You have a lot of money coming off the cap in the next few years and IT has said bieng under the cap doesn't always mean much. There are a lot of teamn perenially under the cap. That doesn't make them winners. Anyway thgis team lost 26 games by 6 pts or less. Tighten up the D a little and we win half of those games at least. I don't see the team as mediocre. I see a young and talented team that needs some direction. In almost 2 years IT has changed the face of this team. Hey, it wasn't like he took over a Championship team to begin with. If Layden had such a HOT team, he would still be here.

Posted by djsunyc:

here's the deal - we can only go by what we hear, read, and see.

these are some of the things isiah said:

1. before he got here, people didn't want to play in ny
2. he wants to make the talent level equal the dollars

well so far, the talent level has been upgraded...but so have the dollars. it's not about swift or sar here. it's about signing a 25 year old to the MLE as opposed to a hasbeen in vin and a 30 year old career 5/3 player. that's my gripe.

he went out and got jamal - props to isiah but he also outbid everybody AND took back jyd. so it wasn't like he got jamal to come here for the MLE. he paid $50 mil PLUS $20 for jyd on a player he's hoping to develop - almost like paying $70 mil for a lottery pick.

why are we committing 5 years to james? are we grooming frye or not? james is a total stopgap player, so why is he here for 5 years? it's overpaying - there's no way around it. and it reeks of desperation. why not give a 2 year deal to dale davis and let him hold fort until frye is ready?

why not wait instead of just signing james b/c we needed a center so desperately. are we contending next season? nope. it's all about the pressure to get a playoff team on the floor next season b/c he has to justify taking back over $200 mil in deals. is that coming from isiah or dolan? i don't know but it's still a messed up way of thinking.

again, i keep saying this mantra, after the layden debacle, which was ALL bad moves, we needed a GM to come in a give us ALL good moves, not a good one followed by a bad one, that's why the process will keep getting delayed.

i'm THRILLED with the youth on the team. isiah gets props for that. but it's not like he hasn't made his fair share of mistakes. he's been mediocre so far.

come on man, use that smooth talking to lure a free agent here...and if the end result means we can't get a player b/c we don't have the dollars, THEN GET A F'N CLUE AND TRY TO GET UNDER THE CAP YOU DOLT!!!

So you rather we sign Swift or SAr and take minutes from Lee and sweetney. Frye can play some center and PF minutes, so his development will not be hurt with James. But why do we need swift or SAR, can you give me a good reason why we need any of those two guys?

Man, can some of you give it up already? So now we want to jump on IT for not signing people. Unless you're IT's secretary, you don't know who IT has spoke to or tried to sign. We are going to hold IT responsible for not being able to sign someone? If someone doesn't want to come here, they don't want to come here. I really think that some of you need to trade teams or something until IT and Marbury leaves. I like these forums, but sometimes I don't know where you guys come from with these posts and threads. People are always looking to lay blame somewhere. I do know that you guys weren't giving Layden this beef in his 2nd full year as GM. Hypocrits.

The Layden website was already up by then, so I have no idea what in the world are you talkin about. Layden was a joke from the very beginning, past year 1, right after the got knocked out of the playoffs in the 1st round by Toronto.

Layden sucked, and so does IT. Less so, but he still sucks.

uh... duh. The Knicks have something like 5 or 6 PFs. If you're Swift or Shareef, why do you want to come to the Knicks where you're not guaranteed anything more than 20 mpg? Houston had a gaping hole at PF, and Swift will fill it and get tons of minutes. NJ had a gaping hole at PF, and Shareef will fill it and get tons of minutes. Hell, why did James pick us over everyone else? NY had a gaping hole at C, and James will fill it and get, well, more minutes than he'd get anywhere else at least. See a pattern?

Then there's the angle of team competetiveness. Houston has a marquee center and swingman and made big noise in the playoffs. NJ has a marquee PG and swingman and made big noise in the second half of last season. NY is still trying to climb back to that level.

And with Shareef going to NJ, there's even the added benefit of playing for a coach he knows well and trusts.

OK, so let's sum up. You're a free agent big sizing up some suitors. Let's say you're looking at 3 teams in particular. They all can offer you the same contract, so that's not a factor. Two of the three teams are competetive and will get you lots of PT, while the third is still 'rebuilding' and has a logjam at your position. Which team gets the short end of the stick? It's not exactly rocket science, my fellow geniuses.