However, the NBA plans to cut the salary cap for the 2010-2011 season. This could have a huge impact on who championship contending teams are able to pursue. The current 2009-2010 salary cap is set at $57.7 million, and many teams expect a $3 million to $6 million cut. The New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, and Miami Heat plan to have the most money to spend in free agency. Many playoff contending teams could look to smaller names to get them into better contention. Names such as Carlos Boozer and Joe Johnson will also be available. The Heat may look at keeping Wade and adding a couple of pieces through the draft and a smaller contract in free agency.

With less room to operate under the cap, it is tough to imagine LeBron, Bosh, or Wade going to another playoff contending team. Look for teams to add less expensive players and improve for the draft in the 2010 off-season. Many big-name players will likely remain with their teams on a smaller term deal until the cap situation improves. The amount of salary cap that the NBA cuts will have a huge impact on whether or not these stars switch jerseys in 2010-2011.

On December 28th, New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson was fined $25,000 for publicly demanding a trade. NBA policy does not allow players to make trade demands through the media. The NBA considers actions like this “detrimental to the NBA.” However, Robinson never made the demand himself. In fact, it is his desire to remain in New York. Robinson was hit with the fine due to his agent’s comments on December 19th. Robinson’s agent, Aaron Goodwin of Goodwin Sports, had said that he could not let his client rot on coach Mike D’Antoni’s bench and not do anything about it. Goodwin requested that if the Knicks weren’t going to play Robinson, that they should trade him so that he could move on with his career. He believed there was a personal motivation on D’Antoni’s part for not wanting to play Robinson. At the time, Robinson had not played for eight straight games.

Robinson denied authorizing Goodwin to make the comments or that he wished to be traded. Apparently, Goodwin had it wrong about D’Antoni’s feelings on Robinson as the guard lit it up for 41 points this weekend against Atlanta. Now it appears that D’Antoni will use Robinson as a regular in the rotation.

While things turned out good for Robinson in the end, something should be said about the agent’s actions in this case. An agent shouldn’t speak on behalf of a client without the client’s consent, especially on a matter as important as requesting a trade. Goodwin should have voiced his concerns about Robinson’s playing time with Robinson prior to speaking to the team.

Goodwin should also not make comments that are detrimental to the NBA. His business depends on his relationships with teams. When Goodwin goes to negotiate with the Knicks on future contracts, it is likely that they won’t forget the agent’s actions. Robinson’s next contract or another client’s contract may not be as favorable due to Goodwin’s comments about D’Antoni and the Knicks. If I were Robinson, I would be sending Goodwin a $25,000 bill for the comments he made to the Knicks. Robinson shouldn’t have to pay for his agent’s poor judgment.

My guess is that Goodwin recognized that this was a pivotal year for Robinson as he becomes a free agent after the season. With the little interest that Robinson received prior to signing with the Knicks last season, his agent wanted Robinson to play as much as possible in order to showcase him and increase his free agent status.

Goodwin’s concerns are justified. No one wants their client to warm the bench and not play. It’s not good for the player, whose interests the agent represents. It is also not good for business, as an agent will build a reputation around his client’s success. But an agent must not speak on behalf of a client without making sure the client is on board with what the agent is going to say.

In this situation, Robinson has maintained that he wishes to remain with the Knicks and doesn’t want to leave. His agent may have jeopardized these wishes as it has been reported that the Knicks have attempted to trade Robinson on a few occasions recently. The most recent rumor is that Robinson was going to Memphis for Marcus Williams and a draft pick. However, it is believed that the deal fell through when Robinson exercised his veto power over the deal. This furthers the notion that Goodwin acted on behalf of Robinson without consulting him first and has not advanced his client’s true interests.

The $25,000 fine appears to be the first time in the NBA that a player has been fined for something an agent said. Hopefully agents now see what their ill advised comments can do to their clients and this will be the last time a player is fined for what his agents say.

According to ESPN.com, it seems as if Allen Iverson’s chances of making a difference in this year’s NBA season are dwindling even further than they had already. The New York Knicks announced this morning that they will not be signing the 10-time all star. The former MVP and scoring champion was waived on Tuesday after taking a leave of absence for family issues, or for what most believe to be, unhappiness with coming off the bench.

This past summer (when Iverson was an unrestricted free agent) marked a pivotal point in his career. He had two options: 1) Change his attitude and playing habits, or 2) Continue to act like the immature player we have all come to know.

