Posted by Chico:

to be honest, i'm more comfortable suggesting trades than free agent signings. obviously i would love any of the guys on your list to be knicks, but I think they're going to go for the money. Especially with the union negotiations going on next year and offseason. These guys want to lock up their contracts now, with the max money, before the rules change on them. This is one reason Spree is willing to give up a guaranteed 15 mill next year. he'd gladly renegotiate now, because who knows whats gonna happen. Already the union is threatening work stoppage. The league is in worse shape now than when they stopped work before. It really could happen. Guys have families and lifestyles and legal bills that are just more important than playing in NY or playing for Zeke.

The media seems to think our best chance is jamal crossover. I'd be psyched if we could get him, but i'm not so sure. We have a much better chance of getting 2nd and 3rd tier free agents later in the summer with our exceptions the way atlanta ended up with stephen jackson. I'd consider Jamal a 2nd tier fa. I'm not as concerned with who we're gonna sign, My biggest priority by far is moving out junk to clear out roster space. We have 13 guaranteed contracts and a bunch of young guys on our summer league roster who i'd rather have on the team than half our roster. to me, this summer is about moving guys in 3 for 1 and 2 for 1 trades. Who we move is almost more relevant than who we get in return. If we can move 3 bums for 1 high priced bum, I'll take it, because it opens up 2 roster spots for 2 potential non bums. People don't want Walker on the Knicks, but if we can move Kurt, Deke, and Harrington for Walker, I'd jump in a second. Dallas has the wherewithal (both financially and gumptionwise) to buy out Deke and Othella immediately and then they'dve traded Walker for a useful physical roleplayer in kurt, one whose locked up for a few years and doesn't chuck shots up every 2 seconds. His scoring would go down, but he would just be needed to rebound and play defense. Dallas' offseason priority (and Sac Town's) has to be defense, Kurt provides some. For us, we will have opened up 2 roster spots and would only be stuck with Walker for a year max. Those 2 roster spots could be filled with youth (from summer league, cba etc) building for the future. Zeke knows that we need to rebuild on the run. We have a deep team, but one that is made up of 4th, 5th and 6th options (except for Steph): decent role players, but not good enough to be legit 2nd or 3rd options on a winning team. I, for one, don't believe Houston will come back healthy and think his knees (not one but both) will continue to be a problem until he's forced to retire. I don't believe he will even last out this contract as a player in this league. Penny, Tim Thomas, Nazr, Kurt...these guys are decent role players but nowhere near what Stephon needs on the court. We're like the opposite of the Lakers or Minnesota. The Lakers have the best one two punch since MJ and Scottie but no depth and Minnesota has a legit 1, 2, 3 options in KG, SamIam and Spree, but little depth and no big man to speak of. Dallas has a team stacked with 2nd and 3rd options, but no superstar and no role players to speak of. We've got a plethora of pieces that can really help a winning team, but we need to get those 2 nd and 3rd options (a cassell, a spree etc) to go with Marbury. The Nets made it to the finals with a legit superstar (Kidd) and a legit second option (Kmart) and a legit third option (RJ) and a couple of hardworking guys who barely qualify as role players. We have pieces, and I'm optimistic about using them in trades, but I think people are smoking crack when they talk about us winning 50 games with the roster as it stands... (not necessarily you, but all kinds of overly optimistic posts that i read, that don't appear to be grounded in reality, but instead in people's dreams and wishes)

Posted by joec32033:

Don't misunderstand me...I would be very happy with Crawford, but at this point I don't want to fool myself on what he really is....he is a 23 year old kid with loads of potential that is on the upswing....and as of now he is a jumpshooter with no defense who may get muscled in the paint. His work ethic and team commitment has been questioned more than once also....He can be a Rip Hamilton type player, or he can be Dell Curry....I personally think if Q has no way of getting here, I would be satisfied with JC....

Posted by joec32033:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Shooting too much is simply decision making; he can obviously change that. I think he has much better ball-handling than Rip Hamilton. Rip does his scoring off the ball; Jamal dominates the ball. That's why I don't think their games are similar.

Why can't a 6'5"/6'6" player who's a fantastic athlete play backup min at SF? If Spree can (and when the Knicks made it to the finals we learned he could), I think Jamal can. It wouldn't be ideal, but if you have moments where Steph, Allan, and Jamal are playing well together and the opponent SF is 6'7" like Stackhouse or Wally, I think Jamal would be fine (esp since he's been bulking up this summer)

[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 06/30/2004 23:43:37]

I saw him listed at 6'6" earlier today. I'm trying to find it again. Most listings I've seen say 6'5", but I've never seen him listed at 6'4"

I can see the comparison, but I don't think it is Marbury...Maybe Pierce......I guess it's in the eye of the beholder.

When it comes to the SF thing, I would rather put Houston there.....1-I have never seen Crawford listed as anything above 6-5....I have even seen him listed at 6-4, never 6-6....Spree was a very physical, ultra competitive player, who prided himself on defense....I don't see that in Crawford yet...Saying if Spree can do it, Crawford can is sort of like saying if Garnett can do it, Dwight Howard can, isn't it?