I think we keep
1. Toure
2. Jeremy Tyler
3. Diogu

And if not Diogu, then some other vet Big who is cut from another team or who we can bring out of retirement like we did with Rasheed last yr. But not Chris Smith.

At the end of the day, I just don't see him giving up Toure for Chris freakin' Smith. If that day comes, sure, I'll join the mutiny.

BRIGGS wrote:Say it isnt so Woody???? Why does being JR's brother enhance Chris's value to the Knicks? We need all of the good players we can get--the team is going to lose 3 draft picks like Minnesota did.

Let's be real here, this has nothing to do with Woodson. This is certainly coming directly from upper management.

Smith, incidentally, has a contract that becomes fully guaranteed if he is on the opening night roster which is highly uncommon for free agents trying to win a job

This offseason we saw the return of one of the worst execs in this franchise's history. And now the brother of a player who crashed and burned the Knicks playoff hopes, and got himself suspended on top of that, might be getting a sweetheart deal for doing absolutely nothing other than being said player's brother. Mgmt knowing full well that the open roster spot would be better spent on another player, any other player.

I wish Dolan would move on to another one of his toys, getting too old for this ish.

My wife found a job....So when they knew I was looking, I was hired instantly.

And others with similar qualifications or better skill sets don't even get a return phone call.

Again, this is normal. Whats not normal is for Woody to mention this to the press!

This is usually one of thoese things owners just sweep under the rug, especially if adding Smith keeps one of your important employees happy. JR could've broke the bank with a new contract, but he did Dolan a favor by excepting a cheap contract. Gotta return the favor somehow.

I've read that he's willing to play on the Knicks D league. Will he still count towards a roster sport, if he plays on the Knicks D League?

MaTT4281 wrote:I won't get worked up over it until I see something official. Woodson has to censor himself: "Does being JR's brother enhance Chris's chances of making the roster?" "Sure it does, I mean, does anyone think he would be here right now if it weren't for blood?"

At the end of the day, I just don't see him giving up Toure for Chris freakin' Smith. If that day comes, sure, I'll join the mutiny.

Good point. CS clearly doesn't deserve a spot but let's cross that bridge when we get to it. Agreed.

And I agree with Mark, Crush, BigDaddy and whoever else --

Last 3 should be:

Murry
Diogu
Tyler

Murry's earned it. Would've liked to have seen CDR given more of a shot -- I know he could've helped us. Wasn't given an opportunity to see what he could do...Hopefully we can retain him with the Bayhawks somehow even though he has nothing left to prove at that level..Still a little pissed off at Woody for not giving him a chance and for suppressing him because he's wanted the kid Murry all along. I don't think that's how you go about something like this (I don't think he beat out CDR fair and square) but whatever, time to move on...Diogu has played well and also deserves a spot -- Martin and STAT are both question marks and Bargnani has underperformed so far by a large margin. I'd like more depth at PF...And I think you take Tyler because he's grown and made nice strides before he broke his foot. Never really liked what I saw from him at first, from his H.S. clips to the Japan clips to his brief stint with GS... What convinced me -- he looked better in SL for us and then the NBDL video on youtube from last year. This video shows a lot of potential. He has a lot of things to work on but the foundation is there -- makes you think that if he has no ill-effects coming back from the foot (Knicks need to be smart here--do not rush this guy back. There's no need. In fact, give him extra time to heal just to make sure), he could be another Vin Baker. Obviously, he needs more work to get to that level -- he's not there yet. Needs more polish (Baker in his prime was a very polished big man) but I think that's his ceiling. They're very similar -- similar height, they both have that mid-range J and Tyler reminds me of Baker down on the block with his ability to spin, convert on the post with a variety of quick/effective moves, footwork etc.. I dunno man -- the next Vin Baker would be a hell of a player for us eventually. Speaking of Baker -- not sure what he's up to these days -- last I heard, he turned his life around from the alcoholism but was dealing with bankruptcy...Hiring Baker to work with all our bigs (Tyler specifically) wouldn't be a bad idea, for both guys. Having Tyler work with The Dream in the off-season and then Larry Johnson and Vin Baker full-time (off-season and throughout the year) wouldn't be a terrible plan. If we're gonna keep this guy, pull out all the stops to help him develop into a Vin Baker-type player. Again, here's Tyler's impressive D-League video from last year:

smackeddog wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:This is almost as unbelievable as Grunwald being let go to bring Mills back. It makes no sense. At some point it seems Woodson will get tired of compromising his character to continue to work in a situation like this. There are some pretty strong signs that the owners nba seasonal affective disorder is returning.

Unfortunately as our owner is only our owner due to birth, it makes sense that he sees nothing wrong with nepotism. However, given the choice I would probably agree to taking on Chris Smith if it was a condition of keeping JR.

What worrys me is that Isola said we likely keep- Tyler, Smith and Murray. Now I like Tyler and Murray, but it does mean we aren't signing any healthy PF/C- a very risky move given Amar'e and K-Marts status.

Hopefully what Markji posted about Chris is the worst of it. Man if he makes it fans are gonna be tough on JR and rightfully so.

Agree about the healthy PF/C thing. Bargs looks like he'll be a disaster at the 5 (specifically on D) and I think Aldrich should get the nod over Diogu, just based on size alone. Last night, he came in and kept alot of offensive possessions alive and I think his rebounding will be more important than Diogu's scoring ability. Hope it's Tyler, Murry and Aldrich.

We desperately need bigs to play Chi, BK and Indy. Seems like a no brainer to me.