A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Knicks faced the Suns on December 15th.
There was a piece on TrueHoop yesterday that took a look at each of the final games that led to the firings of six NBA head coaches this season. The New York Knicks ended up killing a coach in two of the six "sendoff games," which is something that Mike D'Antoni found to be a bit insulting.
When asked about the slew of early-season firings (and the one that involved Reggie Theus most recently), D'Antoni pretended to be insulted that coaches were losing their jobs after losing to his Knicks.
"I want to say something, and I hate that for Reggie, there's no doubt about it," D'Antoni said. "But just because the Knicks beat somebody they have to fire the coach the next day? That's the second one! I mean, come on! We're not that bad. You guys are spreading some rumors, 'well if the Knicks beat 'em, then we gotta do something.' "
Obviously D'Antoni was joking around here, but there's at least a little something to it. Even though he and his current roster of players may be giving it all they've got, the fact is that the team traded their best players away for an empty roster spot in the form of Cuttino Mobley, along with some lesser talent. It's perceived by many around the league that the Knicks are mailing it in until 2010, and perception is reality -- especially when we're talking about head coaching jobs in the NBA.
Despite their recent struggles to win convincingly against teams with losing records, the fact remains that the Lakers are the best team in the West, and stand atop the conference's standings with a record of 20-3. So when a report surfaces that one of their players may be available, well, let's just say it's worth mentioning.
In a discussion about how the Knicks might go about filling the roster spot that opened up when Cuttino Mobley decided to retire, Alan Hahn of Newsday briefly mentioned that the Lakers' Sasha Vujacic (Machine!) may be "available."
With Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza both healthy and taking up a lot of minutes, there doesn't seem to be as big of a need for Sasha's services this year. His minutes are only slightly down from a season ago, but the ones he is playing aren't the ones in crunch time that he saw during last year's run to the Finals.
Cuttino Mobley officially announced his retirement at a press conference today due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a medical condition that results in an enlarged heart. He's known about the condition for a while (he signed a waiver releasing the Clippers of liability earlier this season) but it's become more and more serious and the Knicks were unable to find a specialist willing to clear him for action.
In hindsight, the trade is bittersweet. Not only was he playing for the Clippers before the trade, he was playing well, and he was likely in line to start for the Knicks. But as Newsday's Alan Hahn points out, had Mobley not been traded, he might not have realized just how far his condition had progressed until too late.
Conceivably, the trade could have saved him.
"I hope it did," team president Donnie Walsh said. "I really do. None of this is as important as somebody's life. None of it. Period. So I'm glad that we had a doctor that put him through tests to show that the risk is there."
How does Mobley's retirement affect the Knicks' bottomline? Because he's retiring for medical reasons, Mobley will get all of guaranteed money -- he's making $9.1 million this year and $9.8 million next.
In theory the Knicks could be granted a medical exception worth 50% of Mobley's salary to sign a replacement this year, and they might be eligible to remove Mobley's salary from the salary cap once he's sidelined for 12 months. Whether that actually happens, though, remains to be seen -- because they completed the trade after they learned he might not be able to play, it's up for debate whether the Knicks are even eligible for such relief.
Cuttino Mobley may be forced to retire before playing a single minute with the Knicks. According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Mobley could announce the decision as soon as tomorrow. He's been playing with an enlarged heart, and even though he knew about the condition before (he signed a waiver releasing the Clippers of liability before the season) apparently all of his meetings with specialists since the trade prompted him to re-consider the risk.
Because he's retiring for medical reasons, he'll still be able to collect his entire salary, although fortunately for the Knicks, an insurance company will be on the hook for roughly 75% of the balance. Considering Mobley is making $9.1 million this year and $9.8 million next, that's no small chunk of change.
Since the team is going to be saving so much money, it makes you wonder if they'll quit taking such a hardline in Stephon Marbury's buyout negotiations -- quibbling over two million seems silly when you just stumbled into an extra $14 million.
