Results tagged “shandonanderson”

Filling the "It's so ridiculous," "It's true" and "You certainly didn't get what you paid for" categories is news that the combined salary for the New York Knickerbockers for the 2006-07 season was a whopping $139,381,526. While the astronomical payroll of the Knicks isn't new news, it's always fun to look at the payrolls of teams that didn't make the NBA Playoffs.

As if America didn’t have enough going on today, the 2004/2005 NBA season kicks off tonight with a doubleheader on TNT (how’s that for some election coverage counter programming?). The local teams don’t get started until tomorrow when the rebuilt Nets will take on Shaquille O’Neal and the Miami Heat at the Meadowlands and the Knicks travel to the Twin Cities to take on last year’s MVP and the Twolves. Both the Knicks and Nets will start the season with depleted rosters. Jason Kidd and Allan Houston will start the season on the inured list, ensuring they will miss at least the first five games of the season.

The Knicks may be closer to adding some of the key free agents that they have pursuing all summer. According to various press reports, the Knicks and Bulls have agreed in principle to a deal that would send a newly resigned Jamal Crawford and Jerome Williams to the Big Apple for Dikembe Mutombo, Othella Harrington, Cezary Trybanski and Frank Williams. All four of the Knicks in the deal have contracts that expire at the end of the season. Knicks GM Isiah Thomas had wanted to include Shandon Anderson in the deal, but not even Bulls GM John Paxson is crazy enough to take on the rest of his contract.

It is clear Isiah Thomas is not one to rest on his laurels. Despite being about $40 million over the salary cap, the Knicks GM is determined to add more talent to his roster. His current targets? Bulls two guard Jamal Crawford and Cleveland big man Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Unlike the Nets, this figures to be a relatively slow offseason for the Knicks. New GM Isiah Thomas already spent much of the season turning over the roster and trading away anyone associated with deposed GM Scott Layden. Only Allan Houston, Shandon Anderson, Frank Williams, Kurt Thomas, Mike Sweetney and Othella Harrington remain from opening day.

Last Friday was the deadline for teams in the NBA (except for the Pistons and Lakers) to turn in their list of unprotected players that will be made available for the expansion Charlotte Bobcats during the expansion draft. Charlotte will form the core of their new team during the draft, to be held on June 22, assuming the NBA Finals do not reach a seventh game. In that case the draft will be held on June 23.

Proving that nothing in New York is cheap, a recent study by Sportsbusinessnews.com confirmed that the New York Knickerbockers were officially the worst bargain in the league this season. When you divide the Knicks $94,395,091 payroll (highest in the league) by 39, the number of W’s they notched this season, the results show that each victory cost owner James Dolan $2,420,387.