Nets Sign Anthony Morrow to Offer Sheet

It’s confirmed that Golden State Warriors shooting guard Anthony Morrow has agreed to a three-year, $12 million offer sheet with the New Jersey Nets.
Seems like a good deal for one of the best pure jump shooters in the league, but remember, offer sheets are tricky: as a restricted free agent, the Warriors have the right to match anything Morrow agrees to. This is a good deal for the Nets, although it’s highly likely that Golden State matches and the Nets have to continue their search for passable roster options.

Donnie Walsh: Knicks "Disappointed"

He said he was watching a movie during LeBron James’ free agency announcement, but he found time to release this statement:

“We are disappointed that LeBron James did not pick the New York Knicks, but we respect his decision. Today, we signed five-time NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire, and we will continue to move forward, getting back on track to develop into a championship contending team.”

Prokhorov: 'We Have More Than One Plan'

New Jersey Nets’ owner Mikhail Prokhorov issed a brief statement Thursday night after officially learning his team would not be getting LeBron James.

“We have a vision of a championship team and need to invest wisely and for the long term. Fortunately, we have more than one plan to reach success, and, as I have found in all areas of my business, that is key to achieving it. To Nets fans past, present and future, the goal of making the playoffs this season remains intact and we reiterate our commitment to winning a championship within five years.”

Analysis: Knicks Win Despite Losing Lebron

ESPN New York’s Johnette Howard says the Knicks will profit from the LeBronathon even though they did not land the mega-star.

As alternately overdone, brilliant, irritating and completely understandable as James’ unprecedented approach to free agency was, James did the Knicks a huge favor by encouraging them to woo him, and then teasing them along to the bitter end before he revealed Thursday night he was joining Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Pat Riley in Miami.

The Knicks were a franchise going nowhere for nearly a decade before James decided to become a free agent this summer.

Without James out there as the carrot they were chasing, the Knicks would’ve never had the organizational courage necessary to do the gut-job on their roster that they undertook. Team president Donnie Walsh never would’ve come in from Indiana and changed the way the Knicks do business as drastically as he did — which means the Knicks may have never gotten out of the salary-cap hell they’d been paralyzed in forever. Which means they wouldn’t have even been in play for two max-contract superstars like James, Wade or forward Amare Stoudemire, the five-time All-Star the Knicks did sign and introduce at a noon news conference at the Garden on Thursday.

“Yes, it was worth it,” Walsh said.

Even if you hated all that flirting and dropping of hints James did along the way, at least his availability kept the Knicks committed to their plan too. Under Walsh, there’s been no more throwing huge money at quick fixes, bad contracts or washed-up big names just because Knicks owner James Dolan figures, hey, it’s only money.

Without James to chase, the Knicks would have never swallowed all the losing that had to be accepted to rebuild the franchise the right way, either.

Howard is probably right. The Knicks have money and flexibility now. The question is, what do they do with it?

Chad Ford: David Lee is a Warrior

Now that the LeBron James deal is done, Chad Ford reports that David Lee has agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors, meaning the Knicks will get something in return for the free agent power forward.

LeBron James Nixes Knicks, Nets

James will play with the Miami Heat next season.

The New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks will obviously have to move on. It appears the Knicks will likely look to move David Lee tonight to the Golden State Warriors.

Nets Sign Travis Outlaw

The news you’ve all been waiting for!

The New Jersey Nets have reached a five-year, $35-million agreement with former Portland Trailblazer small forward Travis Outlaw, a preps-to-pros guy known mainly for his athleticism and perimeter defense.

This is their way of saying “it appears we won’t be using these $7 million a year on multiple max contracts, so we probably should start actually building a decent team.” LeBron is still a vague possibility, and this won’t effect that, but… well, they need to start looking for other options.

