Wink Wink Deal With Johnson?

LJ4ptplay · Mar 12, 2010

Forget July: Knicks May Already Have 'Wink Wink Deal' with Joe Johnson

by Mike Prada • Mar 12, 2010 10:18 AM EST

Want any more evidence that the 2010 free agency derby is a perfect storm of craziness, especially when it comes to the New York Knicks? Consider this report from Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.

There is a growing sentiment among opposing team executives that at the very least the Knicks will sign Atlanta's Joe Johnson, whose agent, Arn Tellem, orchestrated the Tracy McGrady trade to the Knicks and has been friends with Walsh for 20 years. It's called a "wink-wink deal," and even though it is against NBA rules, the practice does exist and is nearly impossible to police.

"I think that's a done deal," said one Eastern Conference GM.

The sad thing is this seems totally believable. Isola's well-sourced, so he's not just making this up out of thin air. The Knicks don't want their fans to flip out if they don't get LeBron, so they're leaking stories to the press about how great Joe Johnson is and how easily they could get him.

But the real story is that this whole "2010 free agency" thing can be really shady. We want to believe that tampering doesn't exist, but it's clearly everywhere. The NBA can't and won't do anything about it, because so many fans are following their product only to see how everything shakes out this summer. It's good business for the NBA to let this tampering and rumor-mongering fly, because it's what the customers want.

All the while, Joe Johnson is leading a really good Hawks to their best season in a decade, yet nobody wants to read about it. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

http://www.sbnation.com/2010/3/12/1...nicks-2010-nba-free-agency-lebron-james-hawks

Also stated in the Isola article:

If Walsh can't land either James or Dwyane Wade but ends up with Johnson, another option is luring Toronto's Chris Bosh in a sign-and-trade. Sources claim the Raptors would be open to such a deal if it included David Lee.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b.../12/2010-03-12_knicks_hope_all_isnt_lost.html

If we don't get Lebron, I would be satisfied with a Joe Johnson/Chris Bosh combo.

Thoughts?

dlee420 · Mar 12, 2010

If we only end up with johnson/bosh then i'd be pissed. We could have already been in the playoffs if we kept the squad together with Randolph/Crawford... Karmas a bitch.

petescud · Mar 12, 2010

I agree. I'm hoping we can do better, as we would had made the playoffs with what we had...it seems you need a real superstar to win nowadays

dlee420 said:
If we only end up with johnson/bosh then i'd be pissed. We could have already been in the playoffs if we kept the squad together with Randolph/Crawford... Karmas a bitch.

LJ4ptplay · Mar 12, 2010

It seems there are going to be a lot of angry fans this July. I don't think Lebron/Wade is coming.

I don't know how anybody can say with certainty that we would have made the playoffs with Crawford and Z-Bo. We still would have had Duhon as the PG.

I'll take Bosh/Johnson over Crawford/Z-Bo any day.

I'm not a huge fan of Johnson though. At 29 years old, a long-term max (or almost max) contract would not be a wise move. I would prefer signing Rudy Gay, sign and trade Lee + Curry's expiring contract for Bosh + Calderon and then use the MLE to sign Anthony Morrow + Tyrus Thomas.

PG-Calderon
SG-Morrow
SF-Gay
PF-Thomas
C-Bosh

w/ TMac, Chandler, Gallo and Douglas off the bench.

That team could challenge the Cavs and Magic in the east.

Toons · Mar 12, 2010

dlee420 said:
If we only end up with johnson/bosh then i'd be pissed. We could have already been in the playoffs if we kept the squad together with Randolph/Crawford... Karmas a bitch.

sooo....u would rather make it to the playoffs and get kicked out the first round? or be a contender?

serge .............. nash
johnson ............. johnson
chandler ............. marion
gallo ............. diaw
bosh ............. amare

ssol 2.0

harringtons contract expires too....we can trade for cap space and a draft pick and bring in melo next year

douglas
johnson
lebron
melo
bosh

dlee420 · Mar 12, 2010

Toons said:
serge .............. nash
johnson ............. johnson
chandler ............. marion
gallo ............. diaw
bosh ............. amare

Serge does not = Nash
Johnson = Johnson (Nothing magnificent)
Chandler does not = Marion
Gallo does not = Diaw
Bosh=Amare (Questionable)... BUT I'd still rather Zack Randolph out of those 2!!!!!

Crazy⑧s · Mar 12, 2010

Toons said:
sooo....u would rather make it to the playoffs and get kicked out the first round? or be a contender?

serge .............. nash
johnson ............. johnson
chandler ............. marion
gallo ............. diaw
bosh ............. amare

ssol 2.0

harringtons contract expires too....we can trade for cap space and a draft pick and bring in melo next year

douglas
johnson
lebron
melo
bosh

This is very very silly. Aspirational, but super silly. Also non sensical. Please tell me, in which NYK game did you see the SSOL debacle last run? And how do we trade expired contracts?

If I'm missing something here I'm terribly sorry.

abcd · Mar 12, 2010

Whether or not Joe Johnson signs with the Knicks will depend on how far the Hawks make it in the playoffs. The only way I see Johnson coming to the Knicks is if the Hawks lose in the first round. If they can make it to the second round, and especially if they make it to the 3rd round, I doubt he would sign with the Knicks. At the end of the day, players want to win. And whatever the Knicks offer Johnson, the Hawks could match or exceed.