Teams have been scared of what they were getting when singing Iverson, and they had every right to be. Very rarely in Iverson’s career has he helped a TEAM to succeed. He has always been a player with the ability to score at will, and be a great passer as well, but rarely has he displayed the ability to work as a team player for the greater good of the team. There was that one 2001 finals run, coached by Larry Brown, which brings many people to speculate that in this time of turmoil in Iverson’s career, Brown may take a chance on him.

The real issue in signing Iverson comes back to the same point every time: Can he sacrifice his love for having the ball in his hands to create a winning atmosphere? At the end of last season, knowing his time with the Detroit Pistons was coming to and end, he said that he was willing to do anything to win a championship. He wanted nothing more than to be happy and win. But like always, things are much easier said than done. He eventually signed with the one team that showed enough interest, and yet again, displayed his displeasure with a supporting role.

Allen Iverson has always been, and will most likely always be, a cancer to the teams he plays on. He will go in and ruin any type of team chemistry that team may have had. He was able to be successful on the Sixers for many years because they would give him the ball, and let him do his thing, but after 10 years, they grew tired of his selfish attitude. From there, he went to the Nuggets, a team with great potential, and a seemingly great situation for Iverson as he would be paired with a great scorer in Carmelo Anthony, but like in Philadelphia, the Nuggets just could not develop the type of chemistry needed to go deep into the playoffs. He then traveled to Detroit, where the team grew so tired of him so quickly, they milked his back injury for everything it was worth, and basically paid him to sit on the bench for the remainder of the year. And, most recently Iverson and the Grizzlies had to part ways after only 3 games, due to his unhappiness with coming off the bench.

In today’s NBA, chemistry means everything, and Iverson is the antithesis of a player with the ability to develop chemistry. Many analysts suspected that if his stint with the Grizzlies did not go well, that contract would be his last, and in my opinion, it most likely should be. If I were in charge of putting together a team, I don’t think I would want to take the risk of having him disrupt what chemistry has already been put together. Iverson now has two choices: 1) Mean what you say and play as a TEAM player, or 2) Leave the NBA on somebody else’s terms, but please, if you do leave AI, leave with dignity and class.

With the lack of big name free agents, the conservative salary cap projections for next year, and the well publicized salary cap cutting for the summer of 2010, this NBA off-season has not been the most exciting. However, one of the more intriguing free agent stories of the summer has been that of the New York Knicks and their restricted free agents David Lee and Nate Robinson.

In any negotiation, it is all about leverage. As an agent you need leverage mostly in the form of a player’s productivity, his overall value to the team and interest from other teams. This off-season’s climate has made Mark Bartelstein and Aaron Goodwin’s (Lee and Robinson’s respective agents), job significantly more difficult. Both players had the most productive season of their careers, with Robinson averaging 17ppg, winning his second dunk title and finishing third in Sixth Man voting, and Lee averaging 16ppg and 11.7rpg and finishing the year with an NBA best 66 double-doubles. Interestingly enough, neither player received an offer sheet from any other NBA team.

With the likes of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, etc. hitting the open market next summer, NBA GM’s are simply not willing to offer players long term deals and tie up valuable cap space. Players like Lee and Robinson, who in other circumstances may have cashed in on the free agent market after a productive year, are now being forced into accepting one year deals.

So with no other offers on the table for their players and no acceptable sign-and-trade agreements to be had, both agents were left with few options. It looked as if the Knicks would be able to get away with giving both players one year deals for their “qualifying offer”, $2.6 million for Lee and $2.9 million for Robinson. However, Donnie Walsh signed Lee for $7 million and Robinson for $4 million. Bartlestein himself even seemed surprised and deemed the deals “unprecedented”.  We can only speculate on the nature of the negotiations, but Walsh a 20 year NBA front office veteran, certainly would not have overpaid out of generosity.

While they were unable to secure the long term deals that they hoped for, both agents were able to land their clients one year deals exceeding their qualifying offers, and they will be eligible for the significantly more lucrative free-agent market next year. The Knicks also were able to retain two of their most productive players from last year, who are familiar with the system and will help them stay competitive, without having to cut into next year’s cap space.

