Brendan Suhr Season Sub Conference Call


NEW YORK, August 19, 2005 -- Knicks Director of Player Personnel Brendan Suhr answered questions submitted by Knicks Season Subscribers via conference call on Friday, August 19. In the call, moderated by Knicks VP of Public Relations Joe Favorito, Brendan talked about the 2005 NBA Draft, the impact of the hiring of Larry Brown to coach the Knicks, and the rationale behind the summertime player acquisitions of Quentin Richardson and Jerome James. Season subscribers will be invited by e-mail with the date and guest of the next conference call. Here's a transcript of Brendan's comments:

Joe Favorito: Thanks everyone for joining us this morning. We're pleased to have Brendan Suhr, the Knicks Director of Player Personnel on the line with us.

This is the first time we're doing this. We're going to try and do this on as regular a basis as we can to bring you all different pieces of the Knicks organization for you to ask questions to.

In order to kind of keep things moving at a - and keep the questions on - and cover as many topics as we can we took all the questions that we got and I'm going to ask them to Brendan one by one. And he'll be able to knock them off. This is kind of a microcosm. A lot of people asked the same questions.

The other thing that we would like going forward for people who participate, we didn't get a lot of people's names. So I'm just going to run down the questions as we have them but we would like to attribute the questions in the future to people.

So when you send in your questions please be sure to put your name and where you're from on there so we can say the question is from so and so from so and so and been a season ticket holder so long because we didn't get a lot of that.

So Brendan, thank you for joining us.

Brendan Suhr: My pleasure, Joe.

Joe Favorito: And we can get right to it. There's a good number of questions here that we'd like to cover so…

The first one, Brendan, you worked for several hall of famers, people like Chuck Daly with the Pistons and with the Dream Team and obviously now with Isiah Thomas. Who's the toughest boss you've had so far?

Brendan Suhr: Oh, besides my wife, huh? Besides her, well, you know what? I've found that when you work with people of greatness, of like - similar to Isiah, Chuck and Lenny Wilkens, people of that caliber, they're not tough.

They're very demanding. They're very fair. But they - what they want to do every day is to maximize the team, the individuals they have on the team and that's one of the talents that I share. So I would be strongly offended if I didn't work for someone like that.

So for me, that is a very safe and happy workplace when I'm with people like that. I get disappointed when I'm with people that don't share what I'm about. So for those guys I thrive on and that's probably why I spent 11 years with Chuck.

And I think I'm entering my 17th year of a business relationship with Isiah because we have very similar philosophies. And I think all - several of our talents we share and at the same time I think we fill in each other's gaps.

Joe Favorito: Okay. I'm not sure if everyone's aware but this year you'll be switching. Last year, you were on the bench, first with Lenny and then with Herb. This year you'll be more in the front office.

One of the questions that came in is how is it different from being on the bench as opposed to being in the front office every day and which do you prefer?

Brendan Suhr: Well, you know what? I think I've been fortunate enough that I've been able to do both. I think, you know, coaching is a passion I had as a very, very young person, even in college. And I knew I wanted to be a Coach.

I think that so many of my talents and strengths are based on that way. I love helping people get better. I've been fortunate to coach so many great players and we're going to talk probably about some of those later, over the years with several different teams.

But there's nothing - there's no greater satisfaction than your - when you're working with an individual and you help them get better or with a team and you see it be successful. So that was something that is a dear, dear passion for me.

At the same time since I've been working with Mike Fratello back in Atlanta and then especially with Chuck in Detroit, he always encouraged me to be in the front office. And I used to get very mad at Chuck and I'd think he didn't think I was much of a Coach. And then - but he felt that my greatest talents lay in that area.

I think at my time and my career and where I'm at now, what I've been able to - fortunate enough to have teams and players accomplish when I've been coaching them, I think the time is so right now.

And frankly, I told my son last year, at the last game of the year when we beat Washington, I said, "You just saw your dad coach the last game in the NBA" because I feel the rest of my career I'll be in the front office.

And I'm really ready for it. And I really am excited about it. And again, I think in a few, you know, in our next couple of questions, you know, we're going to talk about some of the things we've accomplished. But I'm ready - really looking forward to this.

Joe Favorito: One of the things, speaking of front office duties, you've always been known for finding diamonds in the rough like, for example, Ben Wallace who went from Orlando to Detroit when you were with the Pistons.

This group of Knicks is pretty much unknown in a lot of ways to the fan base right now because of the changes that were made. Who do you think is the diamond in the rough in this group, Brendan, and why is that?

Brendan Suhr: Yeah. And - well I'm going to talk about that in a second, Joe. But, you know, I think one of the things that you do when you're in this business is that you have to, to be really successful you have to keep an open mind.

