NBA Rumors: Analyzing Knicks' Offseason Plans, the Ben Gordon Situation and More

After nearly a month of the NBA being inundated with a cascade of speculation that could make anyone drown in the information overload, a relative calm should hush over the rumor mill for the rest of the season. 

The league's trade deadline has long passed now, and with nearly every buyout player or veteran free agent having chosen their contender to ride with, the rosters you see now are what will show up in May and June. Sure, injuries will happen. They do every postseason. And perhaps a 10-day contract will turn into a "rest of the season" agreement, and that player could become a ninth man on a playoff roster.

Fine. You got me. But all of the league's biggest difference-makers have been accounted for. It's time for the actual product on the floor to carry the NBA rather than the rumblings off.

That said, the NBA wouldn't be the NBA without people talking behind closed doors about something. And, no matter how hard you try to avoid it and enjoy LeBron James getting his Batman on, it's inescapable. Dreary franchises are already formulating summer plans to get back into the playoff hunt, while players begin making considerations in the long and short term.

With that in mind, let's take a look around the Association and check in on some of the more interesting news and notes going around at the moment. 

Knicks to Shop Amar'e's Contract This Offseason?

Jason DeCrow/Associated Press

Oh. Hey. Look. Another reason to talk about the Knicks. The 2013-14 season's darkest of comedies continued their latest run of misanthropy on Sunday, as the Bulls scored a 109-90 embarrassment of New York on national television. The Knicks have lost six straight and have just two wins since the end of January, dropping them to 21-39 and 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

All the while, #KnicksTalk has become America's favorite, terrible talking-head program. Everyone has a fix or a joke. Fire Mike Woodson. Allow Carmelo Anthony to walk in free agency and start a full-scale rebuild. Invent a time machine, go back to last summer and avoid re-signing J.R. Smith at all costs.

Whatever. The Knicks are a total mess without any clear-cut fix—at least one that doesn't involve a historically unprecedented decision. It's easy for some to call on New York to drop Anthony, but teams don't just allow superstars to bolt. And, despite all the apparent warts in Anthony's game, he still very much is a superstar.

So, instead, the situation at hand is apparent. New York will throw a max contract extension offer Anthony's way, hope he accepts and then go about trying to spend its way out of this dreadful situation. As Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe points out, one of the biggest trump cards the Knicks plan on playing this summer is attempting to shop Amar'e Stoudemire's soon-to-be expiring contract for longer-term money.

Holmes throws out Eric Gordon as a possibility, but it's really just a general expectation. Stoudemire, unless he's bludgeoned in the head or something, will exercise the $23.41 million he's owed for next season. While the Knicks know Stoudemire doesn't have value to many teams as a player at this point—at least not at his current salary—they see his expiring contract as an asset that can be folded.

There are, as one would expect, problems with that logic. We're now two full seasons into the new collective bargaining agreement, each of which has shown expiring contracts don't have nearly the same value as they once did. Teams aren't as willing to give up actual assets, simply because contracts are shorter and there are fewer Stoudemire-level albatrosses hanging out.

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Even Gordon's contract stretches only through the 2015-16 season—and that assumes he exercises a player option. The Pelicans have made it abundantly clear that they want to be a playoff team. Gordon, while overpaid, is still an effective shooter and a far better fit than, say, Tyreke Evans. Wouldn't New Orleans and other alike franchises just want to keep their better player rather than dishing out a $20 million-plus check to Stoudemire?

What's more, the Knicks have to be careful how much long-term salary they take on. Assuming Carmelo returns, the overarching plan (if they have one) has to be adding another superstar via free agency in 2015. Andrea Bargnani, Tyson Chandler and Stoudemire will be off the books by then. If the Knicks add someone at Gordon's salary level, they'd be getting dangerously close to losing max-level cap room.

In other words: Fun times in the Big Apple!

Ben Gordon Still Wants to Play This Season

Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

If the Gordon situation is any indication, let's just say Michael Jordan, the owner, might be just as cutthroat as Michael Jordan, the player. Everyone knew Gordon was a buyout candidate. He was talked about on all the talking-head shows, his destination was speculated about nonstop and the Bobcats had subtracted him from the rotation—save for a Feb. 22 showcase against Memphis.

