Options but not optimism as free agency begins
Cap restrictions immediately eliminate the Knicks from any major free agency signings and the way Donnie Walsh wants to use the mid-level exception -- with a modest short-term agreement -- you can't expect there to be too much interest in what New York has to offer.
The scenario to watch is sign-and-trade (thank you, Capt. Obvious!) but even that will have some restrictions with Walsh focusing on bailing out more payroll than he takes on in the ongoing effort to be buoyant in 2010.
So for now Donnie with shrug and talk with guards such as Chris Duhon and Beno Udrih about a short-term agreement with the mid-level. Duhon would be a fool to turn it down; who else is willing to give him an open shot at a starting point guard position?
Udrih might fit best -- and wouldn't you love to hear Chris "Mad Dog" Russo butcher that name? Mikey, we're tawkin' Beanie YOO-droh! -- but a sign of the times is that someone like Udrih would actually turn down a chance to play in New York. It's a risk for Udrih and his agent to only sign for two years instead of taking a five-year offer, but there is a high reward. Two strong years in New York, and D'Antoni's system would make him look good, could net him a bigger payday down the road.
Up to the agent, Marc Cornstein. New York-based agent Marc Cornstein (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
There is plenty of competition. The Sacramento Kings would like to re-sign him and Los Angeles Clippers are said to have already made an appeal to Udrih. ESPN.com says that Clippers coach Mike Dunleavey was in New York to have a sit-down with Urdrih today about playing for the Clippers. But reports out of the Bay Area have suggested that the Clippers might already have a point guard -- an even bigger name -- lined up to replace Shaun Livingston. Hey, why else would Baron Davis walk away from $17.8 million with Golden State? The talk is he could wind up playing in his hometown and teaming with opted-out Elton Brand to make the Clips legit again (again?). Of course Brand, an unrestricted free agent, has been a target of the Miami Heat, too.
For all of you who passionately worked the Ron Artest-to-New York campaign, he picked up his option and made it clear he had no interest in the mid-level exception. Of course a trade is always possible, but I think it's fair to say it's time for this campaign to concede.
The Gilbert Arenas situation has some drama to it. The Warriors, with Davis gone and Monta Ellis generating interest as a restricted free agent, have reportedly made a max offer to Arenas, the guy they famously lost in restricted free agency all those years ago. The Kings are also believed to be in the game with a max contract. 
He's gonna need to change his nickname to Agent Zeros, because he's going to have a whole lot of them on his paychecks from here on in. At least someone will be able to afford gas.
Check here and of course check K-Berg's NBA blog throughout the day and week for the latest buzz on free agency.
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Already hearing some very positive observations about Danilo Gallinari, who is working out at the MSG Training Center and hanging in New York. Just one thing: his nickname has never been, nor will it ever be, "the Italian Stallion," as has been suggested (more like beaten to death) by one media outlet.
Gallinari's nickname in Italy is "The Rooster," which is what his name loosely translates to in Italian. I immediately appreciated that because my family name, Hahn, loosely translates in German to Rooster, which is our family crest. Some of us Hahn boys have a tattoo of the family crest.
And Alice in Chains made a song for us...been a while since I've posted lyrics here.
Yeah, they come to snuff The Rooster
Yeah, here come The Rooster
Yeah . . .
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, oh no, you know he ain't gonna die
While I'm at it, longtime, dedicated Fixer Chuck D sent me a download link to one of his latest projects, a group named HeetMob, out of KC, who did a little something from that NBA commerical (the one with Kevin Durant peeling off the jerseys). Click here for a listen. If you want to download it, go here.
Public Enemy is releasing a box set in August called "20 Years." It's a must-have.
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Final programming note: We just finished June with the second-most hits in the history of the Knicks Fix. Awesome effort by you Fixers.
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Comments (38)
PE and the Knicks in the same column? Man it doesn't get any better than that. Fight the power.
Clearly the key at this point, is for Walsh/D'Antoni to use patience and savvy to stick to the plan. The Knicks do not need a Baron Davis (long term deal, he's 29), and probably should not sign any of the mid-tier FA's for anything more than two years. I suppose they could front load any deal if they really want a player so that the guy makes more in two years then he would in four (full mid-year exception for two years, rather than splitting it).