Plus, there's a good chance his retirement will have salary cap implications, as well. If the NBA agrees with the medical assesement, they could wipe Mobley's contract off the salary cap next season, or at least the prorated amount he's owed starting from a year after his last game, which was Nov. 19, 2008. The Knicks will likely still be so far over the cap it won't help them recruit any free agents, but still, every little bit helps them get closer to avoiding the luxury tax.
The Knicks ultimately decided Cuttino Mobley's heart condition wasn't worth holding up their salary dumptrade with the Clippers, but it doesn't mean that they're comfortable allowing Mobley on the court.
Since being acquired by the Knicks, Mobley has failed at least two heart tests, and he's set to undergo more tests over the next few days. Donnie Walsh confirmed that Mobley won't play the rest of the week. When asked if Mobley will play again this season, Walsh said, "I don't know that. We're taking the right precautions."
It must be odd for Clippers fans to hear Walsh speak in such ominous tones -- not only was Mobley playing before the trade, he was playing well. He last suited up a week ago today, tallying a season-high 23 points with seven steals in a win over the Thunder, and in 11 games this year he's averaged 14 points in 33 minutes.
That said, heart conditions can be tricky and don't always show themselves until too late, so if the Knicks think they found something, it's better to be safe than sorry. The downside, though, is that the Knicks will be terribly short-handed in the meantime, especially after Nate Robinsonstrained his groin last night. He's expected to miss a week, which means the Knicks will be down to just two healthy guards (ahem, not named Stephon Marbury) available tonight against the Pistons -- here's to hoping Chris Duhon and Anthony Roberson feel like playing 48.
It's pretty easy to feel bad for the city of Cleveland. None of their sports teams can manage to win anything, and everyone seems to believe that LeBron James is headed to New York in 2010. So that's why, when he debuts a new line of Nike shoes called the "LeBron VI Big Apple" on the night the Cavs play the Knicks, you kind of have to chuckle at the general paranoid aura floating out of the city that rocks! (Via Nike Press Release)
The Zoom LeBron VI performance basketball shoe represents the essence of LeBron James: team, toughness, passion and vision. James worked with Nike designer Ken Link to create a shoe that meets his performance needs and the needs of players with a powerful, dynamic style of play.
[...]The shoe's collar has been engineered with a wider opening so it's easier to slip on and wear while maintaining a full-length fit feel. On the collar, graffiti art highlights LeBron's mantras-passion, family, winning, fearless and vision.
Zach Randolph was supposed to finally take the floor for the Clippers Monday night, after the team attempted to make a deal with the Knicks three days earlier. But the deal has yet to be completed, and David Aldridge is now reporting that it's "in limbo because of a physical concern raised by the Knicks about [Cuttino] Mobley."
This concern about Mobley has caused the Knicks to hold off on signing the deal, and at this point it's unknown if they'll do so before the deadline, which is this afternoon. Players have 72 hours to complete a physical after a trade, and it's usually just a formality. In fact, teams involved in deals can actually waive the physicals altogether to have players available to suit up for their new teams more quickly, but in this case, the Knicks are taking the full amount of time to get an extra long look at Mobley.
It's unknown if Mobley has taken a physical yet; Mike Dunleavy said in a pregame interview that the Knicks "had something not come back for them" and couldn't sign off on the trade until it does. Dunleavy went on to speculate that the Knicks might be awaiting paperwork or results from some blood tests, but he expects things to be completed by the deadline. If you believe Aldridge's report though, it sounds like it's a much more serious issue, and one that might possibly keep the deal from being completed after all.
UPDATE: ESPN's J.A. Adande is reporting that it's a heart issue, and that Mobley will be examined by a specialist later today. The deadline for the teams to complete the deal is 6:30PM EST.
A season ago, the Pacific Division was able to send just two of its teams to the playoffs, but one of them went all the way to the Finals. And while that's not likely to change this season -- at least the part about the two playoff teams -- each club definitely has its share of intriguing story lines.
