How can Gallinari be an F? Just because he hasn't played much at all in his rookie season so far? He's 20 years old. Wait a few years before labeling him an F. You are wrong on other things as well, including Randolph.

Posted by GKFv2:

How can Gallinari be an F? Just because he hasn't played much at all in his rookie season so far? He's 20 years old. Wait a few years before labeling him an F. You are wrong on other things as well, including Randolph.

i've already conceded this point

Marbury - I give a C... Walsh's hands were pretty much tied, he couldn't have just bought out Marbs like we all wanted before the season began, he had to see what options were out there for him to explore & see how the team started to play w/Duhon at the helm... no matter how much i personally wanted Marbury outta here before the season began i have to realize there are business aspects of running an organization that go beyond personal feelings.

Roberson - i couldn't agree w/u more on your assessment... definitely deserves an F... he's not an NBA calibre player.

Gallinari - i don't see how anyone can give him anything other than an Incomplete at this point... take a close look at what the other rookies are doing that were picked directly after him other than maybe Brooke Lopez & tell me how u can consider Gallinari a busted pick & not any of those guys.

Balkman - i tend to agree w/your assessment... if we wanted a 2nd round pick we coulda bought one w/cash... it happens every year... we basically traded Balkman for Roberson... not a good tradeoff if u ask me... D grade.

Crawford - i agree w/ur assessment... Jamal for Al seems like a fair & equitable deal for both parties... definitely worthy of a B grade.

Randolf - i disagree w/u on this one... i think Walsh did a good job dumping Zach's contract & not having to give up any young assets or picks to do it... i woulda been happy to be rid of Zach's contract for any garbage expiring contracts just because of how much it hampered any flexibility we woulda had in 2010... i hate Tiny Tim Fugazy more than i ever hated Zach but i will still take that cap space because of all the options it opens up for us... i give that trade a B.

Curry - he also gets an Incomplete... he wasn't in shape to play, what purpose would it serve to play him other than to diminish his already decreasing trade value? there's no telling what grade to give him on this one until we see what happens by the trade deadline... if Curry's still on this team after that then it will be a fair assessment to say he deserves less than a passing grade.

James - same evaluation as the Curry one... James is in no shape to play & there's not much else Donnie can do about him... no one is gonna give up anything of worth for his services & buying him out does nothing other than open up a roster spot... if anyone should be released to open up a roster spot right now, it's Roberson... it would cost the franchise a lot less.

Lee - I disagree w/u on this one too... not giving him a contract extension was the smart thing to do... u have to let the market set his value & then consider ur options later... i give him an Incomplete also because if Lee plays his way to increasing his value over last season & Donnie ends up trading him at the deadline for a high pick in the draft, it's an obvious A+... or if he uses him in a S&T deal at the end of the season for a player that can really help this franchise... the point is Donnie wanted to keep all his options open & not tie this franchise down w/any more longterm contracts until he could figure out how to dump some of the dead weight, which he is currently working on now & doing a good job of.

Nate - same evaluation as D Lee... u have to keep your options open especially when Donnie's main focus has been building for 2010 from the very beginning... there's no reason why we can't hold onto Nate if there are no better options after this season... or if a deal comes along where some team offers up something good for him in a trade, then u can explore those options too... flexibility is what it's all about... u can't give this a grade until u see what happens after the season's over... if Nate & D Lee both walk for nothing then obviously u give both an F... i have a hard time imagining Walsh will ever let that happen.

Posted by TMS:

Marbury - I give a C... Walsh's hands were pretty much tied, he couldn't have just bought out Marbs like we all wanted before the season began, he had to see what options were out there for him to explore & see how the team started to play w/Duhon at the helm... no matter how much i personally wanted Marbury outta here before the season began i have to realize there are business aspects of running an organization that go beyond personal feelings.

Roberson - i couldn't agree w/u more on your assessment... definitely deserves an F... he's not an NBA calibre player.