And you have to not listen to the consensus of what people think about players. You have to say, "I like this player for our team."

And so way, way back, when I was with the Hawks I took this kid in second round and he played 13 years in the NBA and now he's developing into an average Coach. It's the Boston Celtics' Doc Rivers. You know? And I saw that as a kid had tremendous leadership.

It doesn't - I drafted Spud Webb in the fourth round and he had an extraordinary career and right up through the lines, where I found P.J. Brown in the second round. And he's probably going into his 14th year now.

So you look for players, Dennis Rodman, a second round pick and on and on. And what you do is just try to find people that fit for you and not for anyone else.

This group that we have this year is exceptional. At the end of the season, Isiah knew we needed to make significant changes. Not that we didn't like our people but we just knew we had to upgrade and we had to change the chemistry on the team, change the personality in the team, change the competitiveness in the team.

And we needed more players that would be able to say - be more excited about winning a game than doing anything individually.

We found that in three college players. For - in order, Channing Frye, this guy is going to play in this league for a minimum of twelve years. He has all the talents that you need as a big man. And he shoots the ball, he passes. He's highly skilled. He can block shots. Highly intelligent, has leadership aspects.

We thought he was one of the top players in the whole draft irregardless of where we picked. We think he's going to be solid. We think he's going to be a tremendous power of forwardness league, be able to play a little backup Center.

The next player, Nate Robinson, was such a key acquisition for us because not only did we have to make a terribly, terribly emotional gut-wrenching decision to trade one of our Captains, Kurt Thomas, who has had a great career here but at the same time what were we going to get?

So when we were able to parlay the acquisition of when we traded Kurt, to get Quentin Richardson who could fill a huge, huge space for us on our basketball team of shooting from the outside, some inside, some great toughness for a Guard and small Forward. And at the same time had a real competitiveness about him that we thought would - that we could - Isiah demanded from Phoenix that we also get their first round pick which was really an incredible key to this.

So we ended up getting Nate Robinson, who would have gone to that - in that pick if we did not acquire. And I think Nate will prove out to be a tremendous tempo changer, very similar to Earl Boykins in Denver, very similar to one that had spud.

He's not… people say he's not Bogues. He's not Muggsy Bogues because this guy plays very high, plays above the rim, very physical, very ****y. He's going to be a neat player. Knick fans will love him but I think he'll make our practices better which I think is a key point for getting your team better.

And then David Lee, the last pick of the first round is someone that Isiah and I have known for years. We've worked closely with his coaching staff at Florida. We've worked closely with David, Isiah and I over the last couple years doing some programs in Florida.

And this guy is a terrific basketball player. He can play a couple positions for us up front. And we do some - the NBA does some psychological testing with its athletes and this player, from a psychological team perspective tapped out as high as any player in the last seven years in the NBA. And the only NFL player that came out near him was Peyton Manning as far as being a teammate.

So we felt we got a guy that was really going to help us, pretty similar to Jerome Williams as far as having a great teammate and I think that was another thing that we felt we had to add.

Joe Favorito: Okay. And I - you touched on those - the three young guys. Just out of that group, who do you think will have the most impact right away?

Brendan Suhr: Well I think most people think Channing will, you know, because he's he's such a high pick.

Nate Robinson could really have a very strong impact because of his ability to change tempo and god forbid if any - if Stephon gets hurt or Jamal gets hurt then you're going to need a guy that can place a lot of ones. So he could really get an opportunity to play and so he could make a great impact.

David Lee was the best player we had in our summer league, to give you an idea how good he is. You know, he played better than the other two at the summer league so - from a consistent basis. So I don't want to say but it's all going to be about the opportunities that Larry gives them, what they earn. But I think all three of them then could really make an impact.

We thought David Lee would have no impact almost with our summer league team because we had to play him in Small Forward and he was incredible. So I think whichever ones Larry ends up trusting is going to be huge.

Joe Favorito: Okay. And one player you didn't mention, there were a lot of questions, Brendan, with regard to Allan Houston. And what we did was we just put it together. And pretty simply, the one question that came across the most is do you think Allan Houston will play for the Knicks again?

Brendan Suhr: Well absolutely I do because Allan believes in it. He believes he's going to come back and I believe in our medical staff. We have one of the greatest Doctors that I've ever met in Lisa Callahan.

We have a terrific staff with Greg Brittenham and our new Trainer that is working closely with him.

We’ve gone out in the middle of the year, we've enlisted the services of Gary Gray, the number 1 Sports Physical Therapist in the world. He worked with Michael Jordan in his comeback with Washington and I've had a personal and professional relationship with Gary for years. He's from Michigan and Allan and he have really connected.

