A couple of points:

1) When we let Ewing walk, he was already done. His game had already left him. We should simply get over that. Sure, it would have been nice for him to retire a Knick, but oh well. You could argue that we could have done better than what we got for him (essentially Travis Knight, Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, and Luc Longley)-- but our acquisitions mostly hurt because Longley couldn't play. a 7'2" immovable object in the post that could catch, pass, and score would have been what the doctor ordered--- but the doctor ordered him to stop career or risk long term damage!

2) It doesn't matter whether Houston is getting paid 14 million at the end of his contract or $20 million. The Knicks would be WAAAY OVER the CAP ANYWAY!

3) Don't think that the big contract is decisively more than the max deal that Sprewell has. The Knicks have been trying to trade Sprewell at his "AFFORDABLE" 13.5 million contract to no avail, in spite of waning public opinion that Sprewell is a) an All-star caliber wing b) he's better than Houston. Both from a statistical standpoint and in public perception, Houston is arguably the better player NOW.

4) Much like McDyess this year and Sprewell next year, Houston might have good trade value in 06-07 for teams trying to dump salaries.

Nec, what jumper shooter want to bring the ball up? Some of ya'll really get senile.

Posted by playa2:

Nec, what jumper shooter want to bring the ball up? Some of ya'll really get senile.

BS. If it had been Spree saying that, regardless of circumstance, you'd be harping from here to eternity about how he's 'not a team player'

As far as senility... exactly who are you, again?

Pike,

The thing is... the salary climate in the NBA was different back then--- no one at the time could even have conceived the impact the luxury tax would potentially have 3 years later.

Fine, the Knicks could have been 16 million closer to being at the cap line. But read this article from realgm.com for more info (if you haven't already)

http://realgm.com/src_feature_article.php?articleid=8

Cap room aside, the goal of the Knicks was and IS to put themselves in a position to 1) win a lot of games 2) make the playoffs and 3) win a title. You might want to argue that the franchise's #1 goal is to make a profit, but that's another story altogether.

In 1999, the Knicks made it to the finals. You wonder what could have happened had Ewing, Childs, Ward, Dudley, LJ, and everyone else hadn't gotten hurt along the way. Maybe 10 minutes of Ewing in game 5 would have been enough to squeeze a win. Who knows. Well, the Knicks made it pretty gosh darned far into the playoffs the next year too.

At the time, the Knicks (and many fans including myself) felt that we were on the cusp of winning a title. Letting go of Ewing for NOTHING would have been a crushing loss for the team. We were already over the cap and for years, have been using the philosophy of rebuilding on the fly.

Think of all of the times the Knicks rebuilt with Ewing on the team.

1) King and Cartwright. Damn, can you believe we let go of the great Bernard King for nothing?! He wouldn't let us inspect his knee, but surely we could have worked something out. He proceeded to score 30ppg that next season. Ah, the Sydney Green, Bob Thornton years... oh yeah, Rory Sparrow, Tucker, and Ernie Grunfeld...

2) Pitino Knicks, with the amazing Bomb Squad... teamed w/ Gerald Wilkins, Mark Jackson, Trent Tucker, J-New, Strickland, Skywalker, Oakley...

3) The aging Mo Cheeks years...

4) Early Riley with Mark Jackson and X Man.

5) Riley Part II Starks, Hubert Davis, Greg Anthony, Charles Smith, Mason, Rivers... then Harper... oh, can't forget Bo Kimble

6) The Riley aftermath-- Brad Lohaus, Willie Anderson, bye-bye Charles Smith, and Nellie... with Mase the PG, out with Harper and Anthony...

7) The rebirth-- Signing Childs, Houston, trading for LJ, grabbing Chris Mills...

8) building from the draft (wallace, McCarty, Dontae Jones--- dang, those guys were supposed to revitalize the franchise!)... of course none of those guys worked out.

9) Touching up, Terry Cummings, Buck Williams, Chris Dudley

10) rebuilding again, trading the "aging" oakley for Marcus Camby, Starks + company for Sprewell. The emergence of Charlie Ward.

11) Rebuilding again, Ewing gone - in Longley, Knight, Rice... out with Childs, in with Mark Jackson. In with Harrington.

12) out with Mark Jackson, LJ, Longley, Rice... in with Eisley, Anderson, 'Spoon. Kurt Thomas becomes a force.

13) Camby traded for what becomes McDyess, FW, and #30 of 2003 draft.

14) Sweetney, Lampe, and Vranes are drafted... and Knicks try to remain competitive on the fly.

