David Lee, Nate Robinson Have a Million Reasons to Make the Playoffs

The Knicks finally came to contract terms with their two marquee restricted free agents on Thursday, signing both David Lee and Nate Robinson to one-year deals.

If there are any Knicks' fans out there who are worried that Lee and Robinson may be looking to eschew team play in order to put up big personal numbers, thereby increasing their free agent value for next summer, fear not! Donnie Walsh had your back when he handed out these contracts, because they contain a million dollar bonus for each player if the Knicks manage to make it to the playoffs.

It's not that Walsh doesn't see the long-term value in these guys, it's just that his master plan to turn the franchise around hinges on having as much salary cap space available as possible to ink one of the many superstar free agents who will hit the market in the summer of 2010.

As it's been mentioned many times, a LeBron James or a Dwyane Wade isn't likely going to be interested in changing teams, for less money, to play for a non-contender. So if this current Knicks squad can overachieve and make the playoffs under Mike D'Antoni's fun-and-gun system, it might go a long way with these superstars in making New York a desirable basketball destination.

I'm not sure there's a better way to make sure that two of your best players are committed to that goal than giving them each a million bucks if they can make it happen.

Nate Robinson, predictably, is optimistic that he can help the team do exactly that.

"We're going to shock everybody this year," Robinson told Newsday.

"I think we can [make the playoffs]," he said. "The only thing about our team is we just have to play defense. We can score points. That's easy. There are nights we might be off, but we can still score. It's just stopping the other team from scoring ... We have everything else. We just have to pick up our defense and everything will be OK."

Funny, that's what they say in Phoenix, too.

If Robinson's right, though, and the Knicks can improve enough to reach the postseason -- which, in the East, only means getting to .500, or even a few games below -- the extra $2 million that the franchise would have to shell out might turn out to be quite the smart investment, once the free agent signing period begins next summer.