* Offiical NBA Off-Season Thread: I'll give one of my damn kidney's for these Melo rumors to stop *

[i nasmatic i]

From Allen Iverson's Twitter, I combined a few of his tweets into one:

I want to return to the NBA this season, and help any team that wants me, in any capacity that they feel that I can help. I'm disappointed, and I owe my fans more than what they have seen of me the last couple seasons. However, now that my family is healthy and rock solid, I can concentrate fully on doing what I do best! At the camp, I will help teach kids some of what it takes to be successful in life. On and off the basketball court.
Bench?

 

[noblekane]

Originally Posted by bhzmafia14

If Hakim Warrick can get a 4yr/18mil deal and Drew Gooden can get a 5yr/30mil deal, Beasley should be able to go SOMEWHERE and play on his rookie contract.

I truly don't understand why its so hard to trade him. Either Miami really is trying to get some value for him that teams won't give them or something is really wrong with the guy.

teams probably dont want miami to be able to sign 3 max players. i mean would YOU want the next 7 years to be won by the same team??

 

[melovp]

the Gallo hate, and Knicks hate in general, in here is tremendous

how much do you really know about this dude's game if you're gonna say he was the #1 option? he was behind david lee and al harrington

chris duhon jacked more unnecessary 3's than gallo last season

to say beasley is head and shoulders ahead of him is ludicrous, and flat out WRONG

how many times did you see TD put in work when he finally started getting PT in March

you seem to be forgetting about bill walker, whose ceiling is much higher than Chandler's and is down 30 lbs since we got him, and who also put in work given a chance here

and you're pressing extra hard to discredit this team, making a joke about ink not being dry, when clearly STAT is a Knick following today's events, that's just a bit self-serving on your part

if gallo reaches his potential, he'll be an elite player in this league. point blank periid [emoji]169[/emoji] T.I.

 

[melovp]

Originally Posted by NobleKane

Originally Posted by bhzmafia14

If Hakim Warrick can get a 4yr/18mil deal and Drew Gooden can get a 5yr/30mil deal, Beasley should be able to go SOMEWHERE and play on his rookie contract.

I truly don't understand why its so hard to trade him. Either Miami really is trying to get some value for him that teams won't give them or something is really wrong with the guy.

teams probably dont want miami to be able to sign 3 max players. i mean would YOU want the next 7 years to be won by the same team??

agreed..the collusion has been prevalent this summer (I'M #!$$!#* TALKING TO YOU GRUNFELD

)

glad riles caught the tail end on that..beasley's a different dude nowadays tho, hopefully he does get traded they've been mismanaging this dude from what I've seen

 

[bangdak]

Yeah, tell me what Chalmers' really done in the playoffs.

I can understand Rose, but if you told me, Lebron, come to the Bulls homie, we got Joakim Noah as your starting center. that's a championship caliber team. sorry, i'm not buying it.

Mike, Knicks fan only bashed Chandler for not driving to the hoop as much as he could.

 

[youngtriz]

riley has declined some teams that wanted beasley.... and i think that riley is keeping beasley as a "just in case" wade leaves miami.... if beasley had option to do what he wanted on offense he would beast..... and i believe beasley is gonna play SF in the summer league....

 

[duba169]

It is dangerous to compare a second-year player to a perennial All-Star. But Nowitzki did not flinch at the analogy. And he offered an encouraging endorsement in advance of the Knicks’ surprising 128-94 victory over the Mavericks on Saturday night that ended Dallas’s 13-game winning streak.

“I think he’s way ahead of my curve,

 

[got shoes]

Feel bad for the Suns, just a lil bit.

 

[lil stevie728]

Good read...good to see an NBA player understand the business side of the NBA from ALL aspects, not just the player's perspective.

[size=+2][h2][/h2][/size]

[size=+2][h2]Nowitzki: Only LeBron or Wade could make the difference[/h2][/size][size=-1][h5]11:36 PM CDT on Monday, July 5, 2010[/h5][/size][size=-1]By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected][/size]
Free agency fit Dirk Nowitzki like a hospital gown. He never felt comfortable and got out of it as fast as he could.

Nowitzki said Monday that he only needed to hear that the Mavericks are serious about upgrading the roster during the next four seasons, and that's why he agreed to a discounted contract with owner Mark Cuban during the weekend.

