Somebody needs to tell KnickFan that they haven't won a title in, like, over 30 years. KnickFan carries on like the Knicks are God's gift to basketball.
Risking that the thread will become the all-Knicks thread: Jermaine O'neal for Kurt Thomas and Charlie Ward? Is someone as deluded as Layden was? Besides expiring contracts, the Knicks don't have anything to offer other than a willingness to take on bad contracts. Trade Antonio McDyess, trade Kurt Thomas, and trade Charlie Ward for young players or draft books. And trade Allan Houston while he still has value. Do this, because no other team is going to take Shannon Anderson, Howard Eisley or Clarence Weatherspoon. Speaking of circus acts: Dennis Rodman, http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1692098
More on that: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1693223 So let's put our delusions aside and put on our thinking caps. First, why on god's green earth would Indiana make this trade? They have the best record in the East and pretty much anyone not named Duncan or Garnett for Jermaine O'Neal would be a downgrade. And remember, Indiana doesn't have Scott Layden making stupid trades. But let's go to Insane Parallel Universe where Indiana would be willing to move O'Neal and gold shoots out of my pooper. Now, if Indiana is going to move O'Neal, they're going to want salary cap flexibility and will not take the bad contracts that microbrew mentioned. Instead, Indiana will want to dump their own bad contracts and take the Knicks' expiring contracts. And that's the last thing the Knicks want, more bad contracts. Remember, that's how Layden got himself into trouble, by taking on bad contracts and handcuffing himself to the salary cap instead of doing the smart thing and scrapping the team. But this is all moot because Indiana will not move O'Neal. If he's unhappy, they'll work with him, not trade him away less than a year after he signed the max deal. EDIT: David Aldridge is a tad bit more realistic
Is it just me or Minnesota looks really good this year? Well, Jordan had Pippen but who does Garnett have? Gugliatta? Marbury? Szerbiak? A person can only does so much by himself. This year though, there is no excuse for them not to surpass the first round. Garnett now already has the best supporting cast in his entire career not couting injuried players.
All Knicks, all the time. Mitch Lawrence has an interesting column on ESPN.com about the personality clashes between Latrell Sprewell and MSG CEO James Dolan: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=lawrence_mitch&id=1690075 But Dolan puts a lot of stock in collecting players with vanilla personalities who help the Knicks in their never-ending quest to market their team. For Dolan, there were too many No. 8 jerseys in the arena and not enough of Allan Houston's No. 20 models. And in his mind, Sprewell was traded for just the right player -- another good guy: Van Horn.
off the court, NBA ESPN's Marc Stein discusses the possible death of the luxury tax, and what effect that might have on the collective bargaining agreement and the length of guarenteed contracts: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=1691419
No its not just you. The acquisition of Cassel and Sprewell was just what the wolves needed. Both players bring maturity and a steadfast drive to win. The wolves in the past have seemed to be too easily intimidated come playoff time. But if Latreal can show the same emotion he did last night, the wolves will get past the opening round.
I didn`t read all of this thread but what do you think about Jerry Sloan and the Jazz? They are the real story of this season ( definitely not the Knicks) and no coach in the NBA could have done better than Sloan with this kind of a roster. And if they have a good regular season record at the end they can sign or trade some big names with the cap space they have and make a big impact in the following seasons. Sloan for COY, he already showed that he earns more respect than many of the overrated coaches in the NBA like Larry Brown or Rick Adelman.
Dude...I post about the Knicks because they are my favorite team and this is the NBA fourm. Now, if no one else posts...then it will seem like this is devoted to the Knicks. On the O'Neal trade...I just said it's a possibility. O'Neal wanted Zeke to coach and was very angry when left because the part of the reason why he resigned with the Pacers was because Zeke was the coach. Period. Kurt Thomas is an extremely underrated player. The reason why he is underrated is because he isn't flashy like Rasheed Wallace or because he doesn't take 10 three point shots like Antonie Walker. If he isn't as good as I say he is...then why is Dallas still trying to pick him up from the Knicks? He isn't the Knicks go to guy and never will because Allan "I'm going to turnover the ball with 5 seconds left" Houston is the go to guy. He has a nice contract that I'm sure many teams would like to have. The only real reason why O'Neal is rated so much high then Thomas is because he is dunker and Thomas isn't. I agree with what was said before about Dolan. Spee is getting older..but is definately better then KVH. The way he has been playing recently speeks for itself.
Nets sign Eddie Griffin to a mininum contract, http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/story/150204p-132415c.html It's a home coming for him, sort of. He played for Seton Hall, and was drafted by the Nets (who then traded him to the Houston Rockets for Jefferson, Jason Collins and Brandon Armstrong),
Although I disagree that Brown and Adelman are overrated (though Brown does seem to do better when he takes over losing teams), Sloan is CoY, no question. This is the funniest thing I read all day. Thanks for the late Christmas present. Look, no one is saying that Thomas is not a good player. He is about the only tradeable commodity that the Knicks have and his muscle and short range jumper would be welcome in the right situation. But have you seen the Mavs' inside threats? Of course you haven't because they don't have one, unless you count Fortson, Najera or Bradley. That trade just keeps getting better for the Nets, doesn't it? I've never been a big fan of Griffin but I hope he gets his life and career back in order.
