Posted by BRIGGS:

Some of this post I believe. I truly believe why we CANNOT draft a foreign player with our next pick unless it was Pau Gasol--a cant miss 7 footer. We don't need any fancy passing Spaniard with a line drive jumpshot or ANYONE with a hint of character issue. I hope hope hope we can get that coveted top 3 pick--the thing is we may have used our lottery juice when we drafted #2 for Chicago. I think Stepen Curry is a leader who a lot of FA would be happy to play with. Either Blake Griffin or Thabeet have their own special skills that we need with leadership and character[actually we could use all 3 players:)] I'm not as high on a prospect who can jump out of the gym and I may have soured at a player who decided US college was not good enough for him--that he couldnt hack a year of it--that doesnt say much to me. I want a guy who can lead through voice and game. Those are the type of players you win with. I think any of those 3 guys could do greta for us EVEN if they werent the fancy pick.

Posted by Knicksfan:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Some of this post I believe. I truly believe why we CANNOT draft a foreign player with our next pick unless it was Pau Gasol--a cant miss 7 footer. We don't need any fancy passing Spaniard with a line drive jumpshot or ANYONE with a hint of character issue. I hope hope hope we can get that coveted top 3 pick--the thing is we may have used our lottery juice when we drafted #2 for Chicago. I think Stepen Curry is a leader who a lot of FA would be happy to play with. Either Blake Griffin or Thabeet have their own special skills that we need with leadership and character[actually we could use all 3 players:)] I'm not as high on a prospect who can jump out of the gym and I may have soured at a player who decided US college was not good enough for him--that he couldnt hack a year of it--that doesnt say much to me. I want a guy who can lead through voice and game. Those are the type of players you win with. I think any of those 3 guys could do greta for us EVEN if they werent the fancy pick.

I'm still not bought on Thabeet being more than the defensive presence he already is. We need some scoring and range at C.And is Griffin really a can't miss?

We may very well end up with one of the top picks but still I haven't seen a guy with star potential that we desperately need. And our most desperate positions are C, PG and SG.

Posted by misterearl:

nysportsfan11 - please see above.

One more thing. Griffin is pure fantasy. What GM in their right mind would trade that pick for anything Walsh would put on the table? (Translation: the Knicks will never see him)

c'mon.

Posted by misterearl:

LivingLegend - you are making a huge assumption that the free agent(s) Walsh is able to lure want(s) to take over a team. Forget the A-List. Forget New York City and the bright lights. Who are the guys who WANT to be Knicks?

Think of A-Rod and Derek Jeter. A-Rod was the greatest free agent splash of all time. Jeter was/is the heart and soul. It has had questionable results in an individual sport.

Without 5-6 foundation players locked down who understand how a band of brothers is supposed to battle, the Knicks are little more than an assemblage of highly-compensated mercenaries in 2010. No sense of team. There is no soul. Without soul - there is no rhythm.

Without rhythm, there are only solo acts competing for attention.

That, my friends, is back to square one faster than you can say Jerry Krause.

My point is that the guy you are looking for isn't here right now.

We have some flexibility to bring that type of player in now but it doesn't look like he's here already.

If he were we probably wouldn't be in the position we've been in the past few years.

With a move of Curry and Lee would could possibly go make a move on the type of player you are talking about.

I'm talking about a young player with some experience that has shown a great deal of heart.

One guy that comes to mind could be someone like a Monta Ellis.

Posted by LivingLegend:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by Knicksfan:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Some of this post I believe. I truly believe why we CANNOT draft a foreign player with our next pick unless it was Pau Gasol--a cant miss 7 footer. We don't need any fancy passing Spaniard with a line drive jumpshot or ANYONE with a hint of character issue. I hope hope hope we can get that coveted top 3 pick--the thing is we may have used our lottery juice when we drafted #2 for Chicago. I think Stepen Curry is a leader who a lot of FA would be happy to play with. Either Blake Griffin or Thabeet have their own special skills that we need with leadership and character[actually we could use all 3 players:)] I'm not as high on a prospect who can jump out of the gym and I may have soured at a player who decided US college was not good enough for him--that he couldnt hack a year of it--that doesnt say much to me. I want a guy who can lead through voice and game. Those are the type of players you win with. I think any of those 3 guys could do greta for us EVEN if they werent the fancy pick.

I'm still not bought on Thabeet being more than the defensive presence he already is. We need some scoring and range at C.And is Griffin really a can't miss?

We may very well end up with one of the top picks but still I haven't seen a guy with star potential that we desperately need. And our most desperate positions are C, PG and SG.

Griffin is a cant miss 20-10 player. Curry imho is vastly under rated and will be one heckuva NBA PG. Thabeet is getting better and is a hard worker at an athletic 7-3 275[they dont fall off trees] Each of these players are guys we could use.

