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djsunyc
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With Eye Toward Youth, the Knicks Waive Rose
By HOWARD BECK
GREENBURGH, N.Y., Oct. 30 — Jalen Rose, the most expensive Knick on the roster, was waived Monday, in a transaction that may signal the start of a more fiscally restrained era for the franchise.
The Knicks cut Rose after agreeing to a contract buyout, believed to be $1 million to $2 million less than the $16.9 million he was owed. Combined with luxury-tax payments on Rose’s salary, paying him to leave will cost the Knicks in the range of $28 million to $32 million.
A month ago, the Knicks bought out Maurice Taylor, a move that cost them about $14 million in salary and luxury-tax payments.
Cutting veterans with hefty contracts is an expensive way to reshape a roster. But viewed more broadly, releasing Taylor and Rose could indicate a shift toward cost-cutting, and ultimately, toward a slightly less-bloated payroll.
In his three years as the team president, Isiah Thomas has routinely used large, expiring contracts — like those of Taylor and Rose — to acquire players with even larger, longer-term deals. The perpetual churn pushed the Knicks’ payroll from about $84 million (when Thomas arrived in December 2003) to about $120 million last season.
Had the Knicks held onto Taylor and Rose, they could have dangled them as trading pawns in February, probably in a deal for another set of big contracts. In the past few years, the Knicks traded expiring contracts to acquire Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Eddy Curry, Steve Francis and, curiously enough, Rose, along with a handful of first-round draft picks.
So Thomas has made the Knicks younger and perhaps more talented, although it has not translated into a winning season. “We understood when I got hired how we were going to build a team,” Thomas said. “We were going to use expiring contracts, and we knew one day we would find ourselves in this position, where you got a lot of young guys.”
The Knicks remain, by far, the league’s most expensive team. Their payroll of $122 million is more than double the salary cap ($53 million), and far in excess of the luxury-tax threshold ($65.4 million). Only two other teams are expected to break the $90 million mark — Dallas and Philadelphia.
Even after waiving Rose, the Knicks have two players among the 25 highest-paid in the league — Marbury ($17.3 million) and Francis ($15.1 million).
But for the first time since Thomas arrived, the Knicks’ payroll could actually be decreasing.
The $122 million payroll actually includes four players who are no longer on the team and who will be off the books next summer; Rose, Taylor, Shandon Anderson and Jerome Williams will earn a combined $41 million not to play for the Knicks this season. Anderson was bought out two years ago. Williams was waived in 2005.
The payroll figure could have exceeded $140 million. But the N.B.A. quietly granted the Knicks salary-cap relief for Allan Houston, who retired last year for medical reasons. For cap purposes, the $20.7 million owed Houston this season has been expunged.
The payroll for the 14 players on the Knicks’ roster is a more sensible-sounding $81 million. Next season, the figure will be about $87 million, not counting draft picks or free-agent signings.
It is still a huge sum to pay for a team that has posted five consecutive losing seasons. And the Knicks will be far over the cap until at least 2009, when Francis and Marbury come off the books.
“We’ll use our resources wisely now,” Thomas said. “I don’t think we’ll ever see the days that we were at — unless you’re talking about some great players in this league.”
Rose represents perhaps the worst of the Knicks’ financial excesses of the last few years. They spent about $45 million in salary and luxury-tax payments to employ Rose for eight months. He played in 26 games.
The Knicks made two expensive trades in February, sending Antonio Davis to Toronto for Rose, and Penny Hardaway to Orlando for Francis. Had the Knicks exercised the fiscal restraint then that Thomas now promotes, the payroll today would be closer to $90 million.
“In previous years, we had to use the expiring contracts to make sure that we were able to get players,” Thomas said. “We did a good job in getting players. Now we don’t necessarily have the same focus. We don’t necessarily look at having an expiring contract as an asset anymore.”
On a more practical level, releasing Rose and Taylor enables Thomas to give maximum playing time to his young core.
Quentin Richardson and Jared Jeffries will assume most of the minutes at small forward, where Rose played. Channing Frye and David Lee will assume most of the minutes at power forward, where Taylor played.
Thomas said Rose “is going to help somebody’s team, big time.” But when asked if he had better options, Thomas said, “Yes, that’s accurate. And fair.”
The Knicks now have a roster vacancy, but Thomas said he had no plans to sign a free agent.
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10/31/2006 12:05 AM