Hey, the Knicks beat the Magic by 28! Should have been by 30 if it weren't for that dunk in the final seconds. I KNOW it was versus Orlando...but I'll take 30 point wins versus anyboy ANY DAY. They have a three game winning streak versus some pretty bad teams, but they are playing a lot better under Zeke. They almost beat the Wolves the other night, Zeke's first game and Spree's first at the Garden. Seriously, the Knicks are looking a lot better under Zeke. Why? They are about to buy out Spoon's record, something Layden would have never done. Varnes is gone (Layden promised him one year in NY). Sweetney is now getting some minutes. Lampe has been told to start working out or else he'll kicked off the team. Most importantly is having Williams starting (he's going to be a star PG in this league) and so is Thomas (Zeke has said the Knicks will no longer wait on Dice.). I know there will be some responses saying the Knicks suck and will always suck. Well...not any more. Not under Isiah Thomas's rule. Dolan wants a playoff team, Isiah wants a champion. This team is playing with more effort. Are they playing some low level teams now? Yes. Did they play some earlier in the year? Yes. Did they win all of them? No. Example: Cavs game. This team is about to make a 180 degree turn. All because of one firing.
This particular joke was on Houston. It could have been worse- with Brandon Armstrong's pick, they coul have picked up Tony Parker or Jamaal Tinsley or even Gilbert Arenas (to be fair, the Nets were looking for a shooting guard at the time).
its suppose to be a bad pun, you know the comedian Eddie Griffin. Anyway I've gotten word from a great source that says Danny Ange is lookin to get Kirilenko from Utah for draft picks. Ange is looking to build for the future with some upcoming stars (like Davis). Other names were mentioned that got one of my Celtics fans excited but I can't give you any more names cause I wasn't part of the conversation. But you heard it hear first.
I suppose this is at least partially directed at me so I'll respond. Darling, you're missing the point. I don't mock the Knicks. I simply movk your NY media-distorted view of the Knicks and your lack of perspective. And I want them to do better. You see my dear, I hate the Knicks but it's hard to hate on a franchise that's struggling. I want them to improve so I can hate them with a passion again. Therein lies the problem kiddo, and that's exactly the kind of thinking that has hampered the Knicks. As contradictory as this may sound, the harder Dolan pushes for the playoffs, the further he pulls them away from becoming a championship contender. You see, the Knicks are where they are because they stubbornly refused to start a team from scratch. They didn't think the fans were savvy enough to accept a rebuilding and are now saddled with mediocrity. The smartest thing Isiah can do now is not worry so much about winning right now but on winning 2, 3 years from now. Losing sucks, I know, but in the long run, it's a lot better than trying to squeeze into that last playoff spot and mortgaging your future. This is 2003. War is the path to peace, white is the new black and in the NBA, losing is what winners do.
That wasn't directly at you....I just don't like having to turn on ESPN to watch the Knicks highlights and have to hear Barkley say how much the Knick sux or how boring they are, or the guys on FastBreak talk trash on them whenever possible. Frank Williams is definately going to change this team around. He looks like a younger version of Jason Kidd except that he has a nice three point shot that Kidd doesn't. And Isiah already said he doesn't want to start from scratch because this team already has talent, which is true. Maybe not enough talent to sweep the Lakers, but enough to make some noise in the East.
Speaking of the Knicks, they send Clarence Weatherspoon to the Rockets for Moochie Norris and the soon to be unemployed John Amaechi. This has to mean that Isiah already has a trade lined up packaging one or two of Ward, Eisley and Norris, right?
Houston is that desperate for a power forward? For an undersized forward, really. The Knicks are hardly done: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/31/sports/basketball/31SMIT.html Leon Smith? Well, welcome to the National Rehab League. The Knicks have cut Slavko Vranes and John Amaechi (and possibly Charlie Ward). At least now we're hearing realistic trade rumors from the Knicks.
Another blow out win for the Knicks. I don't think the Knicks are going to benefit much from that trade. They now have four point guards. I think Williams and Ward should stay. Eisley is the one that needs to be traded. They should try to get another small forward instead, allowing for Shandon Anderson to stay at the shooting guard position. Though he had another big night, 21 points. Only one game behind the 8th seed spot. If the Sixers lose tonight, and the Knicks get what seems to be niw an expected victory versus the Bulls...the 8th seed is theirs.
That's ludicrous and I'll have to say your source is high. AK-47 is the best player on the Jazz, the player with the most room to continue improving, their building block for the future and Utah's most beloved player by their fans. Unless Boston is looking to trade their next 10 first round picks they won't be getting anywhere close to getting him.
I don't doubt that Ainge wants Kirilenko. But he's insane if he thinks Utah will trade him for anything less than Paul Pierce, multiple first round picks and Nomar Garciaparra.