Welcome to New York, Amar'e!

It's finally official: the Knicks and Amar'e Stoudemire have agreed in principle on 5 year, $99.7 million deal (a Max deal) to bring the star power forward to the World's Most Famous Arena.

There are a lot of various opinions on this signing (including mine), but at least all Knicks' fans can finally exhale, as we now know the Knicks will not completely strike out on all the top free agents.

It will be interesting to see who the Knicks, and now Amar'e, can get to build around him. Already, the Nuggets have nixed the notion of Carmelo Anthony being traded this year.

Tony Parker and Chris Paul might be possibilities, but the ever-growing reality of the situation is pointing more towards Luke Ridnour to help implement the pick-and-roll game that Stoudemire thrives in. (Yes, I can hear the groans already.)

Before you groan, though, Knicks' fans, be happy and thankful your franchise has once again at least found a direction and a realistic chance to be at least partial players in the playoffs.

We need it. Be happy. Exhale.

Amar'e: I Can Get Parker and Carmelo to NY

It wouldn't be the Fourth of July if there wasn't some good ol' American making a ridiculously bold claim that would undoubtedly ruffle the feathers of those around him. So, thank you Amar'e for telling the press that if you come to the Knicks, you could promise that Tony Parker and Carmelo Anthony would follow you.

As I mentioned before when it was revealed that the Knicks had an agreement in place with Stoudemire, one of the immediate plusses of an agreement would be that Stoudemire could be used as a recruiting tool. 

Well, apparently, he doesn't care if he is signed or not, he still plans to recruit. 

However, as much as he could be recruiting for the Knicks, he also might just be hyping up his ability as a recruiter so that the Knicks will give him his contract already (especially since there have been no other rumors of him getting Max offers elsewhere).

For the moment, though, let's take Amar'e at his word and see if this is even a possibility.

First, it has been rumored earlier this Spring that Tony Parker would be open to a trade to the Knicks. The only way this would occur is if a) the Knicks strike out on other free agents and b) the Spurs are willing to do a sign-and-trade with David Lee most likely being the centerpiece in the Knicks' side of the deal. The Spurs do have George Hill waiting in the wings behind Parker, but I have to believe David Lee is not the missing piece the Spurs need to make one last charge at the title with Tim Duncan. Thus, I think the Knicks would have to work some sort of a three way deal with maybe the Wolves involved and trading Al Jefferson to the Spurs?

Second, Carmelo Anthony has recently been offered a 3 year, $65 million extension from the Nuggets. Although he has not signed yet, most people believe it would be crazy not to take that much guaranteed money and run. However, there has also been some noise that if he does not sign the extension soon, the Nuggets will begin to consider trades so as not to lose him next summer for nothing. If he did become a free agent next summer, the Knicks are currently scheduled only to have $10-12 million in cap room, so they would need to trade some players to clear space in order to give Max dollars to Melo. However, considering how easy it became for the Bulls and Heat to pawn off players for cap room, I'm pretty sure the Knicks could figure something out by 2011.

If all this worked out, it would be a very very nice consolation prize to losing out on LeBron.