Top 10 Reasons Why This RealGM Article Is Garbage

If you are a hoops addict like me, sites like hoopshype.com and RealGM.com are pages you hit up on the regular. These are good sites for continuous basketball coverage, especially in these dog days of August where basketball is pushed to the backburner behind (unfortunately, for a lot of us) baseball and (fortunately, for some of us) football. Sites like hoopshype allow you to look at each team's payroll and estimated salary cap space, while RealGM gives links to snippets from articles from across the country that might include something interesting.But sometimes, the latter can get desperate. So desperate, in fact, that they'll post whatever garbage comes to a random know-nothing's head.I'm talking about an article that came out this week entitled "Top 10 Reasons LeBron Could Choose New York."You have to understand Knicks fans here. They are bordering on the edge of desperation, just in case they aren't already there. An article came out last week on ESPN Insider written by Chad Ford -- he of the incessant "LeBron is leaving" garbage -- talking about how economics, the shrinking salary cap, and the makeup of their current roster will all but put an end to the Knicks pursuit of LeBron. Or, in fact, any other big-name free agent in what will end up being the most anticlimactic and overblown sports story (the 2010 free agency) of the last decade.But back to this mess of an article at RealGM. They give 10 reasons why LeBron would go to the Bricks. Well, let's go through each one of them, one-by-one, and effectively rip it to shreds. So without further ado...10. Cash. Over the same five years, LeBron would earn $4.14 million less signing with the Knicks than re-signing with the Cavs as a free-agent. The Cavs can offer an extra year, but there is little reason to think the security of a 6th season will be decisive. If LeBron put much value on security, he would have sought a longer-term contract in 2006 rather than the 3-year extension he did sign. If security is what he is after, LeBron would have already signed an extension this off-season. Given the relatively small difference between the Cavs' and Knicks' 5-year max offers - and given the mountain of endorsement dollars that could come LeBron's way if he lands in New York - LeBron could have a significant financial incentive to sign with the Knicks."The mountain of endorsement dollars that could come LeBron's way if he lands in New York." Sigh. New Yorkers just won't understand, and they just won't get it. We already touched on this subject back in May courtesy of ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd, but almost all of the top athletes in the world based on endorsement income aren't even based in New York. Peyton Manning is based in Indianapolis, a city with a smaller metropolitan population than Cleveland. Same with Orlando, where Tiger Woods is based. Brett Favre is an icon, and he played in quite possibly the smallest American pro sports market: Green Bay, Wisconsin.On top of that, this is a guy who is already Nike's highest-paid basketball player -- yes, ahead of L.A.-based Kobe Bryant. Nike, an Oregon-based company, didn't even wait to see which team James would play for before pouring a nine-figure contract on him straight out of high school. He has hosted Saturday Night Live and made an appearance on David Letterman, both New York-based shows. He even hosted the ESPY's in Los Angeles.People may not know who the Cleveland Cavaliers are, but most across the world who stay in touch with news know LeBron James' name very well. He doesn't need New York for marketing. If anything, his next step as far as marketing goes would be to expand his name globally, and the Cavs' decision to bring in a Chinese investment group as part owners will go a long way in opening the doors to the Far East market.9. Talent. The Knicks' roster, though young and unproven, has the 20-PPG potential of Danilo Gallinari, a two-way wing with upside like Wilson Chandler, and a scoring big in rookie Jordan Hill. All three have higher ceilings than any non-Lebron Cavs. A roster deep with quality role players but not elite talent (the most apt way to describe the Cavs minus LeBron) is only enough to give a great player what he needs to have a successful regular season. Winning in the playoffs requires finding another impact player who can help carry the load. The Knicks have the type of young players who can develop into major pieces next to a superstar and their salary cap is set up to allow the team to bid for other top free-agents in the near term.Are you serious? Did this guy really just mention "talent" when describing the New York Knicks?With New York's current struggles to re-sign David Lee and Nate Robinson, the Knicks are threatening to be even worse than the Cavs were when LeBron first joined them in 2003. It's a team loaded with expiring contracts with no potential for adding more pieces in the future. They won't even have a first-round pick next summer, which will probably be a lottery pick again. And this year, instead of adding Stephen Curry or Ricky Rubio in what was already a weak draft class, they got a guy who -- at best -- is just another J.J. Hickson in Jordan Hill...with the 8th overall selection.And while this guy talks about "potential" and "ceiling," a guy like LeBron who is so close to a championship that he can taste it is probably about the here and now. And what's going on "now" is that the non-LeBron Cavs have two more All-Stars -- Mo Williams and Shaq -- than the Knicks have.Speaking of Williams, his 17.8 points per game were more than any Knick save Al Harrington. He connected on more 3's than any Knick while having two 40-plus point games. Sure, Mo isn't a world-beater, but his present and future is certainly looking a lot better than anyone wearing a Knicks jersey right now.