A perfect fit
Jeffries signing not splashy, but what Knicks need
Posted: Tuesday August 8, 2006 12:36PM; Updated: Tuesday August 8, 2006 2:45PM


Jared Jeffries' unselfishness will be welcome in a Knicks locker room seemingly teeming with me-first players.
Mitchell Layton/NBAE via Getty Images

When you live in New York, you become accustomed to some outrageous tabloid headlines. In fact, you become almost numb to the scandals that newspapers splash on their front and back pages: Randy Johnson attacks cameraman; Isiah Thomas sued for sexual harassment; Paul Lo Duca's marriage crumbles (complete with a picture of the soon-to-be ex-wife).

Yet for all the stories catering to the huddled masses, New York sports fans occasionally have a legitimate cause to pick up their papers.

Today is that day.

To the casual observer, the Knicks' signing of Jared Jeffries for $30 million over five years, as first reported by SI.com last Saturday, would appear to be little more than Thomas again overpaying for underwhelming talent. Last season Jeffries averaged 6.4 points as Washington's starting small forward, an average that would have ranked 10th on the Knicks, just barely ahead of Maurice Taylor and a tick behind Qyntel Woods. In four NBA seasons Jeffries, 24, boasts averages of 6.1 points and 4.9 rebounds.

So Jeffries is a bad signing, right? Wrong! Jeffries is the best signing the Knicks have made in years.

Forget the numbers. For the last two seasons Jeffries has played on an offensive juggernaut, a Wizards team that featured such elite scorers as Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. Jeffries wasn't asked to score. He didn't have to. He was asked to play defense (something no Knick has done in the Thomas era), and he performed this task effectively. In the 2006 postseason Jeffries frequently drew the assignment of guarding LeBron James, and while James was spectacular, Jeffries did a credible job despite rarely getting any help from his teammates.

A natural small forward, Jeffries can play extended minutes at power forward. With Thomas planning a more up-tempo attack next season, don't be surprised to see the 6-foot-11 Jeffries get some minutes at center, too.

Jeffries is a high-character guy, an affable teammate who also will provide at least a partial remedy to the Knicks' poisoned locker room. Those who don't think that's important weren't watching last season's 23-59 train wreck too carefully. Chemistry matters.

Thomas has made his fair share (and Boston's fair share, and New Jersey's fair share ...) of mistakes in his tenure at the helm, but signing Jeffries isn't one of them.
Expect 12-15 points and 6-8 rebounds per game from Jeffries, and expect the Knicks to take a positive step in the right direction.

It's definitely a good signing and fits right in with what we've been asking for and needing for a while. In NY we always think the superstar savior is the best pick and sometimes it's not. We didn't have defenders last year, now we do. We didn't have versatility now we do. We had 10 guys that demand the ball. Now we are collecting guys that are interested in team ball and don't need the ball to be successful. This in turn makes it easier on guys like Marbs to do what he wants on the court without affecting team chemistry(as much). Now that Isiah is targeting and says(in his press conference) that he will continue to target the types of players I said we need does this mean I'm still a pessimist?

Expect 12-15 points and 6-8 rebounds per game from Jeffries, and expect the Knicks to take a positive step in the right direction.

Talk about Kool Aid. 8 & 6 would be huge.

if we could somehow magically make vanish Mo, Jalen and Francis I would be happy with this group. I would include JJFat, but nobody has that much magic. I'm pretty sure nobody is giving us expiring contracts for Francis, which would be ideal.

Its even more ironic that now that Isiah is coaching he's getting defensive role players. Collins, Balkman and JJSkinny since he's been annointed coach. Hmmmmm

BTW, anyone who watched the Knicks debacle last year (even a casual fan) could tell this team needed a few role players. Isiah hasn't even been here for 3 complete years, obviously it aint a complete product. One brick at a time. Your not gonna assemble a complete team (scorers, defenders, role players, post playes, shooters etc, in 2 and ahlf years. Thats just not reality.

