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Here's a preview from Tom Chisolm. No doubt the race for the Atlantic will be fun to watch:

In this day and age it is incredibly difficult to 'steal' a player. For some, trades like the one that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers would constitute a steal, except that trades require two agreeable parties, hardly a classical definition of theft. With the complexities of the NBA's salary cap and luxury tax, along with 24-hour coverage of a player's every whim and fancy, it can be near impossible for a team swoop in a steal another's asset unexpectedly or for a player to sour on his team and bolt out of the blue.

However, on July 10th the Philadelphia 76ers managed to complete one of the most decisive robberies in recent memory.

PF - Elton Brand
One of the best and worst things about this signing revolves around his returning from an injury. The best part is that any player, especially one of Brand's caliber, is going to be desperate to play ball again after having to sit out virtually an entire season. That is especially true when you want to prove that you are in fact fully recovered from surgery. The downside then is that he is a player retuning from an injury that cost him virtually an entire season, and while it is widely believed that he is fully recovered and rearing to go, fans will breathe a lot easier once they've seen him perform at an All-Star level out on the court.

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=248464&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_nba

I think the Atlantic (formerly the Titanic Division) is really going to be a case of the "Haves" and the "Have Nots". The Celts, Sixers, and Raptors all figure to be really good teams (great for the Celtics) while the Nets and Knicks could be fodder for most of the league. Also, look at the starting PFs for the teams in this division.

Celtics: Garnett
Sixers: Brand
Raptors: Bosh
Knicks: Randolph
Nets: Yi

Considering that 20% of the games will be against divisional foes, I think Yi had better get his act together defensively.

Yi and Randolph are going to get beasted pretty hard.

Remember when we were talking about Randolph being a viable option for the Sixers ? My how things have changed so quickly

Defensively Randolph will get eaten up as well but offensively, the guy can still perform. Also, Randolph has some bulk to him so he won't get obliterated physically from having to play the other PFs in this division where as Yi is skinny and lanky. The man needs to bulk up.

Of course, D'Antoni could play small ball (could??? more like will) and therefore we might not see Randolph all that much. Hell, there are enough rumors flying around still about Randolph being moved and NY trying to acquire Marion from Miami.

where did you hear that Randolph rumor? That would be a pretty poor deal for the heat. I wouldn't want Randolph coming anywhere near the #2 pick.

D'antoni will play small ball, no doubt about it.

Ugh. My bad... I didn't mean to make it sound as though there is one rumor going around that would be Randolph for Marion. There are multiple rumors going around with Randolph going somewhere else (Memphis has been brought up) and then in a totally separate deal, the Knicks are trying to acquire Shaun Marion.

fair enough my friend. I thought Walsh was picking up where Isiah left off.

I know this is completely off topic but when I see randolph I think of a deuce and a half , ya know... Big and strong but slow and a liability sometimes, when I look at Brand I see a tank, big powerfull, quick for it's size and just impossible to stop.

I'm not as down on the Nets as is being stated. Harris is a high end PG, Carter can still score, SF will be weaker, but Simmons/Hayes will be serviceable, PF is young but talented, and I think Lopez will hold his own inside (not stud athletically, but very solid ball skills and offensive game). Remember that Boone and WIlliams got a lot of experience last season, so they should still be solid contributors. I actually will be interested to see how they do.

Don't bother bringing a tsn article around here. These people don't care about a canadian opinion. Trust me, I know.

freshie2 wrote:I'm not as down on the Nets as is being stated. Harris is a high end PG, Carter can still score, SF will be weaker, but Simmons/Hayes will be serviceable, PF is young but talented, and I think Lopez will hold his own inside (not stud athletically, but very solid ball skills and offensive game). Remember that Boone and WIlliams got a lot of experience last season, so they should still be solid contributors. I actually will be interested to see how they do.

I actually like what the Nets are doing and think they could be really good come 2010 but I don't expect them to win more than 30 games this season.

The Guilty Party wrote:

freshie2 wrote:I'm not as down on the Nets as is being stated. Harris is a high end PG, Carter can still score, SF will be weaker, but Simmons/Hayes will be serviceable, PF is young but talented, and I think Lopez will hold his own inside (not stud athletically, but very solid ball skills and offensive game). Remember that Boone and WIlliams got a lot of experience last season, so they should still be solid contributors. I actually will be interested to see how they do.

