I remember Larry Johnson saying "what nation was that???"

Briggs you also killed us for not getting BJ Mullens. Remember Peter Ramos? Another athletic 7 footer we had to get.

It wasnt in the plan. Walsh drafted 2 skilled college veterans who can probably make the rotation.

fishmike wrote:yea and Kurt Thomas led the nation in scoring and rebounding.

I remember Larry Johnson saying "what nation was that???"

Briggs you also killed us for not getting BJ Mullens. Remember Peter Ramos? Another athletic 7 footer we had to get.

It wasnt in the plan. Walsh drafted 2 skilled college veterans who can probably make the rotation.

BRIGGS has Knicks offering Nate $60M contract too.

fishmike wrote:how is it hard to picture Gallo on defense? The guy played harder there than anyone. Nightly he went after the best player. Sure he got torched, look at the Nuggets game. But at least Gallo wants that challenge. He's going to be a good defender. Dont let the stiff legs fool you.

And dont believe for a minute Lopez is drawing Lebron the the Nets. Lopez is a less skilled Big Z who Lebron is quite familiar with. Lopez is a good center, but he is not a franchise player and may not even be an all star. He's got a great size but he is the slowest player in the NBA. I 100% ok with the Gallo pick. Great attitude, hard work, wants to take the big shots, wants to guard the best player.. that on a guy with a great handle, pass and set of offensive moves. He's got a long ways to go but I feel good about his development.

As for PGs the Knicks took Douglas. Look.. they fubared the HILL pick. It happens. The guy sucked.

Gallo tries on defense. I'll grant him that. I like his moxie. But trying and succeeding are two different things.

Lopez isn't great, like I said, I prefered Anthony Randolph who looked like a young Bosh when Nellie actually played him. I don't think the Gallo draft was a disaster. I think they got a solid player for where they drafted. There were options that would have helped us more at PF/C, but I can live with Gallo.

The Jordan Hill draft is a freaking code red disaster. We could have had Jennings. I still feel like Stephen Curry was stolen from us. Collison looks just as good as either of them and we could have traded DOWN for him (maybe unloaded Jeffries to trade down 10 picks or something?). The 09 draft is a disaster and rather than giving us another attractive chip, it's made us look all the more barren to free agents.

The only way the 09 draft pans out as if we use the 2nd max slot on Joe Johnson and use THAT to lure Bron. And even then, why would he come here? We have no size. New Jersey, Miami and Chicago can all sign multiple guys. We over-leveraged ourselves and overpaid for the same cap room every other team got by expending way fewer assets.

crzymdups wrote:

i know the draft is hard and dicey. BUT, we've been hurting at the center and point guard position for years and they were clear gaping holes on our roster.

in the jordan hill draft, we could have drafted Jennings (who despite poor shooting numbers KNOWS how to WIN and LEAD) or Ty Lawson or Darren Collison.

we were DESPERATE for a point guard. DESPERATE. so desperate we actually let chris duhon play for us. we should have examined EVERY SINGLE point guard in the 09 draft with a microscope. We should have Jennings, Lawson or Collison running the point for us. it's that simple.

the gallo draft is another story. I would have taken Anthony Randolph once Westbrook was off the board. I don't like Brook Lopez, but he's being cited as a reason that Bron is considering New Jersey. Because you need size and defense to win. I actually like Gallo okay now, but it's a hard argument to make that 6'11" 240lb gallo can be part of a strong defensive team. he's too slow laterally to guard SFs and too weak to guard PFs. where does he fit on defense?

Looking back on last year's draft we should have traded down for 2 picks in that draft and picked up Collison or whomever (Gibson?), and perhaps a # 1 for this year, but who knows if anyone offered us anything for our slot last year.

Don't know how you can hit on Gallinari for his D at this point. You still have a pre-draft perspective of his game. He was out guarding PGs, for goodness sake (to the detriment of his offensive game, IMO), and was our leading shot blocker, for what it is worth. Eventually he will have the strength to deal with PFs, or he will keep his weight down and stay at SF, but wherever he plays you know he is going to give a good effort on D and be a more than capable defender.

And Randolph has proved nothing so far, to the point where GS has thought about trading him. He might yet become a start, but who knows. I think you can make a case for taking Lopez, given what we have seen from him, but on a team that had some decent players (a roster that many say is better than ours), and a so called franchise center (Lopez) the Nets have been pretty pathetic.

Jordan Hill
Whiteside
Jerome Jordan

to add with
Gallinari
Lee
Jeffries

then you have

Chandler
Fields
Walker
Douglas
Rautins

15mm in cap space to add this year after Lee was signed 6yrs 66mm with all of our picks +EC ending contract in tact to further enhancment. I would think with 15mm in cap all of our picks and EC ending contract we couldve added some nice peices or just be opportunistic.
What we did was take many options out of our hand--thinned the roster to unacceptable proportions and took some of the destiny we had in our own hands and threw it away.

and honestly--take a look at the roster there--would that be more attractive to Lebron? Is David Lee Jordan Hill Hassan Whiteside and Jared Jefferies better than just adding chris Bosh??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????/ come on!!!

