FanHouse Knicks

While most NBA draft picks are preparing for summer league play in Orlando and Las Vegas next week, rumors continue to swirl that Ricky Rubio may wait a year -- and perhaps even longer -- until he makes the jump to the NBA.

According to El Periodico, a Spanish newspaper, Rubio has already ruled out playing this coming season, and in fact plans to drop the lawsuit he filed against DKV Joventut, his current Spanish team, regarding his buyout clause, which he previously argued was too much money for what Joventut has been paying him.

Before fans in Minnesota get too upset, they should consider the source: El Periodico's report neither cites a source nor includes a byline -- this could be nothing more than re-hashed speculation that we've been hearing all week.

Earlier this week, I lived out a dream by standing on the New York Liberty's home court inside an empty Madison Square Garden. I know, some guys have all the luck.

Oh, I also got to attend the 2009-10 Knicks City Dancers auditions. That was pretty exciting, as well. If you aren't familiar with "KCD," you should know that they are one of the most popular cheerleading squads in all of sports, for obvious reasons. Check out the video of my day with 80 KCD hopefuls below.

Stephon Marbury is one of those weird characters who has just the right mix of "crazy" and "keepin' it real" where you can't ever be sure whether to trust or distrust him. Personally, I think he's a bad apple who keeps getting too many chances, but some people feel differently.

After Marbury recently did a Knickerbocker-beat-down of an interview with the New York Post, I would imagine no one who plays professional basketball in the Big Apple is much of a fan either. Marbury's quotes are full of disparaging remarks, as he essentially urged any free agents to avoid Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni like the plague.

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Matt Moore set the table on Jason Kidd's impending free agency -- Dallas, New York, Cleveland and Portland figure to be the best options. Though Kidd has publicly said he'd give the Mavericks dibs, you'll be interested to know Kidd will spend Wednesday, the first day of the free agency period, in New York City chatting with the Knicks.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports that Kidd will meet with Knicks president Donnie Walsh early Wednesday, hoping to get a commitment. NY cannot offer more than the mid-level exception (a starting salary of less than $6 million) unless Walsh works out a sign-and-trade with Dallas, which holds Kidd's Bird rights. But the Knicks certainly have a hole at the point. Chris Duhon, ahem, ain't getting it done.

Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.

Even in hard economic times, the top players like Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Kidd will leave teams and get their financial reward in other places. The squeeze will be on the lower-level free agents who must settle for minimum or various exceptions.

What hurts this class is that only seven teams really have major room under the salary cap to make something happen, and they usually aren't the NBA's biggest spenders. Unless the free agents stay with their current teams, only Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland, Toronto and Detroit have major room.

Although there has been plenty of dancing and unofficial talks the last few days, the real dealings can't start until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Here is a breakdown by position of the five most intriguing – and unrestricted – free agents.

OK, sure, stacking Josh Howard, Jason Terry and former MVP Dirk Nowitzki around him was no more successful than surrounding him with Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, but you know what they say: 18th time's the charm.

And it's in that spirit that Jason Kidd re-enters the NBA free agency market.

If his late appearance at the NBA Draft wasn't enough, freshly minted Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings continued his personal attack of Ricky Rubio and then added the New York Knicks to his hit list. Perhaps it's time for Jennings to keep quiet until he achieves something in the NBA.

Apparently talking with rapper Joe Budden on a blog cam following the draft, a recorded Jennings ripped the Knicks for passing him up in the draft, predicted the Bucks would not re-sign Ramon Sessions, instead spending their money on Charlie Villanueva, and finally that Luke Ridnour would eventually be his backup.

The Minnesota Timberwolves used the fourth pick in the NBA Draft to take Ricky Rubio, but now there are serious doubts about whether the Spanish sensation wants to play there. Rubio was non-committal immediately after being selected, saying he was excited to come to the NBA, when answering a question that asked if he was excited to go to Minnesota.

A little later on draft night, Rubio's father was quoted by a Spanish news site as saying that he would probably "remain one or two years in Europe." With it becoming increasingly clear that Rubio has no interest in playing in Minnesota, the Knicks said that they would make the call to the Timberwolves to see about bringing him to New York.

There was a lot of activity in the NBA this week, and we're not just talking about the draft. Some of the NBA's big names and better teams were in on it.

Here's a quick look at the trades that went down and what they mean:

The Deal: Phoenix sends Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland for Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, a second-round pick in 2010 and cash.

The Thinking: The Cavaliers get an aging O'Neal, with the hope that he can have a productive year playing alongside LeBron James. The only way this trade is a success is if the Cavaliers are the 2009-10 NBA champions. For the Suns, trading O'Neal means that they are beyond tinkering and are leaning toward turning over the personnel of a team that missed the playoffs last season.

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Jamal Crawford finally has the opportunity to compete with a playoff-caliber team; the oft-traveled guard landed in Atlanta on Thursday in a three-player trade, with Acie Law and Speedy Claxton headed to Golden State.

When reached by FanHouse, Crawford was thrilled about the chance to return to the Eastern Conference and play with a club that has advanced to the playoffs the past two seasons. Crawford said he signed an agreement that he would not opt out of the final two years of his contract, as was his option by June 30.

"This is what I've been searching for, I didn't think it would happen like this or this fast but I am excited," said Crawford, who has played 597 games with no playoff appearances. "My agents called me [Wednesday] and said it was close and it was Atlanta. I was just ecstatic. They are an up-and-coming team, and I want to see if I fit in there."