The Knicks Fix

The irony is Nate's boxscore compared with Wade.

It is too bad that there is no one in Knicks management who realizes that the goal for this season should be to shed contracts, collect draft picks, and hope for a top three pick in this year's draft. It is no use for anyone for the Knicks to win 32 games, have the seventh or eighth pick, and have Isiah tell us that the Knicks are on the right path.

Fast forward to next year, same cast of characters, add a draft pick, and the team is on pace again for 32 wins.

It is a hopeless treadmill.

The game no one should really watch has a highlight worthy of a video clip...

So David, How do you shed salary and gain draft picks?

Do you trade bad players and contracts for draft picks? what about in real life?

In one paragraph you say they should collect picks and drop salaries and in the next you complain about exactly what would have to happen in order to follow your advice.

Is this just another example of a New York "fan" who wants his cake but doesn't want to pay for it?

@david,

i'm having trouble conjuring up who we could trade for a decent draft pick. the only guys on this roster who have trade value are jamal, n8 and lee, and those are pretty much the 3 guys you shouldn't be trading. i guess you could argue for trading zbo (though i am against this), but you are going to have to take on real salary to make that deal work. the same goes for curry (whom i would LOVE to dump). Q, chandler, balkman, jeffries....you just ain't gonna find teams giving up picks for these guys.

as far as salary dumping, the two long term expensive contracts that you could clear future space through trades are zbo's and curry. as i said, with curry, i wouldn't think twice about it, he is and always will be deadwood. zbo actually has value out there, and you could probably swap him for a shorter contract and a pick, but it won't be a top 15 pick, i can guarantee that. for example, let's say the bucks would trade villenueva (whom i like) and a pick. where does that really get you? you'd end up with the 20th pick next year, and a player you would probably not want to lose as he enters his restricted free agency. so you'd end up having to sign him to a contract that would likely extend beyond zbos (and i might add, i don't think villenueva will ever produce like zbo).

i'm sick of the situation too, but it's not so easy to get out of it, and what you don't want to do is cut off your nose to save your face. jamal, zbo, lee, balkman, n8; these are guys that can contribute to a winning team, were they to play alongside a creative point guard, an athletic center, a sharp shooting small forward, and a real coach. THESE are the elements that are missing in order for this team to turn things around. obviously this is a long shopping list, but it will only be longer if you give away the parts that can actually work for you in the future.

Well; there always does seem to be highlight film even during street balling games !!! Which is exactlt what the Knicks have become under the "Wizard" OZiah Thomas..............

He fawns over Riley and Jackson as he states "young coaches and managers like myself and others as pire to be like them"

News to OZiah: Those that have more than a playground mentality can see through your usual vague, and fraudulent remarks ! Your time as an advisor in Detroit [before you were shown the door]; your ownership of the CBA league [before you bankrupted it]; Your days running the Toronto Raptor's {before that marriage broke up}; your coaching the Indiana Pacers {before being fired}; and your four plus years hear in New York, running the once proud Knicks straight into the ground are not considered training wheels time for you....Fool !

How can a team like the Knicks beat anybody good ??? Even against the horrible Heat; the guards shoot a combined 17-39 including 3-12 from downtown.....Starting center Curry goes 3-10 with only 3 rebounds and no FT attempted. Power forward Zach goes 7-19 from the field and gets to the line only twice....Small forward position combines for 1-7 shooting and 3 points total in 48 minutes combined....Another free agent guard to take the place of, now under the bus, Marbury;;; F. Jones plays 28 minutes and gets ZERO assists and 2 rebounds guarding hop-a-long D.Wade.........Shaq could barely get out of his wheelchair before the game; to boot !!!!

Good luck over the next 2 dozen games or so against pretty good teams for a change; Mr. "we'll compete for the championship every year I'm hear" OZiah Lord-Fraud Thomas !!!!!!!!

Thanks Alan. I only saw parts of the game and I missed N8's dunk. I checked YouTube this AM but it was not there. Anyway, thanks again.

A repost...

* About the hypothesis that "teams that DungBury left have gotten better" Well, it's happening again. This is a very concrete example. NYK is playing much better without SepticBury. Not championship caliber but at least more competitive and you can see some amount of improvement.

Alan,

whaddup!

Mak,

I hear you on the argument of the Knicks improvement after MeBury's shelf visit for Bone spurs in his ankle- more have been found on his cranium, what a Knucklehead. LOL!

But all the heavy minutes that Jamal will be logging and Nate may be getting as a result of Mybury's shelfing, leaves the team w/o a PG (I know the argument is that Marbury wasn't a pure PG either) and those additional minutes might diminish there energy and effectiveness in certain scenarios- tail end of back to back games, and overtime games.

To that end I was wondering if we could petition the league to grant the team an injury exception, so that we might shop around for a PG to give Jamala and Nate some rest during the course of games and the remainder of the season.

GUYS,
Check Real GM today! Artest has stated you can bet the House he is going to opt out of his contract next year, and doesn't care about Money! To me that means Q or Rose with either
Morris or Chandler pack your bags because the kings now have to take what ever we give up for him or lose him for ZIP! Please check out that article because it means" Trade me to the Knicks Now" in different words! I refuse to believe the Kings will let him walk for Zero when they can get a young player and an expiring contract!!!!! Check it out and let me know what you guys think!

I should clarify, the Knicks should shed salary if its possible (Curry, Randolph), let Marbury and Rose expire, attempt to deal Q (probably not feasible) and Crawford for picks. Build around high draft picks, Lee, Chandler, Robinson, Balkman.

Do no take on a contract that runs beyond 2009.

This is not "another NY fans fantasy,".it is a reasonable long term plan.

