NBA Insider with Ken Berger

It appears the Knicks are going to have to look elsewhere for help at small forward with reports Tuesday morning that Rashard Lewis has decided to sign a five-year max deal with the Orlando Magic.

Details are sketchy, but ESPN.com is reporting that Lewis was wowed by the Magic’s aggressive recruiting visit and decided to opt for a straight-up contract rather than going to another team via a sign-and-trade. Orlando was one of the few teams with enough cap space to give Lewis a max deal. The total value won’t be known until the 2007-08 salary cap structure is announced, and it won’t be official until the signing moratorium is lifted on July 11.

The Sonics could have given Lewis a more lucrative six-year deal, then dealt him to a team such as the Knicks. We’ll find out later today whether the Knicks lacked the pieces to get such a deal done or Lewis simply wanted to play alongside Dwight Howard in Orlando.

Isiah Thomas will now have to go to Plan B if he wants to add a small forward who can score, defend, and rebound. Ron Artest could be had for a modest price in a trade with Sacramento. The Kings are tired of his distractions, and Artest would be cheap because he’d essentially be a one-year rental with an opt-out in 2009. Toronto’s Morris Peterson also is an unrestricted free agent.

On another note, I’m going to steal a tactic from my colleague, Alan Hahn, by going musical in my blog. I saw Rush for about the 15th time last night at Jones Beach, and for those who care, it was the best show I’ve seen them do. Rush is an eclectic musical taste, and my taste for their music is probably more eclectic than most. I like a lot of their obscure songs that never got played on the radio, and they rolled out a playlist of my favorites last night, as though I had submitted requests.

Then again, maybe Zach Randolph is a Rush fan, too. They played “Mission,” something Zach is going to be on to repair his public image, and “Circumstances,” which were all that kept him from being a model citizen in Portland. They opened with “Limelight,” which Zach certainly will find in New York, and sprinkled in a rare live performance of “Witch Hunt.” Insert your own joke.

I can hear myself think for the first time all night. The music has stopped blaring, the ESPN announcers have stopped screaming, and the Mets fans have stopped cheering "Daaaa-ryylll! Daaaa-ryylll!" in honor of Darryl Strawberry's son, D.J., who was selected by Phoenix with the next-to-last pick.

If you're new to the blog tonight for our live update experiment, I hope you stick around and check back for news and updates. The start of free agency is less than 48 hours away.

Any thoughts, questions, or insights are welcome. I'll answer them after I get some sleep.

G'nite.

Anyone still awake out there? You should be. If this were an NBA Finals game, we'd only be halfway through the third quarter.

The rumored deal involving Charlotte trading the No. 8 pick just happened. The Bobcats send Brandan Wright to Golden State for Jason Richardson and Jermareo Davidson, the 36th pick. So maybe Michael Jordan knows what he's doing.

In case you're wondering when we write all the stuff you see in the paper, I just sent in the two stories that will appear in most editions minutes ago. My head hurts.

As you probably know by now, Dan Dickau is the other throw-in for the Knicks in the Zach Randolph trade. The Knicks get Randolph, Dickau, and Fred Jones for Channing Frye and Steve Francis. I like the trade.

There's other stuff swirling around here, such as speculation about whether Milwaukee will trade Yi Jianlian, who doesn't want to play there. I'm more focused on whether Minnesota will trade Kevin Garnett, although the best chance for that to happen would've been a deal involving draft picks.

Will Jermaine O'Neal stay in Indiana? The Nets have offered Richard Jefferson, Nenad Krstic, and Jason Collins.

How will the Lakers patch things up with Kobe. Won't be easy, from what I'm hearing.

Do the Knicks have enough left to swing a sign-and-trade for Rashard Lewis? Word is Seattle is going to try to keep him now, but Orlando is going to make a push.

I'll sort it out and get back to you in a bit. Tylenol anyone?

After Oden and Durant, Al Horford went to the Hawks and Mike Conley Jr. to the Grizzlies. The Celtics made the fifth pick, Jeff Green, but the reports are that he's headed to Seattle for Ray Allen. The Sonics also get Cold Spring Harbor's Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West.

So after Boston was mentioned in every Kevin Garnett trade scenario imaginable, they wind up with Ray Allen instead.

Your thoughts?