There are probably some little mistakes in time periods, but the Knicks fielded some stacked, quality teams. Low points came after Pitino, and they re-emerged strong and rebuilt with several iterations of the Riley squads, another low point post-Riley, and another rebuilding process with JVG, then rebuilt for life post-Ewing with the additions of Camby/Sprewell. Ewing's loss hurt the Knicks, since none of the acquisitions have come close to replacing his impact.

Instead of seeing Ewing retire, we saw several key elements (Longley/LJ) retire at the same time, essentially affecting us the same way.

To be honest, it's quite rare to trade an aging franchise player for a young franchise player. It just doesn't happen. Franchise players usually leave a trail of waste after they're traded, and that's probably what your beef w/ the Knicks is.

Now we're saddled w/ Anderson, Eisley, and Knight--- and we've made things worse by adding 'Spoon.

*IF* the Luxury tax wasn't an issue, I'd say the Knicks have done one heck of a job staying competitive over the years, rebuilding and retooling on the fly. If not for our extraordinarily bad luck w/ fragile players, we'd have a really good team.

I think fans need to quit praising the efforts of Dallas and Sacto-- neither team has won anything. While both of these teams have seen a tremendous rise in quality, they're now going to be paying dearly for all of this progress. Once players become stars, you need to pay them like stars. What you really need are two top-notch stars, and a bunch of role players.

Too many above average players and not enough true stars doesn't quite cut it.

While many people gripe about Houston's contract... perhaps a player like Michael Finley's should go under the same scrutiny. He's got a huge deal, and he's like, what, the 4th option on his team?

TECHNOMASTER , YOU PUT IT DOWN LIKE NO OTHER HAS, THSES COMICS AND CLOWNS THINK THEY KNOW THE KNICKS. Good post man!

You can pat yourselves on the back all you want.. after the Knicks sold their soul's to the VERY over the cap game... they sent the team into the NBA abyss... we all know how they continued to make wrong moves throughout the process but, it was the fundamentally disasterous decision to fiscally mismange the team by being over the CAP.

... and don't tell me the climate was different then... that's pure nonsense. This GM is paid in excess of four million dollars to know the NBA weather, if you will.

Posted by Pike:

You can pat yourselves on the back all you want.. after the Knicks sold their soul's to the VERY over the cap game... they sent the team into the NBA abyss... we all know how they continued to make wrong moves throughout the process but, it was the fundamentally disasterous decision to fiscally mismange the team by being over the CAP.

... and don't tell me the climate was different then... that's pure nonsense. This GM is paid in excess of four million dollars to know the NBA weather, if you will.

Tear.....you had me at "you". LOL

playa stop trying to look for friends, no one respects a azz kisser

Techno, to be honest i only read the houston comment in your post

comparing houston and Finley is delusional, the circumstances are not even close.

You have Two good players that make about the same money but let the comparisons stop there.

Too pay a good player on a bad team Franchise money is just plain ridiculous. whats the worst thing that would of happen had he not been on the team last year? we suck with him and we will suck with out him. He is not a franchise player because if he was a franchise player he could at least get us to the playoffs in the sorry east. Tmac has less talent around him and can manage to get the magic to the playoffs and he makes less money and 5 years younger.

you make the mistake most fans make, your thoery sounds personal, but it aint personal it's a business brother, mike finley makes that money cause he is a cog on a good team, and they are making runs the next couple of years at a ring. Houston and the knicks aint making no runs no time soon so for the benefit of the team Hoston a 30 year old flawed shooting guard 26 million dollar contract in hampering the knicks. If the knicks were winnig 60 games a year i can live with everyone getting paid. But too me every one on that team is overpaid, and should be traded or dumped somewhere with the execption of the rookies and williams.

doesn't mean he is not a good player, doesn't mean he is not comparble to a mike finley.

if you think mike finley is the 4th option you crazy, against the spurs he was the only spur to show up. Nash is overrated. nick Van exel is streaky we all know it, as hot as he was against the kings he got ice cold against the spurs.

I find another flaw in your post as much as the forum brown noser playa looks for alegiance:

if they were no luxury cap if this if that

later for the if's

There is a luxury Cap,

And it don't just effect the knicks it effects all 28 teams in the NBA.

all the teams are playing by the same rules.

See what you doing is trying to make a excusefor all the knicks short comings. if they didn't sign injured guys this that and the other. After years of mediocrity then the occasional fu up takes on a new name.

It's called a trend.

later for the bull, maybe a clown like playa who i have no respect for will buy it, but the average fan who is sick of seeing the team with the highest payroll operate like a food pantry for the homeless.

No more if's no more excuses, the nets are not making excuses any more, they surrounded them self around people that get the job done luxury cap or not. and thats what it is all about bro.