Chalk up yet another day that should have seen the Knicks agree to an offer sheet with Ramon Sessions...only to end with nothing. Don't get me wrong, I don't want the Knicks and Sessions to agree to a deal (unless it's for, you know, $2 million per), but I'm also growing weary of devoting 500 words a day to nothing. So without further ado, here's today's news (with overly cynical commentary appended):
-
NY Post: Knicks, Sessions near pact
This may surprise you, but Chubby Wells (do I even have to remind you that he's Sessions' agent at this point?) still thinks a deal is about to happen. He's been saying it for weeks, of course, but at some point he will sign. For something. With someone. And the Knicks do seem the obvious choice. Marc Berman also has a corroborating blurb:According to a source, Walsh wants to sign Sessions to a long-term deal starting at less than $5.8 million so that his 2010-2011 cap number will be less than $6 million. The source said a number of proposals have been discussed, including a one-year contract.
Hopefully they didn't spend too much time discussing a one year deal since it's not possible for the Knicks to give Sessions a one-year offer. Who knows where that came from--hopefully Donnie Walsh and Wells realized that small detail before the started negotiating--but it's always amazing when inaccuracies like that start getting propagated in the media. It reminds me of when a respected journalist told me earlier in the summer that Sessions was rumored to be looking for $50 million from the Bucks. The only problem being that the most the Bucks can offer Sessions is six years and $44 million (ie an MLE deal with max length and raises). The NBA would be a lot better off if teams, agents and media spent more time reading Larry Coon's CBA FAQ and less time copy-pasting all the innaccurate salary info from Hoops Hype. OK, I'll try to control the nerd rage from here on out.
-
CBSSports.com: Knicks, Lee still at impasse
Writing late Monday afternoon, Ken Berger at CBS Sports is a bit less bullish:The Knicks, determined to hold onto precious 2010 cap space, also are in negotiations with Bucks restricted free agent Ramon Sessions. But a person familiar with those talks said they reached an impasse over the weekend -- although the line of communication remains open. The Knicks and Sessions' camp exchanged proposals on Friday and again Monday, without coming to terms on an offer sheet.
Berger also has a blurb about David Lee being open to taking the QO, which seems like an obvious move for the Knicks and not so bad for Lee. Sure, I'm holding out vague hopes of that super-double-BYC-sign-and-trade deal I laid out last week, but it's not like that was ever going to be an easy deal to work out.
-
Newsday: Negotiations ongoing
Alan Hahn of Newsday tweets that stuff is still ongoing.
Sessions/Knicks still in negotiating stage. No other real comp for Knix, but source tells me the Bucks likely would match up to $3M per.
-
Interview with SNY.TV
I did a call-in on Friday with Tommy Dee of the The Knicks Blog for his show on SNY.TV, which you can check out above as well. We were taping the show on the assumption that Sessions would sign either late Friday or today, but I don't think anything we said ended up sounding too weird despite him still not signing. All in all, nothing you haven't heard me write in this space before, but thanks to Tommy for having me on. And I have no idea why I used the phrase "close to the breast"...but don't worry, I realize I'm an idiot.