I actually like what the Nets are doing and think they could be really good come 2010 but I don't expect them to win more than 30 games this season.

I liked what they were doing until they traded RJ for Yi and Simmons (although Simmons' expiring in a couple years could be crucial to luring in a top tier free agent). NJ got great value for J Kidd... lots of youth... should be interesting to see how they develop.

According to a column linked in the WireTap, the Grizzlies are willing to trade for Randolph's contract and the ball is now in the Knicks corner. The trade apparently would look like this:

To MEM: Zach Randolph
To NYK: Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric

The Grizzlies also want the Knicks to pay for some of Randolph's salary. Darko's deal does expire in the summer of 2010 so that would clear another $7.5MIL off of the Knicks books. Jaric's deal goes thru the summer of 2011 but my guess is that Walsh will look to move him sometime between now and the trade deadline in 2010 for an expiring deal. I think Walsh will have a much easier time doing that than finding another taker for Randolph's contract as it increases. Also, Darko and Jaric are MUCH better fits for D'Antoni's system than Randolph is. If the Knicks go into the season with Z-Bo on their roster, any value he has left might be wiped out because his stats will probably drop from not being on the floor as much.

http://www.thememphisedge.com/2008/09/0 ... to-knicks/

I think the Nets will struggle defensively.

As for Memphis, I can see why the Knicks would say no thanks. The whole idea behind trading Randolph is to get expiring contracts that would allow them to get a max salary free agent - Kobe, Wade, Bosh or LeBron, in the summer of 2010.

Jaric is not very good and shockingly overpaid. They will have a very hard time finding a team that would be willing to take him off their hands. They might have to give up a lottery pick just to get someone to take him and even that might not be enough.

I think they would have to get Milicic, Warrick and Lowery for Randolph to make it worth their while and they would gladly toss in $3 million (max allowable) to get Memphis to do that, but I can't see them moving a far superior player just to get $7.5 million of cap space in two years.

Obviosuly Memphis wants to unload Jaric's bad contract but I'm sure the Knicks would LOVE to have Antoine Walker and that contract which is probably the first time that's ever been written about 'Toine. Walker makes $9.3MIL this season and two more years left on the deal after that but there is a team option for next summer which obviously will be used.

I find it amazing how a player goes to the Knicks whether via trade, free agency, or through the draft and then within 12 months... nobody wants to touch the guy with a 10 foot pole.

With Randolph I think most teams wanted nothing to do with him before he went to NY. He had a huge contract and nototrious personal history well before he went to NY. He has not played all that badly in NY or done anything worse than he did in Portland, in fact you might say he has been on better behavior in NY considering the greater number of distractions he faces as opposed to when he plays in Portland. There was a reason NY got him so cheap in the first place. He has not fit well in NY with Curry and the entire Isiah circus does tend to tarnish all of their players a little, but his utter lack of defense, inability to pass, his personal issues (the more I read about him the more it seems like he's not just a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, he apparently is a real bad dude) and contract make him undesirable for any team that wants to win. Being a Knick is just the cherry on top for him.

I guess that when you consider that the Blazers had to take back Steve Francis and that hideous contract last summer that it only seems right that the Knicks are going to have to take back someone else's bad deal (Jaric) this summer. I imagine Walsh would have much rather had Steve Francis' expiring contract and Channing Fyre right now instead of Z-Bo.

I'm actually a little shocked the Knicks' summer has been as quiet as it has. They did hire Mike D'Antoni but other than that, their summer has consisted of drafting Gallinari and trading Renaldo Balkman for two players who have since been waived.

At least with Jaric we could get crowd shots showing Adrianna Lima instead of Spike Lee when we play the Knicks.

Skates wrote:At least with Jaric we could get crowd shots showing Adrianna Lima instead of Spike Lee when we play the Knicks.

I like your thinking. We really do need this trade to go down now.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3571031

ESPN.com has now picked up on this rumored trade between the Grizzlies and the Knicks. According to their story, Walsh initiated the talks and Memphis appears to be ready to do something and that they are now just waiting on Walsh to finish what he started.

(With a Stephen A. Smith accent) However, Walsh has "cooled" on this idea so now who knows. Something happens to general managers when they are given paychecks by the Knicks.