Nate is plain amazing. A lot of folks said he should pattern his game after Mugsy Bogues, but I think Calvin Murphy is a better fit. He can shoot, he can take it strong to the hoop and he's greatly improved his passing game. What will make him an All-Star is being a defensive pest that piles up steals, someone that disrupts the other teams offense.

@Peaceman: Now you know why those Knick-related trade rumors were coming out of Sac-town....seems like Geoff Petrie is getting worried about having to move Artest and is trying to get Isiah to give up David Lee.
@emac2: ya got me...but aside from that highlight and maybe the D-Wade oop...Zzzzzz.
Check out Ken Berger's NBA Insiter on the newsday.com main page. Another Dolan endorsement for Isiah. As we wrote last week, Zeke is staying the season. The changes come in the offseason. Gotta ride it out until then.

DAMN THAT NATE DUNK WAS OFF THE CHARTS!

thanks for the video allan...good stuff.

i really think that it is important to see how the crawford,little nate back court works because it let us know what we need to fix.

if crawford can evolve into a gilbert arenas type of pt guard then we won;t have to address the point guard situation.we could then focus on the power forward,center tandem.

we need a athletic enforcer at either center or forward position...

just think if we had artest at small forward.i think we would be a much better defensive team.

if i had to pick between curry and randolph...i would pick randolph.

i know the guy is selfish and never passes but he has a high running motor and i would take that kind of personality over curry's
i am too lazy to get a rebound personality.

anytime you can subtract a loser like marbury that has to have a postive effect on the team.they are playing harder and trying every game since his he has deactivated himself for "surgery".

you know he is just doing that so I.T. can't trade his sorry butt.

what a loser!

I can jump and dunk like that. I simply choose not to, so as to avoid humiliating the hapless fools that attempt to guard me.

thanks for posting that dunk alan, I didn't see the first half of the game so I appreciate it.

seems if nate is going to get a dunk in a game, there is a good bet he'll be in miami when it happens.

I was willing to be patient, and wait to try to sign Artest over the summer. But if there’s going to be a fire-sale in Sacramento, then we have to at least make the call. There are very few players in this league, at his level, who can help us more . . . especially at a position that has been killing us all year. If Petrie thinks we’re desperate, however tempting it would be, Isiah has to walk away. But Rose and Chandler? Gotta do it, right? I’d be sorry we never got any sense of what kind of player Chandler could be. But this isn’t about a desperate play-off run, or trying to salvage the season – it’s about filling a spot on the starting unit that this team needs . . . with one of the best small forward in the league. It’s about perimeter defense that is still one of our most glaring failures every night. And he’ll still score more points than we’ve been getting from the 3 all year. But can Artest veto a trade? At this point, no Lee. No Nate. No Jamal. I just wonder if the Kings couldn’t do better someplace else? That's my fear.

Did Artest say the right things as a Kings teamate? How do you think his players feel about that comment? No one has ever questioned his talent but will he be too much ammo for the NY media on a team trying to turn things around?

Now I know you guys want Artest but I worry if he is the kind of locker room presence our young guys can handle. And for those who want Artest and want Isiah gone you might be asking for trouble.

I'll take Ron Ron with some protection 'out" clauses in his contract.

Baz – nobody said it wasn’t a gamble. I don’t know that you’re wrong. But I do know this: We have few enough assets to offer in trade, and sadly little talent that other teams want. And I’m coming around to the conclusion that the few players other teams want (Lee, Nate, Jamal), we probably shouldn’t get rid of – and certainly not mid-season. But if we can get a player as talented as Artest, without giving up a lot, I think a team in our situation has to gamble. Isiah tried to gamble, but mostly lost (Stephon, Curry, especially). Curry could have proven that a great trade . . . he just didn’t bother. But to get all-star talent on this team isn’t going to be easy. Ultimately, Nate, Lee and Jamal could/should make up 3/5ths of the best 2nd unit in the league, once the Knicks have more talent for a starting unit. For now though, you can’t argue with the way the guards at least are carrying the team. They should all still be on the team in the summer when, I hope, a new GM can start figuring out how to build a franchise out of the pieces he’s got. If Artest is also one of those pieces, without giving up one of those core guys, we’ll be more talented than we are right now. But consider this: With a defensive/shot-blocking center, Artest and Zbo could work well at the forwards.

@ BAZ,

I wouldn't worry about a protection clause for Artest!
For Dolan to buy out his 8 million contract is like one of us buying
a pack of gum! Also, NY is the best place for Artest to be. His four year old daughter was born with one kidney and she has a treatable tumor on the other. Sloan Kettering here in NY is the best place in the World to treat such an aliment! I believe that when Artest was stateing he didn't care about money, he was referring to the best place to be for his daughter and his whole situation.....HOME! With such a statement the Kings know that
they will have to trade him before the deadline. Since he has publicly stated he wants to be here, I don't believe even Miami will touch him! The best the kings will get is Q or Rose with Morris or
Chandler. I hope it's Rose and Chandler because with Artest and Balkman, Chandler will never get burn!

@Peacman & Trane,

I think Artest is what we need at SF but I think we will need another strong veteran presence as well. And if we do get Ron the fire Isiah stuff has to go because I think you will need Zeke to keep em.

I actually think Balkman and Morris are a must have for the Kings if you don't give up Lee and maybe Collins as well.

Not about money issue is good as well. We need players who play for the game and get paid also. Not those who play for Sportscenter and status symbols.

That's why I am disappointed Steph didn't work out, his heart was in the right place.

Cute jams, but robinson can't play defense.

And a two-point layup by the other combo guard counts just as much as an ESPN highlight.

NBA doesn't give style points for slam dunks. Only losers do.