(As for being small market, I don't see any Knick in Nike's new "Hyperizers" commercial, the same one that features Mo.)Talking about Gallinari suddenly exploding for 20 points per game one day is also an absolute joke and further proof at RealGM's absurdity for even putting their name next to this trash. By comparison, Gallinari's Italian counterpart -- Italy's Andrea Bargnani -- averaged a career-high 15.4 points this past season, which was his third in the league, at the age of 23. And this for a guy who was a no. 1 overall pick. Let's see if Gallinari can even prove to be another Andrea Bargnani before we start talking about him being a 20-points-per-game scorer. Wow. Just...wow.8. Attracting free-agents. LeBron may realize that getting future free-agents to follow him onto the big stage in New York would be easier than getting them to join him in Cleveland.Short, simple, and saturated with unmatched stupidity. Free agents just don't go to New York. They just don't. Grant Hill and LeBron's own buddy, Jason Kidd, turned down the Knicks to return to teams that have no realistic championship hopes this season. If Kidd himself was convinced that the Knicks were a very realistic option for LeBron next summer, then maybe he -- even at the battered age of 36 -- would have taken a three-year deal to run D'Antoni's offense and make the Knicks more desirable. But he didn't. In fact, no free agent wants to go there. New York native Ron Artest always talked about taking less to go the Knicks when he became a free agent, but in fact he took less to go the Lakers. The last big free agent to sign with the Knicks was Allan Houston in 1996. That's 13 -- count 'em, 13 -- years ago.Heck, forget about other free agents -- the Knicks can't even keep their own free agents. Again, just ask David Lee and Nate Robinson how that's going for them.7. 2011. Much is made of the fact that Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries remain on the Knick books. Yet both contracts expire just one year later, freeing up $18 million of cap room that puts the Knicks in position to offer another max contract in 2011 when New York-born Carmelo Anthony is set to hit the free-agent market. This guy just doesn't understand free agency.Just because you're saving $18 million off the books doesn't mean you're saving "$18 million of cap room." The Cavs saw Wally Szczerbiak's $13 million expire this summer, but they were still over the cap due to other contracts.Likewise, say that in some strange planet, the Knicks actually do land LeBron (insert laugh track here). He would be due to make about $20 million for the 2011-12 season. A guy like Melo would also command the max contract considering that, at the age of 27, he would probably be getting one from Denver. That's another $17 million on one guy, meaning the Knicks' roster would have to be absolutely stripped down to the bare bones just to land another free agent to play with LeBron. Meanwhile, in 2010-11, LeBron could be enjoying yet another 60-win season with the Cavs and competing for a championship. In New York, he would have to sacrifice a year to play on a roster surrounded by water boys and a supposed 20-points-per-game Italian guy. And on a franchise that, as we have seen, nobody really wants to sign with, anyways.6. Mobley. Cuttino Mobley's contract, 80% of which is covered by insurance, gives the Knicks a valuable trade chip the team can use to remove more salary from the 2010 ledger. Consider that the payout of $7.6 million of insurance for Mobley's contract would more than offset Jeffries' $6.9 million salary in 2010, and the Knicks could throw in an additional $3 million in the trade. The Knicks can make taking Jeffries' contract off their hands very affordable for another club. Again -- stripping down the team completely with little to no talent (oh, and did we mention no first-rounder next summer?) just to hope that LeBron would leave a championship contender with a roster that fits around him for a bunch of woulda-shouldas. LeBron's been down that road before. Go check out the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons with the Cavaliers. Call me crazy, but I do not think LeBron wants to go back down that same road again.5. Buyouts. If the Knicks are a few million dollars short of the cap room needed to offer a second max contract in 2010, look for Donnie Walsh to engineer a buyout of the 2010-2011 season on the contracts of Curry and/or Jeffries. Because this is the final year of these contracts, the Knicks would receive dollar-for-dollar cap relief on any buyout. For instance, offering 80% of the salary due on the last season of these two contracts would buy the Knicks more than $3.5 million of additional cap room. Who in their right mind would, in their 20's, sacrifice millions and millions of dollars for a team that doesn't want them anymore? On what planet would a then-27-year old like Eddy Curry or then-29-year-old Jared Jeffries give up millions of dollars -- money that they receive because of Isiah Thomas' incompetence -- that they aren't guaranteed to get back in the open market?When Ben Wallace sacrificed $4 million for his buyout with the Suns after the Shaq trade, we were talking about a 35-year old on the tail end of his career that had already made a king's ransom