LeBron James "Leaning" Towards Miami Heat

This is last night’s news, but it’s picked up steam through the morning: many sources appear to believe that LeBron James will join Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade with the Miami Heat.
I hate lending credence to this stuff, but there are very, very few writers trust more than Newsday’s Alan Hahn, so I’ll lend credence to this: at around 11 last night, Hahn tweeted that multiple sources had confirmed that “the new Big Three is here”.
Soon, he had an article up in Newsday. Again, Hahn has been ill at ease to report on various speculation, so I find his insistence on this to be genuine.
By now, Adrian Wojnaroski from Yahoo! Sports and ESPN’s Chris Broussard have espoused his theory, either way, it looks semi-certain that LeBron will join the Heat and not the New York Knicks or New Jersey Nets.
Then again, nothing in this free agency process has made sense, so don’t be surprised.

LeBron's ESPN Announcement Live From Greenwich Conn., And Other Random Free Agency Speculation

A little under 30 hours until the world finds out what’s in the head of one talented 25-year-old small forward, but for now, let’s speculate.

Item 1: Tuesday, we knew LeBron would make his announcement live on TV, but today, we found out that his ESPN show will be filmed in Greenwich, Conn. He’ll be right in the Tri-State Area, about 20 minutes from New York’s city limits, in the first town across the NY-Connecticut border.
Advantage: New York Knicks.

Item 2: New Jersey Nets owner, and, uh, rapper/LeBron friend Jay-Z owns a house in Greenwich.
Advantage: New Jersey Nets

Item 3: So does ex-Knick Allan Houston.
Advantage: New York Knicks, but a lot less.

Item 4: Those two things being said, he will make his announcement from a local Boys and Girls Club.
Advantage: The children of the world.

Item 5: Jared Dudley, the Phoenix Suns small forward who has no connection to LeBron James whatsoever and was kind of irrelevant in the NBA until this year when he randomly led the league in 3-point shooting for about half the season, tweeted that LeBron will join the Knicks.
Advantage: Nobody

Item 6: Eric Mansfield, a TV reporter from Cleveland, claims to have seen tax filings indicating that LeBron is moving from Cleveland to Chicago, indicating he would be playing not for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the Chicago Bulls.
Advantage: Chicago Bulls

Item 7: Mansfield then began tweeting about an item he deemed to be of equal importance, the fact that tall ships are arriving in Cleveland for a tall ship show. He took a photo of some of the boats, indicating nothing about James, but quite a bit about how important he deemed the entire “biggest news story in recent Cleveland sports history” thing.
Advantage: Local Cleveland viewers, and every team that is not the Chicago Bulls

Item 8: Sources indicated that LeBron is between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, and pretty much everybody who is anybody seems to think LeBron will be enticed by Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade to play in Miami.
Advantage: MIami Heat.

So there you have it. We’re a little bit over a day away, and we have reason to believe LeBron will be a Knick, Net, Bull, Cavalier, or… a Heat. And I guarantee whoever is right – and somebody will be – will claim they had called it all along and cite themselves as journalistic gods.
One more day of this.

Nets Miss Out On Carlos Boozer

Carlos Boozer had popped up on the New Jersey Nets’ radar screen after LeBron James’ interest had appeared to start waning, but that ship has now sailed, as sources indicate Boozer will sign with the Chicago Bulls.

Nets' Interest In Boozer Is Really All About LeBron

The New Jersey Nets are reportedly showing interest in free-agent forward Carlos Boozer.

The veteran forward is a nice player, but even he has to understand that this is not about him. He is really the last top-tier free agent on the board the Nets could pursue in their effort to convince LeBron James to play in New Jersey.

Yahoo! LeBronathon Down To Cleveland, Miami

This would not be good news for the New York Knicks or New Jersey Nets, but Yahoo! Sports is reporting that LeBron James has narrowed the field to two teams.

Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have decided to sign with the Miami Heat while continuing to recruit LeBron James to help them form an All-Star triumvirate that threatens to shift the NBA’s balance of power, two sources with knowledge of the plans told Yahoo! Sports.

