The Knicks Fix

The prospects just keep rolling in and Thursday's group might be the most intriguing yet.

The teams will watch USC guard Nick Young, LSU power forward Glen Davis, Rice guard Morris Almond and Duke power forward Josh McRoberts work out at the Nets practice facility. Young and Almond are shooting guards and Almond is considered one of the best pure shooters available.

But you know where my eyes are fixed.

Look at the size that will be on display. LSU "Big Baby" Davis, all 6-8 and almost 300 pounds of him. His weight has long been an issue and he supposedly dropped a great deal of it before this season (looks to me like it dropped from his stomach to his thighs). But size is hard to come by, especially that much. It would be interesting to see Davis and Eddy Curry -- about 600 pounds of front court -- work together down low. I'd hate to see them run the break, however.

Davis' strength is his strength. He is a load to deal with in the paint and that kind of size and power could make him a force in defending the likes of Shaq and Yao and most of the league's power-game big men. But he'd be a liability against quicker bigs such as Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett. You also wouldn't solve your problem with interior help defense because Davis isn't much of a leaper, nor is he quick off the floor.

But overall you have to like this guy as a No. 23 pick, if he stays on the board that long. He's got a personality as big as his body and that always is welcomed in New York. For a big man, he moves well. And with some more conditioning and learning from Mark Aguirre and Herb Williams, in time this guy could develop into a solid off-the-bench presence.

Wait, didn't I just describe Jerome James?

The other guy in this group that has had my eye since I started reading the draft updates and scouting reports is McRoberts. This kid has NBA size, NBA smarts and a nice touch. They say he also has a mean streak, but that might just be another way of saying he is quickly rattled.

The Nets pick at No. 17 and almost everyone believes they are looking to get more size. I have to believe if McRoberts is there at 17, they'll grab him up and try to develop him to work with Nenad Krstic. Then again, if the Nets believe they're going to lose Vince Carter, they might be more apt to go with a shooter.

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I don't know what this means, but I'll pass it on to you, my loyal readers. In making my usual calls and checking around about what the Knicks may be up to on several fronts (not just trades and the draft, wink-wink) I have noticed in my notes that more than once I've been told by different people that "we'll know more in about a month" regarding the direction of the Knicks in the offseason.

Hmmm...

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I had to throw this in - basketball junkies need not continue reading.

Last night I got word that the Islanders had decided to buy out Alexei Yashin. After years of hearing this kind of talk every summer and never seeing it actually come to fruition come the fall, I was quite skeptical. Then I saw the back page of our paper in the morning and read Greg Logan's scoop.

I then quoted the greatest sports movie of all time, Slapshot: "Dickie Dunn wrote this, it must be true!"

It's great news,but also about three years too late. I heard from several former Islanders, most from the recent years, who grumbled that the decision should have been made right after the NHL lockout ended and the amnesty period was put in place by the league so teams could rid themselves of bad contracts. The Isles decided not to part ways with Yashin then. Instead, they broke up what was a pretty good core of players -- Michael Peca, Adrian Aucoin, Dave Scatchard, Mark Parrish, etc. -- and tried to build around Yashin. They even gave him the 'C'.

C for Complacent. C for Care-less. C for Conditioning (as in poor). C for Contract (the ultimate albatross).

I was one who wanted to give Yashin a chance when the Islanders first got him in 2001, but after seeing first-hand how this guy sandbagged a team and blamed everyone but himself, I've called for a buyout since the day the league instituted the rule. In fact, I was told by someone high in the league's office that the amnesty rule was put in place with Yashin's contract in mind. It was like the Knicks opting not to buy out Allan Houston's contract, when the rule was put in place specifically for that.

But I give a lot of credit to Charles Wang, who is eating almost $20 million to right a wrong that he tried so hard to make work. With that money-pit of an arena and not much else in income other than tickets, Wang loses almost $20 million a year alone on that team. So this year the man is out $40 million. Don't feel sorry for Yashin, he walks away a rich man (and he'll get a contract somewhere, likely in Russia).

It's easy to throw around someone else's money. Wang does have a lot of it, but he doesn't need to just burn it in a pile every year.

So Islanders fans, you need to show your appreciation for what your owner just did and buy tickets. Lots of them. Sell the damn place out every night.

And Ryan Smyth had better re-sign. No more excuses now.

OK, hockey stuff out of the way....yeah, it's so hard to cut the cord.