Posted by fishmike:

Or they ignore these 2 moves and and continue to harp on the Isiah's bad moves (JJ, Mo Taylor etc.)

well.. to be honest I do because I find it hard to believe that Isiah finally "got it."

He's the master talent evaluator but thought Vin Baker and Jerome JAmes were good veteran additions. He gave up a pick (turned out to be a good one in this last draft) for Mo Taylor. etc etc etc

I mean, where did these calls come from? At some point these ideas rattled around in his head as smart and he pulled the trigger.

I actually like a lot of the players he's brought in, including fat Eddie. What kills me is the price he's paid. He's been a bad GM. Yes we have young players. Every team does. We dont have Lebron or Amara or Bosh to build around either.

Thats not bitching. Thats just concern that the guy putting our team together doesnt have what it takes, based ONLY on past moves as a GM.

Maybe being coach is best for him, and getting someone else to run day to day ops and engineer the trades.

You make some really good points here Fish. I agree, Mo T and James were scratch-your-head-type moves. All Gms have bad moves like this in there closet so to speak.

But I think with the slary cap situation, and Dolans eagerness to field a playoff team, Isiah had to assmeble talent in an unconventional way. In other words, getting Malik Rose made no sense, but getting 2 draft picks in addtion to Rose made lots of sense. (one of those picksa turned into Lee) Getting Penny made no sense (yes, pun intended), but he had to take him if he really wanted Marbury. Jalen Rose begot Balkman etc...

I think he assembled a really versatile solid front line for the future. Curry is a beat in the post offensively, Frye and Lee compliment each other tremendously at PF, and Jeffries and Balkman provide great energy and intagibles on the wing. Minus a shotblocker, the front line of the future looks pretty good. Obviously there is still some work to be doen in the backcourt. I think Craw is an excellent 6th man/combo guard who could fill the Vinnie Johnson role.

I think they are a pure, backup point guard, and a legit shooting guard in the molds of Ray Allen away from seriously competing with the elite in the east.

and I agree, Isiah might be more comfortable pasing the sidelines than standing in the tunnel. He said this much from the day he was hired.

I also thought it was interesting the source of the article...Sports Illustrated IMHO is a respected source of sports knowledge and they said the line

Expect 12-15 points and 6-8 rebounds per game from Jeffries, and expect the Knicks to take a positive step in the right direction.

That wasn't from me.

Also, interesting article in the New York Times (another respected source of Journalism IMHO) on the signing...

A coaching change and one free-agent signing will not transform the locker room. But Thomas contends that Jeffries, a 24-year-old with a high basketball I.Q. and sound character, may be the key.

Sort of brings it around full circle doesn't it.

rv... now you just sound like a pvssy. I think I liked it better when I just thought of you as idiot.

Beast, I think everyone agrees that there is a good young core here with some talent. It comes down to a couple things that are pretty major. Was it worth what we gave up, and can the GM turn it into a team. Getting guys like JJSkinny is certainly a start. I thought we gave up too much or didnt get enough back on several trades, but only time tells. Hopefully I'm wrong.

When we talk about its like there's 2 rosters. The one we want to see and that one that we have. Mo and Jalen can be released after the deadline (my first choice). Malik is good soldier, but Francis is whinning me first baby everywhere he's been, and he's keeping either Crawford or Nate off the court. That sucks

Posted by bigbeast:

Posted by fishmike:

Now that Isiah is targeting and says(in his press conference) that he will continue to target the types of players I said we need does this mean I'm still a pessimist?

yes... I said we should go after Banks, Evans and Jefferies, and if we could at least get 2 we would drastically improve. The dummies around here got all over my crap like "Lee is our Evans, Nate is our Banks, Balkman is our Jefferies..." bla bla bla. But since Isiah did it it must be good right?

Its great how we have been pining for defensive role players while getting labeled haters for not loving our current roster. Now we get defensive role players and these dummies are like SEE??!?!?!?