And Gary told me last week that, "Brendan, the progress he's made since February when we introduced him to now is startling." But the biggest thing that Allan has is he's got great faith both in himself and from Jim Dolan to Steve Mills to Isiah, Larry.

You know, when a player like Allan, who's been such a great Knick believes that he can do it then you know what? We believe in Allan and we're rooting for him and obviously it makes our team much better. But I think Allan has a great opportunity now and we're excited to see him get on the practice floor in October.

Joe Favorito: Great. Another player that the people have asked about who people - the fans really don't know a lot about right now is Jerome James. And there was a good amount of outcry when Nazr was traded last year. How do you think Jerome James' numbers and his spot at the center will compare to Nazr Mohammed, who the fans obviously took to and played very well for us before the trading deadline…

Brendan Suhr: Well first off, Nazr's one of the really neat professionals I've ever worked with, good people. And when Isiah traded him, we sat in the office there and we told him on the phone, "This is a great day for Nazr and it's a sad day for us."

But we said, "You're going to go down there and you're going to win the championship". And that's why it was great for him.

We felt that in the next two years - we felt we saw the best of Nazr. We felt that at age 29 or 30 to resign him to a long-term contract was not going to take us to the level that we needed to.

Jerome James is bigger. He's stronger. He has an incredible offensive array of moves.

Isiah identified him during the season. We really put a full-court press on him as far as knowing that that was the guy that we wanted. And then when the clock ticked to 12 on July 1 we went after him with as good a fast break as we ran all year, which isn't saying a lot.

But we were out there, and we were very excited that - he wanted to stay in Seattle. Ray Allen wanted him there. But we pursued him so hard. Isiah pursued him with such fervor that he believed in what we were selling. He's ready to change. He was coming without knowing who the Coach was.

And for us now to add Larry to it, we think Larry will, you know, he's such a great coach that we think he's going to take Jerome to the next level. Jerome is ready to explode. The nine points and six rebounds Nazr [delivered], he could surpass that very easily.

But the biggest thing is he's got an opportunity to play. He's our starting Center. Last year he was what I call a token Starter for Seattle. Nate McMillan wanted to play small ball. He started him in the first and third quarters, let him play 14 minutes, use up some fouls, get him out of there and play a small team.

That's fine but that's not the way we're going to play. And to play in the East now, it's a better conference, more physical, bigger. You need a real big-time Center. And we were playing last year with all power Forwards.

And so I think it's a strong move for our team. I think this guy is really going to get a chance. He's going to get a chance to play 30 plus minutes a night and I think the numbers will reflect that.

Joe Favorito: Okay. We had a number of questions about Stephon Marbury. The one that seemed to keep coming through is that Steph and Larry both talked about moving Stephon from the Point Guard to the two position. You being in charge of player personnel, how does that make sense to you and how do you see that unfolding with the grand plan that you and Isiah have laid out?

Brendan Suhr: Well, Isiah and I met last weekend for several hours and we talked about what I view my job as is what I call talent acquisition for players and coaches.

And one of the great moves that we made was our coaching acquisition. And I know one thing. That guy can really coach.

And so he will figure out a way to maximize Stephon's talent. And whether it's the way Chuck and I used Isiah, Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson whereas whichever guy brings the ball cross the ten second line, he starts the offense. The other guys go off the ball so whether it was Joe or Vinnie bringing the ball over the ten second line then Isiah played off the ball for us a lot in Detroit. People don't remember that. And I think that's what Lindsey Hunter did with Chauncey Billups.

Good Coaches know how to take advantage of - match up things and when you put two small Guards on the floor, whether it's Nate and Steph, I think it gives the Coach tremendous flexibility.

When you have great flexibility - you have great flexibility when you have great players and I think that's what, you know, Larry's going to have a chance. [The Knicks] kept a roster [that] has really improved.

Now all of a sudden - we couldn't take Stephon out of the game last year. As soon as we took him out we didn't have the substitute, whether it was Moochie [Norris], you know, whether it was Jermaine Jackson, it was really difficult to take the - that player out, put him in and then sustain the lead and - or move forward like you'd like to when you go to your bench.

Now we're going to be able to do that. There's a possibility Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson could be on the bench. Wow, what a second unit coming in.

So I mean we have some real possibilities and again give the Coach flexibility. I really like that. I think you'll see Steph off the ball a lot because he's a very tough cover for a two Guard having to play him because they can't move their feet well enough.

Joe Favorito: Okay. Another player that the people who wrote in wanted us to touch on was Tim Thomas. The one question that came across that kind of summed up everybody's questions was that Tim has kind of been what many fans feel inconsistent and somewhat of a disappointment throughout his career.

