Posted by djsunyc:

nice post ike.

but i ask this, if one is not that big a fan of how the team is "built" in terms of philosophic makeup (no frontcourt defense, no relaible shooters, no real pg), then should one be optimistic about isiah's ability to get some of those pieces?

i have an idea on what kind of teams win titles or make the finals based on the past 20-30+ years of the nba. look at each team in the finals and in pretty much every case, they have a top 5 nba player at the time, most likely a HOF/all time great, and they have frontcourt defense.

so i use that as my mold/template on what type of components should be addressed when trying to "re-build" this team. isiah may think that curry would become a top5 nba player at some point in his career. ok. he's taking a risk on eddy. i can't be mad at him for that. a gm does have to take a risk, especially when coming from a position of weakness. BUT that doesn't mean i believe eddy CAN be that guy. nor does it address any frontcourt defense, and with isiah vested in david and frye, we have to hope they continue to improve.

but what if they don't? what if eddy can't become a top5 player? what if david or frye don't get better defensively? then what? and that's where future planning comes in...a contingency plan. and a contingency plan is required BECAUSE eddy was/is a HIGH risk guy. and i don't see one (with no cap or no high future picks).

so the overall direction has been to go younger and has been to acquire talented pieces BUT has it been to build up a team into one that former championship or nba finals team comprise of? that's the question i ask and right now...i don't see it.

that's a much broader subject altogether, & it's natural to have concerns about what the future will bring... but again, like PresIke just pointed out (great post btw), none of us know what will happen w/this team 2 years from now... we can only project that the bloated contracts that we already have on the roster will be coming off the books... i think it's fair to say most agree that they aren't happy about having bloated contracts on the books right now, but the only contracts that have any bearing on this discussion about Curry's contract are really Jerome James, Jamal Crawford & Q Rich, who are the only veterans who will still be on the books when Curry's opt out year comes up... Marbury, Francis & Malik will all be gone unless the Knicks re-sign them.

who will be in charge of personnel choices, coaching this team, where Curry will be at his development, & whether or not he'll opt out of his contract is all up in the air at this point... why worry about stuff we can't control? we can only plan around what we got right now & set up the team for a better future... can we possibly unload a guy like Jerome James whose contracts will still be on the books that season? maybe that year, since it will be an expiring contract, but then you're looking at taking on another equal value longterm deal in the process, so that solves nothing... i think it's fair to say just about all of us agree that was a horrible mistake from the get go (all except for 1 or 2 who seemed to think he was worth the contract he signed for some reason)... this is why Dolan's new attitude of not wanting to take on any more overvalued longterm deals is crucial for the future of this franchise... if he can curb the GM's spending so that he only signs & acquires players who will have a longterm future on this team over the next 2 seasons, the Knicks should be in good shape in '08... if not, then we will be right back here talking about how the current GM has destroyed the future of this franchise just like we are now.


EDIT: sorry, forgot to add Jared Jefferies to the list of veterans still on the books that year above.

[Edited by - TMS on 01-16-2007 3:16 PM]

Posted by Solace:

Posted by TMS:

i'm not trying to argue with you... but you're portraying my stance on this as something it's really not & bringing the bloated contracts into the equation when i just told you the main bloated contracts will be coming off the books when Curry's option year hits... i have just as much of a problem w/the bloated contracts as you do, so i don't get the reference to which side of the fence i've chosen to be on here when it's pretty much the same side as the one you're siding with... so what's the real issue here in your eyes? because your argument that Isiah's lack of consideration of the future cap ramifications when making the moves he makes is seemingly not valid in my opinion... if you don't feel like arguing that point you probably shouldn't make the statement to begin with, wouldn't you say?

(& i'm not trying to get on your nerves Solace... i usually wait until Fridays for that)

It's fine. I'm just in a grumpy mood. Nothing to do with you. I'm cutting back on caffeine this week. I think I probably didn't convey myself correctly in my original post, so that's why I said forget it. Plus I don't want anyone annoyed with me for Friday. Just hoping to have a good time at the game.

[Edited by - Solace on Jan 16 2007 2:23 PM]

Looks like you picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.