However, it is time to rebuild, not look for the major, sexy signing that just sets us back further.
I think the most positive moves the Knicks could make at this point are to buy out Marbury and James. That would send a strong signal to the team, and the league, that the new regime means business.
I like Duhon. I mean why not right? Udrih would be fine too, though I think it's safe to say someone else (finally) is going to pay him too much money and regret it.
Also, yeah, what is up with Berman BEATING TO DEATH the "itallion stallion" moniker? It sounded dumb the first time; like it was gonna be better at time 10000x?
any ya'll catch that picture of Reebok's The Rooster shoe? HHAHAA UGLY!
@ K4L I did say Lee for Lowry and a pick... Which would be a first round pick, even if its protected for a few years its a future asset...
Throw a future 1st round pick in there (not Arthur) and I like it a little more. Being in the West, Memphis will always be a lottery team so as long as it is theirs and not the Lakers pick, I think Lee for a top 10 pick and backup PG is a solid trade esp since we don't have our own pick in 2010.
B. Davis, Mobley, Maggette, Brand (healthy) and Kaman. Plus they added Erick gordon, DeAndre Jordon and still have Al Thorton. That Clippers team is looking scary!! Their 9 and 10 guys are Brevin Knight and Quinton Ross. Even if they let Maggette walk and start Thorton that team could sneak into the playoffs.
Note to Walsh: please don't sign anymore Bulls leftovers. Duhon is awful . . .
Berman is gay!!!
Arthur was a good college player in the mode of Al Horford, he was a top 10 to 15 pick minus the health issue... Which many say was overblown, and his drop was due to an oversight by his handlers... Dont sleep on that dude... And Lee for Lowry and a top 10 is highway robbery... Lowry is a young talented player... A top ten pick could net you a player way better than Lee depending on the talent pool... Id take the Laker pick, thats around where we got Lee... If there are better deals out there, I'm all for that too...
I do feel pretty optimistic about the Knicks right now. We've been through the worst of it, 33-23-33-23. Now we have a real president of basketball operations and a real coach to teach the knicks how to compete again. the draft was step one for the roster facelift.
you have to stand before you can walk, and the knicks, before they can get back into the playoffs, have to buy in to the system and act like a team again.
weed out all bad attitudes and selfishness. if walsh and d'antoni don't like who is on the roster, spare no one. no one deserves to stay. obviously there will be many who do stay on for now, because of the mammoth contracts isiah foolishly handed out like it was christmas. you can't get rid of everyone in the first year, but look at how many times Isiah actually got to remake the team over and over again the past four years. KT should have never been traded, nor should have doleac for his pick-and-roll chemistry with stephon. and it is still debatable to me that tim thomas was at all an upgrade over KVH at the time of that deal. at the time, the knicks were close to .500 and kvh was having 20 point first halves for the knicks but he was moved because isiah wanted HIS hand-picked team.
d'antoni will have to work with what he's got, but no single player really deserves to stay, including jamal crawford. they all acted like they didn't want to be out there earning a paycheck last season. if you watched all 82 games you know what i'm talking about.
crawford may do well under d'antoni, but i wouldn't miss him if they shipped him out this off-season. maybe it was isiah's fault for calling so many iso's but he definitely hogged it to the detriment of the team.
hey alan, what's the update on wilson chandler? is he healthy enough to play in the vegas summer pro league, or not? at this exact time last year, we thought mardy was ok, then the knicks announced he had surgery and he was off the summer league team and had a bad following year.
Alan Hahn is the Mercedes Benz of Knicks Bloggers. Seriously dude, you are the best in the business.
Your all crazy including Walsh and D'antoni..............Think about this.........What would our perimeter players look like considering they are all horrible shooter!