A buyout had been discussed for weeks and weeks. And, finally, the Bobcats pulled the trigger on Sunday, right as everyone was getting back from brunch. Although the move was entirely expected, the timing of everything can only be described as a gigantic flipping of the bird at Gordon.

The Bobcats placed him on waivers less than 12 hours after the league-mandated cutoff for bought-out or waived players being eligible for the postseason. That means, even though Gordon can still technically sign with a team headed for the playoffs, he wouldn't get to play. Because it would make zero sense for said playoff squads to sign a player who cannot then help them in May and June, Gordon's options are minimal.

Gordon, essentially, has to hope a nonplayoff team wants to give him an extended long-term look or he'll wait until summer to sign a new deal. Chris B. Haynes of Comcast SportsNet reported that Gordon is still planning to latch on, despite the unfortunate situation:

Odds are probably against Gordon latching on before the end of the season. He averaged a career-low 5.2 points per game on just 34.3 percent shooting in 19 appearances this season, rarely looking engaged when on the floor. Most teams without playoff aspirations are going to emphasize playing young talent—not 30-year-old guards jonesing for another payday. 

It's possible that an injury opens up a spot and a team brings him in for a short look—maybe the disaster-area Knicks could try to find a contributor on the cheap, with the expectation of bringing him back next season. The more likely scenario remains Gordon spends the rest of this year getting back into playing shape and working out, before attempting to prove himself to teams over the summer.

The more curious thing here is what this says about how the Bobcats do business. No matter your take on the situation, it's not exactly the most player-friendly thing in the world to purposely work the system in order to limit his options and prevent him from playing in the postseason. Charlotte is a playoff contender in the East, sure, but let's be real here. This is a team competing to get rolled by Miami or Indiana in the first round—the only fight is which one gets to do the sweeping honors.

If you're Gordon's representation, this is something you remember going forward with other clients. Keep in mind that other franchises who waived players got their guys out under the gun as a sign of good faith. 

Mark Jackson's Job Not Safe?

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

The Warriors remain one of the league's most confounding and interesting teams. At 36-24, they would be headed for a No. 3 seed if Oakland were on the Atlantic rather than the Pacific. Instead, Golden State is one of the four-team gaggle (Dallas, Phoenix and Memphis being the others) competing for three playoff spots. While the Warriors have a slight advantage at the moment, there has been times since the New Year they've looked the worst of the bunch.

Golden State is currently 12th in offensive efficiency, a ranking that frustrates and confounds those who look at the roster composition. With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and David Lee—each among the best offensive players at their positions—it seemed almost guaranteed that the Warriors would be an elite offense.

Most of the problems come from the bench, specifically when Curry sits. But if you would have told anyone that Golden State would have the third-best defense in basketball this season, they would have first wondered whether Golden State was No. 1 or No. 2 in the West. The Warriors often get bogged down in strange, isolation basketball, taking bad shots within the first seven seconds of the shot clock that have little chance of becoming an offensive board.

This, apparently, has led to some internal discussion about the future of coach Mark Jackson. Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News reported that there are increasing rumblings that Jackson is not on "safe ground." He also noted the Knicks could be interested if Jackson were fired or chose to leave Golden State this offseason.

Of course, take that all with a grain of salt. Lawrence works for a New York-based paper, so perhaps some of the rumblings about Jackson's job safety might be coming from a franchise that maybe kinda sorta wants to talk with him about its vacancy.

Even so, Jackson's job security is something worth monitoring. The Warriors went all-in on this core during the summer, shipping out multiple first-round picks to clear space to sign Andre Iguodala. They're not going to be satisfied with a first-round exit this season. That would be seen as a sign of regression, and it's at least fair to lob some criticism at Jackson for the Warriors' offensive struggles.

Jackson famously gives his players leeway offensively, but it's obvious that some reins need pulling in. He's also not shown all that much innovation as a play-caller, which only exacerbates the Warriors' already-apparent problems.

I'd be shocked if Jackson was fired and even more shocked if he ended up with the Knicks. But, then again, if you told me George Karl would be let go at this time last season, I would have kindly asked you to check into rehab. So things go in the NBA.

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