In his first interview since the sides hammered out the $80 million deal, Nowitzki talked at length about many topics, including the free-agent process and the Mavericks' strategies on moving forward. He also said making a big splash this summer isn't necessarily the only way to keep the window genuinely open to win an NBA championship.

The nine-time All-Star has learned plenty during the last few days. What he learned most was that free agency is "not fun."

"Obviously, a couple teams were interested," he said. "But it never really got to the point where I was ready to listen. My heart's here. To go through the whole process that everybody's going through, I don't like that. It was just weird. And to have two-hour presentations when I know I'm not really interested. I didn't see any sense in that. It didn't really get that far.

"When it was all said and done, to me, I feel like I started this thing here and after 12 years now, I feel like I got unfinished business here. I just wanted to not run away from something that's right there. I met with Cuban, and he said: 'You know we're all in this together.'

"And he's right. We started this and it wouldn't even feel right to go somewhere else and chase something that nobody can promise me."

That uncertainty played a big part in Nowitzki deciding quickly that Dallas is the right situation for him. He has seen all the scenarios involving Lincoln-ex Chris Bosh , Joe Johnson , Amare Stoudemire and Carlos Boozer, among others.

But from Nowitzki's perch, there are only two players who could be added to the Mavericks' roster that would make the ultimate difference — LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

"I see it this way, if you don't get LeBron and you don't get Wade, are you going to give the max to somebody else and lock yourself in with a player who's not going to get you over the hump?" Nowitzki said. "You got to be a little careful with locking yourself into something with a max contract with somebody that's going to give you 55 wins, and you're still going to lose in the second or third round.

"So to me, if you could get Wade or LeBron, you got to go for it. But other than that, it's tough. You don't want to completely screw the organization over for four or five years if it's not going to put it over the top."

So, in talks with Cuban that lasted more than an hour Saturday, Nowitzki had some strategies laid out for him. And that was enough, although he didn't want to divulge precisely what the Mavericks have in mind.

He understands completely, however, that the idea is to win a title and if it doesn't happen in 2010-11, he pledges to be patient.

"To me, we got enough time here in four years to go for it," he said. "And if we shouldn't get anyone here this year [in a trade], we still got to leave it out there and go for it. And four years is a long time. We can make something happen eventually."

But this summer remains very intriguing, he said.

"There are some scenarios out there that would be very good for this organization," he said. "More than anything, I wanted to still know that we're still working on this. I didn't want to feel stuck with another 50 wins and a first-round exit. Obviously, you never know in this business. Sometimes you get something. Sometimes you don't. I just wanted a reassurance that we're going to try. I definitely needed to hear that from Mark's mouth."

That was why Nowitzki came to Dallas from Germany on Thursday. He thought this was important enough to do a face-to-face with Cuban, who has declined comment until Thursday when Nowitzki can officially sign the contract.

Nowitzki has been widely commended for his loyalty to the franchise. Not many players accept $16 million less than they could have earned to stay with the same team. But he said that loyalty runs both ways.

"Mark has been terrific to me," Nowitzki said. "The stuff he's helped me with, especially last year with all the stuff I went through. He's been more than an owner to me. We've had a friendship-type of relationship and Donnie [Nelson] has been great, too. It really was a no-brainer."

Not that there weren't temptations, of course. Nowitzki said free agency has been dominating his thoughts for months, even when he was on vacation with his family.

He kept coming back to the same problem.

"If somebody could tell me, 'you come next year and we'll win it,' obviously I would have looked at it very, very hard," Nowitzki said. "But nobody knows what's really going to happen and what's going on. So it felt great to me. This has been my new home for so long. Something unbelievable would have had to come up.

"Relieved is a good word. I can't even imagine LeBron going through this whole thing for two years, or Bosh being asked every other day for the last year. I'm so happy that it was only a couple days. That was already way, way enough for me."

In the end, his partnership with Cuban was an overriding factor. Nowitzki has never played for another NBA team, and he's committed that, for now, he wants to win a championship with Cuban in Dallas.

"From Day 1, we knew that me and Cubes would have to work at this together if we want to win," he said. "To me, it was never really about money. Obviously, I can't sell myself way short of market value. I can't do that. But other than that, I'm more than happy to help this organization and give it a chance to go to another level by bringing somebody else in. So we'll see what happens."

 

[japanair21]

You think Dirk is the kind of guy that would slam Gallo?