And Larry had coached him when he was drafted in Philly and had traded him when he was in Philly… why do we think that would change this year with Tim and Larry working together?

Brendan Suhr: Well that's a great question. And, you know, one of the words that I learned from my high school Coach and first pro Coach, Hubie Brown, was the worst word you want to ever have put on you is the word potential because potential means you haven't done it.

And the word always associated with Tim is potential, which means he's highly, highly talented. Larry had him after his freshman year in Villanova and over 19 years old. He's got, you know, physically you're not mature enough to play at that point. Mentally you're not prepared. And so I think, you know, he was overwhelmed.

I thought he played extremely well in Milwaukee. I thought he had a terrific run there and the thing that I think that Larry again will get out of him is we have played Tim near exclusively at the three spot.

Therefore he's going against now sometimes big Guards. He's playing against Paul Pierce, Vince Carter. He's playing against two Guards playing three, Manu Ginobili. That’s not fair for a 6'10 player to do.

I think when he was in Milwaukee, when he was a sixth man, he was playing a lot of the four spot. And I think you're going to see us using him at three and four. Last year our Coaches, whether it be Lenny or Herb, did a great job of posting him up. I think you'll see the same thing.

I also think you'll see him playing four. He's a very tough cover for a four because of his quickness. The best thing about Tim this year is if he's healthy, number 1 and number 2, it's what we call a contract year. He's down to his last year of his contract. He will play well. I guarantee it.

Joe Favorito: Okay. We've talked a lot about the players and obviously there was a lot of fanfare this summer with Larry Brown coming on and there was a question that came in. How much of a difference can a Coach like Larry Brown make with the group that we have?

Brendan Suhr: Well I think, Joe, I don't have the statistics at hand but somehow when I didn't sleep at all during the season I kept seeing 22 games lost by six points or less or something like that. And it seemed like we lost six to nine games at the buzzer last year.

You know, and with no disrespect to any of our previous Coaches, I like to believe that coaching makes a huge difference. Great Coaches hold the players more accountable. They also… great Coaches do great things.

This is a very special Coach. My mentor, Chuck Daly, told me during the season, because he was back in Detroit for the playoff, that he -- and it's ironic that now we have Larry -- he said the best Coach he's ever seen in the history of the NBA since he's been involved at end of the game and coming out of time-out situations is Larry Brown.

Chuck marveled at him, how good he is. And that is probably, maybe the greatest thing that you can say.

I believe whether it's five games, ten games, you know what, I think it starts the first day of training camp. I think the credibility of a guy like that brings - raises the intensity, the level of what the players - how they're going to perform from the get-go.

It's not going to happen during the particular game that's going to make the difference. It's going to be the tone set all year and how much better prepared they're going to be. I think preparation is one of the keys in this league and what you do in October during your 28 days of training camp will set the tone for the rest of the season.

The talent does increase but also the readiness will really be there. This man is very demanding but he's very good and his results proved it. I think it's a huge addition.

Joe Favorito: Right. Obviously all our fans are always concerned about those two dirty words, salary cap. And we've made a lot of moves and we've gotten younger, as Isiah said, and more athletic. But one question came in. Can we ever be championship caliber - a championship caliber team again if we don't get under the salary cap?

Brendan Suhr: Absolutely. My best advice to fans is since they don't have to pay it, don't worry about it. Worry about the talent that we have, not how much we're paying.

It's a different age than before. No one worries about this Yankees salary cap unless they don't win. And so I think it's more important to worry about how good our players are and how good they're performing.

Don't get caught up on a salary cap. Don't get caught up on luxury tax. You don't have to pay them and so just enjoy the players and the play.

Strategy-wise, our leadership team has a model in place of what we want to do in the future, how we want to get there. From Isiah through our ownership, through [Senior VP, Basketball Operations] Frank Murphy, everyone is walking in the same line of what we want to do. So I think we're really in great shape there.

And so my best advice is don't worry about it. Relax and just worry about our - the talent that we have which I think is hugely improved over last year.

Joe Favorito: Great. Brendan, you've obviously worked in - for some very high profile people on some very successful teams. How would you compare this team to similar teams you've worked with?

For example, what stage are the Knicks at now compared to say the Pistons before they won the championship or the Hawks when they were very successful with Mike Fratello or the Nets when they were successful with Chuck Daly?

Brendan Suhr: Yeah. I think that's an interesting thing, Joe. And I think what happens is when - I think we're about ready for what, you know, Larry would call his innocent climb. You know? And Phoenix went through it last year, when the expectation level is unknown. You know, people aren't really sure. I would say the expectation level is moderately low.

That's when your greatest jump can happen. You know, when all of a sudden, Phoenix goes from 29 wins to 62 or 63 wins. It’s just jumped out. It was alarming.

