It has been a busy time since July 1 in the NBA, though for fans pining for LeBron James, it seems as if the NBA world is standing still. Look closely, and you'll see five things that didn't happen to the Knicks this weekend that bode extremely well for them moving forward.
1. The Knicks didn't sign Joe Johnson. This is key- Johnson looks to be headed back to Atlanta on a max deal, while the Hawks are clearly not getting a max player. Whether New York ends up with LeBron or not, putting the pieces around him/in lieu of him to challenge for a championship is always harder when paying max money for less-than-max talent. And with the new collective bargaining agreement likely to be even stricter, this will only become more true.
2. The Knicks didn't sign Rudy Gay. See the above reasons, though in addition, the fact is that Gay has never played as consistently well as Johnson in his career, despite having greater physical gifts. Pretty sure Jim Calhoun is STILL waiting for him to blossom at Connecticut.
3. The Knicks didn't sign Darko Milicic. The Minnesota Timberwolves signed Milicic to a four-year, $20 million. That is not a misprint. One can only assume the Timberwolves heard "former second overall pick" and immediately put forward a bid, thinking they were getting Kevin Durant.
4. David Lee hasn't signed anywhere else yet. Lee might be the best value in this free agent class, and as long as he hasn't signed elsewhere, there is hope he will return to MSG, where he is beloved, and for good reason.
5. The Knicks didn't stop Amar'e Stoudemire from talking. I don't know about you, but getting to spend July 4 thinking about a team with Amar'e, LeBron, Carmelo and Tony Parker made my holiday a whole lot brighter. So thanks to Amar'e for talking!