for my money:

Marb
Frank
Sweets
KVH
Kurt
Doleac
Deke
OT

dumping Houston is utter folley, I jsut dont get it. For what? Saving money? What does that gain us? The Knicks can be title contenders in 1-2 years. If Houston's knee can hold up for 4-5 years for 30 minutes a game we can put together a very good run. What we need is a bunch of good athletes. Look at how Rodney White, Camby and Chris Anderson have changed the Nuggets.

I would build around Marbury, Houston and Sweetney. Surround them with superior athletes (Demaar might one) and a couple younger lunch pale blue collar types and make a run. Houston is a vital piece. He have a PG that can break down a defense almost anytime down the floor. Get some frontcourt guys that can get you garbage points, but equally important is the shooter. We know he's one of the best, and we know he's clutch.

Look at the NO game. We didnt lose because Baron outplayed Steph or because of any bad matchups. We lost because in the 4th qtr Darrell Armstrong hit 3 3-pointers, all of which he was wide open for, all of which were on plays when the defense collapsed.

Penny and Shandon have played well, but they dont scare anyone on the outside and the defense can cheat. If you cheat on Houston on the outside he's scoring 40 on you. Houston is a HUGE piece to this puzzle that is pretty close to being finished.

Houston has proven that he can take over in the 4th quarter time and time again. KVH hasn't..therefore H20 is more valuable.

Posted by nyvector16:

I would not let Van Horn go unless we got something of value in return. He has proved he has skills. It would take alot away from our team to just lose him without nothing in return. Don't get me wrong.. I'd love to trade him for a 4 or 5... or better yet.. BRING SPREE back! but I doubt that will happen.

exactly...in the article under the thread "Make or Break" one of the 5 keys that the author believes is not to make any lateral moves. The group has begun to jell and theres no use in makin a move for the hell of it.

Well, now that we added Marbury's massive contract, getting rid of Houston's contract doesn't get us anywhere near the salary cap. Marbury is our franchise player--- we'll have to deal with that; we'll likely never get a franchise-quality big man to pair with him. We'll have to make due with flawed big men like Thomas, Van Horn, and perhaps even Wallace and Baker and hope for the best.

It's not like there are a whole lot of these young back to the basket guys available out there (Randolph, Boozer, Curry) right now. At their early stages, none of them know how to pass well anyway.

If you want to be fiscally responsible and decide that Houston's game has deteriorated to the point that Penny/Shandon/DerMarr Johnson are better, you can risk putting Houston unprotected.

Usually expansion teams don't try to pick up franchise parts in their first years. Houston is a little too old and a little too good (and earns waaay too much money) for a team building from scratch.

you dont protect H2O because there is 0/100 chance of the Bobcats selecting him. thats why you put penny h20 on the unprotected list. I wish we could dump penny but there is no chance. The Bobcats will take on mostly younger players and vets with ending contracts so they can be a player in FA the year after.

they will likely sign one solid FA this year---add some draft picks from clubs trying to get under the cap and look for guys that are younger with smallish contracts. Utah has only a 30mm dollar roster this year and if I was Charlotte, I would probably be on the very low end of the salary cap as well.

you wouldn't know it by my number of posts, but the years I have been on this site fishmike has usually said things I agree with and has always posted inteligently.

One thing that I notice with knick fans, an probably fans in general, they have very short memories. This year H20, hasn't really played as well as he did last year and now he has taken time to heal up. Why, have so many tried to diss him and ask that he be traded and yadda yadda ya.

He is so important to what we have right now, that for people to be making this argument of trading him for cap space is totally idiodic. Especially since it will still not have us under the cap!!!

And someone else said this and they were right:
some of you act like its your money!!

Who cares how much they spend? I just want to have the best team possible out on the floor.

We need a decent center right now and we a championship ready. That is the only piece we are missing!

The only question about Houston is if he is healthy. If he is he will excel with this team. My only concern if this turns out to an arthritic knee. He needs to get healthy and don't rush back.