Perhaps more importantly, they are also able to retain their two most marketable stars, both of whom are fan favorites and significant sources of revenue. Robinson and Lee’s jerseys were the # 10 and 14 best selling for the 2008-2009 season according to an NBA press release in January. Their marketability certainly must have helped make Mr. Walsh feel a little more generous with the Knicks checkbook. After all, someone has to help sell season tickets before LeBron and/or D-Wade arrive.

When: 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 2, 2008.

Where: The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden

Cost: Registration prior to November 14th – $30 per person. Registration after November 14th – $40 per person. Includes one ticket to the NY Knicks vs. Portland Trailblazers game at 7:30PM.

Click here to register.

Boston Celtics

Jeff Clark: CelticsBlog.com

Jim Weeks: Green Bandwagon

FLCeltsFan: LOY’s Place

John Karalis: Red’s Army

Dustin Chapman: Celtics 24/7

New Jersey Nets

Dennis Velasco: About Basketball

New York Knicks

Joey: Straight Bangin’

Seth Rosenthal: Posting and Toasting

Philadelphia 76ers

Dannie & Pete: Recliner GM

Jon Burkett: Passion and Pride

Toronto Raptors

Franchise: RaptorsHQ.com

Ryan McNeill: Hoops Addict

Cuzzy: Cuzoogle

Also see links to all the previews at CelticsBlog.com

LeBron’s contract runs out after the 2011 season, but he has an opt-out clause in 2010, which would make him an unrestricted free agent (Just like Baron Davis’s recent situation).  Putting LeBron on the open market would certainly cause a lot of teams to drop everything and show his agent the money (After firing Aaron Goodwin, James is now represented by Leon Rose and CAA).  Just about every team in the NBA would love to have LeBron’s name on their roster, but with two years still left on his contract, the only place James has mentioned is New York.

James was recently in New York with Team USA Basketball for a press shoot and pep rally. Nike was also present to introduce the new line of Team USA Basketball shoes and team gear. It was at this press shoot that James made the comment that New York was his favorite city. He was then asked what his favorite borough was. The all-star and future NBA Hall of Famer then answered the tough question by choosing Brooklyn.

His Brooklyn answer might not be a big deal to most of us, but when the New Jersey Nets announced that Brooklyn is the proposed future home of its new arena, Knicks fans understood the implications.  James is also a good friend of Nets co-owner and artist ,Jay-Z, however the Garden has always been one of his favorite arenas to play in.

With all the banter about New York in the future, we can only speculate that James is on the move from Cleveland…the only question is where. Where do you think LeBron will end up?

The Knickerbockers already have the sixth pick in the draft and would love to be able to pick back to back so early in the draft.  The Knicks are looking to go young and get new faces in the City.  After bringing in Coach D’Antoni and with the many high priced contracts the Knicks have on the team, the loss of Lee and Rose could be beneficial to the Knicks in the future.  The Knicks are looking for a fresh team with new faces to make a new start and to allow fans to forget about the past four seasons.  With a new coach and a new president, Donny Walsh, the Knicks are hoping the new faces can mesh with the old faces to combine for some more wins.

Mock draft boards have Freshman phenom Kevin Love, as the #5 pick, going to the Grizzlies.  The Knicks are looking at either K-Love, Danilo Gallinari, Eric Gordon, or Russell Westbrook as probable #5 and 6 picks.  They would love to see O.J. Mayo drop in the draft, and with the most recent allegations about him receiving money (apparently over $30,000) from Rodney Guillory, anything is possible.

If the Knicks do trade Lee to the Grizzlies, Kevin Love is certainly a serious candidate to replace him.  They both have similar games and would fit into the Knicks new style with D’Antoni.  Both can shoot from the outside and play close to the bucket.  The Knicks have such a high team salary that the loss of Lee this year could be good for them.  The former Florida Gator has one year left on his contract worth around $8 million. He has been playing well for the Knicks and with his experience in the league, will likely demand more money than that next year as a free agent.  The past several years, the player going #5 has made less than $8 million which will certainly help the Knicks with their salary situation, however the addition of Brian Cardinal’s $13 million dollar salary would definitely make the deal seem less sweet.  The difference in contracts between Cardinal and a #5 pick rookie, and Rose and Lee comes out to around $5 million dollars. As we all know, spending more money is something New York is used to and not afraid of doing.

These are only rumors, and no formal trades have been offered yet, but Knicks fans can only speculate and look forward to a new season with a lot of new faces.