Gallinari - i don't see how anyone can give him anything other than an Incomplete at this point... take a close look at what the other rookies are doing that were picked directly after him other than maybe Brooke Lopez & tell me how u can consider Gallinari a busted pick & not any of those guys.

Balkman - i tend to agree w/your assessment... if we wanted a 2nd round pick we coulda bought one w/cash... it happens every year... we basically traded Balkman for Roberson... not a good tradeoff if u ask me... D grade.

Crawford - i agree w/ur assessment... Jamal for Al seems like a fair & equitable deal for both parties... definitely worthy of a B grade.

Randolf - i disagree w/u on this one... i think Walsh did a good job dumping Zach's contract & not having to give up any young assets or picks to do it... i woulda been happy to be rid of Zach's contract for any garbage expiring contracts just because of how much it hampered any flexibility we woulda had in 2010... i hate Tiny Tim Fugazy more than i ever hated Zach but i will still take that cap space because of all the options it opens up for us... i give that trade a B.

Curry - he also gets an Incomplete... he wasn't in shape to play, what purpose would it serve to play him other than to diminish his already decreasing trade value? there's no telling what grade to give him on this one until we see what happens by the trade deadline... if Curry's still on this team after that then it will be a fair assessment to say he deserves less than a passing grade.

James - same evaluation as the Curry one... James is in no shape to play & there's not much else Donnie can do about him... no one is gonna give up anything of worth for his services & buying him out does nothing other than open up a roster spot... if anyone should be released to open up a roster spot right now, it's Roberson... it would cost the franchise a lot less.

Lee - I disagree w/u on this one too... not giving him a contract extension was the smart thing to do... u have to let the market set his value & then consider ur options later... i give him an Incomplete also because if Lee plays his way to increasing his value over last season & Donnie ends up trading him at the deadline for a high pick in the draft, it's an obvious A+... or if he uses him in a S&T deal at the end of the season for a player that can really help this franchise... the point is Donnie wanted to keep all his options open & not tie this franchise down w/any more longterm contracts until he could figure out how to dump some of the dead weight, which he is currently working on now & doing a good job of.

Nate - same evaluation as D Lee... u have to keep your options open especially when Donnie's main focus has been building for 2010 from the very beginning... there's no reason why we can't hold onto Nate if there are no better options after this season... or if a deal comes along where some team offers up something good for him in a trade, then u can explore those options too... flexibility is what it's all about... u can't give this a grade until u see what happens after the season's over... if Nate & D Lee both walk for nothing then obviously u give both an F... i have a hard time imagining Walsh will ever let that happen.

Good points TMS and likely a more level headed approach than I was capable of this morning. Still PO'd about the loss last night.

Posted by Rookie:

Good points TMS and likely a more level headed approach than I was capable of this morning. Still PO'd about the loss last night.

i feel ur frustration bro, but hey, at least they gave an honest effort last night, nah mean? i can never get angry at the team when they show some effort to win... they just were shorthanded & ran outta steam at the end but i can't blame Walsh for Nate, Fishlips, Curry & Turd not being able to play.

I think he blew the draft. I thought he made a mistake by hiring D'Antoni but I like what I have seen so far. I think he mishandled Marbury. I love the trades, the Duhon signing, and I have liked what I have seen from D'Antoni so far.

nothing wrong w/criticizing the team, just gotta try & keep an objective eye about every situation... it's not easy when ur so emotionally invested in the team like we are... God knows i've gone off on plenty of rants in the past too.

how good has Duhon been tho? man, that signing really gives me hope that Walsh is gonna work out great for us in the long run... plus the fact that he isn't caving in to Marbury's usual power play is also a refreshing change even tho this all coulda been avoided most likely... just not seeing him on the court makes me a happy Knicks fan.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by martin:

Posted by TMS:

Balkman - i tend to agree w/your assessment... if we wanted a 2nd round pick we coulda bought one w/cash... it happens every year... we basically traded Balkman for Roberson... not a good tradeoff if u ask me... D grade.