“They think they’ve got a real chance to pull this off with LeBron,” a league source said.

Said an official with one team that made a formal presentation to James: “It’s down to Cleveland or Miami for him.”

A James-Wade-Bosh triumvirate is a scary thought. How many more fingers does Pat Riley have for rings?

Carmelo Anthony Pushing LeBron Toward Knicks?

That is what Ian O’Connor tweeted a little while ago.

That is interesting, considering that Anthony has a decision to make after this season and it is possible Carmelo is eyeing New York himself.

Maybe, just maybe, the Knicks are still in the LeBronathon.

ESPN: Free-Agent Forward Heading To Heat

Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh are headed to Miami. Now, will LeBron James join them?

Either way, the move turns the Heat into an Eastern Conference power.

The pair of free agents plan on announcing their decision today, meaning that the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets have apparently missed out on two of the three biggest names this summer. Where the third - LeBron James - goes, just got a little bit more interesting.

Tuesday, the reports from ESPN's Chris Broussard were that LeBron was trying to woo Bosh to play in Cleveland. Although Bosh made it known that he wanted to play with LeBron, he seemed to have his heart set on not playing in Cleveland, and today, it seems he's headed to join Wade in Miami.

If the contracts are right, the Heat will have enough money to sign James as well, but this certainly narrows down his options. He won't be able to get any major free agent names to join him in Cleveland, and the plan of having a duo or trio in Chicago appears to have fallen through as well. He still might opt to play with one of those teams - Derrick Rose isn't half bad - but the Knicks with new signee Amare Stoudemire certainly got a lot more interesting, although Miami certainly seems to be the most enticing option.

-- SB Nation New York's Rodger Sherman contributed to this report.

NBA Free Agency: LeBron James To Announce Decision Thursday On ESPN

ESPN is reporting on twitter that Cleveland Cavaliers free agent forward LeBron James will make his announcement on the sports network at 9  p.m. this Thursday.

The network doesn't offer any details as to which teamJames is leaning towards.

Nets' Owner Opines On LeBron James' Options

All anyone can do while we wait for LeBron James’ basketball camp to end so that he can get around to making the most important decision in the history of the universe — where he will play basketball from now on — is offer opinions.

Good old ESPN has obtained some inside info on New Jersey Nets’ onwer Mikhail Prokhorov doing just that recently.

ESPN.com has obtained notes from the meeting from a league source, and they provide interesting insight into the perceptions of the NBA’s newest, most fascinating owner — who, above all, left his first foray into NBA free agency optimistic his Nets soon would be the home of James.

The Nets were the first of six teams to meet with James last week, and after what was, by most accounts, an impressive presentation, Prokhorov made these observations about James’ decision-making process:

On the conference call, he categorized the options he believes James has before him:

• The “hometown angle” of remaining with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

• The choice to play with Wade and Bosh in Miami, where James would have a “very high chance to win two or three titles” but where he could also “diminish the LeBron brand.”

• Joining the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers or New York Knicks. These teams, according to Prokhorov, are similar from a basketball standpoint and he believes none of the three clubs has a clear-cut strategy for winning championships.

• Becoming a member of the Nets, who would give James the best opportunity to build a dynasty, become a champion and emerge as a global icon.

Brian Windhorst: LeBron James "Undecided"

Ohhhhhhhhhhh boy.
After two years of speculation, a week of meetings, two with the New York Knicks, one with the New Jersey Nets, proclamations by media members that LeBron James would go to the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, or stay in Cleveland, other proclamations that he’d rule out the Knicks… we might be back at square one.

Based on several people who have talked to LeBron in last 72 hours, he is giving impression he’s undecided after last week’s meetings.

I don’t trust most media reports after all the violently inaccurate ones we’ve heard, but Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Post-Dispatch has been more accurate and less willing to report on speculation than pretty much anybody in the biz. So this – along with LeBron’s second meeting with the Knicks on Saturday – leads me to believe any team might truly have a shot.
We could be in for the long haul, here, folks.