Chris Duhon
.387 %fg
.348 %3pt
Jamal Crawford
.410 %fg
.356 %3pt
Quentin Richardson
.359 %fg
.322 %3pt
Plus all of these players are all shooting under 40% for there career
Duhon.......................387%
Richardson..............398%
Crawford...................403%
I cant believe we will give the mid level exception to Duhon and let Fred Jones go at least Jone shot over 42%fg and 39%3pt and if anyone would flurish in a running system it would be him on top of that he was our best wing defender now we will have 3 mediocer defenders out on the wing. Sorry but if it where me and my team this is the what I would do!
Sign Fred Jones to the MLE
Trade Crawford and another contract like Curry or Richardson for a PG Like Barron Davis
My Line up would be
C.............David Lee
PF...........Zach Randolph
SF...........Wilson Chandler
SG..........Fred Jones
PG..........Barron Davis
6th..........Nate Robinson
We would have good wing defenders, Players who can run the floor and hit the outside shot, Players who can create there own shot, and a player who can come of the bench as instant offense
get baron through sign with only two years at 17 mill and trade for zach randolph and jared jeffries. then sign telfair and buyout marbury. trade nate robinson for a first round draft pick to a team like memphis,minnesota, or seattle who will most likly miss the playoffs so we have lottery pick then resign lee. buyout jerome james. find a taker for crawford such as toronto who will be weak in backcourt trade him for parker and grahm. then go ahead and trade curry and richardson to clevland for wally and joe smiths expiring contracts so at the end of next season our young guys will have had time devolp and we can resign lee to a 8 to 10 million a year contract and still be under the cap by about 24.768 million and then let rose contract run up so then we will be about 38 million under cap in 2010 if the salary cap is at what its projected which is 59 million and we have lee 8 to 10 mill and telfair with midlevel l and danilo with about 4 million and chandler with about 3 million and sign dwayne wade and lebron move danilo to power forward since he is 6 10, 6 11
and our line up for the 2010-2011 season will be
PG: Telfair/Robinson
SG: Wade/whoever we draft or sign as backup
SF: Lebron/chandler
PF:Gallinari/Lee
C: Lee/ any one we draft or sign
all we then have to do is sign role players who will fit in the system and play as a team to get that championship
fred jones was garbage in a knicks jersey. they should have cut him in training camp and kept demertis nichols or brian greene instead.
according to berman, jones and randolph morris are the first casualties of the isiah era (besides isiah himself) because they're free agents that the knicks are not going to resign.
duhon might be added to bring the ball up, take open j's as a second option, but he's supposed to be a distributer and his shooting percentage off the bench isn't as important as his 4:1 assist to turnover ratio.
baron davis is injury prone, that would be my only concern about him coming over. plus the fact that any deal for him would probably screw the 2010 plan over.
telfair is probably never going to happen, jimmy "burn those bridges down" dolan will see to that.
this is the best we could do this offseason first get baron davis from golden state with sign and trade for Zach randolph Jared Jeffries and nate robinson. Then offer miami eddy curry,jamal crawford,wilson chandler, and renaldo balkman for marion and beasly if they want lee in that deal then give him to them. The we go out and sign telfair. Buyout stephon marbury and Jerome james contract. Then sign Dujaun Wagner he can flourish in dantonis system.. then try to sign landry turiaf or kwame brown
our lineup would be
PG:Baron Davis/Seabastian Telfair
SG:Dujan Wagner/?
SF:Marion/Danilo/Richardson
PF:Beasly/LEE if not included in miami deal
C:Lee/ either landry turiaf or kwame
this tesm will be solid now and future and also will get under the cap in 2010 4 U KNO WAT
telfair is terrible.
and he's a criminal.
LOL @ Miami giving up Beasley and Marion for Knick garbage . . .
In Kishan's world lets Trade Marburry and Lee for Kevin Garnett. Then trade Malik Rose, J. James, and J. Jeffries for Carmello Anthony. Then trade Randolph for B. Davis. That would be PG Davis, SG Crawford, SF Anthony PF Garnett C Curry; Bench: Danillo,Q-Rich, Robinson, Chandler. Who needs U KNO WAT.
I wouldn't want Telfair on the Knicks but I won't go as far as to shred him personally. I just think that the Knick's need to sever all ties with Marbury and getting Telfair would bring with it the possible specter of family resentment.
