New York Knicks General Manager Donnie Walsh has begun the process of ensuring the Knicks have are in a strong financial position to sign Lebron James in the summer of 2010.Walsh dealt Jamal Crawford to the Golden State Warriors Friday afternoon for disgruntled Al Harrington and then he sent the bloated contract (and waistline!) of Zach Randolph to the L.A. Clippers for some spare parts in Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley.
Harrington being paired with Stephon Marbury will make for an interesting time. Both players are well known for feuding with team mates and coaches so it will be interesting to see how they go together.
Tim Thomas provides no significant value to the Knicks other than not being on the payroll in two years time. Cuttino Mobley probably has a few miles left in the tank but his career has been on steady decline since he left Houston.
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What is going to be the most interesting when June 2010 comes around is not where Lebron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh go, rather which team misses out on one of them. You can be sure that they'll be some 'handshake' deals done between agents that don't come to fruition, but you can absolutely see one franchise left with nothing and bitter at their star player having shot through and their former team getting nothing in return.We've already heard that Lebron is "definitely" leaving the Cavs as much as we've heard that he's "definitely" staying in Cleveland but he naturally won't say anything until a deal is done. For me ? He's already said that he wants to become a billionaire athlete and he's got a better chance of achieving that "goal" in New York, New Jersey, L.A. or Chicago than he has in Cleveland.
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Events over the weekend in Toronto would make the Raptors the heavy favourite to miss out on everything. The Raptors once again blew a game that was theirs for the taking on Friday night to the New Jersey Nets and then were humiliated Sunday by the Boston Celtics.
The Raptors were exposed badly on Sunday. Chris Bosh aside, nobody else on the team wants to win badly enough. The normally calm Bosh threw a tantrum. He probably shouldn't have done it the way he did (in full view of 19,800 fans) but the point is that we've never seen this from him before, so something really ticked him off.
Bosh has elevated his game this season to near superstar status. Twice this week he scored 40+ points and both times, the Raptors lost. In both games, Toronto blew a double-digit lead too. The signs are there that Toronto isn't going anywhere further than it did last year.
Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo has about 19 months to get it right or else Bosh is toast in Toronto and if he does go, then the Raptors will be back to the dreaded "rebuilding stage".
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The Washington Wizards fired head coach Eddie Jordan this morning. At 1-10, the Wizards are clearly struggling but Jordan really is unlucky. Considering he hasn't had Gilbert Arenas for the best part of two seasons, he did an amazing job with that team. He should have been evaluated once Arenas was back in the lineup.
Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler are two stars on the Wiz's squad, but after that there's not too much. Nick Young looks like he'll be decent when he matures but after that ? DeShawn Stevenson...don't think so, Andray Blatche...his game has vanished.
Unlucky Eddie.
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