And what happens is it takes on a life of their own. So what has to happen is you go into camp and you just try to get better every day. And then one win - you've got to win one game before you win two games and you go on from there. And then what happens is you get momentum going and then all of a sudden you get this incredible word called teamwork developing. You know, that was missing last year.

The chemistry, I learned a long time ago, in this league or in any sport is often only produced through winning. Then all of a sudden you say, "Gee, that team has great chemistry." You never hear a team that's losing say, "Boy, they have great chemistry." It's only with winning teams.

And so this is what has to develop, where players care more about each other and about winning than they do about themselves. And it's very - people have to understand it. It's just like the normal people's business. This is about - not about themselves. It's about the greater good. It's very hard to do in real life and in professional sports.

But I think that's what a guy like Larry, who understands the big picture, who's always taken teams to commitment areas, that's what you have to get, a commitment to team. And I think that's what he's going to be able to do.

Joe Favorito: Let's move on and talk a little bit about - there were several questions that came in about the division and about the league. Which team in the division do you think has improved the most this summer and why?

Brendan Suhr: Well I think without a question it's the Knicks. I think where we were, what people felt about us, I think it's been dramatic. Right now, as of this call we've added five players, probably going to add one more at least, and arguably the one, two or three best Coaches in the NBA.

That is a significant upgrade. The players, as we talked about the three rookies, are excellent. You're going to add two other Starters in Quentin Richardson and Jerome James. Right away you have a better basketball team.

And then the idea of Larry coming in, I just think is monumental. So I think we increased.

The Nets, they attempted to do some things. Kind of really hasn't worked out. Washington lost what I thought was an all-star Guard in Larry Hughes. Philly kind of just paid a lot of money to [Samuel] Dalembert. That, you know, didn't really do anything. Boston, I saw with a guy that turned their team around, Antoine Walker. They're going to be very young, very hard working, but very young. Toronto, nothing really right now.

I think we're really in a great spot and it all goes back to our end of the season meeting where Isiah went to sit in front of those players and said, "I am dedicating from this day forward to getting better. What are you going to do?"

And I thought it was a heck of a statement. And he has certainly walked the walk.

Joe Favorito: Right. And then since you talked so positively about the team and where we are, the last question that came in is where do you think we will finish in the East this year, Brendan?

Brendan Suhr: Well first, Joe, I think one thing you do when you - I've been in, you know, professional sports for 26 years is that in the off-season without knowing what's going to happen around the corner with injuries and things of that nature, you can never predict. You can only hope.

One thing I know is we're going to work hard. We're going to play hard. We're going to be a great home-court team. I think we're going to have tremendous coaching. But I'm going to - my biggest thing is I am going to watch and see how these players respond and how hard they play.

I think we're going to see great enthusiasm and high energy by our players, which will turn into wins because the readiness will be there from then - their coaching staff this year. I think it's going to be a fun season. I think it's going to be great to be a season ticket-holder. I know I'm going to be sitting with them and I'm looking forward to it.

I'm - and I'm really - I can't wait for October 4 to start.

Joe Favorito: Great. Brendan, thanks for joining us and we'd like to thank everyone for calling in. As we said, we're going to try and do this as often as we can. But please spread the word amongst your fellow season ticket-holders.

We hope you enjoyed it this morning and I believe there'll also be a transcript and an audio version of this that will go out to everyone.

But again, Brendan, thanks for joining us and we hope everybody enjoyed it. And we'll talk to you soon.

Brendan Suhr: Thank you, Joe.

somebody remind him that Phoenix had Amare, marion, nash & JJ!

Posted by gunsnewing:

"The Nets, they attempted to do some things. Kind of really hasn't worked out. Washington lost what I thought was an all-star Guard in Larry Hughes. Philly kind of just paid a lot of money to [Samuel] Dalembert. That, you know, didn't really do anything. Boston, I saw with a guy that turned their team around, Antoine Walker. They're going to be very young, very hard working, but very young. Toronto, nothing really right now.
I think we're really in a great spot and it all goes back to our end of the season meeting where Isiah went to sit in front of those players and said, "I am dedicating from this day forward to getting better. What are you going to do?"





yep we're in a great spot. 4 and out against Miami in the 1st round. How about cleveland & orlando being better this year. miami, indy, detroit, chicago, washington, cleveland, orlando, NJ, NY




[Edited by - gunsnewing on 08-28-2005 02:21 AM]

if we win the atlantic, then we get the 3rd seed at least. so no 1st and out...

With a guy like Brendan Suhr in the front office with Isiah, we'll never have a bad draft- no matter where we pick. I'm glad those useless draft days are gone, hopefully for a long time.