in earnings throughout his career. On top of that, it was far closer to being the exception than the norm. Expecting two guys -- Curry and Jeffries -- to both simultaneously leave millions and millions of dollars on the table is not just a pipedream. It's absurdity.And even then, you still need at least 12 guys on the roster. You would have LeBron, Bosh, and 10 guys lucky to just be in the league. Yeah, tell me how that's going to help LeBron tackle the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers any time soon.4. The salary cap. Since the NBA league office announced its projections that the salary cap will decline next season, several positive economic indicators were released showing that the recession may already have ended. If true, the NBA's salary cap might not drop nearly as much as projected if it even drops at all. But because Danny Ferry signed Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon and Leon Powe to 2-year contracts, the Cavs will not have room for a second max free-agent next summer even if the cap goes up. It might therefore be a checkmate move if Walsh ekes out enough cap room to be able to offer two max contracts in 2010. LeBron's decision might be between staying in Cleveland with the Cavs' roster as is or jumping to New York with Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh. Is this guy seriously citing the salary cap as a reason that the Knicks can get James? And even then, he is the only soul on the face of this earth who actually put it in print that the cap may not even drop "at all." Too much comedy. Just too much.In fact, I think it's time for this: Seriously, this is too much.According to Ford's article, the cap is almost certain to fall next summer. That is not even in question. The only thing in question is by how much it will fall. Most cap experts (that's experts, not pie-in-the-sky buffoons like the one who wrote this RealGM article) are saying that it will fall by 5 percent, leaving it at about $51-53 million.And maybe I interpreted this wrong, but is this guy really criticizing Ferry for actually adding talent to his team while Walsh continues to strip his team? Not only that, but does he realize how cap-friendly these deals are? Listen dude, if you actually paid attention outside of your action figures and make-believe world, you would realize that the two-year deals laid out to Parker, Moon, and Powe are all non-guaranteed for the second year. That's not to mention the absolute lack of activity on New York's part to even compete at an NBA level.3. The luxury tax. In New York, LeBron could be assured of joining an organization that would spare no expense in pursuit of multiple championships. Cavs' ownership has never pulled back on spending but that could change. Dan Gilbert's deal to bring in Chinese investment, spun as a bold marketing initiative, may have had more to do with cash reserves drying up. Once they're out of cap room, the Knicks would never hesitate to use their mid-level exception, take on more and more salary each year and pay exorbitant luxury tax bills, to keep renewing LeBron's supporting cast. The coffers at MSG are effectively bottomless. This guy, a fan of a team whose ownership continued to gainfully employ Isiah Thomas, is actually questioning the future of Dan Gilbert as well as Gilbert's commitment to excellence.This is the final straw. Oh wait, we're only at no. 3. He actually has two more.So tell me who took your midlevel exception this year? And tell me how many playoff games you won the past eight years while continually having the league's highest payroll?Oh, we're also forgetting that LeBron would have to play for the equivalent of a Division III college team for at least one year before we even get to that point. And we would also have to assume that free agents still want to come to New York in any capacity.A lot of assumptions.2. The Yankees. The Yankees have emerged as the best team in baseball and are poised for another championship run. At some point, CC Sabathia may confide to his good pal, one of the Yankees' most famous fans, 'There's nothing like winning in New York.' Yes. You read that right. This guy actually cited the Yankees as a reason why LeBron would ditch a winning basketball organization for a losing one. Oh, and there's also "nothing like losing in New York." Something LeBron would have to get used to early and often.And since when are C.C. and LeBron great friends? It's funny how we never saw them hanging out when C.C. played for the Indians. Again, this guy keeps talking out of his ass.1. The heart. Big life decisions like the one LeBron will have in less than a year are usually made more on emotion than cold reason. Is home where LeBron's heart is or does he yearn for the spotlight of Broadway? We don't know the answer to that yet. But last week, just before letting us know that he plans to become a free-agent after the coming season, LeBron said he is "not ashamed of anything in Cleveland." Not exactly a ringing endorsement, especially in contrast to the reverential words LeBron used to describe how he feels stepping on the floor at Madison Square Garden. The worry for Cavs fans is that LeBron's tone seems to be creeping closer to the 'It's not you, it's me' line of reasoning, an explanation vaguely reminiscent of 'The heart wants what the heart wants.' Sigh. I'd say more, but I'm giving out words and ass-whoopings. And I'm fresh out of words.And if you want to get more riled up over stupid, baseless, misquoted media reports, check out this Philly message board. Gotta love misinformation.