I'm sure it will yet another anti-Knicks article, but I just can't help myself.

For trade to work, Curry needs strength of six men
By Chris Sheridan

Memo to all New York Knicks fans planning to check out Eddy Curry's return to Chicago Wednesday night: As you're basking in the glory of watching the young behemoth pile up points against the Bulls' overmatched and undersized front line, take a brief moment to ask yourself the following question:

Was Curry worth the price?

We're not just talking about Michael Sweetney and Tim Thomas, the two main players the Knicks jettisoned in the October deal to acquire the 23-year-old center.

A greater concern is what basically amounts to four draft picks -- two No. 1s and two No. 2s -- that Chicago will get from New York between 2006 and 2009 when the price for Curry, if the Knicks miss the playoffs, could turn astronomical.

Fans in New York can already forget about Greg Oden ever becoming the Knicks' savior. He'll go No. 1 in 2007, but Knicks president Isiah Thomas gave the Bulls the right to swap first-round picks in 2007, even if New York wins the lottery.

You like Adam Morrison, LaMarcus Aldridge, J.J. Redick or anyone else expected to be in this year's lottery? Don't like 'em too much, because the Bulls get the Knicks' pick this June, too -- even if it's No. 1 overall.

Isiah also gave the Bulls second-round picks in 2007 and 2009, and don't forget that he still owes another first-round pick to Utah as part of the package he sent to the Suns to acquire Stephon Marbury. That pick becomes unprotected in 2010, meaning the Knicks already are out of the mix on Lincoln (N.Y.) High School freshman Lance Stephenson, already averaging almost 20 points for the school that produced Marbury and Sebastian Telfair.

That's a heck of a jumbo mortgage to take out on a player with significant health risks, and the question needs to be asked whether Thomas had to include all those draft picks. It's not like other teams were beating down GM John Paxson's door after a heart abnormality was discovered and Curry refused to take DNA tests that might have shown whether he was genetically predisposed to the type of ailments that likely contributed to the deaths of NBA players Reggie Lewis and Jason Collier.

The trade left Chicago woefully undersized along the front line, and it hasn't helped that they haven't gotten much production out of Tyson Chandler (4.6 ppg, 7.4 rpg) after granting him a contract extension. But this is a transitional year in Chicago, with the Bulls sitting on more than $15 million of cap space for this summer.

One way or another, they'll replace Curry's size before they turn their attention to extensions for Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni. After that, they can add a few enhancements -- and maybe even Oden -- with the draft picks Thomas tossed into the deal.

See, Knicks fans, that's what a real "rebuilding" plan looks like.

"I don't think that Isiah and our doctors would have taken the risk if we didn't know Eddy was 110 percent, and thus far, thank God we haven't had any problems," said Knicks guard Jamal Crawford, a teammate of Curry's with the Bulls for three seasons. "I don't know what happened in Chicago as far as tests went, but I'm glad he's with us and I'm glad he's healthy."

Curry has been a load for opposing teams to handle in the deep low post, but the Knicks have tended to run plays for him early before switching their offensive sets to get others involved. Curry is averaging only 14.5 points, a drop from his 16.1 last season, and has fallen nearly 10 percentage points on free throws, giving opponents all the more reason to foul him and make him earn his points from the line.

When Curry goes to the foul line Wednesday night, Knicks fans should keep an eye out for the amount of time -- measured in nanoseconds, not seconds -- he spends looking at the rim before releasing his free throw. Watch his footwork, too, for its fundamental flaws, and prepare to cringe if you see Curry get ready to shoot from anywhere beyond 10 feet.

Practice that cringe, too, Knicks fans, because it'll come in handy on the nights of the 2006 and 2007 draft lotteries if this Curry thing doesn't work out.

Chris Sheridan, a national NBA reporter for the past decade, covers the league for ESPN Insider. To e-mail Chris, click here.

ESPN essentiually regurtitates the same crap every 3 weeks.

When we start winning it will stop. Until its essentially true. Every word of it. The Knicks are built around Curry, Crawford, Frye and Marbury. Thats your nucleus. Want to sprinkle in some Nate, Lee or anoyone else, but you get the idea.

Isiah completely comprimised the future to built this current roster. The future is here and now. Lets hope Larry is the teacher everyone thinks he is because its going to be a long 5 years if he's not

ESPN hates the Yankees too, and smears them every chance they get.

I like the criticism right now because it lets everyone know that they are being held accountable. If I was a Seattle fan I would love for national media to be criticizing my crappy team so that hopefully changes would be made sooner rather than later. Put the pressure on these guys to do their jobs.

If we have a better record than the Bulls next year, it's only three #1 picks to acquire Marbury and Curry and Crawford. It's a high price, but not outrageous.

If we have a worse record than the Bulls next year, the price becomes a little more steep.

But the bottom line is this team was capped out beyond belief and there was no way we were getting a talent like Marbury as a Free Agent. Getting Marbury helped changed the culture of the team and the attitude of the fanbase. I think people forget how hopeless it felt to be a Knicks fan before Marbury showed up. And if those picks were so valuable, why did PHO turn around and ship BOTH of them to Utah for cap room (and not that much cap room, like $6 million for Gugliotta)?

I think we actually paid less to get Curry, who stands a good chance to be a much more valuable player.

Grunfeld and Checketts sucked.

Posted by efw:

Posted by fishmike:

most of its fair. If you dont think we built this franchise around Marbury and Curry your not looking:
2004 #1, 2006 #1, 2007 right to switch, future #1 unprotected by 2010, #2 2007 and #2 2009.

All that from a GM who's best skill is the draft.

maybe Isiah is using his drafting skill to conclude that none of those picks will be as valuable as Stephon and Curry.

Isiah hasn't even evaluated the players who will be in this draft because they barely started playing so how does he already know unless he has psychic powers!

^I think we can get a good player with the Spurs pick, at least a strong defensive player and rebounder.

[Edited by - Knight on 01-18-2006 12:39 PM]

^^ we have too. Its hard to be excited about the MLE prospects that may be available.

Also Ernie and Dave traded picks when they were were in the dreaded "one player away" mode. They had Ewing and division titles every year. Isiah has a .400 winning % and the worst payroll in pro sports.

What is lost is that Isiah made many deals that favored the other team financially. We added 50% increase to our bloated payroll in two years.

Having financial clout is important. Isiahs carrying Dolans fat wallet made him more relevant.

What baffles me to no end is the worse Eddy does, one must assume the worse the knicks do, and the better the trade bocomes for the Bulls. WOuldn't logic dictate that the better eddy is, the more valuable he is, and one would think we could compensate the Bulls more by them providing us with a higher value player?

I don't think it could have been done, but the swapping of picks should have been contingent on Eddy playing but so many games and /or minutes. OR, the pick gets protected and deffered. Given we still owe a pick to PHX, I can see the complications.

But, I like the way Eddy is playing, and I think we are using him well. I still think he is better than anyone on the board in this years draft, and I seriously doubt we are in contention for the overall no. 1 pick in 2007.

Home town hype, Bulls media will hype the game for readership and the interest of Eddy playing badly would make Chicago fans feel good!



[Edited by - nalod on 01-18-2006 1:02 PM]