magic GM is realistic, he will see that he has less than a 5% chance to keep his star center so he had better get another one now.  Don’t let them lose Dwight for nothing like they did with Shaq a generation ago.

Didn’t get time to put up all the links so get ready for part two later on today.

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December 6, 2011 · 12:53 pm

Daily Rounds 12/6/2011

We’ve got Jose Reyes reaction, and some NBA and a brand new title for the daily blog posting, here goes:

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Like any morning after something major happens people begin reflecting and beginning the phase of rebuildi  patching up what’s left.  That’s what Met fans are left to do and mostly what Sandy Alderson and co. will be left with as they face a new era minus Jose Reyes.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the time is right to deal David Wright.   Meanwhile John Harper and Andy Martino of the Daily News say that money issues have put Sandy Alderson in a tough position to find results while being limited in what the front office can spend.  Ken Davidoff of Newsday wants to cut a deal with Mets management: if the Mets aren’t contending by July, start selling off assets like a rockstar in bankruptcy court.   Then there’s Mike Vacarro of the New York Post that asks the question that I’ve been asking Why believe anything the Wilpons are pushing Sandy Alderson to say?

There isn’t a good way to spin this Jose Reyes deal.  In fact, Sandy Alderson said ALL the right things because they were the only things to say.  In New York, like it or not, the word rebuilding can NOT appear anywhere close to the vicinity of your team otherwise its like a black mark that won’t go away.  The Mets have been going down this road for the last few years so it was no surprise that Jose Reyes was sent out with nothing, not even an offer because well, the fact is that the Mets didn’t have the money to give him that offer.  You can even say that if this was the plan all along, to just wait for the market to play itself out for Reyes and hope against hope that there wouldn’t be some hard pressed fool willing to give Jose Reyes the Carl Crawford money, it was a stupid plan.  In fact, it hurt the franchise more than anything.  Sandy Alderson played the market wrong just like the Wilpons have done for so long.  And you know what?  Not for a minute do I believe Sandy was that dumb.

Last season prior to the trade deadline rumors circulated that the Tampa Bay Rays contacted the Mets about Jose Reyes.  They would’ve had to offer them some kind of gravy boat offer, much better than Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir anyway, that would’ve netted the Mets something in the vicinity of decent prospects to work with.  But the Mets held on because there was some faint hope of a playoff run.  Then they got this deal for Carlos Beltran for a top prospect that the front office drooled over and pulled the trigger.  The Mets may have never gotten such an offer for Reyes, but you have to believe that the Wilpons put a kibosh on any Reyes trade talk because they hoped the Mets would make a run deep into September that would’ve given them a few extra dollars.  You know.  To pocket for the long term.  Because every single article pertaining to the Wilpon finances are right.  The Coupons are facing a cash crunch and moves like allowing your homegrown player to leave without nary a call to check in leave you wondering exactly HOW these guys are even running a New York franchise.

I would appeal to Bud Selig to put an end to this reign but Selig is the Coupon’s biggest enablers.  The Coupons have been milking Selig’s favor into interest free loans that by the way they STILL haven’t paid Major League Baseball back on.  They have pending litigation in the Madoff trial that will force them to pay some kind of settlement but not in the hundreds of millions that Met fans had hoped that would’ve left them in no other financial position except to sell.

The Mets are a profitable team if run the right way.  In fact, if the Coupons sold the franchise today to someone say the reputation of Mark Cuban the gates would be pouring in with new customers and a revived fan base; confident that ridding the Wilpons would be the equivalent of getting a star franchise player.  Yesterday I woke up resigned to the fact that Reyes was gone, today I woke up angry.  Angry that the franchise I love is run by a bunch of ass clowns that hold on stubbornly to a team they should’ve let go of a few years ago.  A whole family of morons who blindly invested in a guy that gave them hand written statements but only when they asked for it because they thought he was good for it.  A family of idiots who built a shrine, not for the team they own, but for a team that left 50 years ago and relocated to Los Angeles.  That is if the Coupons even recognize the existence of the LA Dodgers.

Somehow baseball ran off Dodgers former owners the McCourts rather quickly citing concerns that he was using moneys gained from the baseball operation to fund his own wild lifestyle.  But here the Coupons are, still plowing forward selling us on an impossible dream.  Ready?  The Mets think that Ike Davis and Johan Santana won’t regress following their surgeries and won’t see any DL time.  They believe that Jason Bay and David Wright will hit 25-30 home runs each now that the walls have been brought in closer.  They believe that Mike Pelfrey will get better in basically his last chance in a Met uniform.  They believe that with $15 million to spend virtually they can fix the bullpen, get two quality back end of rotation starters and then some bench support including back up catcher.

