WindhorstESPN Brian Windhorst

Sources confirm Eddy Curry plans to sign with Heat tomorrow. They have been tracking him for months. Low risk move.

We got Willie REED I thought he played for the Knicks and we got Mychael Thompson. I thought he was drafted by Portland. The stars keep flocking to Cleveland.

KBergCBS

Multiple League executives say the Knicks are now in the lead to land Tyson Chandler, jumping in front of the Warriors.

In the latest twist of his expected departure from the Dallas Mavericks, Tyson Chandler is closing in on a deal with the New York Knicks, according to sources close to the process.

"New York is Tyson's first choice," one source told ESPN.com, confirming a Thursday report from CBSSports.com that the Knicks have jumped ahead of the Golden State Warriors in the race to sign Chandler.

"It's 98 percent sure that Tyson is going to wind up with the Knicks."

To create sufficient salary-cap space to sign Chandler, New York is expected to shed the contracts of Chauncey Billups and Ronny Turiaf, through either trades or the forthcoming amnesty clause.

Signing Chandler, sources said, could free up the Knicks to offer star forward Amare Stoudemire to the New Orleans Hornets in a trade scenario for Chris Paul, who badly wants to reunite with Chandler after their time together with the Hornets.

CSNBayArea.com reported that the Warriors are trying to sweeten a four-year offer to Chandler valued at $60 million to outbid the Knicks.

Marc Stein covers the NBA for ESPN.com.

Follow Marc Stein on Twitter: @ESPNSteinLine

This whole NBA scene is courtesy of LBJ...don't think I can even stomach playing fantasy league.

Feel for Amare, I think he woudl have signe dto play with LBJ in Cleveland had he been traded here

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski


Hornets working to finalize details on 3-team deal to send Chris Paul to Lakers, Gasol to Rockets and Odom, KMart, Scola to NO, sources say.

That is a huge, huge, deal.

Sources: Lakers agree to Chris Paul deal

ESPN.com news services

The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to surrender Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom in a trade for New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul, sources tell ESPN.com's Marc Stein.

Sources close to the process tell Stein that the Houston Rockets remain part of the talks and are trying to complete a deal that would send Gasol in Houston and the Rockets' Luis Scola, Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic to New Orleans along with Odom.

In Paul, the Lakers would be getting an All-Star andU;S> Olympic Team member who has averaged 27.1

SpearsNBAYahoo Marc J. Spears

Cavs expected to use new amnesty rule on PG Baron Davis once the new CBA is official, source tells @YahooSports. Until then, BD in Cavs camp

WindhorstESPN Brian Windhorst

Cavs have not made decision on whether to use amnesty on Baron Davis, sources said.

2 hours ago

Chris Broussard: Dooling going to Boston from Milwaukee. He'll fit into Celtics' trade exception. about 19 minutes ago

Read more: http://hoopshype.com/twitter/media.html#ixzz1fzoFjsqV

Chris Paul deal has been put on hold because other owners were pissed that Paul was being traded to LA and they asked David stern to intervene.

Shane Battier – The Missing Piece for Miami
By Joe Kotoch

As Shane Battier made his announcement over Twitter today that he would be joining the Miami Heat the glee from the Miami front office could not be contained. One NBA scout said, “They will be able to lockdown any team defensively.” Those words echo strong from the competition.

Looking at Battier’s stats from last season he averaged 7.6 ppg and 4.5 rpg. Neither stands out as elite and coupled with the fact that he will be the sixth-man for Miami one might assume that this move does not carry title implications. However, it is a mistake to make that assumption. The real value in Shane Battier are the intangibles he brings: winning, leadership, selflessness, and intensity. It is his intensity on defense that will help the Heat the most.





Battier is regarded by many of his peers around the league as one of the finest defenders on the ball and on the weakside. Not only does Battier have the natural ability to be a good defender but he also is intelligent and knows where he needs to be along with opponents’ tendencies.

Battier will replace Mike Miller in the rotation, who may yet be amnestied, and the defensive upgrade will be significant for the Heat. The same scout said that down the stretch the combination of Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Battier will be too much defensively for a lot of teams especially on the perimeter.

While Battier is seen as a defensive-oriented player he is an accurate outside shooter and will have plenty of open 3’s from the corner. This move by Miami is the first of several expected to upgrade their bench. While no games have been played the arms race in the NBA is just heating up and the Miami Heat are doing their part to ensure they do not fall short this June.

This is insane.



Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, and Goran Dragic were not traded following Thursday's controversial trade veto of the Chris Paul deal.

We're gathering folks could figure this one out, but we're making it official here. The best course of action for Stern would be to admit his mistakes and reverse his decision, but this is David Stern we're talking about here. Tomorrow's response (or non-response) from the NBA will heavily shape the free agent market.

Cavs owner wanted trade blocked

By Yahoo! Sports Staff

9 hours, 34 minutes ago

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert called the New Orleans Hornets’ proposed trade of Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers a “travesty,” and urged NBA commissioner David Stern to put the deal to a vote of the league’s 29 owners in an email obtained by Yahoo! Sports. Gilbert sent the email to Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver and a handful of Gilbert’s ownership peers on Thursday.
.
The following is the email in its entirety:

Commissioner,

It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed.

This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets.

Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing.

I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. (They would also get a large trade exception that would help them improve their team and/or eventually trade for Howard.) When the Lakers got Pau Gasol (at the time considered an extremely lopsided trade) they took on tens of millions in additional salary and luxury tax and they gave up a number of prospects (one in Marc Gasol who may become a max-salary player).

I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen.

I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.

When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?

Please advise….

Dan G.


An NBA spokesman said owners “didn’t kill the deal,” instead citing “basketball reasons,” for why the league office blocked the trade.

I think Gilbert is getting a bad rap nationally. ESPN pulls out 2 quotes and it make sit look like he went nuts. I think most people are starting to look at the league as if there are a bunch of washington Generals. Declaring who you will play for simply won't stop until their is a franchise tag....which may never happen.

Gilbert called for a vote. generally I am not in favor of it but since it has such a material change on the NBA map, I think that is actually smart. In the long run I still see the trade as goiong through.

Hornets can be competitive for a number of years or swap some very good players for draft picks and younger players. I will never get Houston though. I thought they were planning a max contract for Marc Gasol, but I guess not