OK, so the New York Knicks make the first splash of the free-agency season. Unless, of course, you believe that Joe Johnson re-upping with the Atlanta Hawks for $119 million was the first "splash," but I just call that idiocy. Wait, you're saying handing an overrated forward who has been known to disappear for stretches of games when he's "disinterested" and has undergone microfracture knee surgery prior to his 30th birthday $100 million is idiocy too? Crap.

That last sentence was jokes, Amar'e, jokes. Kinda. Well it doesn't matter anyway because the Knicks got Stoudemire, Stoudemire got paid, and we are getting dumber by the minute during this NBA free agency bonanza.

I could write about what Stoudemire can do for the Knicks, which is a lot or a little, but who cares? Unless the Knicks put more talent around Amar'e they are going to be irrelevant anyway. The most exciting basketball in New York City is stilled played at Rucker Park. That ain't changing with Stoudemire alone.

What's funny is that both the owners and the players appear giddy over the current status of the NBA. Look, I don't blame Stoudemire for forgetting LeBron James or D-Wade and signing his deal first. I'd take $100 million on a losing team any day. Amar'e, like all players, have a relatively short window to get their money and they need to take advantage. If I had a knee and eye surgery prior to getting my big deal, I'd run straight to the money.

Players are taking advantage of a shopping spree that makes no sense. Why wouldn't they dive right into them millions? Hell, get it when it's hot, fellas.

But you can almost see these owners laughing in their offices like they know a little something else that the rest of us don't. I can see James Dolan now sitting above Madison Square Garden thinking, "It doesn't matter, we aren't even going to have an NBA in three years so this contract will be void!" Or something like that. But it's an interesting question: are owners so sure about a looming lockout that they are gambling on the reality that they won't have to pay large chunks of these lucrative deals, making it easier to throw these kinds of dollars around? Hmmm.

At the very least, the Knicks signing Stoudermire and the Hawks signing Johnson are tricks. Look, there were four free agents that mattered this summer. LeBron, Wade, Bosh and Nowitzki, and even Bosh was borderline. He's included on that list because of all the reported ties he had to LeBron and/or Wade. But Bosh on his own belongs on the second tier with Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Johnson, et al.

We knew Nowitzki was going back to Dallas. So, really, the only true impact guys are LeBron and Wade. That's it. There are other quality players out there to be had, but those guys need to be teamed up with others in order to really have value. I'm sorry, but you're not winning a title if Joe Johnson is your number-one guy. No offense.

But these Johnson and Stoudemire deals are the typical Look-Fans-We-Really-Did-Try-To-Improve-deals. These deals go down like this so that when, next february, both teams continue to suck, management can point to this summer and tell their fans that they really were trying to get better and improve the overall product. It just didn't happen this year but please renew your season tickets, we'll be back at it next year!

The Hawks? Forgetta bout it. The Knicks? Same for them, unless LeBron wants to head to New York City, which doesn't sound likely.