Dirk would never have a bad thing to say to anyone in front of the media.

Look, Gallo isn't bad. I'm not saying he is, but he along with the rest of the Knicks roster doesn't gather enough arousal for me that I'd think a big name, a Bron, a Bosh, a Wade would say "Damn! I want to go there!" Maybe with Amare, some of that will start to form.

The Knicks need to focus on a guy who they can bring in cheap who will have big names think, I'd like to play alongside them.

But do they have the cap space? I've lost track.


Gallo is a good shooter, he's gotten better at scoring all around the floor, he's a pesky defender, but that team just doesn't stack up to NJN or Chicago.

 

[duba169]

the 12 win nets team is better than a team with Amare/Gallo/chandler?

okay buddy

 

[japanair21]

Thanks for that Stevie, even if Dirk never wins a ring with us, I can rest comfortably knowing that there's a guy out there who is so committed to his team.

 

[i nasmatic i]

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Originally Posted by Durden7

Originally Posted by rck2sactown



Would i be reaching if i said that Mcrob and Monroe are similar players

serious question....

Have you watched both of them play?!


Youre reaching so far what youre trying to touch isnt even in view.

*Tugs on coller* ya i was being serious

both are known as good big passers. they both play are faceup/high post oriented bigs. posses decent handles.
I figured it was a reach. My apologizes yall

 

[Master Zik]

Dirk didn't have to slam Gallo but he also didn't have to say Gallo was way ahead of him at the age of 20.

I find what Dirk said about committing to a max and not winning ironic.

WOW @ the Knicks not stacking up to the Nets squad. Even without Amar'e obviously 09/10 Knicks >>>>> 09/10 Nets.

 

[japanair21]

Originally Posted by DubA169

the 12 win nets team is better than a team with Amare/Gallo/chandler?

okay buddy

I'm talking before singing Amare.

 

[duba169]

can't really say the past because then david lee would count. either way their record alone proves the knicks were better than the nets last year.

the bulls were better than the knicks. but a 12 win team getting this kind of love is disgusting. the knicks were also playing with bums with no team concept because it was their contract years.

gallanari was playing with black holes all around him and still made a crazy amount of 3's just bailing out the trash with 3 seconds on the shot clock left. and chris duhon didn't help. amare will command double teams and gallo will feast.

now bron AND amare drawing attention.... gallo would be going for knicks records

 

[japanair21]

Originally Posted by Master Zik

Dirk didn't have to slam Gallo but he also didn't have to say Gallo was way ahead of him at the age of 20.

I find what Dirk said about committing to a max and not winning ironic.

WOW @ the Knicks not stacking up to the Nets squad. Even without Amar'e obviously 09/10 Knicks >>>>> 09/10 Nets.

With Harrington, McGrady, Lee, and the rest of the cast, sure.

Now? No.

LeBron, Amare, Bosh, Wade, whoever wouldn't be going to the same team next year.

Nets roster is more put together than the Knicks are right now, the talent right NOW is better.

 

[melovp]

Originally Posted by JapanAir21

You think Dirk is the kind of guy that would slam Gallo?

Dirk would never have a bad thing to say to anyone in front of the media.

Look, Gallo isn't bad. I'm not saying he is, but he along with the rest of the Knicks roster doesn't gather enough arousal for me that I'd think a big name, a Bron, a Bosh, a Wade would say "Damn! I want to go there!" Maybe with Amare, some of that will start to form.

The Knicks need to focus on a guy who they can bring in cheap who will have big names think, I'd like to play alongside them.

But do they have the cap space? I've lost track.


Gallo is a good shooter, he's gotten better at scoring all around the floor, he's a pesky defender, but that team just doesn't stack up to NJN or Chicago.

it's not about him slamming gallo, it's about the fact that he's saying gallo's better than he was at 20, and going along those lines he'll be better than dirk right?

sorry you're not aroused at the knicks current roster, but with four first round talents, plus EC, plus a top-tier 4, lebron would fare just fine

and i doubt we gave a !#+$ about dwade b/c we had no shot

, and chris bosh is just a !$@!% made %%%#%

out of curiousity, how many knicks games did you catch last season?

 

[kiddin like jason]

Unfortunately for Knicks fans, signing Amar'e all but assures the fact that the team isn't going to change its anti-winning style of play.