If the Raptors are stupid enough to trade Bosh for Lee, that would be crazy. I doubt the Raptors would trade Bosh, unless the Knicks include 2 first round picks. They already gave up their 2011 and 2012 picks, so the only way I could see the Bosh for Lee deal workout would be if the Knicks included the 2011 first round pick they got from Houston and an unprotected 2013 first round pick.

Really, the only free agents I see that might potentially come to the Knicks is Amare Stoudamire(because the Suns don't want him) and Rudy Gay(because he's greedy and cares more about money than winning).

KBlack25 · Mar 12, 2010

abcd said:
Whether or not Joe Johnson signs with the Knicks will depend on how far the Hawks make it in the playoffs. The only way I see Johnson coming to the Knicks is if the Hawks lose in the first round. If they can make it to the second round, and especially if they make it to the 3rd round, I doubt he would sign with the Knicks. At the end of the day, players want to win. And whatever the Knicks offer Johnson, the Hawks could match or exceed.

I would agree with you except for one thing...

When Joe Johnson was a free agent last time, he basically said "I'm going to go whomever pays me the most money," and left a pretty good Suns team for a Hawks franchise that was fledgling by forcing a sign-and-trade. I'm not saying he will do it again, but he has been known to force sign-and-trades to get to the place he can earn the most money at whether he has a better chance to win or not.

RunningJumper · Mar 12, 2010

D'Antoni would probably rather push for Joe Johnson because of his Suns days.

dre48ny · Mar 12, 2010

JJ is a very good player, but man when are the NYK gonna have the best of the best? The last great player was Ewing and he wasnt even considered better than Hakeem. I say we wait for Melo or Durant in 2011, if they can't sign an elite guy. If we can lure Bosh on his own then we wait for 2011 when Fat Curry's contract expires and we still have the cap space we didn't use in 2010.

RunningJumper · Mar 12, 2010

dre48ny said:
JJ is a very good player, but man when are the NYK gonna have the best of the best? The last great player was Ewing and he wasnt even considered better than Hakeem. I say we wait for Melo or Durant in 2011, if they can't sign an elite guy. If we can lure Bosh on his own then we wait for 2011 when Fat Curry's contract expires and we still have the cap space we didn't use in 2010.

Agreed.No need to rush this.Been too long to spend to just spend.

dre48ny · Mar 12, 2010

RunningJumper said:
Agreed.No need to rush this.Been too long to spend to just spend.

Exactly bro just cause we have the capspace we just can't throw it on who's available now and take ourselves out of 2011's market which has elite players. If we get bosh in a sign and trade this offseason, I could live with that. Then surround him with a Tony Parker and a Melo or Durant, that would be official.

KING~POETIQ · Mar 12, 2010

dre48ny said:
Exactly bro just cause we have the capspace we just can't throw it on who's available now and take ourselves out of 2011's market which has elite players. If we get bosh in a sign and trade this offseason, I could live with that. Then surround him with a Tony Parker and a Melo or Durant, that would be official.

Melo would be nice.

Lmao, I remember when people here were bashing carmelo when I and others wanted to trade for him last year.

RunningJumper · Mar 12, 2010

dre48ny said:
Exactly bro just cause we have the capspace we just can't throw it on who's available now and take ourselves out of 2011's market which has elite players. If we get bosh in a sign and trade this offseason, I could live with that. Then surround him with a Tony Parker and a Melo or Durant, that would be official.

I'd love Parker on the Knicks, but cold we afford all three?

KING~POETIQ · Mar 12, 2010

Toons said:
sooo....u would rather make it to the playoffs and get kicked out the first round? or be a contender?

serge .............. nash
johnson ............. johnson
chandler ............. marion
gallo ............. diaw
bosh ............. amare

ssol 2.0

harringtons contract expires too....we can trade for cap space and a draft pick and bring in melo next year

douglas
johnson
lebron
melo
bosh

:teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth:

WOW.... How are we suppose to acquire johnson, melo, lebron AND bosh ??? I don't even think the yankees could pull that off :lol:

RunningJumper · Mar 12, 2010

SLY1984 said:
:teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth:

WOW.... How are we suppose to acquire johnson, melo, lebron AND bosh ??? I don't even think the yankees could pull that off :lol:

Because they care about basketball a lot more than money

*Attempts Serious Face*

smokes · Mar 12, 2010

dlee420 said:
Serge does not = Nash
Johnson = Johnson (Nothing magnificent)
Chandler does not = Marion
Gallo does not = Diaw
Bosh=Amare (Questionable)... BUT I'd still rather Zack Randolph out of those 2!!!!!

Agree
Agree
Agree
Agree
..... You rather have Zach than Bosh? whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

dre48ny · Mar 12, 2010

RunningJumper said:
I'd love Parker on the Knicks, but cold we afford all three?

I think if we give Parker the money that comes off Curry's contract around 11 a year he would do it. Bosh max this year, Melo max next year, Parker 10-11 mil. Doable I think.

RunningJumper · Mar 12, 2010

dre48ny said:
I think if we give Parker the money that comes off Curry's contract around 11 a year he would do it. Bosh max this year, Melo max next year, Parker 10-11 mil. Doable I think.

If it is, then that would be amazing.I'm ALL for this.

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