Man, what's going on with the Knicks? It was only a few years ago that they were an intimidating defensive stalwart holding opponents to low scores and thugging their way to the top of the Atlantic Division. Last night their new vaunted backcourt of Marbury and Stevie Franchise gave up 46 points to Gilbert Arenas....in 3 quarters! Although I've never been a huge Knicks fan, I do pine for the days when they were a force in the east, and their rivalries with Miami and Indiana made the NBA fun to watch. That organization is a mess, and most people are pointing fingers at Isiah Thomas and the Knicks top brass. My question to my fellow Setshotters is if you were the GM of the Knicks, how would you start to clean up the mess...
...given that many of the squads draft picks have been mortgaged away, and high-rent, long-term contracts for players like Jerome James are keeping you at the salary cap limit. To make matters worse, New York fans and media are too impatient to rebuild, thus perpetuating the cycle of trading away your future players for overpriced aging talent. Where do you begin? And I wonder if somehow we can get Woody or Soon Yi to chime in on this one? Should the Knicks turn to the IMF for help?
4 comments:
well I am the European basketball fan so my point of view is this: first you need to get rid of Marbury an Frensis; and then get some real playmaker, a guy who will work for the team and pass a lot, if possible to be a great defensive player too, maybe Alejandro Montecchia, Marko Jaric, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Jason Kidd (no matter the age); then try to make some space in salary cap even if that requires to give away the best players on the squad, then signing some young player with not only good athleticism but with brains; and finally a coach from Europe that would bring big amount of discipline in their game and find the best way to steer their talent... best regards from Serbia!
sorry for mistake above: I said "Frensis" and I meant Steve Francis. also I forgot about Chris Paul who would be great addition to any squad.
A post from Serbia! Fan-tastic!!!
Some pretty good ideas...Although I think all 30 NBA teams would love to have Chris Paul on their roster (Note to Kevin McHale) and it's doubtful the knicks would have the salary cap space to sign him, given that they've inked such 'superstars' as Jerome James and Eddy Curry to long term deals. (Also, as a native T-wolves fan, I don't want that buster Marco Jaric anywhere near my team. But I digress.)
As far as getting rid of Steph and Francis, that's no easy task. Stephon's reputation for being all about Stephon is getting worse all the time (I still won't forgive him for leaving Minnesota when he and KG could have made a dynasty for years together), and Francis is a head case and already diminishing in skills. You won't get much for them besides other aging veterans with big contracts. NY has the added pressure of extremely high rent, media pressure to win now, and pressure to fill the stands, so future-talent type moves aren't easy for them to make. The cliche' is that you can't rebuild in NY....
The only player on the knicks with any real trade value is Channing Frye, and Knicks fans would riot in the street if they traded him.
But you're right they need a good playmaker, because right now they have 3 shoot first point guard options (Rose/Francis/Marbury). Mark Jackson used to play that role beautifully for them in their days as Eastern Conference thugs...
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