Posted by MS:

Yes I am on drugs. We are a fringe playoff team with zero cap room. Doing that deal is great for the long term health of the franchise, and thats why the deal would never get done.

Posted by Bippity10:

I'm with Nixluva. I think the young guys carry a very different attitude than the vets have ever shown in their careers. I think the best thing that could ever happen to the Knicks is if they start stealing playing time.

I pray for this. The time is now to make laziness and ineffective defense a thing of the past. Up the standard.

"Trim the fat"-Bippity

Posted by Bippity10:

Nixluva sounding more and more like Bippity everyday. Only a year behind.

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by nixluva:

Posted by Bippity10:

Nixluva sounding more and more like Bippity everyday. Only a year behind.

I really think that I've always felt this way, to some degree. No one really wanted the log jam we had last year with Francis, Rose etc. It's also about timing. I didn't feel we had the pieces in place to really make it right to go in that direction, but now we can see what Balk and Mardy are like and you can imagine how Chan and DNic fit in. We already know what we have in Lee. There's a nice Core of players that fit the mold of what a winning team needs. I've been supportive of Isiah in this regard. Not his bad moves, but his CLEARLY good moves. I even like the idea of Morris. He's not ready for much yet, but I like his game so far. He doesn't have to be a star, just play solid team ball off the bench.

I don't have any real problem with Jared, but he's just in the way of guys like Chan and DNic, who are both more well rounded players and they type we need. I don't have a problem with Nate so long as he can continue to learn the Point. He's small for my tastes at PG, but he can still be an asset off the bench. I really want to see him use his quickness on the defensive end. There's no reason he shouldn't be more of pest with his speed.

Curry and Zach are clearly one sided players and we're gonna have to appeal to their pride to get them to defend and hold the fort for this team. I'm not expecting miracles, but dang. They have to give us more than they've done so far in their careers. Overall I just want to see the right moves made with the Roster to give this team a better balance and fit. We can't keep all of these guys, cuz it won't work. So "Trimming the Fat" as Bip has been championing is a smart move to make at this time. But exactly what deal is isiah looking to make? If he can't to the fantasy deal for Kobe or the lesser deal for Artest, then what? How does he handle the overstuffed roster?

The point is, don't waste moves on guys like Steve Francis which create log jams, delay development and place you out of position to acquire players that become available at the last moment. You don't need timing for situations like this, you simply don't make the moves. You think of a guy like Allan HOuston, if he were ever to play again. Would he help us win a title. Of course not. But he would help us win games while at the same time giving us a high character guy that could truly mentor our youth in the backcourt. But we have no room for him. Now maybe Isiah doesn't want Allan, but because of our long-term contracts to useless players we leave ourselves unable to make these signings of opportunity. This is where I feel Isiah has needed the most improvement.

I think we have to allow that Isiah has collected talent not only to keep but to use in trades. In the case of this roster, that surely seems to be the case. He's obviously looking to make a deal and the more talent he has to give increases his chances of making a deal. There are no guarantees, but he tends to take on talent and then turn that into players he wants, trade chips or draft picks.
We don't all have to agree with his methods, but it's not hard to understand how he views things. There were and are opportunities to be involved in deals for bigtime players. Slim as they may be he is doing the right thing by staying in the conversation and collecting talent that might appeal to a desparate GM. Who knows what will happen with Kobe or Artest? So we have to allow for that too.

I think his method has netted some good results in terms of talent and now he has to make probably his most important roster decisions to date. He has to now decide who he wants to go to war with and trim away some of that talent he's gathered. In this case less will mean more.