djsunyc wrote:btw, colangelo said bill duffy (hill's agent) said walsh told him that hill was the pick if curry and evans was gone.

and #2 on the knicks list was gerald henderson.

i had a feeling Derozan wasn't even on the Knicks' radar, & he wasn't... that's a damn shame.

djsunyc wrote:it's a fail b/c the knicks are not on the path to anything substantial without free agent signings. and if it's not lebron, the caliber of free agent signings could've been acquired via trades over the past 2 seasons. that's why it's a fail.

kam77 wrote:

djsunyc wrote:it's a fail b/c the knicks are not on the path to anything substantial without free agent signings. and if it's not lebron, the caliber of free agent signings could've been acquired via trades over the past 2 seasons. that's why it's a fail.

Name these Free Agents. Why would we be interested in building a 41 win team with 3rd and 4th tier guys?

is joe johnson better than vince carter?
is he better than baron davis?
is amare better than either of those 2 players?

djsunyc wrote:

kam77 wrote:

djsunyc wrote:it's a fail b/c the knicks are not on the path to anything substantial without free agent signings. and if it's not lebron, the caliber of free agent signings could've been acquired via trades over the past 2 seasons. that's why it's a fail.

Name these Free Agents. Why would we be interested in building a 41 win team with 3rd and 4th tier guys?

is joe johnson better than vince carter?
is he better than baron davis?
is amare better than either of those 2 players?

To me, yes on both counts.

Finestrg wrote:Phenomenal post. Thank you DJ.

While Colangelo and his guys were clearly elated with what they got, I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall in our war room to see exactly how our guys felt about certain things without any BS after the fact -- Curry being taken one spot ahead of us by GS, the reaction of selecting Hill - was it all high-fives or more ho-hum like we didn't really get what we wanted, etc. Just the overall mindset and thought process involved... Martin's right, the success hasn't really been there for Colangelo since he took over for the Raptors but I gotta say, I was impressed with him and with his grasp on the whole situation here. The guy had a good draft and a very good off-season.

What was with Donnie being coy with Colangelo on the phone there right before we picked? "Hey it's Bryan, who ya taking?" Walsh: "I think Hill." "You think or you know? Come on, who ya taking?" Man that was funny. Donnie making the guy sweat for no reason. Funny how Colangelo didn't feel too confident after he got off the phone with Donnie. I wonder if Donnie has a reputation for saying one thing then doing another. Great stuff...

Speaking of Donnie, I think he had a good off-season himself. He didn't panic, he read the market and salary cap properly -- as soon as the news came out that the salary cap figure could potentially drop, he properly backed off iffy FAs like Ramon Sessions, came up with a new gameplan on the fly & stuck to it. He got a good player in Jordan Hill in the lottery (I just get the feeling that Hill may have been more of a Donnie guy than a D'Antoni guy) that hopefully will be allowed to show his worth sooner than later and he succeeded where other teams failed (like the Raptors apparently) in landing that extra 1st round pick. He brought back Lee and Nate to fairly lucrative 1-year deals when he clearly didn't have to. With this he keeps them happy and ensures that this year's team is as competitive as he could possibly make it without compromising his future leverage with certain things. I think Donnie had a very productive off-season myself. He walked the tightrope the whole summer with a lot of issues (some out of his control like the potential for the salary cap number to drop) and reacted accordingly...

Well it is hard to argue that Walsh made great moves with Nate and Lee. Outside of Harrington, those two are our best players and to resign both to 1 yr deals is basically unheard of in the NBA. I am not even sweating Lebron. It would be great to get him, but if Walsh can pull off some sign and trades and bring in Amare/Bosh and Joe Johnson to add with Nate, Gallo, Hill, and Douglas, then I think we would start to finally have a complete team.

Nalod wrote:DJ, was watching the Raps and on paper they are awsome. I see the attaction as they are deep and talanted. Bargiani was impressive!

Cleveland looked awful and beyond Shaq who is a one and done player there I think we might be a better team for Lebron. Or at least thats what I want to think!

they looked good last night. i think bargs has arrived. mike brown will be fired within 30 days...

TMS wrote:how did Derozan perform?

looked calm and poised. first time he touched the ball, he drove and was fouled 2 mins into the game. went to the line and hit both. he then hit 2 jumpers, helped out on the boards, had a nice steal and a very nice drive in the lane with a banker off the glass. he looked like he belonged out there. he also had a weakside block on shaq. it was a nice debut. he'll go through his ups and downs as he will face better guards but he looked good. the 2 ft's in his first game with the crowd amped up was a good sign for me. and he's 6'5 - no way he's 6'7...