Knicks Like Shannon Brown

CBSSports.com's Ken Berger reports:

"The Knicks have extended an offer to Shannon Brown and are waiting to hear whether the Lakers' free-agent guard will take it or wait for L.A. to make room to re-sign him by trading Sasha Vujacic, two people with knowledge of the situation told CBSSports.com Thursday.

Brown, 24, played all 82 games for the champion Lakers last season and is weighing whether to join Ray Felton in the Knicks' revamped backcourt or give the Lakers time to clear the room needed to re-sign him. The Lakers, as usual, are well into the luxury tax. So moving Vujacic's $5.4 million salary for next season would ease the tax hit associated with keeping Brown.

Brown's electrifying transition game would be a huge asset in coach Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo system, and Brown would have a good chance of winning a starting job after starting only seven games for the Lakers last season."

While Newsday's Alan Hahn reports there has been no formal offer made, the Knicks certainly have interest in Brown.

Although Brown has won two rings with the Lakers, he may be too highly regarded in Knicks' circles. Known as a solid three-point shooter, Brown only shot 33% from down town last season.

Both the Lakers and Knicks can offer Brown something the other cannot. While the Lakers offer Brown a chance to play for a championship contender, signing with the Knicks would provide Brown with the opportunity to better showcase his skills in Coach D'Antoni's system.

However, although Berger notes that Brown would have a "good" chance at winning the starting (two-guard) job with the Knicks, others may doubt that. The team will already have Wilson Chandler, Kelenna Azubuike, and (to a lesser extent)
Bill Walker competing for the job.

Signing and starting Brown would all but prove the Knicks have lost faith in Chandler. He has been a consistent contributor in the Knicks lineup for two seasons, and yet his name has still popped up in an abundance of trade rumors this summer.

While Chandler has proven to offer consistency, there is uncertainty regarding a guy like Brown, or Rudy Fernandez, whom the Knicks are also reportedly interested in. It is unknown whether either of those players are capable of increasing(and/or improving) their production potentially playing 30 minutes per game as opposed to the 20 minutes both have become accustomed to.

The 2009-10 season was also the first of Brown's four year career in which he played more than 48 games, although he did in fact play in all 82.

More to come on Brown as it develops.

In other news, Amityville, New York native Mike James, who sat down with the Knicks Journal for an interview in May, has expressed interest in joining the Utah Jazz.