Dallas gets perhaps the overall no. 1 pick too! The rich get richer.

If they can maintain daniels, Howard, a no. 1 pick, thats rebuilding on the fly and providing a future. DIrk is still very young!

Marbs in two years will be 30, and still a few years left on a monstar contract. If he slips some in talent or injury takes its toll (11 years in league by then), its h20 all over again.

Posted by Nalod:

Dallas gets perhaps the overall no. 1 pick too! The rich get richer.

If they can maintain daniels, Howard, a no. 1 pick, thats rebuilding on the fly and providing a future. DIrk is still very young!

Marbs in two years will be 30, and still a few years left on a monstar contract. If he slips some in talent or injury takes its toll (11 years in league by then), its h20 all over again.

actually steph will be 30 in 3 years, and really can you see him slipping right in the middle of his prime years, I mean these last few year for Kidd has been his best as a pro.... I see the same with steph, and in 3 years if the knicks need to explore trading him, we can still get a boat load of talent back for him....

Our chances are very slim, but the Isia factor is still in our favor. I am confident that if the opportunity presents Isia will pull the trigger.

Orlando is a club that is in good position for many reasons.
#1 they have 2 EXTREMELY valuable assets in Mcgrady and what looks like pick 1-2
#2 they have the room to sign a full MLE and an LLE if needed. For them to increase revenues--they need to win. They will be a prime time player in the MLE market because they offer perhaps the best location to live.
#3 They have Howard and Gooden who are both valuable. One has to go and I think that the decisions that are made with Mcgrady and the pick which will come first will deteremine what course of action happens with these guys.
#4 the unkown of Grant Hill. Either he will play or he comes off the cap for next year if he cant which could put them in the market for a top tier contract.

There is a great deal of leeway here for them to dramatically improve.

I think they can walk away with two good vets -likely OK4 and some solid role players that they didnt have this year.
If they go in a different direction from Tmac they are going to get a package of something like randolph miles and a pick---i would go that way myself:>) but there is a great deal of things they can do--i think they are in great position to improve drastically.

there's an equally great leeway for them to hit the cellar for a 4-5 year stretch. Every team has some good options to improve of a variety of different reasons. Whether they do or not depends on if management makes the right decisions.

Do the Magic even have a coach? Why is Grant Hill an "x-factor" for the Magic with his 3 surguries and 4 metal screws in his ankle, but Houston is shot for us? If Hill plays a month next year, then is forced to retire the Magic have to wait an entire extra year before he comes off the cap. At least the Knicks make money.. the Magic are in the red.

But whatever... my point was you seem to have very creative ways to improve teams but the Knicks always have 0.1% chance to improve and we will have the same roster for 3 years.

Posted by fishmike:

"Orlando is in good position to do some things."

They are? They were the worst team in the league.
Their two more tradeable players play the same position in Howard and Gooden and the whole league knows they want to trade one.

Their franchise player couldnt prevent a 17 game losing streak, has had back troubles the last couple years and might opt out if they dont win right away next year. Then if they are slow getting out of the gate its a scramble to move TMac because you losing him for nothing sets you back 5 years.

Grant Hill is playing next year. He's made this clear 1000 times. Even if this is the last year he tries and never plays again his salary ruins the magic's cap space until the year AFTER next. You keep taking a cap hit for retired players for a whole year off, which would be after NEXT year if Hill plays so much a 20 seconds this year.

Payton by his own mouth is "a West coast guy." He said he wasnt resigning in Milwakee just for that reason, and a veteran like Gary wants to go to a good situation, NOT one like the Magic. If he's going anywhere East its the Pacers.

The MAgic lost over $3 mill in ticket sales last year.

What they DO have is a good draft pick, and thats about it.

Funny how you can say "Orlando is in good position to do some things" but the Knicks can do nothing unless someone wants to give up millions to play for the MLE.

excellent post fishmike, I mean that was a complete undressing with that post.... It is funny how everyone who doesn't like isaih Thomas is even willing to take a team like the magic and say they have a good future, yet we have none..LOL...

dont know Gooden and Howard as nice trade assets. They were integral parts of the worst frontcourt in the NBA last year, every team needs some of that.

But Briggs did mention another good point about improving from within. Why cant we do this? I'm not talking about Tim Thomas suddenly becoming a 25 point scorer. But I am talking about Sweetney becoming a force in the post (as Briggs himself predicted). I'm talking about Frank Williams earning a bigger role. So what if Marbury plays 40 minutes a night. Frank proved he's a good defender, a great ball handler and a guy that can create and defend bigger players. Hmmm.. that sounds like some ok things to work with.

There are so many things that can go right that will improve our team.. there is no reason to dwell on what wont. I think everything that could have gone wrong at the end of last year did. No Houston, Kurt and his pinky stunk, Frank's mom died after we hit the IR with a pulled groin. Sweetney was ignored until Isiah traded Spoon and brought in Aguire to work with him. No Tim Thomas for the playoffs. Deke was hurt late in the season when we could have actually used him. The list goes on...

When I talk about good luck I'm not talking about signing Kobe with the MLE, I'm talking about guys staying healthy and playing well together after a certain period of time... much like the Heat were able to do a 50 game adjustment period. (please refrain from a long drawn out comparison of how great the Heat are... PLEASE)

good post fish. I agree, with the emergence of both frankie and sweetney, boy very young players the knicks can be a much improved team in that aspect, we have talent, it will take some work and time being together but we can improve from within..

Yea I would like to see DeMarr resigned. If he can improve his defensive game he can be a very valuable asset to this team.