BRIGGS wrote:Paladin55--I understand that Hassan is not all the way there yet--go back to my Andrey Blatche picked 49 post.

But I must counter you here. When is the last time you saw a 7 athletic length freshmen in college [who has the build to get stronger] lead the entire NCAA id shot-blocking--have the ability[and good form] to hit the mid range J and while somewhat raw still own decent post up moves. Could he pass--well Patrick Ewing couldn't pass but given a fresh slate Im sure he could figure out how to pass out of a double team and move the ball. Tell me the last time you saw a freshmen who has those skills (both basketball wise and physical) lead the NCAAs in shot-blocking while nearly avg a double double with a PER of 15--1 above Landry Fields:)
It wasnt about year 1 with Whiteside although I do believe in the 2nd half of the year he couldve really helped--its about years 2-12

I put Whiteside in Bynum's class as a prospect out of HS with the on year in--the only reason I didnt have 600 posts is because I thought he would be picked top 12.

I've said that I would have taken a chance and picked Whiteside (who is 21, by the way) if we had a shot. Don't know if he would have been ready from game one, but my position early on regarding this draft was to buy as many 2's as we could- find a couple of immediate rotation players, and develop some big men in DL or take one and let him mature overseas.

For Donnie and MDA, asking Garcia to come to camp is a bit like picking Whiteside, IMO, although we don't own his rights and have little control if he does well and wants to find another team to sign with.

I also like them asking Washington to come to camp. He is an under the radar guy, who may just stick as a minor rotational PF banger.

I like what I have seen of Jordan, but at 23/24 his upside is dubious, although as a late starter to the game you hope that he has a lot of room to improve.

But I would have taken a shot on Whiteside, even though I understand Donnie and MDA were looking for more "mature players."

Paladin55 wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Paladin55--I understand that Hassan is not all the way there yet--go back to my Andrey Blatche picked 49 post.

But I must counter you here. When is the last time you saw a 7 athletic length freshmen in college [who has the build to get stronger] lead the entire NCAA id shot-blocking--have the ability[and good form] to hit the mid range J and while somewhat raw still own decent post up moves. Could he pass--well Patrick Ewing couldn't pass but given a fresh slate Im sure he could figure out how to pass out of a double team and move the ball. Tell me the last time you saw a freshmen who has those skills (both basketball wise and physical) lead the NCAAs in shot-blocking while nearly avg a double double with a PER of 15--1 above Landry Fields:)
It wasnt about year 1 with Whiteside although I do believe in the 2nd half of the year he couldve really helped--its about years 2-12

I put Whiteside in Bynum's class as a prospect out of HS with the on year in--the only reason I didnt have 600 posts is because I thought he would be picked top 12.

I've said that I would have taken a chance and picked Whiteside (who is 21, by the way) if we had a shot. Don't know if he would have been ready from game one, but my position early on regarding this draft was to buy as many 2's as we could- find a couple of immediate rotation players, and develop some big men in DL or take one and let him mature overseas.

For Donnie and MDA, asking Garcia to come to camp is a bit like picking Whiteside, IMO, although we don't own his rights and have little control if he does well and wants to find another team to sign with.

I also like them asking Washington to come to camp. He is an under the radar guy, who may just stick as a minor rotational PF banger.

I like what I have seen of Jordan, but at 23/24 his upside is dubious, although as a late starter to the game you hope that he has a lot of room to improve.

But I would have taken a shot on Whiteside, even though I understand Donnie and MDA were looking for more "mature players."

Garcia and Whiteside are totally different players? Like i said who was the last freshmen that you can remember that lead the NCAA in blocked shots but also could hit the 12 footer with good form and owned post up moves though limited @ an athletc 7 feet?

I guess you don't understand that the reason why we sck is because we put very little to no emphasis on D+R Whiteside to me represented a great defenseive prospect who had nice offensive upside.

The reason why these players FA wont com eher is because they see this---the Knicks dont care about 60% of the game---they only care about 3 pt shooting and passing the ball.

TMS wrote:look on the bright side Finest... there's always the Joe Johnson & David Lee plan, how can you not get excited about that?

LOL. I'm not feeling Joe Johnson at all man. For some reason, and I know I'm in the minority, Lee & Rudy Gay appeals to me somewhat. You plug Hassan Whiteside into the mix there along with an ever improving Gallo, that's not bad man..Not Lebron or Bosh obviously, but not half bad.

Finestrg wrote:

TMS wrote:look on the bright side Finest... there's always the Joe Johnson & David Lee plan, how can you not get excited about that?

LOL. I'm not feeling Joe Johnson at all man. For some reason, and I know I'm in the minority, Lee & Rudy Gay appeals to me somewhat. You plug Hassan Whiteside into the mix there along with an ever improving Gallo, that's not bad man..Not Lebron or Bosh obviously, but not half bad.

that still won't win you any titles... i'm not interested in putting together "not bad" type rosters at this point... we sacrificed 2 seasons without even trying to improve this roster for the sole purpose of hitting a grand slam in the summer of 2010... that's what we were all sold on... that's what i fully expect.