Unless we get pick 1 my hope is we get Curry. I just really like this player--he's got something special he has IT.

I wasn't all that impressed with Griffin yesterday - its a small sample obviously but he has some glaring weaknesses in his game.

He's a PF - that's it - he can't shoot (maybe 10 ft range) and he has no go to move in the post.

He reminds me of Chris Humphries -- big strong college kid who gets by on power at the college level but will struggle to get his shot off in the pros. His D is also shaky. That said I love his rebounding and motor.

At this point I'd prefer Thabeet over Griffin but I need to see more of both.

I love the way Thabeet intimidates the basket area and his athleticsm is very underrated.

Thabeet looked like a Shaq type player today. He didnt play much but he caught everything and sealed off well. When he seals off and catches it's a dunk and I dont care who is next to him. He's way way bigger than people think and he's improving and getting stronger. Yes he will look bad at times but those times are becoming less and less. These scouts coming to his games[he's followed by every team every game] must be in awe of what he was 2 years ago compared to today. There is no way and I mean no way that he is less than pick 3--it wont happen. If you want Thabeet you betetr get a top 3 pick. And for those who call him raw--well he still is raw in many ways but the scary thing is he's improving on a game by game basis and he HAS MORE offensive potential than Mutumbo. He can score 30 points and he will this year at some point. I want to see the game he has 31 17 and 12 because he will have one against a good team this year. The problem is there are so many offensive options on Uconn--it would be hard to get the FGa's with the attention he gets.

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by LivingLegend:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by Knicksfan:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Some of this post I believe. I truly believe why we CANNOT draft a foreign player with our next pick unless it was Pau Gasol--a cant miss 7 footer. We don't need any fancy passing Spaniard with a line drive jumpshot or ANYONE with a hint of character issue. I hope hope hope we can get that coveted top 3 pick--the thing is we may have used our lottery juice when we drafted #2 for Chicago. I think Stepen Curry is a leader who a lot of FA would be happy to play with. Either Blake Griffin or Thabeet have their own special skills that we need with leadership and character[actually we could use all 3 players:)] I'm not as high on a prospect who can jump out of the gym and I may have soured at a player who decided US college was not good enough for him--that he couldnt hack a year of it--that doesnt say much to me. I want a guy who can lead through voice and game. Those are the type of players you win with. I think any of those 3 guys could do greta for us EVEN if they werent the fancy pick.

I'm still not bought on Thabeet being more than the defensive presence he already is. We need some scoring and range at C.And is Griffin really a can't miss?

We may very well end up with one of the top picks but still I haven't seen a guy with star potential that we desperately need. And our most desperate positions are C, PG and SG.

Griffin is a cant miss 20-10 player. Curry imho is vastly under rated and will be one heckuva NBA PG. Thabeet is getting better and is a hard worker at an athletic 7-3 275[they dont fall off trees] Each of these players are guys we could use.

Unless we get pick 1 my hope is we get Curry. I just really like this player--he's got something special he has IT.

I wasn't all that impressed with Griffin yesterday - its a small sample obviously but he has some glaring weaknesses in his game.

He's a PF - that's it - he can't shoot (maybe 10 ft range) and he has no go to move in the post.

He reminds me of Chris Humphries -- big strong college kid who gets by on power at the college level but will struggle to get his shot off in the pros. His D is also shaky. That said I love his rebounding and motor.

At this point I'd prefer Thabeet over Griffin but I need to see more of both.

I love the way Thabeet intimidates the basket area and his athleticsm is very underrated.

Thabeet looked like a Shaq type player today. He didnt play much but he caught everything and sealed off well. When he seals off and catches it's a dunk and I dont care who is next to him. He's way way bigger than people think and he's improving and getting stronger. Yes he will look bad at times but those times are becoming less and less. These scouts coming to his games[he's followed by every team every game] must be in awe of what he was 2 years ago compared to today. There is no way and I mean no way that he is less than pick 3--it wont happen. If you want Thabeet you betetr get a top 3 pick. And for those who call him raw--well he still is raw in many ways but the scary thing is he's improving on a game by game basis and he HAS MORE offensive potential than Mutumbo. He can score 30 points and he will this year at some point. I want to see the game he has 31 17 and 12 because he will have one against a good team this year. The problem is there are so many offensive options on Uconn--it would be hard to get the FGa's with the attention he gets.

Thabeet reminds me more of Mutombo - a long player with wiry strength who will be a top defensive player, rebound well, but who isn't comfortable in the low post. When Mutombo got the ball down low, the teams offense stopped. He just didn't have that offensive fluidity that Ewing and other top low post centers had. Thabeet will have the same problem.

This isn't to say he won't be a valuable player, but he won't be a franchise center.