It doesn't particularly matter who you plug in to the system - it's never going to succeed.

 

[japanair21]

Originally Posted by Kiddin Like Jason

Unfortunately for Knicks fans, signing Amar'e all but assures the fact that the team isn't going to change its anti-winning style of play.

It doesn't particularly matter who you plug in to the system - it's never going to succeed.

That's what I mentioned a while back, if it didn't work with Steve Nash in his prime, pre-surgery Amare, Joe Johnson and Shawn Marion?

Eh.

 

[kiddin like jason]

Right.

I don't get it. These few coaches just won't let it go. They continue to perpetuate this style and find players to fit it.

Don't they see what kind of teams are going deep into the playoffs year in and year out?

No team is going to flat out outscore opponents on a consistent basis. Rebound and defend, or decrease your chances of winning basketball games by a very large number. It's pretty clear. Or at least I thought so.

 

[anthony stark]

Originally Posted by Kiddin Like Jason

Unfortunately for Knicks fans, signing Amar'e all but assures the fact that the team isn't going to change its anti-winning style of play.

It doesn't particularly matter who you plug in to the system - it's never going to succeed.

 

[koolbarbone]

Originally Posted by JapanAir21

Originally Posted by Kiddin Like Jason

Unfortunately for Knicks fans, signing Amar'e all but assures the fact that the team isn't going to change its anti-winning style of play.

It doesn't particularly matter who you plug in to the system - it's never going to succeed.

That's what I mentioned a while back, if it didn't work with Steve Nash in his prime, pre-surgery Amare, Joe Johnson and Shawn Marion?

Eh.

All that still won't stop Knicks fans from being insufferable, unfortunately.

 

[mronegative]

[h1]ESPN’s coverage of NBA free agency shows the network’s flaws[/h1]
Posted: Tuesday, July 6, 2010 12:00 am | Updated: 11:22 pm, Mon Jul 5, 2010.

TOM GREEN, The Tom Green Show |

July 1 was supposed to mark the beginning of arguably the most anticipated summer the NBA had ever seen.

It was supposed to denote the beginning of the free agency period of some of the biggest and most influential names in the league – LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, to name a few.

This month was built up with the thoughts that where those superstars sign will establish the fate and direction the league takes for the next decade. It could determine a shift of power among teams and divisions.

July 1. The date loomed over the NBA news front for a couple of years like an ominous cloud. Really, the way it was talked up, you would think the Mayans had this summer marked on their calendar as the end of times.

It was supposed to be the Summer of 2010, but less than a week into July it has quickly turned into the Summer of Misinformation – due in large part to the coverage provided by ESPN.

The Worldwide Leader in Sports, as it is so affectionately known, has been waiting for this summer with as much anticipation as fans in Cleveland, New York, Miami and Chicago.

This summer was supposed to be the network’s time to shine; to blow the coverage of this free agency period out of the water – after all, ESPN probably has more resources at its disposal than any other sports media outlet out there.

But no, what was supposed to be a golden opportunity for ESPN as a media outlet was botched in the first couple of days of the free agency period.

From a journalistic view, it seems ESPN is focused on being the first to report things, but with that mindset, accuracy is often compromised.

The weekend before the free agency period began, ESPN reported that Wade, James and Bosh had a free agent summit in Miami discussing the possibility of all three coming together to play for the Heat. No more than a day later did The Miami Herald debunk that report with proof that all three weren’t even in Miami that weekend.

One of the finer examples of sacrificing accuracy for being first was when Chad Ford first reported that Wade was meeting with the Chicago Bulls for a second time, at the player’s request.

Ford, at the time of the report, said Wade was leaning toward signing with his hometown Bulls.

Multiple other media outlets reported that Wade’s second meeting with the Bulls was at the team’s request and that Wade met the request as a courtesy, because apparently he’s not the type of businessman to turn down a face-to-face.

In an attempt to be the first to report the meeting, Ford – and ESPN – through their multiple anonymous sources, failed to accurately report the news, if you even want to call the meeting news, and sent Miami Heat fans everywhere into a full-on panic.

Aside from having reports contradict those of the local beat writers for some of the teams, ESPN’s coverage has made drama where there isn’t drama, and catered to its viewers in major markets like New York and Chicago all for the sake of ratings.

One minute, the network gives off the impression that LeBron is set to join the Knicks, marching out ESPN’s resident “capologist