Let's start off in Los Angeles, where the Lakers' playoff run last season took place with one of the team's key components on the sidelines. There are always many stories in Laker-land, but a lot of the team's fans seem to be most interested in this one: With the return of Andrew Bynum, do the Lakers have a shot to win 70 games?
Despite the recent flood of positive Andrew Bynum stories hitting the L.A. papers lately (seriously, his P.R. machine is working overtime), I'm not convinced that his addition to the lineup automatically makes the Lakers unstoppable. There's the whole thing about figuring out how to co-exist with Pau Gasol, and how Lamar Odom will perform (likely) playing further away from the basket. When you add in the fact that even if the team was capable of winning 70 games, there's really no motivation to do so, unless someone else is on the same ridiculous pace and it would mean home court advantage.
With the NBA trade deadline looming, Trade Machinations rounds up real rumors (and creates fake ones) of moves that'd make the NBA a better, brighter place.
In our second post discussing the sharp-shooting Mike Miller, this time it's the Clippers who appear to be the latest team that's interested in participating in the Memphis fire sale. The proposed deal would include the expiring contracts of Sam Cassell and Aaron Williams, and would probably be completed by now if the Clippers were willing to include their first round pick in 2008. Which at this point, is a deal-breaker.
For the Clippers, I suppose this works alright, as long as they don't include that pick. Miller is a slightly better version of Cuttino Mobley, so the team would be set as far as jump-shooters go. Obviously by moving Cassell the team either believes that Shaun Livingston will be back next season, or they're willing to use that lottery pick for someone like D.J. Augustin or O.J. Mayo.
On the Memphis side, is this deal any better for them than the discussions with the Pacers? Maybe, if they're truly looking to gut the team and rebuild from ground zero. Because Ike Diogu and Marquis Daniels are actually players with some skills who have a future, whereas Williams and Cassell would simply be considered expiring contracts. And if Cassell's interest in going to a contender was genuine (and why wouldn't it have been), I can't imagine him being all that happy getting sent to a team that is giving players away in an effort to rebuild for the future.
Will it happen?: If the Clippers include that lottery pick, absolutely. If not, it all depends on what other teams are offering, and whoever gives the Grizz the best opportunity to clear cap space will be rewarded with Miller.
The Clippers went into Chicago and handed the Bulls their 4th straight loss of the season, while improving their undefeated record to 3-0. I told you before that John Hollinger was crazy for predicting just 20 wins out of this Clippers team, but now they're looking to do much better than that, starting off the season with three straight wins. So just what exactly is clicking for the Clippers early on that's allowing them to take down some of the league's better teams?
Chris Kaman for one has made a dramatic improvement from last season, starting off this year averaging 18 points and 16 rebounds a game, and finishing with 16 and 11 in the win over the Bulls. Cuttino Mobley has been huge on the offensive end, and contributed 33 tonight with 24 in the first half alone, on 10-10 shooting from the field. Overall, the team attitude of the Clippers has been the difference in these games. They are extremely unselfish on the offensive end, always working to make the extra pass and get the best shot that they can.
Now to be fair, the combined record of the teams that the Clippers have beaten in these first three games is 0-10. But hey, the (cheating) Warriors went to the second round of the playoffs last year, as did tonight's victim, the Chicago Bulls. So even though these teams have gotten off to slow starts this season, they still are expected to make the playoffs, so the Clippers aren't exactly beating the Blazers here, are they?
So maybe Hollinger will have to revise his season prediction for the Clippers. Sure the team is without Elton Brand for a while, but the way that Kaman, Mobley, Corey Maggette, and Brevin Knight have been playing, the team looks like they're a legitimate threat to contend for a playoff spot regardless. The Clippers have a lot of threats on offense and are playing excellent team basketball right now, and you would be extremely foolish to count them out at this point in the season.
A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Knicks faced the Suns on December 15th.
Despite their recent struggles to win convincingly against teams with losing records, the fact remains that the Lakers are the best team in the West, and stand atop the conference's standings with a record of 20-3. So when 
With the NBA trade deadline looming, 
