Posted by Knicksfan:

There are so many ways to address this post that I'll just say a few things. First, how are you gonna attract anyone to NY if you have no cap space to sign them? We knew from the beginning that both players had to be traded in order to do that.

Secong of all, I think the Clippers are the Knicks of the last seasons. Look at that roster now. They may have balance with the trade, but they officially have a horrible cap situation and we'll see if the deal takes them to the playoffs. And even if they do, are they championship material?

I do understand that anyone could be worried that a guy like Lebron wouldn't want to play here because the roster may not be that attractive, but lets get to the bridge before we cross it. We still have some solid players that would make a nice supporting cast. We also have this year's draft pick. Danillo will hopefully get healthy and prove to be another valuable piece of the puzzle along with Chandler, Nate and maybe even Lee.

And a team with some solid players and the ability to sign two big free agents may be our first real shot at a championship in more than 30 years. Who knows what happens from now on, but its evident we are sending this message: we are going to do our best try to sign an impact player in 2010. A team with solid pieces, you add Lebron and Bosh and we'll be talking about great seasons soon.

I will say again that the only guys I can still' see on this team in about two years is Duhon, Nate, Chandler, Lee and Gallinari so far. That means we will have 10 new people on this team. And that's included Lebron. And the beauty is, there are nine other players that we don't even know who will be on this team. If Donnie has these kind of high expectations, then you just know he's going to fill those spots with as good a talent as he can possibly fill them with.

I'm telling you's and been telling you's that this is the way you build a successful team. You create cap, you wait for the right players and you go after them, including a few stars, including one of the top stars of the sport. That's the way you do it. We never saw this happen because Layden, Isiah and dolan all had their foot up their own asses in trying to 'win now' modes. That will never work. You have to build and wait for those right players.

Exactly what Donnie is doing. In two years, count on it, it's going to be virtually a brand new team. So don't worry about the quality right now. Donnie will fix it.

Posted by 4949:

Posted by BasketballJones:

This is indeed a horrible day. Walsh has just undone a good portion of Cap'n Zeke's work, and is on track to return us to the Layden Era. Frankly, I'm surprised. I thought the plan was for Walsh to build on Cap'n Zeke's legacy and take the credit. Now he has thrown out a good portion of the core of the team that Cap'n Zeke built. It is indeed a horrible day.

I only hope he has the good sense not to dump Curry and Marbury as well. Then we'll be in real trouble!

Dude, Harrington, Mobley and Thomas's contracts end after next year. Just in time for the Lebron sweepstakes. Crawford and Zach's contracts went beyond that point. What is so hard to understand here? Curry's contract is the only one we have to get rid of now.

I cannot believe you took a BasketballJones post seriously.

What about the fact that we have a gm that would be willing to have a 120mil pay roll if we are winning.

Plus the fact that we have one of the more popular coaches that players like, and a system that players love to play in.

Then there is the market & endorsments.

If we can't persuade Lebron with that package then maybe we could persuade Joe Johnson.

Posted by newyorknewyork:

What about the fact that we have a gm that would be willing to have a 120mil pay roll if we are winning.

Plus the fact that we have one of the more popular coaches that players like, and a system that players love to play in.

Then there is the market & endorsments.

If we can't persuade Lebron with that package then maybe we could persuade Joe Johnson.

even if we end up w/Joe Johnson & Amare Stoudamire (both ex MDA players) would that be so bad? i don't think so... definitely an upgrade over Jamal & Zach.

Posted by nixluva:

If the point is that we have no guarantee one of the top FA's will come, then yeah there's some truth to that. I just think that we stand a much better chance to get better and the threat of being able to just go and get a player you want is a major plus.

We can also make deals with greater flexibility than ever before if we get way under the cap.

No man. That's the old way. Never, ever worked and never will.