That can't be allowed to happen.
BREAKING NEWS!
Andrew Marchand of 1050 ESPN radio just reported on Kellerman’s show that Chris Duhon is meeting with the Knicks right now and could sign with the Knicks as early as today.
Perhpas Alan will fill us in further...
duhon's a good option.
as said above just think 4:1 asst/turnover, and... he DOES play defense. We've enough chuckers for this all to work.
duhon is a solid pick up. now just waive marbs and j james.
and if we can trade lee for a young PG, maybe... or maybe we suck again, and get luck in the lottery next year when there's a much BETTER crop of PGs as opposed to this years one horse race...
Duhon couldn't even get minutes on a bad Bulls team last year. I hate his game, he can't shoot, shys away in the clutch and while a decent defender, no way will we win more than 30 games with him as our starting PG. But Walsh and D-Antoni are better evaluators of talent than I am so I'll give him a chance. I was on SI.com this morning reading about us getting Duhon and Bulls fans were laughing at us . . .again.
hey DBlock, your obnoxious comment is not appreciated. this is a basketball blog, not a hate blog. keep your homophobia to yourself and leave this blog for people who love basketball. no one needs your sexism here.
(and for the record, i'm pretty sure Berman is not gay... and oh yeah, i think Berman's blog sucks too, so i'm not just defending him... and no, i'm not gay either... i just don't see the point in bringing the hate).
Have to chime in here about the final musical note in your entry. If you want to hear the original beat that was used for the Durant NBA commercial, look no further than Buck 65's "Jaws of Life"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSECM4laoyk
Interesting story about Buck...originally from Canada, he was supposedly being scouted by the Yankees at one point. Now he rhymes about baseball games...gotta love it.
i like the idea of duhon. a passer and a perimiter defender. check and check, that's what we need.
we don't need a superstar pg who could score, just a guy who could distribute. look at rondo. granted, he had 3 superstars around him, but still... he was efficient, got the job done, even though he didn't shoot the ball well.
assuming we get duhon, question is (as Alan mentioned), do you use him as a backup, keep marbury, and look to trade nate? or do you start him, and buy out marbury?
i think they should buy out marbury, and still look to use nate as trade bait to get rid of one of the bad contracts.
too bad his trade value peaked after the vegas summer league last season though...
fyi on the Alice in Chains lyrics, that song was actually written about guitarist Jerry Cantrell's father, the original rooster, who was a vietnam vet.
That's not even the best alice in chains song I can think of when it comes to basketball. How about "Man in the Box" for Eddy Curry?
I say let Gallinari earn his own NYC knickname. No disrespect to Italy, but this is NYC; you don't go to rucker with a nickname, you get your nickname based on your performance at rucker.
In that respect, "Italian Stallion" may still be a viable option, but again, he hasn't balled in New York yet.
Kenny Smith is working on a nickname for Gallinari as I write this.
Any blog entry with Alice in Chains referenced gets a thumbs up. You get free rounds of beer if you can work a Queensryche reference in a future post, Alan. I'll ante up when you come into Sacto next year. I'll take the afternoon off.
I've been talking about Beno from here in Sacto for quite awhile. He'd fit really well back at home in N.Y. The guy can flat-out play, damn good PG. From what Duhon showed over the years, and compared to Udrih, I go Udrih all the way, as I said throughout this year.
@ Knicks4Life:
I'm with you on all the crazy trade proposals. Ted Stepien is dead, Isiah's not running a team, which GM is foolish enough to take on players that can't win 30 games? And what about the salary cap?
Typical Mike and the Mad Dog caller: "Uh, yeah, I'd trade John Starks and a 2nd round pick for Michael Jordan."
Excellent post, Rooster. Outside of a point guard such as Udrih or Duhon, I really don't want the Knicks to sign anyone because it will only create a glut at other positions.
