Posted by islesfan:
You can't just compare the picks like that. If Isiah had tanked before the Marbury deal we would have picked a lot higher than they eventually did in 2004, more than likely in the lottery. We could have picked a lot higher in all of the drafts and had tons of cap room in 2007 if we had just done that.
I still dont think some of you guys get it, Jim Dolan and Cablevision DO NOT want the Knicks(you can even throw the Rangers into this mix) to EVER be tanking, THEY LOSE MONEY. Jim Dolan has been in control of the Knicks and MSG since 1997. In that time span there has been Ernie Grunfeld/Ed Tapscott/Dave Checketts, Scott Layden(hired in 1999-2000) and Isiah Thomas(hired in 2003) running the New York Knicks, never once have you even heard at ANY talk of the team tanking (granted from 97-2000 the Knicks were a pretty decent team and still in the playoffs, so there was no reason to tank becuase they were still a playoff team.)
After that Scott Layden is hired and there are PLENTY of times where Layden could have or would have tanked the season if he could have, but Mr. Dolan makes so much profit off of the Knicks and the Rangers ticket prices and merchandising that it makes no sense for him to be telling GM's to be tanking as long as they are still making money. Stephon Marbury and Jaromir Jagr are players that put fannies in the seats, they are attractions that get people to come watch and that is EXACTLY what Dolan wants, its money in his pocket, if winning comes along with these EVEN BETTER, but if not Dolan doesn't care becuase every year Cablevision is still returning profits. Tanking is NOT a option for this ownership.
[Edited by - nyk4ever on 12-06-2005 3:39 PM]
