I only hate the move because of the NY-Miami rivalry and the whole Pat Riley thing, but I believe Lebron made the right choice.  Now the decision to do a 1-hour special was almost as bad as Dan Gilbert’s angry (possibly drunken) letter, but that is another matter.  Teams trade their stars and no one ever cares about how the stars feel.  Lebron did a lot for Cleveland, and I don’t think Cleveland did enough (on the court) for Lebron.  As for talk that people won’t respect him as much, I don’t think it will be that bad.  Do people not think Kevin Garnett is great?  I guess Lebron would be more legendary if he did it all himself, but he is going to put up monster numbers next season and if the Heat win multiple titles it will really ease the sting of critics.  Damn those lucky fair-weather Heat fans!

As for the Knicks, I think they made the right decision in clearing cap space.  The bad contracts had been such an albatross the last decade, and to have flexibility going into a time of CBA uncertainty is wonderful.  I don’t love Amar’e as our number one man, but it was probably a move that had to be made.  I did love the David Lee trade, though, especially since Lee could have left for nothing and he had already been alienated.  I’m looking forward to how the rest of the free agency season plays out, but I’m excited for next season (even though I probably still won’t get to see any Knicks games on TV since Lebron signed in Miami).

• I think Lebron is sending out smoke signals to put the pressure on NY, but that he will ultimately sign there.  NY lets him pick his own team, play with a coach he is familiar with, and improve the team further next year.  The 2011 aspect could be the difference-maker, and it is something that many of the other suitors lack.
• I don’t think Lebron would be willing to go to Miami, because Wade is top-dog there and their arena is pitifully attended considering they won a championship and Wade plays there.  However, I think Bosh likely goes to Miami for the weather and relaxed atmosphere.
• I think the Chicago thing is baloney, because Rose, Noah, and Lebron form a team with no outside shooting.  It’d be harder for Lebron to leave Cleveland but stay in the Midwest, and the ownership in Chicago is not always the most generous.  I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I don’t think their situation is nearly as attractive as analysts suddenly think.
• I am alright with Joe Johnson signing with NY for 3-4 years and less than max money, although I get the feeling he’ll go to a sub-optimal situation for more dollars.  I would hate to have Johnson and Amar’e in an older version of the 2005 Phoenix Suns with no point guard.  I don’t really want to see Amar’e on this team at all, as he seems to be a pouty prima donna who does not rebound or defend (especially since you could keep David Lee for less and at least get rebounds).
• I am ok with NY just getting one good free agent at the right price and rolling the dice again in 2011.  Why ruin all this hard-earned salary cap flexibility just because some fans are short-sighted?  We watched through the Isiah Thomas years; we will keep watching.
• I do think you generally need two super-stars to win, but I think Lebron could win without a dominant big man.  I even think Lebron and David Lee could be a good enough duo if NY could get/develop a big man to defend and do the dirty work and if there was a capable point guard (with steady defense and 3-point range) to take some of the load off Lebron.

Looking ahead, there are a lot of choices to be made, and I’m glad IT isn’t the one making them. The two biggest questions are Nate Robinson and David Lee. I think the bad economy helps NY out in both cases, because many teams will be hoarding money to deal with lower ticket sales and also the impending 2010 free agents. Personally, I think 2010 is mostly fools gold. Even before the Cavs were good, I was skeptical about the intensely loyal Lebron James ever leaving Cleveland, and now there is pretty much no way he goes anywhere. The chances were slim before, and Mo Williams pretty much killed any chance of LBJ going anywhere. Dwayne Wade’s team is just good enough, and I think Miami somehow swings for Carlos Boozer in 2009 to keep Wade happy (this makes me happy because I don’t like Boozer or the Heat, and I feel like he will screw them somehow).

I think the one 2010 superstar the Knicks might have a chance at is Chris Bosh, because his team is terrible and Canadian. There are a lot of good mid-priced options in 2009, and I hope Walsh goes for them. I think NY should continue to try to trade for hard-working, cheap players because the fans are willing to accept this right now and D’Antoni’s system makes a lot of these types look pretty good. As for the current team:

Point Guard

• Chris Duhon: He’s ok, but I suspect he is merely a stopgap. I’d say keep doing what you are doing with him. Duhon faded a bit down the stretch, but he was serviceable and his contract is not that bad.
• Nate Robinson: He’s gotten more under control, even if he is still more of an undersized SG than a PG. I like him, but only if he’s not too expensive. Although he competes hard and is great off the bench, Robinson is very small and not likely to get much better. I think some of his stats are inflated because of D’Antoni’s system and all the shuffling the Knicks did mid-season.
• I’d try to get a decent backup PG on the cheap and shop Robinson eventually (later rather than sooner, since he is a fan favorite). I think Duhon is just barely good enough to make this position less of a priority than shedding bad contracts to get a superstar.

