2009 Free Agency = Possible Paycuts

(Will Bibby need a bailout in 2009-10?)


In 2010, one of the biggest NBA Free agent situations in some time, if not ever, will be the talk of the league. Eligible players like Lebron, Wade, Chris Bosh and many others will be highly sought after. The New York Knicks are amongst one of several teams interested in a franchise player as they dealt many stars away this past season to clear cap room. But prior to 2010, there's still 2009 and free agents. The NY Daily News takes a look at the 2009 Free agent class and how they may come up empty when it comes to a big payout from some team. The author reminds everyone about the tanking economy and how many NBA teams will be looking to shed salaries rather than add new pricey contracts.

"Teams are going to be looking to shed salaries, not take on contracts," said one Eastern Conference executive. "There's already a huge concern about next season in terms of ticket sales, suite sales and corporate sponsorships. Those are the three areas, primarily. With the way the economy is going, pro basketball will be no different than the rest of the business world. Teams' salary budgets and coaching budgets are going to drop. So this is not a very good summer to be a free agent."

The article mentions Mike Bibby, guard from the Atlanta Hawks, and says that his $15 million deal with the team runs out this season. Bibby's 31 and while Detroit, Oklahoma City and Memphis will all have cap room, none of them really need a point guard. That's not to say a playoff contender team won't make a move towards a player of his caliber. Still, Bibby may be forced to take a drastic paycut and stay with the Hawks, or consider the popular option players have started taking recently: bring their skills overseas to make more money- foreign money that is.

Read full article: Hard Times! With economy tanking, 2009 NBA Agents may come up empty at NY Daily News

Twitter Brings Fans to Real Shaq

The social media tool known as Twitter recently helped two starstruck fans meet up with NBA legend, the big Aristotle, Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq uses the Twitter site under the name "The_Real_Shaq" and while many may have questioned if it was the real deal, it's now come to the attention of the masses that it is in fact the superstar center. He's tweeted such thing as "Kobe is the best, he told me to take the trophy hm for my sons, class act, thanks bro" and "Im wit steve nash, hes the best, a hip hop scott skiles". Right now, Shaq has over 137,000 followers on his Twitter account, and two of them decided to track his Tweets, eventually leading them precisely to Shaq's whereabouts in Phoenix, Arizona.

The scene was the "5 & Diner" in Phoenix which is where Shaq "tweeted" on Twitter that he'd be heading to for a bite to eat. The two fans, Jesse Bearden and pal Sean headed to the spot, saw Shaq's big black SUV with Superman logo parked outside, then surprisingly noticed the big fella was actually seated inside the diner by himself. The two took a seat and ordered, while nervously deciding whether to approach Shaq or not. Finally one of the guys' got the following "tweet" from Shaq on their iPhone:

I feel twitterers around me, r there any twitterers in 5 n diner wit me, say somethin

The duo continued to whisper about whether they should go talk to Shaq, and finally a voice boomed in "Yes you should." The rest is classic NBA fan history as the two were able to take pics with the superstar, who according to reports tipped $200 for his $20 meal with Sprite. They recounted the story on their blog which right about now is becoming about as big as the Real Shaq...

To top it all off, Shaq tweeted the following after the meeting:

To all twitterers , if u c me n public come say hi, we r not the same we r from twitteronia, we connect

Here's the full amazing story of how Twitter united two fans with Shaq.

And here's at least 3 confirmed real NBA stars on Twitter:

@ChrisBosh
@The_Real_Shaq
@The_Real_Nash

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Knicks Clean House for James?

st days ago, the NY Times discussed the courting of Lebron James as he made his stops to play against the Nets and Knicks. It was discussed that even though Lebron is friends with Jay-Z, part owner of the Nets, that their move to Brooklyn was delayed, which would be a deal-buster. Today the Knicks did some serious house-cleaning which analysts believe could be the start of bringing a star like Lebron James to Madison Square Garden.

In today's moves, the Knicks offloaded star players Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford. Power forward Randolph, along with guard Mardy Collins, was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas while guard Crawford was exchanged for Golden State Warriors forward Al Harrington. Crawford and Randolph were the Knicks two top scorers. That leaves Marbury, who hasn't played all season. He was cleared to play, but declined to. In an interview later, coach Mike D'Antoni told the media that he sat with Marbury and told him with Crawford gone he had 30-35 minutes if he wanted them. Marbury said he was told the team was going in a different direction without him, and that's it. The moves today are in anticipation of the hot free agent market in 2010, so NY may have to wait even more.

So does this spell LEBRON for NYC? If not James, there's also the possibilities of a Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudamire, or Chris Bosh being available to the team that needs to really appease its fans right now. Stephen A. Smith of ESPN believes that Knicks fans will receive two of the aforementioned talents, with Jalen Rose speculating it will be the Lebron-Bosh show in NYC>

Read more about the Knicks trades here.

Act Now: Vote Bosh 2008!

Chris Bosh wants your All-Star vote. So much so that the Toronto Raptors forward has resorted to a creative marketing strategy. On his website, Chris-Bosh.com, the superstar has a video of himself mocking those local car salesmen you see. In the ad Chris asks for your vote and says you don't even have to spend $20 to vote. It's a definite first in the history of All-star votes and NBA stars campaigning for votes. Chris is currently third in votes amongst East forwards (behind KG & Lebron). Act now if you want to see Bosh starting in the East!

Bosh also has an interesting blog going on his site. In a December 14th entry, he discusses the guys he watched while "growing up":

"I think about all of these players in the league that I watched while I was growing up. Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Jermaine O'neal, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter and many more were all drafted when I was in Middle School, some a little before that. Shaq was an All-Star when I was in the 2nd Grade! Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to make anyone feel old, but like I said before, It just blows my mind that I compete against these guys everyday."

Read more of the Chris Bosh blog here. And remember the "Vote for Bosh" deal is a limited time offer.

TJ Ford Hits Court Hard

You may or may not have seen the unfortunate injury of TJ Ford as highlights were shown to open ESPN Sportscenter. In the Hawks vs. Raptors game Tuesday night, TJ Ford was on a fast break with Hawks rookie Al Horford trailing. Ford went for the layup and Horford went for the block. Unfortunately Horford's hand caught Ford ackwardly and Ford came down onto the court in what looked like bad whiplash. Ford's neck/head snapped back against the court, and Ford was taken out from the game on a stretcher in a neck brace. Chris Bosh indicated later it was a relief to see that TJ was moving after the fall.

Horford insisted the play wasn't dirty, but Horford was ejected from the game with a flagrant foul for this. He stated he was fooled by Ford's layup move and when he went to block the ball he caught Ford's head. He later said he's not a dirty type of player and hopes Ford is ok. It's unfortunate for TJ, because he had a previous spinal injury which he was able to recover from. That injury caused him to miss the entire 2004-05 season with neck surgery and recovery. Let's hope this isn't as serious and that TJ is back sooner rather than later.

Read Raptors' Ford takes a hard fall.