I’m not kidding.  That’s the Mets plans.  Those are the lofty dreams that the Mets front office is pitching to Met fans.  This may be coming from a place of anger.  But don’t bother sending me offers to buy packages this season.  I’m done.  If you win, then I’ll come and partake but don’t bother selling Met fans on something that has NEVER happened.  Is there a remote possibility that this all can play out?  Sure.  But these are the Mets.  We know how this story will play out.  The Coupons are playing us for fools.  I won’t be played.  I can’t be.  I say after the third inning, Met fans stage a walk out of every single home game.  That is, whoever still decides to support the franchise.  Nobody believes for a second that whatever team occupies Citi Field next season will have any real hope of doing anything closely resembling productive.

I am in agreement with Sherman and Davidoff.  I say start trading guys left and right.  Screw it.  You’ve given up on the season already.   Don’t sell your fans hope that isn’t there.  Don’t insult them with talk about optimism that isn’t there.  I could understand if this were a team in Wichita, Kansas or Duluth, Mississippi.  But it isn’t.  This is a New York team.  Unfortunately no matter where this franchise would be, I wouldn’t believe the Coupons to lead it.

As NBA free agency sure to heat up, the Knicks are still in on Grant Hill according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.  Also within that report, Kurt Thomas and the Knicks (namely Assistant GM Allan Houston, his former teammate) talked and the game that was supposed to bring Carmelo back to Denver was not rescheduled within the context of this new 66 game schedule set to be released by today.  Nets PG Deron Williams said he would guarantee a contract extension if the Nets were to trade for Dwight Howard according to Stefan Bondy.  Zack Lowe of SI writes about how players will test the new CBA in many ways. In Bill Simmons second post to his twelve days of Christmas series of articles, he looks at the list of available free agents and who is destined to be overpaid.  Then there’s Adrian Woj’s  Yahoo Sports column about two GM’s making a race to trade for Chris Paul AND Dwight Howard.   As reported in the Newsday blog Knick Fix, Alan Hahn says the Knicks are undeterred by reports that New Orleans will do no deals with New York because of their lack of assets believing they can pull off a trade to land CP3 and complete the trifecta that CP3 toasted about at Carmelo’s wedding prior to last season.   Finally, a story that may interest only me, but the amnesty clause will NOT be used on Brandon Roy, one of my favorite non-Knick players according to Jason Quick of the Oregonian.  

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Here’s the thing, I don’t think a Chris Paul trade to the Knicks is going to happen.  I give it a less than 5% shot of actually occurring.  Why?  Because it doesn’t make sense.  The Knicks have NOBODY to give up outside of trading the rest of their team for Paul which would leave them with 3 players making roughly all of their cap.  Remember two players, by themselves will take up 40 million and if you’re reading this right, CP3 will probably opt out as a token thing just to reup with the Knicks for the max 5  year 100 million contract that Deron Williams was alluding to when he said he was definitely opting out.  So you have three guys making 60 million and oh by the way, the cap will remain set at $58 million next season with the luxury threshold being at $70 million much like this season.  So where exactly are the Knicks going to fill in the rest of the roster spots?  No, the Knicks and its fanbase have to be patient and I for one am willing to do that.  We can not throw all our money at three players as great as that sounds.

But I’ll give you another reason why a trade to the Knicks or a super team forming in Los Angeles isn’t realistic.  Its not good business.  If the labor deal pushed to prevent big market teams hoarding small market teams for talent then you have to understand that a Knick trade for pennies on the dollar OR the Lakers getting BOTH Dwight Howard and CP3 will not look good in any way.  What makes it worse is that the NBA owns the Hornets and you can believe that every small owner will NOT push for EITHER trade to EITHER coast which ultimately leaves the Hornets in a no-win position.  I think you allow CP3 to make it to free agency and no matter what kind of influence CAA has over the process and getting Paul traded the fact is, I believe CP3 will not sour on the Hornets and he will play his hardest and play out his time with the Hornets and give an honest effort.  He’s been class his entire time in the league and will not allow trade rumors to negatively deflect from his purpose which is to win a championship.

With that being said, the Knicks pursuit of Grant Hill?  I love it.  I’ve been a fan of his for quite some time since his days on the Pistons when I thought he was going to become Scottie Pippen 2.0.  Hill’s injury history are no doubt a part of his legacy but this second life in Phoenix has been revelatory.  Now if the Knicks can somehow get the Phoenix training staff along with Hill in that deal, it would be fantastic.  As far as the trade rumors go, it makes for good business but the fact is until December 9th, anything and everything in a fan’s mind is fair game including Dwight Howard and Deron Williams in NJ or Dwight Howard and CP3 in LA alongside Kobe OR alongside Blake.

Last note before I go, like I said, one of my favorite players will not be amnestied.  Brandon Roy will be a Blazer this upcoming season.  Makes sense, given that they don’t know how his legs will react and one would argue that this shortened season could be worse on his legs given the back to back to back that the Blazers will likely have to sit him in atleast one game and then rest him up in two of those games for extended periods of time.  Tis a shame since I wanted to see him on the Knicks.  Ahh well, dream another dream a different time.

More news coming later in the day as I give you a daily double dose today with some NFL notes and thoughts regarding week 13 and some important fantasy news.  Stay tuned sports fans.

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