The Goat Pen

Wake me up when the lockout is over.

I'd hoped Stern would have been smarter than to let this happen, on the heels of probably the best and most relevant playoff run in recent history.

I never thought the season would be toast, but the more I read the it seems to be a very strong possibility. We may lose basketball until after regular season NFL.

This presumes we're going to be lucky enough to have an NFL season. Damn...it's a long haul from here to college basketball.

The NFL looks like it will lose a portion of its training camp and maybe a couple preseason games, but from the sounds of it, their labour talks have progressed to the point where they have agreed on the major hurdles and are just dotting some I's and crossing some T's

The NBA is a completely different animal

as a raptor fan, I need there to be at least a 40-50 game season

Toronto is poised to easily finish with the worst record in astonishing "Tank" fashion

if the year is lost the league will probably come up with some BS egaliatarian lottery format (i.e. team with the worst record averaged over the last 3 years gets most balls)

Texas / OU weekend is now just over three months away. All is not completely lost.

::conjuring up more tornados to sweep over I-35 and I-40 as we speak

Texas - OU? You've gotta remember, I'm a New York guy who went to an Ivy school. Never bothered to settle on a BCS level affiliation, football-wise. I wonder how good Stanford is going to be this year, though.

These lockouts are a reminder of the business our entertainment really is.....I will miss it, but life has other venues other than sports entertainment thankfully...I wish you all well...Go Yanks and Mets in the meantime....

Knicks get Chandler....good fit I think....gives us the defense and rebounding in the middle we need....But we need to sign Billups or Baron Davis to the Mid Level Exception...

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A ... 1MlCAir--Q

You don't have a MLE. From David Aldridge:

The Knicks, according to the source, offered JJ Barea a two-year deal. By using the amnesty provision on Saturday to waive guard Chauncey Billups and dealing forward Ronny Turiaf to Washington as part of the three-team deal that sent Tyson Chandler to New York, the Knicks technically fell under the cap, and thus lost their ability to use the mid-level exception starting at $5 million. They could use the new “room” exception for teams that are below the tax threshold that starts at $2.5 million.

After waiving Billups, the Knicks clearly need help at the point. Their current starter is second-year guard Toney Douglas, though first-round pick Iman Shumpert could see some time there as well this season. And Barea would be an ideal distributor in Mike D’Antoni‘s high-octane offensive attack.

I thought they signed Bibby today.

yes, as reported by ESPN

For teams considering claim on Chauncey Billups, he tells Y!: "A leader can be as disruptive as he can be productive..This is about me now."


Billups: "People take my kindness and professionalism for weakness. They think I’ll be OK with (getting claimed). I won’t be OK with this."

Billups wants freedom to choose team. Warns those who'd claim him: You'll regret it. "I'm tired of being the glue guy." Story soon on Y!


All posted by Woj on twitter. This dude is pissed. Basically told every GM to **** right off until he clears waivers.

wow

the players get their system issues, Chauncey was NY's rep, he still gets paid $14 mill and he cries like a baby

man, fukk the NBA

wash, rinse, repeat

once the hardcap was off the table it guaranteed the status quo

Dwight to LA, CP3 to the Knicks

Billups makes a threat to every GM who dares to use their collectively bargained right to claim him and here we go again

bytch mode behaviour, I sincerely hope Stern & NO claim him to replace Paul

Just like talking to a player after a particularly tough loss, talking to him right after a tough transaction will cause those types of responses. He may sound different after a few days.

clippers have officially made a waiver bid for Billups

I wonder how much Bibby has left. He looked slow in the Finals this spring, and clearly wasn't a guy you wanted to have on the floor at crunch time. Not a lot of options out there, given the loss of the MLE. Apparently Crawford wants to come back, but not for the $2.5 million exception that's available. They can't afford Barea, either. I think it might be smart to sign Shawne Williams, even if it's just a one year deal. They really do need help at the point.

I like the Chandler deal. Takes a lot of pressure off Stoudemire defensively.

The Chander deal may be enough to get them a Top 4 seed in the Playoffs...depending on how Boston clicks.

Bibby is fine, as long as he is not asked to play too many minutes. Toney Douglas needs someone who can continue to show him how to be a PG (and not sure if that will ever happen), now that Chauncey is gone.

Man, did last night's game ever look like the third exhibition game of a training camp being held under water. It was bad enough that no one could buy a shot, the front line guys were in foul trouble the whole way, and then they completely fell apart in the fourth quarter.

Mike Bibby is not the answer backing up Douglas. If you look at last night as an extension of how terrible he was in the 2011 playoffs, the only logical conclusion is that he's done. Couldn't even make a wide-open 20 foot jump shot.

Yeah, I gave Bibby too much credit...and facing off against LA's schizophrenic D may not be a needed sight, either. Maybe when Baron comes back things will get better. BIbby is not supposed to be the #2 guy, necessarily.

All I gotta say is Go KNICKS!!!