The standout quote was regarding the salary cap complainers:
"My best advice to fans is since they don't have to pay it, don't worry about it. Worry about the talent that we have, not how much we're paying."

Well put, Brendan!

Trianing camp's just a month and a few days away... I can't wait!

Interesting interview. Naturally he's going to hum the homer tune and the man must have a wooden leg to tolrate that much kool-aid in the system.

Still, a couple of points I found interesting:

We found that in three college players. For - in order, Channing Frye, this guy is going to play in this league for a minimum of twelve years. He has all the talents that you need as a big man. And he shoots the ball, he passes. He's highly skilled. He can block shots. Highly intelligent, has leadership aspects.

We thought he was one of the top players in the whole draft irregardless of where we picked. We think he's going to be solid. We think he's going to be a tremendous power of forwardness league, be able to play a little backup Center.

Doesn't this sound like he was chosen to play PF and he's not gonna get much burn at C? i agree with the skill assessment and I think he's the right kind of guy to have on our frontline, but I've been thinking he's gonna play at least half his minutes at C. If not, doesn't this say a lot about them looking to pick up another C, cast doubt on Sweets' future role with the team and recast Lee more in the SF light?

And then David Lee, the last pick of the first round is someone that Isiah and I have known for years. We've worked closely with his coaching staff at Florida. We've worked closely with David, Isiah and I over the last couple years doing some programs in Florida.

And this guy is a terrific basketball player. He can play a couple positions for us up front. And we do some - the NBA does some psychological testing with its athletes and this player, from a psychological team perspective tapped out as high as any player in the last seven years in the NBA. And the only NFL player that came out near him was Peyton Manning as far as being a teammate.

So we felt we got a guy that was really going to help us, pretty similar to Jerome Williams as far as having a great teammate and I think that was another thing that we felt we had to add.

Joe Favorito: Okay. And I - you touched on those - the three young guys. Just out of that group, who do you think will have the most impact right away?

Brendan Suhr: Well I think most people think Channing will, you know, because he's he's such a high pick.

Nate Robinson could really have a very strong impact because of his ability to change tempo and god forbid if any - if Stephon gets hurt or Jamal gets hurt then you're going to need a guy that can place a lot of ones. So he could really get an opportunity to play and so he could make a great impact.

David Lee was the best player we had in our summer league, to give you an idea how good he is. You know, he played better than the other two at the summer league so - from a consistent basis. So I don't want to say but it's all going to be about the opportunities that Larry gives them, what they earn. But I think all three of them then could really make an impact.

We thought David Lee would have no impact almost with our summer league team because we had to play him in Small Forward and he was incredible. So I think whichever ones Larry ends up trusting is going to be huge.

Wow is he going out of his way to hype Lee! I'm not sure what to take from this as far as predicting PT for him. I hadn't really expected much before reading this, but now I don't know. But there really is potential for a much more active and athletic frontline from us this year. Right now there are a multitude of IF's - from Reezy and Sweets' improvements to Frye's and Lee's impact to Big Game's big games to Butler's showing whther he's an apparition or truly a basketball player. And of course, mostly that walking enigma, TT. But Brendan gets to him in a moment.

Jerome James is bigger. He's stronger. He has an incredible offensive array of moves.

Isiah identified him during the season. We really put a full-court press on him as far as knowing that that was the guy that we wanted. And then when the clock ticked to 12 on July 1 we went after him with as good a fast break as we ran all year, which isn't saying a lot.

Look at Brredan working the chuckles!

But we were out there, and we were very excited that - he wanted to stay in Seattle. Ray Allen wanted him there. But we pursued him so hard. Isiah pursued him with such fervor that he believed in what we were selling. He's ready to change. He was coming without knowing who the Coach was.

And for us now to add Larry to it, we think Larry will, you know, he's such a great coach that we think he's going to take Jerome to the next level. Jerome is ready to explode. The nine points and six rebounds Nazr [delivered], he could surpass that very easily.

But the biggest thing is he's got an opportunity to play. He's our starting Center. Last year he was what I call a token Starter for Seattle. Nate McMillan wanted to play small ball. He started him in the first and third quarters, let him play 14 minutes, use up some fouls, get him out of there and play a small team.

That's fine but that's not the way we're going to play. And to play in the East now, it's a better conference, more physical, bigger. You need a real big-time Center. And we were playing last year with all power Forwards.

And so I think it's a strong move for our team. I think this guy is really going to get a chance. He's going to get a chance to play 30 plus minutes a night and I think the numbers will reflect that.

Holy makarel, he kind of sounds serious about this! Yes, Big Game does look like he's going to explode, but not necessarily in the way he meant it! I still like the signing, but I look at it as a necessary move to try to balance a very unbalanced squad - he's talking like the Master of all Kool-Aid Consumers!! Is there the slightest chance he's serious or is this all blowing the requisite smoke up his boss' ass? Could we give him a lie detector test??