Oden and Durant go 1-2. What a shocker. Mel Kiper Jr. just called in to say he hates both picks.

Each player sat next to his mom when the announcements were made. I see Ohio State coach Thad Matta talking on a cell phone, and he's smiling as though he were just picked first in the draft. I wonder if he just got a call that Oden is actually 37 and ineligible for the draft, in which case he could go back to school.

For those who care, that's what I just had for dinner. I decided to forego the media spread and head upstairs with the real people and have a high cholesterol, overpriced feast.

Now David Stern is talking about how great the NBA is. The suspense is about to end ... well, it'll end after the first two picks. Hope you had a better dinner than I did.

Here we are in the brave new world of blogging during a sporting event while the sporting event happens. I'll do my best to keep you up to date in between picks and bathroom breaks.

First, rumors. Speculation is growing in the Theater at MSG that the Knicks are trying to do something big. Now Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports -- an excellent, well-sourced reporter who used to toil at the Bergen Record -- has the Knicks and Trail Blazers discussing a trade that would send Zach Randolph and Martell Webster to New York for Steve Francis and Channing Frye. No independent confirmation yet on this end. Just wanted you to know it's out there.

Also according to Woj, the Nets have offered Richard Jefferson, Nenad Krstic, and Jason Collins to the Pacers for Jermaine O'Neal. For that to work, I think the Pacers would have to pull off another deal to get into the first round because they don't have a first-round pick.

Oh, and someone just told me that ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who has a pipeline to Kobe Bryant, just said on radio or TV or some other form of communication that Jerry Buss lied when he said he and Kobe had a constructive talk recently. The Kobe camp apparently says there is no communication between the two, and not surprisingly, he's still fuming at the Lakers.

That's all for now. Stay tuned and send me your thoughts, comments, criticisms, rumors, etc. I'll address as much as I can.

It’s that time of year again … time to make the mockery of the drafting process by allowing everyone with a keyboard to come up with a mock draft.

Since this figures to be the most chaotic NBA draft in recent memory, with numerous trades involving superstar veterans and premium picks under serious discussion, I’m going to spare you the trouble of reading my projections after the top 10. Several general managers have indicated that they don’t even know what their competitors will do from the fifth pick on down. In some cases, it’s so unpredictable that the execs don’t even know what they’ll do once we get into the teens.

A caveat: The Hawks (No. 3), Celtics (No. 5), and Bobcats (No. 8) are all deep into discussions to trade their lottery picks, and I expect at least one of those deals to be done by draft time Thursday night. But as things stand right now, here is how I expect the top 10 picks to go down:

1) Portland Trail Blazers: Greg Oden, C, Ohio State, 7-0, 257. Not exactly a no-brainer over Kevin Durant, but close.

2) Seattle SuperSonics: Kevin Durant, F, Texas, 6-10, 215. Once Oden is gone, this pick is a no-brainer.

3) Atlanta Hawks: Yi Jianlian, F, China, 7-0, 246. The Hawks draft the wrong guy year after year, so this pick should make Yi nervous.

4) Memphis Grizzlies: Al Horford, F, Florida, PF, 6-10, 246. First of three Gators going in the top 10.

5) Boston Celtics: Jeff Green, F, Georgetown, 6-10, 228. If Danny Ainge doesn’t trade the pick, Green will give the Celtics a versatile frontcourt player with great intangibles.

6) Milwaukee Bucks: Mike Conley, G, Ohio State, 6-1, 175. Though not a star, Conley is a complete guard who will complement another former Buckeye, Michael Redd.

7) Minnesota Timberwolves: Joakim Noah, F, Florida, 7-0, 223. A little unpolished, but the Poly Prep (Brooklyn) product would be a steal here.

8) Charlotte Bobcats: Corey Brewer, G, Florida, 6-8, 185. And Michael Jordan takes … a shooting guard! I still think he’s more likely to trade the pick.

9) Chicago Bulls (via Knicks): Spencer Hawes, C, Washington, 7-1, 244. With one of the many picks the Bulls got for Eddy Curry, they get a replacement for Eddy Curry.

10) Sacramento Kings: Brandan Wright, F, North Carolina, 6-9, 200. A finesse player whose stock has been falling due to unimpressive workouts, but he’s too talented to pass on here.