AnubisADL wrote:smackeddog wrote:AnubisADL wrote:What kills me is all this complaining when Walsh has pretty much did nothing the last 2 years and struck out this summer. Isiah signed guys to deals they didnt deserve. Other than that he wasnt that bad. Now I can only hope he has learned to not to overpay for guys with talent and zero heart.
IT's main flaw was that he absolutely could not build a cohesive team- look, he tried having a backcourt of Marbury and Steve Francis, who are essentially the same player- how the heck could that have remotely worked? Then he tried a front court of Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph- both are front court players who don't play defense and just got in each others way on offense. He was incapable of forming a clear plan and following it through- every time he announced one plan, he suddenly saw some new opportunity and went chasing after it instead. To make matters worse every move he made was a gamble and he had no exit startagy for any move that didn't work- they all involved getting huge contracts that ran for many years. What happened then, was we were either stuck with the cap clogging contract (Jerome james, Jared Jeffries), or we moved them for an even longer contract for an equally dubious aquisition (Steve Francis for Zach Randolph). I appreciate you have to gamble as GM and if it works out you look great and if it doesn't you look like a moron (as Walsh's Lebron gamble demonstrated), but you need some sort of exit strategy or back up plan or way out in case the gamble fails.
Walsh's strength is that he CAN build a cohesive team (hopefully we'll see this, this season!) with players that fit together and play defense, and he CAN stick to plan regardless of any temptations along the way AND he has exit strategies and contingency plans, as this off season showed when we failed to get Lebron or Wade or Bosh. Walsh isn't perfect, his draft record is only average, he wanted to make Chris Mullen our new GM and he wanted to sign Joe Johnson to a ridiculous contract this offseason, which we were only spared because Atlanta offered an even more ridiculous contract.
Even if IT came back having learnt to protect picks, not sign players to ridiculous contracts etc etc, he has no credibility with other GMs or agents- they will all look to screw him and only make unfair offers because they think he'll bite- you can't be a GM once the rest of the league thinks you're a fool.
What worries me is having him as an advisor means he's going to want to prove himself, to justify a promotion. Carmelo would probably come to us regardless, however IT is close to CP, so thats what he's going to focus on this year. What's bad about this is that New Orleans is in a strong bargaining position, so expect IT to broker an IT style trade in which we give up all our young talent galore to get CP (which some of you will be pleased about no doubt)- probably including Gallo, Randolph, Chandler etc.
I dont have an issue with Eddy Curry and Randolph in the front court. All Curry had to do was stay in shape and he would have beasted. Gasol and Randolph co-exist just fine. Gasol actually has some heart while Curry has ZERO.
Walsh traded picks too along with a a lottery pick. So what are you saying? Are we going to grade them on what the results were or on good intentions?
boy smack... you really nailed that one. On an individual basis the players Isiah brought in werent bad per say, but there was no plan, each one was a gamble, there was no plan b and there was zero vision as far as building a team with complimenting skills. Zero skills in managing cap. Zero forsight in protecting your draft picks. And what happened? Zeke left with a bloated roster of overpriced players attached to a team that wasnt winning more that 25 games a year.
But sure Anuibus... he wasnt that bad.
It will be interesting to see if and what the truth is that comes out.
I think Isiah is still being paid by MSG no? If this is a case where he helps with scouting and offers input on the draft that cool. Maybe Isiah helps the Knicks get some guys like Ariza, Chandler, Lee or Nate. If its true that this undermine's Walsh than its a huge red flag.
Its so easy to see where this thing goes if the worst case scenario takes place....
Knicks end up trading Chandler, Randolph, Gallo, Douglas, Felton, Fields and Drago coming off a good season for a slower CP3, a stone Carmello Anthony and our new 'big 3' is just enough to win 50 a year and get bounced from the 2nd round each year but Dolan thinks Isiah is competing for a title every year.
"winning is more fun... then fun is fun" -Thibs
