Some Knicks free agency rumors: 8/2/13

Good morning! Welcome to the second day of the barren month of August. Strewn among the tumbleweeds and blanched cattle bones this morning were a few signs of life from the Knicks' organization. I have collected those and will present them to you in two posts. First, one for free agency things:

1. There are still rumors a-bubblin'. First, to update on something that's been around throughout this week, Beno Udrih's agent told Marc Berman five teams have interest in his client, and went on to state the following:

“If he signs with the Knicks the reasons will not be because of the money,’’ Cornstein said. “It would be a disservice to say they’re long shots or favorites. He’s examining the situations.’’

"Examining." We all know Beno's studying Yelp reviews of each city's foremost cat cabaret No need to be euphemistic, Mr. Cornstein.

2. Jared Zwerling offered (or re-offered) the names of Ivan Johnson and Jannero Pargo as gentlemen in "discussions" with the Knicks. Zwerling has been throwing Johnson's name around for a while, but this-- unless I'm forgetting something-- is the first time Pargo's name has come up, which is baffling because EVERYBODY's name has come up at one point or another. These are just little things to file alongside the Udrih stuff (though that seems a bit more involved), the Hamed Haddadi stuff, the Bobby Brown stuff, the stuff in that Zwerling article about a half-dozen other big men, and the tons of other stuff accreted on the rumor mill throughout the summer.

There is too much stuff at this point to think hard about any "target" or object of "interest" or participant in "discussions", but quickly: I've said I like Ivan Johnson for the Knicks, and I still do. I reckon he'd roughly duplicate Kenyon Martin's presence to some extent, which I find appealing. He's been a better rebounder than Martin has, but strikes me as an even wilder defender and likelier to attempt to create offense, which probably isn't a good thing. But yeah, I'd be fine with another undersized muscleman in lieu of an even 7-footer, and Ivan seems like a fun guy to root for.

Pargo's been hanging onto the league by a thread, and doesn't really have a recent body of work, but was-- even at his best-- not much more than a little guy who hit threes. Unless he intends to turn over a new leaf in his 34th year, Pargo would surely have less to contribute than someone like Udrih, or even a guy who's now out of the picture like Delonte West. (That said, I adore Jannero Pargo for reasons I don't quite comprehend and would be more than happy to talk myself into supporting him in heavy rotation.)

Things are as they were. Just a few new names. This is how it is in August. Not much going on. On the bright side, you're allowed to pee wherever you want. Go ahead. I know you're at work. Right there on the floor. No one will complain.