Joe Favorito: Right. Obviously all our fans are always concerned about those two dirty words, salary cap. And we've made a lot of moves and we've gotten younger, as Isiah said, and more athletic. But one question came in. Can we ever be championship caliber - a championship caliber team again if we don't get under the salary cap?

Brendan Suhr: Absolutely. My best advice to fans is since they don't have to pay it, don't worry about it. Worry about the talent that we have, not how much we're paying.

It's a different age than before. No one worries about this Yankees salary cap unless they don't win. And so I think it's more important to worry about how good our players are and how good they're performing.

Don't get caught up on a salary cap. Don't get caught up on luxury tax. You don't have to pay them and so just enjoy the players and the play.

Strategy-wise, our leadership team has a model in place of what we want to do in the future, how we want to get there. From Isiah through our ownership, through [Senior VP, Basketball Operations] Frank Murphy, everyone is walking in the same line of what we want to do. So I think we're really in great shape there.

And so my best advice is don't worry about it. Relax and just worry about our - the talent that we have which I think is hugely improved over last year.

Ugh! I really hate reading BS like this. Why can't anyone there say - Yeah it's a concern, it has to be to any intelligent executive. We're working on the difficult process of balancing our money situation with our talent situaion and it might take some time to work it back into perspecitve? Still says nothing but at least doesn't have that message that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth - Relax, it's not your money. Thanks, I think we realized that, but it is "our team" as rabid fans, so we certainly do have concern about how the franchise is being run.

I thought he played extremely well in Milwaukee. I thought he had a terrific run there and the thing that I think that Larry again will get out of him is we have played Tim near exclusively at the three spot.

Therefore he's going against now sometimes big Guards. He's playing against Paul Pierce, Vince Carter. He's playing against two Guards playing three, Manu Ginobili. That’s not fair for a 6'10 player to do.

I think when he was in Milwaukee, when he was a sixth man, he was playing a lot of the four spot. And I think you're going to see us using him at three and four. Last year our Coaches, whether it be Lenny or Herb, did a great job of posting him up. I think you'll see the same thing.

I also think you'll see him playing four. He's a very tough cover for a four because of his quickness. The best thing about Tim this year is if he's healthy, number 1 and number 2, it's what we call a contract year. He's down to his last year of his contract. He will play well. I guarantee it.

All right, now I'm f'g throwing ulp. What makes me more sick - the endless excuses everyone's made for this guy over his career; the thought of this gazy playing the 4 (what a f'g joke); or the admission, by someone in the front office, that he's only expected to bring anything more this year because it's a big pay year for him!! YUCK!!!

Brendan Suhr: Yeah. I think that's an interesting thing, Joe. And I think what happens is when - I think we're about ready for what, you know, Larry would call his innocent climb. You know? And Phoenix went through it last year, when the expectation level is unknown. You know, people aren't really sure. I would say the expectation level is moderately low.

That's when your greatest jump can happen. You know, when all of a sudden, Phoenix goes from 29 wins to 62 or 63 wins. It’s just jumped out. It was alarming.

OMG THE INNOCENT CLIMB!!!

THat has to be the Kincks' logo this year:

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2005 New York Knicks . . . and their INNOCENT CLIMB!!!!!

That has to take the cake. AND the punch!

I really like what he had to say about our rookies. You have to realize this guy has an amazing track record with picking talent. I'm excited about his take on the rooks. Clearly, he's being a bit of a homer, but it's kind of exciting that he can't contain his own enthusiasm. This isn't a PR guy, this is a basketball guy. Rodman, PJ Brown, Spud Webb, etc. This guy knows talent and he's gushing about the rooks. that's exciting.

sounds like someone gets commission if they sell some season tickets.

the stuff about tim is a joke. he has every bit the physical tools as amare stoudamire but plays about as big as damon. yeah, let's put tim at the 4 so he can get THOROUGHLY abused on the boards even more. he's already putting up monster 3.5 boards at the 3 spot, how many would he put up at the 4 spot? and who's the big guy that's going to make up for those #'s? with that said, it would absolutely DISGUST me if tim explodes (and i hope he does). it's great for the team but there should be absolutely NO WAY that tim is a knick as of 06/07. let that walking excuse expire.

so they knew he was drafting a PF in frye. that's the FIRST we've heard of that. everything up to this point has us drafting frye as center and after watching him play, we all assumed he would be better off at PF and backup C. and as marv brought up, it looks like sweets probably won't get the ball as much as i would have liked as he will probably split duty with frye at the PF spot this year. unless they go with a 3 man rotataion at PF/C with frye, james, sweets based on match-ups.

first thing he says about nate is that he'll give us an added dimension in practice. to quote AI..."practice?!?!?!" so i guess 10 mins would probably MAX out nate's minutes this year. that's cool b/c that's 10 mins we never had before from the backup spot.

this should be the rotation this year and for the future:

guards: marbury, craw, nate, Q
forwards: ariza, lee, sweets, frye
center: james, frye, sweets

that's ENOUGH to play an entire game, with spot duty for malik rose and mo taylor. one and done for tim - one and done.