Duhon fits the bill first and foremost because he will take a 2 year contract, for a little bit of cash and he will pass the ball, play some D, and listen to his coach. As a buddy of mine said today, say hello to Charlie Ward II. Not a bad thing, tote it upcourt and stick it in the mixer, don't punch the coach on the charter and stay the hell away from interns and rookies. Walsh is just going to keep shifting the ground slowly, getting character guys, changing what he can without killing anything. There's just not a whole lot that can be done until some of the contracts go and other teams come around to seeing value in any of our players not named Lee. In other words:
First do no harm.
What's your guy's take on Tony Allen?
He's unrestricted now:
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/53310/20080701/celtics_do_not_offer_tony_allen_qualifying_offer/
@ Willis - EXACTLY! on your Duhon post.
Enough of these pipe dreams! Also, Duhon given the opportunity to start will probably drop some weight to make sure he can RUN in the D'Antoni offense. Ultimately, less weight should make him quicker and a better defender where he already has this tendency.
Matador Marbury and Craw-FORCE will be continually weak in that regard, they are too far gone. It will be good to have a defnesive back-up w/ passing skills.
it should be known that Duhon has missed several practices in recent years with the Bulls.
I'm not saying don't get him, i'm not saying he can't do well in New York, but that I expect/hope that D'antoni and Walsh are aware of some of these issues.
to put things in perspective, the last guy to go awol on a practice for knicks was probably jerome james.
... better than a PG who goes AWOL for West Coast road trips.
that was an uncontested layup for you matt B.
hey, I'd rather not have any guys that go awol period.
that's the least you could give me as a professional basketball player.
Agreed, agreed... I think Duhon would be alright though. I like the strategy (if it is in fact what they're planning for). Give a guy from a good pedigree, with good fundamental skills and things to prove to the rest of the league a chance to start on a team that's in the spotlight...
Also, I just trust D'Antoni on this one. Knowing that he's pegged Duhon before helps.
It's a move for the Knicks that just finally feels right.
I'm down with what Mike D and Walsh decide to do. Gotta give them a chance, we gave the previous two guys four years each to prove they were the wrong fit in New York.
I read on another blog that Miami is looking to sign Duhon as well.
The heat will forever be the enemy.
Who am I kidding--they're all enemies.
I agree with bringing in character guys, been saying it from day one of posting here. But . . .Duhon is just not a starting PG in the NBA. I don't want to be too negative, but I've been watching him ball since college (Duke hater here who went to MD), we will be in big, trouble if he is our starting PG. Its funny that years later saying C. Ward II become a "good thing". I remember thinking we could have had the chip if we had just upgraded at the PG.
If your concern is a guy who can get assits and make his teamates better than trade for B. Knight. Sign T. Lue, Damon S, or C. Arroyo (haven't heard anything bad about the latter two recently) on the cheap. They have experience starting for decent teams. This just feels like the Jeffries signing all over again (character guy, plays D), why can't we get character + talent.
Duhon is obviously not the answer to our long term starting PG needs, but we aren't going to sign anyone better to an expensive long term deal. They are trying to get Marbury out of the locker room forever and would be willing to take someone in a coma just to accomplish that much.
The only way we get a better quality PG is in some kind of trade of Lee or with a very stupid team for Randolph.
Charlie Ward II - not a bad thing, meaning, doesn't suck, not meaning a good thing, but its what's possible. We are not in the position to compete for talent right now. What I like about it is finally, with no fanfare, no double talk, no nothing really, Walsh and D'Ant said they need a point guard. And they will get one, maybe Duhon. Better an average guy who actually plays the position than the fronting that has been perpetrated at that position. And they're not talking about a guy to save the team, just a guy to run the offense.
Refreshing really, just manage the team, be realistic, do the job.
But yeah 4Life, I hear you - we've reached that point. After Zeke and Dolan's depredations, Charlie Ward is a positive compared to what has passed for PG play in MSG. Sheeesh.
Beno Udrih just signed a 5 year deal with Sacramento
so mark that PG off the list.
i think the Nets will be much better than the knicks next year
they have a lot of young talent that i wish were on the knicks
do you think the knicks would trade devin harrris to the knicks?LoL
sorry i made a mistake i meant:
do you think the Nets would trade devin harris to the knicks?LoL