Jordan - 6 NBA championships
Olajuwan - 2 NBA championships
Larry Bird - 3 NBA championships
Magic - 5 NBA championships
Kareem - 5 NBA championships
Shaq - 4 NBA championships
Kobe - 3 NBA championships
Isiah - 2 NBA championships
Duncan - 4 NBA championships
chamberlain & Russell championship years

I mean what will it take to show that you absolutely, positively need a super star to take your team to the NBA championship? It's a rare, rare thing that it happens without one.

Let's stop all the second guessing and just push, push, push for Lebron James to come to New York City

[Edited by - 4949 on 11-21-2008 8:02 PM]

Posted by 4949:

Posted by nixluva:

If the point is that we have no guarantee one of the top FA's will come, then yeah there's some truth to that. I just think that we stand a much better chance to get better and the threat of being able to just go and get a player you want is a major plus.

We can also make deals with greater flexibility than ever before if we get way under the cap.

No man. That's the old way. Never, ever worked and never will.

Jordan - 6 NBA championships
Olajuwan - 2 NBA championships
Larry Bird - 3 NBA championships
Magic - 5 NBA championships
Kareem - 5 NBA championships
Shaq - 4 NBA championships
Kobe - 3 NBA championships
Isiah - 2 NBA championships
Duncan - 4 NBA championships
chamberlain & Russell championship years

I mean what will it take to show that you absolutely, positively need a super star to take your team to the NBA championship? It's a rare, rare thing that it happens without one.

Let's stop all the second guessing and just push, push, push for Lebron James to come to New York City

[Edited by - 4949 on 11-21-2008 8:02 PM]

This is exactly what my point is. Unless you get a championship level super star you have absolutely nothing.

What happened today is fools gold. You dont make these major moves without trying to get a 1st rounder pick or a star who's deal ends the summer we want to sign the championship level superstar. That way you can convince both to resign/sign and build something.

But, and this is the big one that has to be understood, the trick is for the team to remain competitive. We cannot use Al Harrington to convince anyone to come play here. We cant use Nate or Lee (maybe just maybe Chandler). That is if Nate is going to stay with us, that is if Lee is going to stay with us.

This is the main reason letting go of Zach and Crawford in this way hurts us so much, because it is not bringing anyone of value back and it is not bringing us a quality pick back. That means that only, dont fool yourselves guys, only if we bring LeBron back will this be successful.

So let me put this in big black and white, we are not going to get LeBron. Do you hear that MS, we are not going to be able to get Lebron (I know your reading this.) and anyone less is a failure. In the meantime 1st round picks are going to be giving other teams possible championship level superstars that will continually beat us.

When we dont get LeBron and we sign our marginal superstar and dont win a championship feel free to pull this post out of your bookmark manager.

Grasping at straws. We don't make these moves and then what? Are we going anywhere? Do we keep extending Zach and Craw?

We're giving ourselves a shot to pickup at least 2 of a group of 10-12 star level players including Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and Amare Stoudemire. What's not to like?

Whatever. We know its indeed a beautiful day!~

Posted by subzero0:

Posted by GKFv2:

Anything less than LeBron is failure? Really? Wade, Bosh, Joe Johnson, whoever wouldn't be better than you boys Randolph and Crawford? Get back to reality. You don;t build a team around those losers. I don't care if we sign nobody from now till 2050. A deal like this gives the team more room to operate with and once you're under the cap anything can happen. LeBron James is not the only prize of 2010. If you care so much about Randolph and Crawford, go follow their teams on the West Coast because them and their history of losing with the Knicks will not be missed.

Who said anything about building around Zach and Crawford? Actually read my post and then comment, that is how this whole forum thing works.

subzero, u said if we don't get Lebron any alternative would not be acceptable... is that right or am i misquoting u here?

So let me put this in big black and white, we are not going to get LeBron. Do you hear that MS, we are not going to be able to get Lebron (I know your reading this.) and anyone less is a failure.

i couldn't disagree w/u more... whether we get Lebron or not, this was the correct move to make... we now have so many options available to us that we didn't have before... Zach & Jamal weren't gonna lead this team anywhere... we needed to make a trade like this to open up other options in the coming years... now all that's left to do is dump Curry & to make sure we make good use of the draft pick this year.