NBA / Nov 24, 2008 / 10:00 pm
Carlos Boozer to the Knicks?
While the Knicks are doing a great job of clearing space to make a run at LeBron in 2010, they need to be careful that they don’t just have ‘Bron and no one else. That would look like Cleveland East.
So who can New York snag to potentially pair with LeBron? A ‘Bron/Carlos Boozer tandem would be problems in the East right? There’s been a ton of speculation that Booze might look to sign with the Heat after he becomes a free agent this summer (Carlos lives in A-Rod’s old house in Miami), but NYC might be a good look for him. The NY Post says the only way New York could have a shot at Boozer is if they find a taker for Eddy Curry this season.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
MoxWestCoastRep says:
didnt they already have a booz/bron combo in the east?
Of course that was the prince and not the full blown King. Booz never should have left for Utah. The cavs would be nasty w Booze.
But a roster w Lee, Nate, Chandler, Booze and The King would be dirty.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
go grizz says:
Yall forget about it beotches, bron’s gonna be in memphis doin his thang wit da real gasol…you heard it hear first boyyyyyyyy
grizz champs in ‘11
November 24th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
MBE18 says:
The Knicks should make sure LeBron prefers Boozer over Bosh. How they go about that, I don’t know. They gotta do whatever possible to get King James in NYC!!!
November 24th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Big Sia says:
Clevland is in the east………
November 24th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Gerard says:
They mean an eastern version of Cleveland geographically…
November 24th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
that's whats up says:
last thing new york needs is another boozer
November 24th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
that's whats up says:
last thing new york needs is another boozer
November 24th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
the rocket cat says:
I don’t think trying to get Boozer makes a lot of sense for anyone looking to build a contender in 2010. The way the salary cap rules are set up, the only way anyone is going to put together a killer team in 2010 is if they have some underpaid players with contracts until at least that summer.
For instance, Brandon Roy in Portland. In 2010, until Portland re-signs him, Roy will count for less than $12,000 against the salary cap. If he gets a max deal, he’ll probably get around $16,000. They can throw that $4,000 at other free agents (plus whatever other space they have under the cap), then sign Roy to a max contract, going over the cap by $4,000. It gives them a little more spending flexibility.
Even better for them is a player like Greg Oden (assuming he doesn’t get hurt again). He’s only set to make under $7,000 in 2010/2011. If he turns into the player everyone expected him to, he’ll sign a max deal in 2011, but that doesn’t matter for 2010, so they may have a marquee centre and still have tons of cap room.
Regrettably, Portland is a relatively small market that not many guys want to play in, so while I used Portland as an example of a team in a good position in terms of their roster, I don’t necessarily think they’ll clean up in 2010.
But if a team signs an established star like Boozer in 2009, all it does is take up some of the cap space that they hoped to use for someone else.
You need players who are at least temporarily underpaid. You can go over the cap to overpay them later using their bird rights, but if you’re signing stars as free agents, or if your stars are already highly paid, then you’re going to be really constrained financially.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Pioneer says:
Cleveland East? They have the best offense in the NBA because of more than just LeBron. I’m starting to think most people at Dime have basically just quit trying to be objective.
November 25th, 2008 at 8:50 am
TJ says:
Pioneer, you’re right, the Dime crew is outrageously NY biased.
Seriously, I’m getting kind of sick of reading the same shit over and over. “What if (random big name player) was in NY?” What big-time free agents have the Knicks signed? I can’t think of anyone good they signed except Allan Houston. Post number 2 is just as on point as these stupid posts. Why not speculate about All-Stars going to every random city based on no evidence whatsoever.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some of the article on Dime (why else would I come here). It’s getting harder and harder to sift through this garbage though…
November 25th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Ashlov says:
I’m not sure I get all of the Boozer-to-Miami talk, unless the Heat decide to play Beasley at the small forward. Considering that Beasley doesn’t have much power to his game at all, I don’t think it’s a bad idea, but I’m not sure he can keep up defensively.
Otherwise, I’d rather the Heat wait til 2010 and blow their wad on one of the bigger names, particularly Lebron or STAT.
November 25th, 2008 at 10:03 am
dapro says:
Not happening, Boozer basically said playing with LBJ was overrated
November 25th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Lady Luck says:
Things would be soooo different if Boozer had never left the Cavs. He and Bron made a nice combo. Real nice. We would have never had to live through the Drew Gooden years had Boozer never left.
@dapro…I never heard that.
Anyway, I think that Boozer in Miami with Beasley and Wade would be a nice tandem. By then they may have Marbury and Curry instead of Marion.
@Ashlov…I think the Heat really want to play Beasley at SF. I don’t think he’s big enough to play PF all the time.
November 25th, 2008 at 10:53 am
JCARR says:
Boozer is a 20-10 guy who needs the ball in order to be productive. If he were in a tandem with LBJ, James is going to hog it for the first year as he will see that NYC expects so much from him.
But why are talking about this its not even 2009.