Classic

I'm one of the guys here who said that Lee could do everything that Evans can do and then some. I still maintain that I want no parts of the Nut-Cracker.

I never mentioned Jeffries or Banks for that matter do I'll leave that one alone.

I think one of the problems is that (aside from you and NYK4ever who have totally endorsed the signing for Jeff) there are still posters here who complained along with you that we need role players and defenders. Then when the knicks add Jeffries and Balkman (2 role players and defenders), those same posters (not all) still find reasons to complain.

Or they ignore these 2 moves and and continue to harp on the Isiah's bad moves (JJ, Mo Taylor etc.)

I think the call for Evans comes after you look at our front line and analyze what we have and how we get stronger. You can put, Jeffries, Lee and Curry or Frye or any combination and really clog up the lanes. This will help our defensively challenged guards immensely. We also have an offensive frontline that at times can cause match up problems. So question becomes what are we missing. Lee is a good rebounder. Frye is an average rebounder and Curry and Jeffries are average to below average rebounders. To give us more flexibility it would be great to find another rugged rebounder that doesn't need the ball. So that you can put him on the court IN ADDITION TO LEE at the SF in order to throw a line-up that can be a very strong rebounding team and give us possible dominance on the boards and an air of toughness. Yes we all love Lee. And yes I guess he is our version of Evans. But what's wrong with bringing in the actual Evans(or Evans type to round out the frontcourt). Especially if that evans type can block a few shots.

Not every signing has to be a challenge to your favorite players minutes. We are a team and should be building a team. Instead of worrying about how a rugged rebounder may steal minutes from our frontcourt how about thinking of it as having a rugged rebounder that can actually enhance the frontcourt and help David Lee and our Knicks.

After that you start trimming the fat(no I don't just mean JJ). I think ridding ourselves of a couple of the ball stoppers will help us more than getting another "superstar". And at least one or two sharpshooters.

Bip... these decisions SHOULD revolve around one question: What kind of team are we? If we are trying to take advantage of perimeter scoring mismatches we can create with Franbury then Nate/Craw then you get defensive guys up front that can cover their liabilities, as well as hound down loose balls for more shot attempts. I think Lee/Jefferies/Evans make sense there. I think Curry fits because he will get a ton of garbage points just following those guys to the rim. Frye is probably the odd man out there.

We have too many guys... Isiah needs to figure out what kind of team he wants to have and shape the roster and rotations accordingly.

couldn't agree more... there's nothing more frustrating than to have someone completely misrepresent or ignore what you posted & instead oversimplify your position with some arbitrary 1 word label because they choose not to or are unable to carry on any intelligent debate on the topic... what can you do but just laugh at these people?

the reason Isiah gets so much abuse is that this is what fans have been clamoring for, for 5 years now. It could have started and happened years ago. Layden and Isiah could have gotten us to this point sooner. Instead they shoved vet "superstars" in our face to help buy time. Now that they are finally grabbing those players we asked for it is once again being "sold" as some sort of plan. But if that was the plan I would not be looking at JJ, Stevie, Jalen, Mo and some of the others.

exactly... the rebuilding could have taken place years ago & both Layden & Isiah's moves have only delayed the process over the years... the young guys Isiah's acquired have given us a nice nucleus, but we could have had a nice young nucleus to build from if they'd begun the rebuilding after Ewing was traded to SEA... it's not unreasonable to think that by now that team would have grown into a legitimate playoff contender... for my own part, i was wrong on supporting the Marbury trade... that was a complete & utter disaster for this franchise in my view... i find it hard to imagine this team going anywhere as long as your most talented player continues to be a negative presence on the team... Isiah deserves any & all criticism he gets for moves like that that have completely ignored the need to rebuild & instead attempted to throw a 9 digit band-aid over a festering wound that only got bigger & bigger over the years... hopefully the young guys we have now that he acquired will grow & develop into the real cure for that.