Wings

• Wilson Chandler: I like him, especially on the rookie contract. I see him sticking around.
• Al Harrington: I think Harrington is a bit overrated, but Walsh really likes him. I think Walsh drafted him and had him on several different teams. Even if he is out of an NJ HS, I am not sold on Harrington. He scores a lot, but he isn’t that efficient and he doesn’t bring much else to the table. I don’t see Walsh losing him to free agency, but I just hope that the Knicks don’t overpay for his services.
• Larry Hughes: I hate his game, especially now that he hasn’t been getting a ton of steals for several years now. I think he’s gone by 2010, if not sooner. Hughes is the type of player that gets “thrown in” to make contracts match up in big trades.
• Quentin Richardson: Richardson might be one of my least favorite Knicks (in terms of his game). Richardson’s body is done, and his shooting is terrible. He must be blackmailing someone in order to continue to get so many minutes.
• Danilo Gallinari: I think he looked ok in limited time, so hopefully his youth will enable him to bounce back quickly from back surgery. Gallinari still has good potential and a cheap contract, although Brook Lopez sure made NJ look smart. Eric Gordon and DJ Augustin are too short for me to be upset at NY for choosing Gallinari.
• I suspect that Harrington and Chandler will be retained, and the Knicks will try for a middle of the road wing player. I think getting some more accurate 3-point shooters might go a long way towards restoring the glory of D’Antoni’s system.

Bigs

• David Lee: He really impressed me, but I don’t know if I would want to extend him for a big contract. Lee is very solid and a good soldier, but we’ll have to see what he wants in return for staying with the Knicks. I would not be against trading Lee while his value is high, but that would really weaken NY on the boards.
• Eddy Curry: I feel bad for him as a person, but not so much as a player. There is no way anyone wants a fat center who doesn’t play defense (and might drop dead at any point due to a heart condition). The problem is that even if Curry is healthy, his inability to run up and down the court makes his scoring prowess less valuable to D’Antoni. I don’t like Curry’s game, but I think we’re stuck with him.
• Jared Jeffries: I think he’s a bit of a scrub, and not really cheap either. I don’t think Jeffries’ defense is really that great, and his offense is definitely terrible. It kills me that Jeffries averages over 20 minutes a game.
• Chris Wilcox: Even scrubbier than expected, but no one expected that much for him. Wilcox is another throw-in type player.
• The Knicks need a lot of help up front.

And, thanks to Nate Robinson’s second title Saturday night, the Knicks are second only to the Atlanta Hawks in NBA slam-dunk championships.

Atlanta Hawks – 4

New York Knicks – 3

6 teams – 2

6 teams – 1

Hell yeah! That makes the Knicks a dynasty. Celtic and Laker fans can take their wussy NBA championships and cram it! Champioooooonnsssss!!

YES!!!

Eventually we decided that we had to take him to the emergency room.  We were both so worried about him, because he is a big energetic cat and yet he was basically looking like he’d thrown in the towel.  We got priority into triage, and it’s a good thing we took him in.  FLUTD works very fast, and the vet told us that his potassium levels were dangerously high and had practically stopped his heart.   Sydney is the first real pet I’ve had, so the thought of losing him really hit me hard.

The vets took him in to insert a catheter, and we decided to stay the whole time (a very long time, nearly two hours).  It took very long because Sydney had a lot of grit in his urinary track, and the vets had to be careful not to tear him up.  They also had to use different anesthesia, because of Sydney’s weakened heart.  When they called us in to see Sydney, he was wearing a cone and had a catheter; it was really emotional for us.  We eventually went home and had no choice but to wait for news.  At least the Steelers won the Super Bowl for Sydney.  Unfortunately, he didn’t get to watch the victory because he had to stay overnight for monitoring.  I called every few hours (at all hours of the night) to check on him.  He finally passed some urine after many hours, and they had to keep hydrating him.  We wanted him to get the proper monitoring, but at the same time it is very expensive to leave your cat at the vet overnight.

When we finally brought Sydney home, he was out of it, and he still had trouble peeing.  I watched the litter box like a hawk, and Sydney looked really sad with his shaved belly and his shaved section of tail (edit: the fur on the tail took months to grow back).  The pee mostly just leaked onto his belly skin, but at least he was peeing.  He was quarantined in the bathroom because he was dripping blood and urine everywhere, and the bathroom smelled awful.  Toby really missed Sydney, but we couldn’t chance any roughhousing, and we had to be very alert for re-blockages.

Eventually I took Sydney back to the vet to get some more antibiotics and pain medicine.  Sydney hadn’t re-blocked, but his penis had gotten rather inflamed, apparently.  This was interfering with his ability to pee properly.  The medicine really helped a lot, and soon Sydney was back to peeing pain free.  We had him on the special prescription urinary track health canned food for a while, but eventually we switched over to high-quality canned food from Wellness.  Although it was a tough ordeal, I can’t imagine losing Sydney and I’m glad we got him to the vet in time.

We caught the EBA at 12:30 PM and amazingly, just as the bus got to Grant and Liberty the parade started. We got an incredibly close view (since the bus was fairly high) of the back of Ben Ben Roethlisberger, and the faces of Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu. The bus driver was a huge fan and she opened the doors and started cheering along (we were stopped at a traffic light). After that some less famous members drove by, and the bus driver was left enthused so we drove off.