Our Saturday started off as perfectly as possible with news greeting us as our alarm clocks rang that a tentative labor agreement had been reached, and that the lockout was finally, if unofficially, over. For now, we can’t completely invest ourselves in a new season – scheduled to be 66 games, starting on Christmas day – but pretty much everyone agrees on one thing: this deal will get approved and will get done. Book it. So who won and who lost? With the cancellation of games, everyone loses: the fans, the owners and the players. But as far as the approved deal, many of the leading names on both sides came out of this looking as good as they could’ve under the current circumstances. Read More »

Usually there is no “D” in D’Antoni, however a few minor moves seem to indicate that the Knicks are finally committed to stopping their opponent on the defensive side of the floor. Although the Knicks head coach has had plenty of both regular season and postseason success, his lack of an NBA Finals appearance has caused the public to dub him as too offensive-minded to ever win a championship. For all of those D’Antoni doubters, help is finally on the way. Read More »

Knicks fans have probably been wondering why the team has worked out so many second-round prospects. Now they have an answer. In a joint announcement, it was revealed today that the Knicks and the Erie BayHawks of the NBA D-League will band together in a single affiliation partnership starting next season. Fully controlling the BayHawks’ basketball operations, the Knicks become the sixth NBA team to add a one-to-one D-League affiliate. Read More »

It’s officially over. Shaq Diesel is done. For as long as he’s stayed in the spotlight and for all that he’s milked it for, O’Neal’s press conference speech was interestingly speedy. He must’ve had one sentence on each one of those index cards because he was flipping through them at will. He thanked everyone, from his family to his college coach to Phil Jackson to the media for the way they treated him over the years. And what would have been a Shaq press conference without a gimmick? Just as he sat down, he fielded a fake phone call from the Knicks asking him to come be their general manager … Read More »

Rudy Fernandez is an enigma. One minute he’s loving life in the NBA, the next he wants nothing to do with it. One minute the ladies are all over him, the next he’s getting dunked on by some dude named Jonas. So between all the ups and downs of Rudy, the fact is that he can play some ball. But unfortunately for those of you that wanted to see him come to New York, Knicks team president Donnie Walsh won’t pull the trigger. Read More »

You knew that hearts were going to be broken, but you just didn’t know where. After LeBron James chose to move to South Beach, read statements from all the teams that he snubbed. Of course they’re always looking on the bright side of things. Read More »

Winning just one championship in New York can transform an athlete into an instant icon. Take for example Earl Monroe. After leaving a small market team in the Baltimore Bullets, Monroe was expected to sign with several franchises, New York not being one of them. Yet he was wooed in a full-court press and defied the prognosticators by signing with the Knicks. Just a few years later, Monroe won a world championship and has been a New York icon ever since.

So with everyone wondering who New York is going to ink, I got up with Allan Houston, who in 1996, signed as a free agent with the Knicks. And just like LeBron James, nobody thought he would leave as well. Read More »

After two dreadful seasons and with $34 million reasons to come, it’s imperative the New York Knicks finish this summer with something. LeBron. DWade. Joe Johnson. Amar’e Stoudemire. Anyone will do, really. GM Donnie Walsh and head coach Mike D’Antoni have a lot of people.

But, Yahoo! Sports said New York could be in for a surprise:

“One prominent agent [said Sunday night]: ‘I think there’s a very good chance the Knicks will get shutout (in free agency)…Even likely…’”

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All 15 guys on an NBA roster want to play. That goes without saying. But now I can understand why Nate Robinson must have been so upset riding the pine in Boston at the end of the season: It cost him $1 million. During his time with the Celtics, Robinson didn’t see action in only five games. The first three were right after he got traded, and then there were two random ones in April – the 4th against Cleveland and the 7th against Toronto. While at the time no one thought much of it, Boston’s motives now appear clear: It saved them $2 million. Read More »

It’s seems like any player who can still breathe gets a look from the Knicks these days. That’s why it’s no surprise that New York is apparently debating whether or not they should sign Raja Bell, who’s still recovering from left wrist surgery. After being waived by the Warriors this weekend – in favor of keeping former D-Leaguer Reggie Williams for the rest of the season – Mike D’Antoni‘s former Sun could get a late-season tryout. But if I’m Raja, I’d stay the hell away. Read More »