LeBron James Won't Announce Decision Until Later This Week

The Bergen Record is reporting that the New Jersey Nets are in, but the New York Knicks are out of the final three teams in the hunt for superstar free agent LeBron James.

James won’t make his decision today as originally thought. His decision likely will come later this week, perhaps Wednesday night or Thursday. That’s the first day teams are permitted to sign free agents.

Although many Nets’ fans — and those whose teams are in the race — have been pulling out their hair waiting for James’ decision, the longer it goes could mean he’s leaning toward changing teams.

League sources said he’s deciding from among the Cavaliers, Bulls and Nets.

James will host his three-day Nike Skills Academy for the top high school players in his hometown of Akron beginning today. If he is leaving Cleveland and it became public, the camp would be ruined.

“If he was staying in Cleveland wouldn’t he do it now?” said an NBA source, confirming Wednesday might be the earliest the James’ decision is known.

Monta Ellis for David Lee?

With Amare Stoudemire committing to orange and blue, the New York Knicks need to look for a second player.

They appear ready to let David Lee go, but don’t seem completely content to let him go for nothing.

The biggest rumor floated involves Lee being signed and traded for Golden State’s Monta Ellis. Another three-team variant sees Lee going to Minnesota, Minnesota’s Al Jefferson going to Golden State, and Ellis coming to New York.

Ken Berger of CBS Sports reports that the Knicks sign-and-trade target won’t be Ellis, but perhaps Charlotte point guard Raymond Felton.

Either way, the Knicks certainly aren’t done yet.

Heat's Riley Flashes Rings, Hopes LeBron James Is Captivated

Miami Heat President Pat Riley flashed his championship pedigree at LeBron James during a Friday meeting.

Riley described the meeting as ``very relaxed’’ and said James was receptive to the Heat’s plans.

``It was very relaxed — we all know him,‘’ Riley said of James. ``I think there was a genuine respect. We have so much respect for him and the other top-tier free agents. These people need to see who we are. They need to see me and Andy. They need to see Zo, Spo, Micky and Nick. And, yes, they need to see the rings.’’

By mentioning rings, Riley was clearing referring to the five NBA titles he won as a coach, including the Heat’s championship run led by guard Dwyane Wade in 2006.

Stoudemire Would Be First Big Free Agent To Change Teams

With the NBA free agency chaos now in full swing, the New York Knicks are reportedly on the verge of making a big splash. But it isn’t the Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, or Chris Bosh signing that most New York fans are still hoping for. Instead, it appears that free agent forward Amare Stoudemire is nearing an agreement on a 5-year, $100-million max contract with the Knicks. The deal, if completed, would coincide with the Phoenix Suns’ recent 4-year deal with Hakim Warrick, an indication that they had moved on from attempting to re-sign Stoudemire.

From Yahoo! Sports:

The framework of the deal, which would give Stoudemire a $17.2 million starting salary next season, is in place and the two sides are expected to talk again soon, sources said. Stoudemire is expected to travel to New York on Saturday.

The Suns made a last-ditch proposal to Stoudemire, offering him a five-year contract that guaranteed him $71 million, sources said. The first three seasons were fully guaranteed. The fourth season contained a 50 percent guarantee that could become fully guaranteed based on the number of minutes Stoudemire played in the first three seasons. The fifth season of the contract also could become guaranteed based on a minutes incentive.

Stoudemire would reunite with former coach Mike D’Antoni and his up-tempo style offense that he perfected during his time in Phoenix. While James, Wade, and Bosh are expected to patiently sort through their numerous options this offseason, Stoudemire evidently will sign early and help set the market by jumping on board with the Knicks.

Knicks’ president Donnie Walsh is wasting no time on his next targets, though. In Chicago, where a free-agent extravaganza of meetings is currently taking place, Dwyane Wade met with the Knicks earlier today and came away “intrigued”. If Stoudemire and Wade both end up playing in Madison Square Garden next season, the Knicks will undoubtedly be one of the offseason’s biggest winners.

