Simmons Saves Knicks! Plus Trade and Celtic Notes

This magical genie and his underwear would be a big draw in New York.

In his most recent mailbag, Bill Simmons suggested a trade that actually makes some sense for the Knicks and the Heat (although trading Shaq might be a tough sell to Miamianos). Below is the trade along with a rebuilding plan for the team from the horse’s mouth:

“Don’t acquire any big contracts that extend past the 2010 season. Why? Because we need to create enough cap space to woo LeBron when he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2010. Look, the Knicks aren’t winning a title for the rest of the decade. It’s not happening. So why not be upfront about it? If you took the Knicks GM job and told the fans over and over again, “Just be patient, I want to be a big-time free agent player in the summer of 2010 and I’m not doing anything to screw that up,” the Knicks fans are smart enough to understand the logic behind this.

To that same end, I’d pursue Shaq (expires in 2010) because Miami is hemorrhaging money and needs to dump salary. For instance, this trade works after December 15th: Eddy Curry (less than half the pricetag of Shaq for the same stats), Stephon Marbury (expires in 2009) and Fred Jones’s expiring deal for Jason Williams’s expiring deal and $82 million worth of Shaq and Mark Blount (both of whom expire in 2010).

If you’re running Miami, you say yes because you’re dumping $20 million in salary after the 2009 season AND saving $11 million this season ($5.5 million in salary plus an equal amount of luxury tax money) without affecting this year’s team. As for the Knicks, they don’t care about losing more money — as we witnessed the past four years — and the double-barrelled good will of acquiring Shaq and dumping the sullen Marbury/Curry combo would diffuse the fan base’s bitterness by about 35 percent. Maybe Shaq isn’t Shaq anymore, but he’s not completely washed up yet, and it would still feel like a bigger “event” when he’s out there … and sticking Shaq in the Big Apple would be fun, right? More importantly, dumping Curry’s contract creates enough cap room after 2010 to make the aforementioned run at LeBron. Who’s the only guy that matters here.

To recap, here’s my plan for saving the Knicks: Grease the media; trade for Shaq; be upfront with the fans; stay away from any long-term deals past 2010; stick every egg in the LeBron Basket. Vote for Simmons to save the Knicks!”

Why did I just put a 400 word quote in there from another writer? Because I actually think it’s a great idea. Here’s the trade machine breakdown with Udonis Haslem in place of Mark Blount because the trade machine won’t allow it since Blount cannot be traded right now due to a trade exception, but the trade might make just as much sense with Haslem in Blount’s place anyways. It would be pretty cool to see a motivated Shaq in New York.

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The Bobcats and Pistons made a trade today. Nazr Mohammed heads to Charlotte for Walter Herrmann and Primoz Brezec. Check out the trade machine here. I’ve got to say this is a horrible move for the Bobcats. Mohammed is 30 years old and already mediocre. He also has four years left on his contract at over $5 million a year. Four years! He’s already not worth that much and will only get worse. Brezec is having a horrific season but his contract comes off the books after this season so no harm there and Herrmann, whose deal also expires after this year, is basically already just as good as Mohammed. Score this one a big win for the Pistons.

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The Celtics kept up their dominance with a big win against the Bucks. Ray Allen missed the game with his balky ankle, which he recently rolled and has been playing on over the past couple weeks. In his place started Tony Allen and he was fantastic on defense and solid offensively. This is great news for the Celtics, as the team continues to show that it has some depth and is only going to get better as the season progresses (yes, I realize they can’t get any better record-wise but I mean in terms of beating the Spurs in the Finals).

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I remember when some people said the Magic were crazy for passing up Emeka Okafor to take some unproven high schooler, despite Okafor’s questionable back and Dwight Howard’s Hall-of-Fame potential. I think the doubters are the ones who look crazy now. Just imagine if Howard can learn to make a free throw someday. Scary.

Bill Simmons mailbag leads to people reading my blog…details below, plus B’s, Pats, and REGGIE MILLER!

 

 

 

So my blog stats show what people search on google, etc., to bring them to my site.  Combinations of “Jill Kelly/Chasey Lain/He Got Game/Ray Allen/3some” have brought about 200 people to my blog (I wrote about it in a Celtics blog) over the past two days since ESPN’s Bill Simmons referenced Jesus Shuttlesworth’s big scene back in the ’90s.  Pretty sweet, so if you happen to be one of these people, welcome.  I hope you think this blog does something other than suck, and please feel free to let me know either way with some comments. 

 

Question: Does anyone still care about the Bruins?  At all?

 

Well, I sorta do, so I’m going to throw them a bone with a little post.

 

I think they’re going to make the play-offs this season, most likely as a 6 seed or so, and definitely lose by the 2^nd round, probably in the 1^st.  That’ll at least be some fun, so that’s cool.

 

My reasoning is this: They have a mediocre group of defensemen, solid centermen, and a glaring lack of wingers.  On the other hand, if Manny Fernandez works out (a goalie they traded for this off-season), then they’ll have a nice 1-2 combo in net, and that’s the most important position for obvious reasons.  Tuukka Rask, a young goalie they recently signed, is set to replace Thomas after this season, and then take over as our #1 the season after, which is a nice little plan, but has no bearing on success this season.  Add a star winger and a solid defenseman to the Bruins and I’d be quite intrigued, but since that’s not apparently going to be happening all that soon unless some of the young kids they have make huge leaps this season, it’s safe to say we won’t be waving 4 championship banners in Boston this year, so we’ll have to settle with a potential run at 3.  Here’s the Bruin roster àhttp://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/teams/roster?team=bos ß just in case you’d like to have some idea who’s actually on the team—you might be shocked to find that Joe Thornton’s gone, because they pretty much gave him away in a panic trade a couple years ago, sorry if you haven’t been paying any attention since before the lockout, because he was probably the only guy you might have known then anyways.

 

 

“Not walking through that door.”–Rick Pitino

Record numbers have been showing up to the Patriots’ pre-season training camp this year and everyone’s asking “Why?”  My answer: they’re going to be NASTY. 

This team is going to maul the entire NFL.  If the Pats get the Asante Samuel situation under control and maintain their health at a reasonable clip, anything less than a 12-4 record will be disappointing.  Severely so.  That’s pretty impressive.  Put me on record as putting the over/under of wins at 13.  Niiiiiice. 

 

They have depth everywhere on defense, a nice mix of ages, a potentially DYNAMITE offense, and the best coach in football.  Oh, and Tom Brady, who’s totally NOW, based on past performance and future potential, according to ESPN, Giselle, and Bridget “the goalie puller” Moynahan.  I’m giddy.

 

One reason why Americans like football more than any other sport nowadays—in other sports a blow-out is boring, especially in baseball or basketball, but in football it’s still fun to see your team literally beat the other guys up.  Running over someone is still awesome whether it’s 34-32 in the 4^th quarter against the Chargers or 43-7 against the Browns in October. 

Oh, yeah, and another thing.  Reggie Miller?!?!?!?!?!?  Really?????  Absurd, but let’s do it just ‘cause it’s too funny not to.  Also, if you check his career stats, the guy’s way overrated.  He averaged 18 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in almost 35 minutes per game over his career.  Those were not the numbers I was expecting when I clicked on his profile: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?statsId=231.