Knicks not chasing free agents
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Chris Sheridan Blog

I dropped by the Knicks' practice facility this afternoon to hear Isiah Thomas' plan for the summer, and I was more than a little surprised when he declared he does not plan to use the midlevel exception to sign a free agent this summer.

Not that Isiah has had a lot of luck with the midlevel -- giving it to Jared Jeffries, Jerome James and Vin Baker -- but it was still quite an earful to hear him all but rule out adding another veteran player.

"I don't want to elaborate on it," was all Isiah would answer when I asked him to explain his reasoning. He also declined my request to give himself a grade.

All in all, Thomas didn't seem all that disappointed in the Knicks' 33-49 record, repeatedly using words such as "stubborn" and "bull-headed" to describe what his plan will be going forward, giving every indication that he expects almost all of the players on this season's roster to be returning in the fall.

Kelvin Cato is the Knicks' only free agent, and they'll replace him with whoever they select with the 23rd pick of the first round. The Knicks' lottery pick will go to the Bulls as part of the Eddy Curry trade, and the Knicks also sent their second-rounder to the Bulls in that deal. (After this draft, Thomas will still owe the Bulls one more piece from the Curry trade: A second-rounder in 2009).

"There's a couple guys I've been following, but I don't know if they'll be there (at No. 23)," Thomas said. "Unless that draft pick is real special, that guy would have a hard time playing for us."

The Knicks' payroll will drop to around $80 million next season as Allan Houston, Jalen Rose, Maurice Taylor and Shandon Anderson finally come off the cap (Jerome Williams remains on it). I expect Thomas to shop Jeffries and Channing Frye around the league, but the value of both players has dropped, and there's no one out there who's going to be willing to take Steve Francis' contract off Isiah's hands. I think Jermaine O'Neal is the one player out there who Thomas would most like to acquire, but it'll be a few more days before O'Neal meets with Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird to discuss the future, and even if he wants out of Indiana, I don't see the Knicks having what it would take to be the high bidder in an O'Neal sweepstakes. Remember, they still owe a future No. 1 to Utah as part of the Stephon Marbury trade.

"I don't think I'll be aggressively out in the market chasing," said Thomas, who insisted he feels "in his heart" that the Knicks are extremely close to being one of the top teams in the East. I think he's delusional, but he seemed awfully confident in his plan -- which means this is shaping up as a pretty quiet offseason for the Knicks.

"There's a couple guys I've been following, but I don't know if they'll be there (at No. 23)," Thomas said. "Unless that draft pick is real special, that guy would have a hard time playing for us."

IMO...we are going to either trade the pick OR we are going to trade Frye and/or Nate to move UP.

Rangers blueprint coming into play.
In short this means - let the pure little thing die by itself...
Pure Isiah, but he deserves this...

Posted by arkrud:

Rangers blueprint coming into play.
In short this means - let the pure little thing die by itself...
Pure Isiah, but he deserves this...

HMMM...very interesting. I would have to agree.

Buyout Francis f there is absolutly no decent deal out there, & buyout James to.

I don't have any complaints if Isiah doesn't make any big trades or sign any free agents. Though Id like to see Frye & Nate moved to balance the team better.

It may not help the team in the short term. But will be huge for the team in the long run.

every trade he has made included expirings or soon to be expiring deals.
there are no expiring deals on the roster, hence, no real way for isiah to make a trade.

you can not trade frye unless you have a replacement coming back in the deal or one lined up up via another deal.

stay the course is one strategy but i think it's clear as day that we need to add at least one new significant starter to this roster for next season.

[Edited by - djsunyc on 04-19-2007 4:45 PM]

Posted by djsunyc:


stay the course is one strategy but i think it's clear as day that we need to add at least one new significant starter to this roster for next season.

[Edited by - djsunyc on 04-19-2007 4:45 PM]

Would that be a move that will help us in the long run? Or just a move so that we don't have to risk going through another disappointing season next season with the same roster?

If I was Isiah, and I really didn't believe the 23 pick would play, I would try to see if Utah will take it to complete the Phoenix deal. And I would make no moves -- unless I could consolidate the roster a bit in a trade. Something along the lines of:

Frye, Nate, JJ1, JJ2 --> Sac

for

Artest and Kenny Thomas

I think that move helps even if Artest never plays.

Posted by eViL:

If I was Isiah, and I really didn't believe the 23 pick would play, I would try to see if Utah will take it to complete the Phoenix deal. And I would make no moves -- unless I could consolidate the roster a bit in a trade. Something along the lines of:

Frye, Nate, JJ1, JJ2 --> Sac

for

Artest and Kenny Thomas

I think that move helps even if Artest never plays.

Absolutely- call Utah up and see if they'll take the pick now- they might, since its a deep draft- but then, they'll likely have a lotto pick when the pick isn't protected.

Why profess your trust in your GM, with a 4 year contract extension, if you're not going to trust him to use every available avenue to improve the team? Especially when you have limited means to begin with?

First the expiring contracts were taken away and now the MLE is off the table. If his past decisions have led you to take these drastic measures then you must not think that he's done a very good job.

No wonder this franchise is a complete laughingstock.