KNICKS 06/07 - ZERO TIM

hey - for the guys that run the "COUNTDOWN TO THE SEASON" thread, can you guys come up with a "COUNTDOWN TO TIM'S FREE AGENCY THREAD" too. thanks.

suhr does sound like a giddy school girl when talking about the team but we still pretty much have only one serious individual defender in ariza so our defense has to come from LB.

I think h20 will return but I dont think he will stay healthy for even 40 games. Thats only if he is limited to 20 mins a game. If he plays more than that, I doubt he is going far.

Posted by Bobby:

to all the h20 non-believers: when allan is ready to make a return make sure you watch for the real allan houston rule........i can't wait

I hope you remember this thread if he misses 50% of the season! This has happened before you know. It probably wasnt you but the "h20 non-believers" were called out last summer too. Then the "h20 believers" forgot all about it when he missed 70% of the season. Also, this is not Houston's team anymore so "the real Allan Houston rule" as you put it will be a 15 mins a game decoy or 3rd option!

Posted by djsunyc:

sounds like someone gets commission if they sell some season tickets.

the stuff about tim is a joke. he has every bit the physical tools as amare stoudamire but plays about as big as damon. yeah, let's put tim at the 4 so he can get THOROUGHLY abused on the boards even more. he's already putting up monster 3.5 boards at the 3 spot, how many would he put up at the 4 spot? and who's the big guy that's going to make up for those #'s? with that said, it would absolutely DISGUST me if tim explodes (and i hope he does). it's great for the team but there should be absolutely NO WAY that tim is a knick as of 06/07. let that walking excuse expire.

so they knew he was drafting a PF in frye. that's the FIRST we've heard of that. everything up to this point has us drafting frye as center and after watching him play, we all assumed he would be better off at PF and backup C. and as marv brought up, it looks like sweets probably won't get the ball as much as i would have liked as he will probably split duty with frye at the PF spot this year. unless they go with a 3 man rotataion at PF/C with frye, james, sweets based on match-ups.

first thing he says about nate is that he'll give us an added dimension in practice. to quote AI..."practice?!?!?!" so i guess 10 mins would probably MAX out nate's minutes this year. that's cool b/c that's 10 mins we never had before from the backup spot.

this should be the rotation this year and for the future:

guards: marbury, craw, nate, Q
forwards: ariza, lee, sweets, frye
center: james, frye, sweets

that's ENOUGH to play an entire game, with spot duty for malik rose and mo taylor. one and done for tim - one and done.

KNICKS 06/07 - ZERO TIM

hey - for the guys that run the "COUNTDOWN TO THE SEASON" thread, can you guys come up with a "COUNTDOWN TO TIM'S FREE AGENCY THREAD" too. thanks.

suhr does sound like a giddy school girl when talking about the team but we still pretty much have only one serious individual defender in ariza so our defense has to come from LB.

first of all DJ, good post.

You are exactly correct about Tim's skills. He actually has MORE skills than Amare, which is a shame. Tim has zero heart. Tim should be a beast out there. What a waste. It would disgust me if he blew up in his contract year too... but he'd be a good asset for sign and trade. Tim is a wuss. He doesnt have that fire. He's already gotten a huge contract. He is set for life - and anyone in his will somewhere can just kick back and chill somewhere... forever ever. That makes you complacent sometimes. Tim is just fugazy.

I think that they figured they were drafting a Center with Frye and then once they saw him in game situations realized that he would be a better fit at PF. Which is sad that they won't develop Frye into a center... I could see him being a Camby-esque type center.

Yeah, Nate will get most of his minutes in practice. He's a rookie and still learning the NBA game. Plus Marbury, Q and Craw seriously will take most of the time at the guard spots unless there is an injury - as Suhr said.

I think no one on the Knicks are currently "great" individual defenders, but I think defense is something that takes effort and needs to be taught. If you are athletic and long, you can become a good defender. I think anyone on the knicks has the potential to become a good defender and LB will require it. That's what we all hope.

Posted by Silverfuel:

DJ: Microphone pointed at a speakerphone?

y'all are funny. i'll see what i could do next time.