Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by McK1:

Posted by fishmike:

So what hill did in the ncaa and what gallo did overseas means nothing? You make mda and walsh sounsd like a couple of idiots. Walsh is regarded as a top 3 or 4 gm in the sport. I think he's got a clue

he's been collecting checks since 03. Bird was Pres of Ops in Indy

This is the very reason that he was available to the Knicks. He was semi-retired per his own words and didn't want to step on Bird's feet any longer. He was headed into retirement not another team. Dolan and Stern reached out.

Stern reached out and told Dolan to take him. That's how much respect Stern has for Walsh.

Walsh also tried to pawn us over on the mobly trade..knowing damn well mobly was an xtreme high risk. Then went as far as trying to get cap relief to sign some one else..That's why the nba chukled at him and told him to take a hike, cause he knew and still went ahead and approve the trade.. At this point we traded zach for TT and if he doesn't get rid of his contract for someone this off season it really looks foolish

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by martin:

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by McK1:

Posted by fishmike:

So what hill did in the ncaa and what gallo did overseas means nothing? You make mda and walsh sounsd like a couple of idiots. Walsh is regarded as a top 3 or 4 gm in the sport. I think he's got a clue

he's been collecting checks since 03. Bird was Pres of Ops in Indy

This is the very reason that he was available to the Knicks. He was semi-retired per his own words and didn't want to step on Bird's feet any longer. He was headed into retirement not another team. Dolan and Stern reached out.

Stern reached out and told Dolan to take him. That's how much respect Stern has for Walsh.

Yeah, that's why I posted to fish about being respected rather than top in my post.

top... respected. About the same for all practical purposes. Can't be respected if you are top whatever.

Posted by martin:

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by martin:

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by McK1:

Posted by fishmike:

So what hill did in the ncaa and what gallo did overseas means nothing? You make mda and walsh sounsd like a couple of idiots. Walsh is regarded as a top 3 or 4 gm in the sport. I think he's got a clue

he's been collecting checks since 03. Bird was Pres of Ops in Indy

This is the very reason that he was available to the Knicks. He was semi-retired per his own words and didn't want to step on Bird's feet any longer. He was headed into retirement not another team. Dolan and Stern reached out.

Stern reached out and told Dolan to take him. That's how much respect Stern has for Walsh.

Yeah, that's why I posted to fish about being respected rather than top in my post.

top... respected. About the same for all practical purposes. Can't be respected if you are top whatever.

I disagree. You can be respected based on many reasons, tenture/experience, reputation, etc. Being considered top of something could be one of the best. How often do we see people garnish acclaim or awards solely based on past reputation or accomplishments and respect rather than being the best at their job or position.

Posted by McK1:

top 10 in no particular order:

Buford
Thorn
Ainge
Pritchard
Presti
Colangelo
Smith
Bartelstein
Dumars
Bower

I wouldn't include Ainge, Pritchard, Smith and Presti in that list. Having your boy hook you up is not the same as being top in my opinion.

Geoff Petrie is one of the most respected general managers in the game but I wouldn't consider him at the top of anyone list.

Bower did what exactly? Trade JR Smith for Tyson Chandler? Yay.

Ainge was doing nothing before he was handed KG on a silver platter and traded his lottery pick for Ray Allen.

What exactly has Colangelo done to be top 10 in Toronto? Draft Bargnani and sign Hedo? Woo.

Who is Batlestein? I think you mean Mark Warkentein.

Dumars has fallen off since the Larry Brown-Pistons days. Signing Ben Gordon and Villanueva will not get them back to the promise land. Not even close. He has done well with those signings though and drafted a guy I like in Rodney Stuckey but he is not as good as he looked years ago.

Everyone else deserves to be on that list.

My list, no order:

RC Buford
Rod Thorn
Kevin Pritchard
Sam Presti
Otis Smith
MArk Warkentein
Daryl Morey
Pat Riley
Kevin O'Connor
Donnie Nelson/Donnie Walsh

Posted by knicks1248:

Walsh also tried to pawn us over on the mobly trade..knowing damn well mobly was an xtreme high risk. Then went as far as trying to get cap relief to sign some one else..That's why the nba chukled at him and told him to take a hike, cause he knew and still went ahead and approve the trade.. At this point we traded zach for TT and if he doesn't get rid of his contract for someone this off season it really looks foolish

I think most people on this board were ok with getting rid of Zach Randolph for whatever we could.

I think Zach is an ok player. Just not the type of player that I would want on my team.

