http://www.nj.com/knicks/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/112074272733830.xml&coll=1 Knicks still in the race for swift Thursday, July 07, 2005 BY DAVID WALDSTEIN Star-Ledger Staff Free agent Stromile Swift met with the Rockets yesterday in Houston, but his agent said the Knicks are still very much in the hunt for the Memphis forward. The agent, Andy Miller of Englewood, said he has kept in close contact with Knicks president Isiah Thomas about his client and expects the discussions to continue. "The Knicks remain very high on Stromile's list," Miller said. "We continue to have conversations and stay in touch and communicate. We'll have to see how things evolve over the next two or three days." Swift visited with Thomas and the Knicks over the weekend and the meetings were said to have gone very well. The one limiting factor is that the Knicks are over the salary cap and can therefore only offer Swift the midlevel exception to the cap, which is slightly under $5 million. Advertisement Another possibility would be to negotiate a sign-and-trade with the Grizzlies, in which the Knicks and Swift agree to a new contract, and then the Knicks and Grizzlies arrange a trade for him. In that instance, the Knicks could pay him more than the midlevel. "I'm not going to get into the numbers," Miller said. "We're still exploring what would be the right fit for Stromile, to help contribute to a team to get into or strive through the playoffs and continue to help him develop his game." The 6-9 Swift, who turns 26 on Nov. 21, has never been a regular starter in his five previous years in the NBA, but he is athletic and the Knicks think he would provide them some much-needed shot-blocking ability. Miller has a good relationship with Thomas, which can't hurt the negotiations. "I speak to Isiah every day," he said. "We don't only talk about Stromile. We touch base on a number of issues and give each other feedback on the status of different things we've been speaking about." Swift said that several other teams besides the Rockets and Knicks -- both of whom are over the cap -- have demonstrated interest, and the Hawks, Cavaliers, Sonics and Magic are believed to be among them. The Nets, however, are not. Miller said he was hoping that within a few days he would have a better sense of the landscape. "Every day brings greater clarity to the situation," Miller said. Thomas vigorously denied an ESPN report that said he was in trade discussions with the Hawks for a deal that would send Stephon Marbury to the Atlanta for Jersey guy Al Harrington and others. "That is so far from the truth," Thomas told reporters in Las Vegas where he is watching the Knicks summer league entry. "I am ashamed for you that you have to ask me. There is no truth to it at all." However, the possibility that Thomas may deal Marbury cannot be completely ruled out. After the season ended he said he would trade his own mother if it would improve the team. Since then, people around the league are hearing murmurs that Marbury, the Knicks most talented player, is available, but finding a trading partner won't be easy. Nets: In what was termed purely a social occasion by a team official, the Nets wined and dined Shareef Abdur-Rahim at a New York restaurant last night as a preliminary to the free-gent forwards visit to the teams practice facility and a meeting with owner Bruce Ratner today. Attending the dinner were Nets president Rod Thorn, GM Ed Stefanski, coach Lawrence Frank and the players wife, Dee. The 28-year-old Abdur-Rahim will visit two or three more teams after leaving New Jersey today, according to his agent, Aaron Goodwin. Print This
i hope the rocktes don't end up with nothing. walker is talking S&T with chicago. cleveland wants simmons, sincce redd is out. NJ is the favorite to land SAR. swift can to go either ATL or NOH for money or chose NY for the big market and a big S&T (using us for leverage). phil wants AD in LA. cat and denver seem to be working things out.
I'd rather come away this offseason with no big free agent than overpay for someone and regret it later on. If Howard is healthy (big IF I know) all we really need is someone competent to play 20 mpg. I say split the MLE with Brian Grant and Dermarr Johnson. hooroo, I have no idea whether they would, but the Cavs could offer Joe Johnson the max since Redd and Payton are no longer available. It would be sweet if they did and the Suns were forced to match or lose him altogether.
Anyone notice how quite it is on the Antoine Walker front? I'll bet that the Rockets are truely working on a S&T with Boston for Walker. I guess we'll know in just over 2 weeks.
'toddie, you're probably right. Since Boston signed Scalabrine, the chances of us signing Walker are higher, higher than the chances of signing Swift, I'd say. Unfortunately, I don't really want Walker, and certainly not in a S&T for more than the MLE.
[rant] Now, here's what I don't get about the Knicks (aside from the obvious explanation to everything NY, which is that Zeke is epicly moronic): Why do they go HARD after EVERY marginal big man EVERY year, looking to lock him up long term? They're forever chasing after band-aids. That's not a finals-bound team. Stromile Swift is not the difference between the a deep playoff run or not for them. Nor have many of their previous potential acquisitions been. Wouldn't it be wise to, you know, WAIT for a big guy who's actually GOOD to come along? That way they'll have cap space from not spending on marginal players? What is this obsession with winning now? They're nowhere close, why would you continue pushing the knife deeper? They go after everyone, every position, every year, and they've been desperately reaching for size in the draft FOREVER. WHEN WILL THEY LEARN!? [/rant]
I'm starting to believe that AW is a player that JVG wants. According to Doc Rocket, it was JVG that made the calls last year as to whom CD should trade for. If he wants him, then I have to believe that he feels he can get AW to do the things this club needs from our PF. The good thing about doing a S&T is that, it'll leave us with our MLE to use on another FA. Perhaps, Antonio Daniels?
I wish I were as confident. What worries me is that even if AW buys into the system, it won't automatically make him a more efficient player. He'll still likely be a poor perimeter shooter, and will still be likely to turn the ball over a lot. I don't think it's necessarily good for us that our third scorer is our PF (who probably needs the ball in his hands to be effective), and more importantly, a very inefficient scorer. Keeping the MLE for other players, however, is a nice advantage of pulling off a S&T.
