Posted by djsunyc:
the hookup brought me in for early shootaround yesterday and as a surprise treat, snuck me in to meet&greet with glen grunwald. this was open to only club level season ticket holders of which i am not. i'm more like the marcy's projects part of the season ticket estate.
i spoke to him for a little bit. he seemed like a very genunine and candid person.
here's a quick recap:
- i asked him what we were looking at with chicago's pick. i brought up a guy like brandon rush. he said that he's an interesting player. right now it's so early b/c you don't know who's declaring, and which underclassmen will declare so it's tough to project who will be available.
- he said he just got back from an overseas trip and brought up tiago splitter. he said he's intriguing but his contract situation is difficult b/c he has a huge buyout.
- he then said that they eventually have to start looking for a replacement for steph who's "getting up there". and they feel that this draft will have some nice point guards available. unprompted, he said "and you can say marcus williams and yeah, i know, spillt milk." (basically we missed the boat on marcus and if glen was here last draft, that's who we would've taken.)
- he talked about toronto and how they got one good point guard in calderon. then followed it up with another one in tj ford. and that the knicks were looking for a "classic" point guard but it may not neccesarily be a point guard...but a point forward. then he said how they also need perimeter defender and a shooter to stretch the defense. (ron artest anyone?)
- he likes the young big man core of lee, frye, curry and now morris and wants to see them grow together.
- they were more active than we were lead to believe this deadline but nothing made sense.
- dolan is going to let them spend some more this upcoming summer.
- they're looking at some cap flexibility in 2 years.
- quentin is undergoing some more back testing and that they will be talking about it soon. (it didn't sound so good and looks like q will definitely be done for the season. but the way he was talking, it almost seemed like it may be much longer than that. very weird.)
Wow. What a great opportunity and you made the most of it. You managed to hit all the key issues with the team - excellent job!
First off, I love how I called the guy out the other day in my "plan for the team moving forward" thread for basically being non-existent since he's been here and then all of a sudden there's an article about Grunwald in the paper the very next day it seemed. Hummmm..... Tells me that believe it or not, beat writers and perhaps even Knicks PR personnel and management monitor this board. Interesting...
Here's what I got outta your conversation:
(1) Didn't seem too interested when you brought up Brandon Rush's name - and I think that's a good thing. If we're looking for a high percentage-shooting, long 2/3, there's better options out there. I agree with Briggs - Almond's my guy. Regarding Almond, I just wish I had seen more of him to get a better read on him. I read everything out there on him and seen the statistics but to be honest, I've only seen the one highlight on Youtube where he hit the gamewinner against UCF in their conference touney and I actually saw a nice lengthy clip of him playing his last H.S. game and he was murdering the opposotion in that one (I can't find it now - I gotta look for it). All considered he really does remind me of Houston a lot but I wouldn't mind seeing more. Anyone out there got any good video of him playing at Rice? Briggs??
(2) I'm not sure what to think of Tiago Splitter. Grunwald seems interested though, huh? I personally think that with Curry, Lee and now Morris on board (if they intend on keeping him) he'd be a waste here. We need a big man who can block shots. Period. And they should be interested in the best in the business out there right now and that's Sean Williams. The skill that Sean Williams brings to the table CHANGES GAMES AND IS SOMETHING THAT THEY DON'T HAVE, whereas the skills Splitter brings are already supplied by the above mentioned trio. They **** the bed by not going after Justin Williams last year. Get it right with Sean Williams this year.
(3) So glad they're thinking about life after Marbury now. Look, I actually like Marbs - they're fine with him as long as he's healthy and still playing at a high level. But he's only got a couple of seasons left at peak performance, let's be honest. Grunwald and co. should be focused on next year's draft for a PG though. This draft, they should be focused on a long 2/3 that can score and shoot and the shotblocker Sean Williams. I won't except or understand anything else. By him mentioning "cap flexability in 2 years" tells me Marbury may not be part of the future here beyond his contract. And that's fine, just concentrate on this for next season's draft, not this upcoming one. I said it before and I'll say it again right now, all the bigtime PGs coming out next season make almost make it worthwhile to tank next season in order to put ourselves in a position to have a chance at a Derrick Rose or an OJ Mayo. And the list doesn't end there...
(4) He like the frontcourt of Curry, Lee, Frye and Morris huh? Well I don't. Not as is, even with Morris. Frye's gotta go, either on draft night for another 1st rounder or possibly in a package with our 2008 1st rounder before next year's draft to move up and get in a position to get a top-flight PG. But if we got this Sean Williams, suddenly the bigman rotation looks more complete. Splitter's a waste for us - I want guys that add elements we're lacking. Splitter would be a good guy if we we're looking for a guy like Lee but we're not.
(5) So Dolan's gonna open up the checkbook again this summer... I don't necessarily think that's a good thing.
(6) Yeah Q's in trouble. Is surgery even an option? If so, why didn't he have it before this season? What exactly's wrong with the back? Anyone know? That's why I want a shooter with size in case Q can't go.