Knicks Make Offer To Amare Stoudemire

According to Howard Beck at the New York Times, it’s official.

The New York Knicks have offered Amare Stoudemire a five-year, $100 million contract, and could potentially move up their meeting with Bosh from Monday to an earlier date.

The Knicks are apparently the front-runner for Stoudemire, and if he signs with New York, it could go a long way towards landing other agents knowing they’ll have a running mate.

Via Twitter, Beck points out that it's far from a done deal, but he points out the Knicks appear to be the team willing to offer the most money to Stoudemire. 

NY Teams Hit Up Second City

Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh decided to make Chicago their base for making free agency decisions, Wade because he's a hometown Chicago boy, and Bosh because... he's a copycat? Anyway, this obviously meant both the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets had to man up and visit Chi-town.

Last night, Wade met with the Nets for about two hours, coming away “impressed”, to be as non-committal as possible. Afterwards, he met Chris Bosh for dinner. They took a photo!

Today, it was New York’s turn, as Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni continued their Midwestern tour, meeting Wade in a Chicago hotel.

Wade got out of a black Suburban and told reporters he was is “in a New York state of mind right now, so we’ll see” how it goes. Earlier, he tweeted that he got up early for “Another day of pondering my future. … Things are interesting to say the least.”

Intriguingly, I also hate Dwyane Wade for actually saying he was in a New York state of mind. This whole process is wrecking my brain.

How's that David Lee Fella Doin'?

David Lee, New York’s first All-Star since Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell, is one of the most sought-after free agents on the market. The New York Knicks have Bird Rights on him, meaning they can offer more than any other team can in free agency, but they’re out pursuing other options, with Lee a potential fallback.

So what’s Lee up to? Well, he’s out getting his.

Pretty much as soon as possible, Lee had set up meetings with the Minnesota Timberwolves, visiting them in Minneapolis, the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, and Brooklyn’s soon-to-be-own New Jersey Nets.

However, the first team to actually offer Lee anything is purportedly the Boston Celtics, via Jeff Goodman of weei.com.
Whether he signs

Amare Stoudemire turns down Phoenix

The Phoenix Suns tried to keep their lifer power forward on the cheap. But according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, Amare Stoudmire turned down their five-year, $96 million dollar offer, which was only fully guaranteed for three years. They had the option to offer Stoudemire the full max, but opted not to. Their signing of Hakim Warrick today – while not an attempt to replace Stoudemire by any means – shows the team has other plans for its power forward slot.
This has huge implications, of course, for the New York Knicks, who have been targeting Stoudemire since he officially opted out of his contract earlier this week. They spoke with the free agent via phone shortly after midnight on July 1st, and have a meeting planned with him in New York for Monday.

Posnanski: Being Recruited Not As Much Fun As It Sounds

The great Joe Posnanski, maybe the best sportswriter on the planet at the present time, has weighed in on the recruitment of LeBron James. He says LeBron will soon realize that being the object of everyone’s desire is not as cool as he thought it would be.

You know what’s infinitely less fun than it sounds? Being recruited. Most people say so. I cannot tell you how many people I have talked to who were heavily recruited to play college sports… and who said it turned out to be just a miserable experience. They weren’t expecting that. After all, as the philosophers of Cheap Trick so eloquently put it: We want to be wanted, need to be needed, love to be loved, and finally, who isn’t begging to be begged?

Yes, it sounds like it should be the greatest thing — being recruited. They’re showing you around, telling you how great you are, taking you to fancy restaurants, getting you front-row tickets, surrounding you with beautiful people and all that. And it’s all free!