Why was Portland so willing to trade him?
Why were the Knicks so willing to trade him?
Why were the Clippers so willing to trade him?

Should we be sad that we didn't get more for a player that the Grizz ended up trading for?

This is the same team that traded Pau Gasol for a pair of Starburys...

Every single GM makes mistakes.

Mullin drafted Anthony Randolph but he also drafted Ike Diogu and gave huge contracts to Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy.

Kupchak traded Caron Butler for Kwame frikkin Brown.

Even the great San Antonio spurs let Luis Scola go for almost nothing.

It seems pointless to me to look at every imagined opportunity that Walsh didn't take and say that he didn't get market value for Randolph, Crawford, etc.

Walsh has a coherent plan and is at least aware of this mysterious thing called the salary cap.

Isiah made moves like a chicken with it's head cut off. Trade for a ball dominating PG in Marbury! Take Penny Hardaway and his cap crippling contract! Outbid an invisible ghost GM for an underachieving center with heart problems that made his OWN team not want to pay him! Throw in some picks!

Then trade for ANOTHER ball dominating guard in Steve Francis! Sign up Jerome James for 5 years. Ditto with Jared Jefferies when once again, just like with Curry, there was no bidding war going on to force him to overpay.

Spending money and slightly overpaying to win now when you're a few wins away from a 'chip is vastly different from slapping some gum and duct tape on a ship with giant holes in it like the Knicks.

Cap room is not everything but trading for guys with huge long term contracts with ZERO thought for how that cripples you in the future was DUMB.

Even if Walsh isn't perfect, we can at least see some type of CONSISTENT, coherent logic in what he's doing. He can't really control whether Bron or Wade comes.


All he can do is make sure that the Knicks are in a position to at least be a player in a summer where there are multiple franchise type players available.

I hated the Jordan Hill pick but I don't think it was anywhere near Marvin Williams over Chris Paul/Deron Williams or Weiss over Artest. Maybe we could have gotten more for Zach and should have traded Jefferies at the deadline. To say that there was some solid offer on the table that Walsh turned his nose up to is a bit presumptous no?

I know the 2010 thing has been beaten to death on this board and everywhere else in the media but would it not be insane for a team that is clearly rebuilding and in a market that a star would love to play in to risk not being a player in 2010 so they could win a few games and lose in the first round with the likes of Baron Davis?

Worst case scenario if we whiff on The Chosen One and Dwayne Wade is it really such a horrible thing to have cap space and options?

Maybe we have a crappy 2010/2011 season and get a lottery pick and again try to trade for or land a star now that the Lebron James sweepstakes are over.

We are NOT a team that is one piece away from a championship and can justify overpaying a Hedo Turkoglu/Charlie V/Ben Gordon type.

I would rather whiff in 2010 and deal with that "mess" then sign someone now, have an even lesser chance of getting someone next summer and be stuck with watching _________________ (insert name of over the hill marginal star with a huge long term contract) for the next 5 seasons.

Last but not least..Chris Paul baby...Chris Paul.

Posted by McK1:

ainge started off real shaky but he stockpiled alot of picks and talent to be able to make the 2 trades he made. Al jefferson in the mid first. Gomes in the 2nd. He bought the suns pick for rondo. Got a first out of the heat for walker after he brought him back to appease pierce and make the playoffs in 05. He even got the best of Jerry West in that Banks and Perkins for Troy Bell and somebody else deal.

This is from Wikipedia

" In 2003 he was hired as the Executive Director of Basketball Operations for the Celtics.

Ainge has often been controversial in his role as a Celtics executive, trading popular players such as three-time All-Star Antoine Walker and having personality conflicts with head coach Jim O'Brien that led to the departure of O'Brien to the Philadelphia 76ers (a job he would also depart from a year later). However, Ainge kept the support of former head coach Red Auerbach, who was employed by the team as a "senior assistant" until his death in October 2006, and the current ownership group.

The 2006–07 Celtics finished with a 24–58 record, second-worst in the team's history. Following the season, Paul Pierce, team captain and face of the franchise, expressed frustration with the team's failures. He requested a trade to a contender if management were unable to acquire veteran talent of Pierce's caliber."

After 3 whole years running the show in Boston, Ainge had a 24-58 record and a pissed off Franchise player to show for it.

I bet you he had a huge amount of posts on Celtics message boards saying what an idiot he was.

Some fans have given Walsh all of one season to fix a situation that may have been crappier than the one Ainge stepped into.

I believe that the Antoine Walker/Paul Pierce Celtics were a playoff team. Even if it was in the craptastic Atlantic Division.