http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/kelly_dwyer/09/01/atlantic.offseason/1.html

New York Knicks
Losses: Kurt Thomas (Suns), Jerome Williams (retirement)

Gains: Quentin Richardson (Suns), Channing Frye (draft), David Lee (draft), Nate Robinson (draft), Jerome James (free agent), Larry Brown (free agent -- sort of)

Offseason goals: Try to dump any number of the onerous contracts they've accrued, find a coach.


What really happened: For better (2005-06 and '06-07 seasons), or worse ('07-08), they found a damn good coach in Brown. His presence alone with the clipboard will mean an improvement on last year's 33-49 record. The initial complaint behind a deal that sent Thomas to the Phoenix Suns for Richardson was that GM Isiah Thomas should have gotten a little more for KT, and when Richardson's back injuries nearly jeopardized the trade, Thomas sweated the Suns into throwing dynamo rookie Nate Robinson into the deal. Thomas also presided over a solid draft -- his second in a row -- finding center Frye and power forward Lee in the first round. That said, he nearly mitigated a brilliant June by throwing $30 million at worthless big man Jerome James, and waiving the soon-to-retire Jerome Williams instead of Malik Rose or Allan Houston.

The Knicks are convinced Houston will soon take the Junk Yard Dog route and call it a day (with insurance picking up the rest of his deal), but as recently as Aug. 15, he told a New York paper, "I'm not going to retire, it's like people still don't know. I'm not going to retire. I'm still going to play."

Outlook: Brown has made a career out of turning lemons into a hearty beef stew, which should help the Knicks approach .500, but holes on the roster and discrepancies in the philosophy between Brown and Thomas will keep New York from building any lasting contender.

No mention of Marbs?? I wonder if it means we gonna trade him??

Just kidding!

But Big Game James has some detractors I'd say!

Please... I don't think most of these guys have a real handle on what this team is doing. We are more in tune with it than they are.

"Outlook: Brown has made a career out of turning lemons into a hearty beef stew, which should help the Knicks approach .500, but holes on the roster and discrepancies in the philosophy between Brown and Thomas will keep New York from building any lasting contender."

What is this supposed to mean exactly. The only thing that will keep the Knicks from building a contender is not getting a dominant Big. Really its the only thing that is truly missing from this team or any team not in the Contender ranks. Detroit, Miami, San Antonio, Houston, etc. All have a real Post option and real outside threats. We have some good outside players but no serious inside threat. Put one on this team and bang instant contender.

Posted by nixluva:

Please... I don't think most of these guys have a real handle on what this team is doing. We are more in tune with it than they are.

"Outlook: Brown has made a career out of turning lemons into a hearty beef stew, which should help the Knicks approach .500, but holes on the roster and discrepancies in the philosophy between Brown and Thomas will keep New York from building any lasting contender."

What is this supposed to mean exactly. The only thing that will keep the Knicks from building a contender is not getting a dominant Big. Really its the only thing that is truly missing from this team or any team not in the Contender ranks. Detroit, Miami, San Antonio, Houston, etc. All have a real Post option and real outside threats. We have some good outside players but no serious inside threat. Put one on this team and bang instant contender.

No problem!

well.. the Spurs pick is lottery protected or up to 20 or something. There is some pretty good coverage for the Spurs.

well I scoured the internet. Conditions for the Spurs pick are unknown according to realGM. Looked on ESPN, NBA, etc and its not listed.. only "conditional" but not what the restrictions are