Only here’s the thing: None of it is free. They’re not recruiting you because they love you. They’re recruiting you so you will go play for them, work for them, move your business there, move into the neighborhood, buy into their time share, invest in their product. It seems so obvious, but I don’t think it is obvious inside that recruiting bubble. In there, it can feel so real. And it isn’t. The harder they recruit you, the more they invest in you, the more they expect you to choose them. And if you spurn them, they probably will take it very personally. They probably will have a whole lot of bitterness. And bitter people don’t take things well. And at that point, it might not seem like so much fun.

Avery Johnson And Rod Thorn Discuss LeBron James Recruitment

Dave D’Alessandro of the Newark Star-Ledger writes that both the head coach and the general manager of the New Jersey Nets have commented on the team’s LeBron James recruitment trip to Ohio today.

At the scene outside the IMG building on East 9th and St. Clair, where dozens of reporters had gathered, the Nets’ recruiters assessed the meeting on the run. As he made his exit, Johnson exulted, “The meeting went very well,” while showing off a folder that included James’ face embossed over the Nets’ logo. Prokhorov merely said he agreed with his coach.

Hours later, team president Thorn texted a simple response to an interview request on his way to Chicago to meet with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh: “We told our story,” Thorn said. “Now we’ll see what happens.”

Nowitzki In New York, But Not For Knicks Or Nets

Free-agent forward Dirk Nowitzki was in New York Thursday, but not to visit with the Knicks or Nets.

Apparently, Dirk was just spending the day with Dallas point guard Jason Kidd.

“I wouldn’t read anything into this other than Dirk trying to avoid a big scene here,” Dallas president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said Thursday. “I know that there is no ulterior motive.”

Report: Knicks And Nets Earn Kudos From LeBron James's Agent

Leon Rose, the agent for LeBron James, tells Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports that both the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets made solid pitches to the free agent today.

For more on the Knicks, head over to SB Nation's Posting And Toasting.  For more on the Nets, check out SB Nation's Nets Daily.

James Gets Free-Agent Pitch ... From A Baseball Team

If Michael Jordan could do it, why can’t LeBron James play minor-league baseball? That seems to be what the Class AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks are thinking.

Gotta give the RedHawks credit for trying.

NBA Free Agency About More Than LeBron

Here is a wrapup of Day 1 of NBA free agency 2010.

The Nets And The Knicks Have Met With LeBron

Let’s see how each team feels.

The New Jersey Nets were first, sending in Mikhail Prokhorov and LeBron James. New Jersey, for one, feels confident. Really, really, really, really confident.

A source close to the Nets said their meeting with LeBron was “tremendous”. How tremendous? “Front runner tremendous.”

As Jadakiss said in the song “New York”, “I’m not cocky, I’m confident.” I’m not sure why I just quoted that, especially considering we’re talking about the team from New Jersey.

As for the team from New York, the Knicks met with James right afterwards. Their pitch might have taken a beating with the purported signing of Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks, but they still feel… well, less confident, via the Daily News.

Former Knick Allan Houston, who was also part of the meeting, said: “(LeBron) didn’t give us much feedback.”

Mike D’Antoni said he tried to put James “in a New York State of Mind”. Original. Purportedly, the focus of the two-hour meeting was LeBron’s ability to build a dynasty in New York.

Anyway, we’ll find out what James is thinking by Monday, according to John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Knicks Targets Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay Off Table

According to reports, it appears both swingmen agreed to deals with their current teams.

It was already well known as of yesterday the Hawks were offering Joe Johnson a maximum contract worth $119 million over six years. The Knicks were going to offer him around $80 million over the same time period, and apparently, Johnson has decided it's worth the exorbitant difference in contracts to stay in Atlanta, reportedly agreeing to the contract today. 

All in all, this is probably a good move for New York - although the Knicks were heavily targeting Johnson, they'll probably be glad not to be paying him $16 million dollars at age 34. Either way, Johnson was never going to be the Knicks No. 1 option - they wanted to bring him in alongside an Amare Stoudemire or Chris Bosh. Whether this hurts their ability to get those guys, we'll find out.