I think this is an incomplete assessment of Balk. The dude had very poor work habits. The Knicks also have Chandler and Q at the 3 with JJ2 and Gallo in the wings waiting for playing time. Where were Balks minutes going to come from? I think this move was more about a culture change then anything. Could we have gotten Balk for 1st rounder? No way, and we can probably buy a pick anyway, so what's the deal?

my issue is not in losing Balk or even thinking we woulda been able to get a 1st rounder... u'r misinterpreting my evaluation... i think trading him away just so we could sign Roberson was foolish & nonsensical... we coulda bought a 2nd rounder at any time for cash only... if u'r gonna let Balkman go at least replace him w/an NBA calibre player... Roberson's an undersized SG who can't orchestrate an offense or hit a consistent J... what good is he to this franchise? if u'd have replaced Balk w/someone who made some sense for this franchise then i would give it a better grade but for me Roberson is garbage & i fail to see the logic behind that trade off.

we didn't trade Balk to bring in Roberson, we traded Balk to get rid of him. Roberson is will always be the 15th man on this roster. Just so happens that we are decimated with injuries and the trades f'ed things up at the guard position, so he is getting burn. I mean really, how many 15th spot guys are getting playing time? Most of them are there for practice purposes.

Seriously, I kinda think the Roberson signing was at the request of MDA and Walsh threw him a bone. That's what management types do from time to time, for better or worse.

Posted by martin:

Posted by TMS:

Posted by martin:

Posted by TMS:

Balkman - i tend to agree w/your assessment... if we wanted a 2nd round pick we coulda bought one w/cash... it happens every year... we basically traded Balkman for Roberson... not a good tradeoff if u ask me... D grade.

I think this is an incomplete assessment of Balk. The dude had very poor work habits. The Knicks also have Chandler and Q at the 3 with JJ2 and Gallo in the wings waiting for playing time. Where were Balks minutes going to come from? I think this move was more about a culture change then anything. Could we have gotten Balk for 1st rounder? No way, and we can probably buy a pick anyway, so what's the deal?

my issue is not in losing Balk or even thinking we woulda been able to get a 1st rounder... u'r misinterpreting my evaluation... i think trading him away just so we could sign Roberson was foolish & nonsensical... we coulda bought a 2nd rounder at any time for cash only... if u'r gonna let Balkman go at least replace him w/an NBA calibre player... Roberson's an undersized SG who can't orchestrate an offense or hit a consistent J... what good is he to this franchise? if u'd have replaced Balk w/someone who made some sense for this franchise then i would give it a better grade but for me Roberson is garbage & i fail to see the logic behind that trade off.

we didn't trade Balk to bring in Roberson, we traded Balk to get rid of him. Roberson is will always be the 15th man on this roster. Just so happens that we are decimated with injuries and the trades f'ed things up at the guard position, so he is getting burn. I mean really, how many 15th spot guys are getting playing time? Most of them are there for practice purposes.

Seriously, I kinda think the Roberson signing was at the request of MDA and Walsh threw him a bone. That's what management types do from time to time, for better or worse.

dude's making 800K per over 2 seasons (fine his 2nd year is a team option but still)... u can pick up undrafted D Leaguers at 60-80K player minimums who would give u better production... i just think that regardless of the reasoning behind Walsh signing him, that he has no place on this roster... we can find guys who would be more productive right now on a 10 day contract IMO.

Posted by GKFv2:

I'm pretty sure the minimum NBA contracts like $300,000 per year, not 60-80 K. Roberson is not something you can blame him for. He's just a scrub he signed to fill the roster. Not a big deal.

i'm talking about 10 day contracts... minimum salaries for the year are 442K for nondrafted rookies... that's still a much better value than Roberson.

Who cares? You are making a big deal about the 12th guy on the active roster. If everyone was healthy, he wouldn't be playing and neither would any of the other guys you mentioned.