Gay, a member of the 2006 draft class, wasn't necessarily expected to earn max money in his first free agent period, but the Grizzlies went there according to early reports, offering Gay the maximum of $81 million over five years, which he is believed to have accepted. New York was also targeting Gay as a second fiddle, and although he's a young player with serious scoring talent, the Knicks are probably surprised, but not disappointed that the Grizzlies outbid them on this one.

Can The Knicks Still Sign Joe Johnson?

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News says the Knicks can’t be counted out of the hunt for Joe Johnson just yet, despite the fact that his current team, the Hawks, will soon offer him a maximum contract. Why? Isola explains:

The Knicks, however, have a strong advocate in Arn Tellem, Johnson’s agent, who is also best friends with Donnie Walsh. Tellem got Danilo Gallinari drafted by the Knicks and Tracy McGrady traded their last February. Maybe he can deliver Johnson as well.

It’s hard to imagine Johnson turning down the Hawks, as a maximum deal with them would be worth “$30 million more over the lifetime of his deal,” says Isola. But New York is still in play.

Knicks To Meet Amare Stoudemire

Amare Stoudemire is no longer a Phoenix Sun. The big man has opted out of the final year of his contract, which would’ve been worth around $17.7 million.

First, he met with the Heat in the wee hours of the morning last night in Miami. But soon after, he was on the phone with MIke D’Antoni. Stoudemire will meet face-to-face with the Knicks on Monday in New York. (Monday? Wait, I thought all the free agents were supposed to sign today?) Things are happening.

Nets First to Talk to LeBron

In the grand scheme of things, the order in which teams are allowed to talk to his highness LeBron James won’t be a major issue. But if it is, well, the Nets have a leg up on everybody else – they’re the first team LeBron will meet with today.
Mikhail Prokhorov, Jay-Z, Rod Thorn, and Avery Johnson, four people who I never ever ever ever ever thought would ever be in the same sentence, will make the trek out to Ohio to talk with James. Later in the day, a Knicks crew containing Mike D’Antoni, James Dolan and Donnie Walsh will show up, but that sounds less cool.

First In Line For Knicks: Mike Miller?

According to Newsday, yes.

At 12:01 tonight, Mike D’Antoni et al will talk to Miller, the on-again off-again three-point specialist from the Washington Wizards, before any other free agent. He made nearly $10 million last year, but obviously the Knicks will expect him to take a salary small enough that they can still sign two max contract free agents.

It should be noted that Miller is absurdly close friends with LeBron - he notoriously wore James' Zoom Soldier LeBron shoes, despite playing for the Wizards, and named his child "Maverick" after James friend/agent Maverick Carter. So there's that.

The meeting will take place in Los Angeles, and afterwards, the Knicks will reportedly meet with Atlanta’s Joe Johnson, who, like Miller, is a contract of agent Arn Tellem. Johnson is reportedly someone the Knicks are willing to offer a max contract to, but has also apparently already received a max contract offer from the Hawks, who, thanks to the Bird Rights clause in the CBA, can offer much more than the Knicks can financially.

Lebronathon is Here

In a few hours, when the clock strikes midnight, it will be July 1, 2010. 

NBA players whose contracts expired in the 2009-10 season will be available for other teams to negotiate with, which is exactly what the Knicks and Nets have been waiting for since the Jason Kidd and... uh... Isiah Thomas eras of those two franchises. 

Seth at Posting and Toasting urges us to remain zen about the entire experience, and we agree. But whatever happens, happens, and when it happens, we at SB Nation New York will be here to tell you as soon as it goes down.

As of now, it looks unlikely that the Knicks will land any major free agents -- even Joe Johnson appears to be favoring the Hawks, who have offered him a max contract worth a grand total of $27 million more than anything the Knicks can match. The Nets appear to have been slightly more successful with wooing LeBron and others, but, all this is merely conjecture. Even as the day of reckoning arrives... we'll have to wait and see.