Trade 1
NY to Toronto
Penny

Toronto to NY
Jalen Rose
2006 Denver #1 pick

Trade 2
NY to Portland
Jamal Crawford
Antonio Davis

Portland to NY
Steve Blake
Ruben Patterson
Theo Ratliff

Trade 3
NY to Houston
Stephon Marbury
Jackie Butler

Houston to NY
David Wesley (ending contract)
Moochie Norris (ending contract)
Dikembe Mutombo (2 more yrs)
Rafer Alston
2006 Houston #1 pick

Blake(6-3)/Rafer(6-2)/Nate(5-9)
Patterson(6-5)/Q(6-6)
Rose(6-8)/Lee(6-10)
Ratliff(6-10)/Frye(6-11)/Taylor(6-9)
Curry(6-11)/Deke(7-2)

Inactive:JJ7-1,Woods6-8,Ariza6-8

Picks: Houston#1 /Denver#1 /SA#1

Why for NY:

• Blake is a 25 yr old pure PG with solid defense


• Blake, Rafer, Patterson, Ratliff, Deke are good defenders (though I'm not a big fan of Rafer). Ratliff&Deke will give us OLD but smart defensive shot-blockers who are still ways better defensively than Curry/Frye, etc


• We will have 3 first round picks this yr - Drafting talent is Isiah's strength. Let's give him some bullets. We could draft 3 players, or package them to move up. Or we could package the picks & our players to get a real proven star who plays both ways.


• In 07/08 season, the cap will be down to $39mm

I'd do this just for the picks & improved defense. Yep, we are taking on Rose & Ratliff's $$$, but we get rid of Steph & Craw's long $$$$$. We also won't have stars like Steph on the roster, but we'll get one (or two) from the draft. The guys we get from the trades are role players but they are good ones that, once a star-player is added, could help create a solid team.

Thanks to the brilliant job Isiah has done, I think move like this is the only way to give us flexibility & toughness back to NY. Yep, I have always been the advocate of a full blown REBUILD, but that's become a tough thing to do now thanks to Isiah.

Thats a plausable blow up.

Do the rockets have their pick?

IT can be done, but of course it won't. Should have done it two years ago.

Problem is what is in the draft that we can REALLY build upon?

Posted by franco12:

great- we add the only two centers in the league over the age of 40.

we turn over half the roster mid season insuring that the pick we give chicago will be the first pick, and we degrade talent just enough so that we insure also giving chicago our pick next season as well, and probably a top 5.

I really don't give a damn whether CHI gets a good pick or not. I just wanna see a light at the end of this tunnel which seems to be getting longer and longer with Isiah being the GM. It's great that Isiah had a good draft and that he got LB. But this team suc-ks. We don't play D. We're not smart. We're all too inconsistent. We don't play physical and tough. We have no cap flexibility. We got no picks. We're stuck with players no teams won't. I think that even LB won't be able to make this team work with the pieces we have.

I always said that we needed to rebuild. The myth that teams in NY cannot rebuild is BS. If we get talented rookies, capable coach, and good role players, fans will come. And BECAUSE WE'RE IN NY, THERE WILL BE MANY FAs WANTING TO PLAY HERE IF WE HAD THE CAP SPACE TO SIGN THEM. I would love LB to find a way to make this team competitive. I'd love it if Isiah could get us Artest or someone talented. But what are the chances of that? And what is the point of holding onto Steph and Craw if we're going to stink for years to come thanks to Isiah? The players we have are flawed. That won't likely change even after a couple of years playing under LB. I say break this team up and collect picks, draft college seasoned kids with high BB IQ who plays both ways. Get decent role players. Get under the cap in 2 yrs. And use Ratliff's expring contract & cap space to sign a true star player.

I doubt Isiah will be fired or will resign. considering his drafting skills, i want to give him as many ammunition as possible, hence the trading for picks. allowing AD & penny's deals to expire won't improve this team. we need ways to get better, and that's thru the draft.

what's so great about having marbury when we have so many flawed players with no chemistry? i'd rather break up this pathetic team and get us 3 first round picks. but that's just me...

Posted by TMS:

but you're still not addressing what happens to those other players i mentioned... there isn't enough roster spots for you to make all those deals... you think James Dolan's going to eat all those millions of dollars AND give up his best & most marketable player for a couple of draft picks & a collection of past their prime vets?

yep, dump'em. Dolan probably won't go for this NOW THAT HE'S GOT ALL THESE OVERPAID LONG CONTRACTS IN STEPH, JJ, Q, MO, ROSE, CRAW, LB while not seeing Ws & not having picks.

Posted by nixluva:

The whole team is young and need to improve and I see no reason to give up on them so early. This isn't just aboiut this season and how the team looks. You have to be able to project a bit and realize that Curry and Frye are going to improve as will some of the other young players. Despite how the team looked in the last few games, its still a lot closer to being a decent team than it might seem. PATIENCE is the key word here and I expect that IT will be patient and won't make any stupid panic trades.

hope so... but i personally think we're worse off now than in layden's days.

The idea that dumping salary and getting under the cap and getting in the lottery will automatically give you the talent you need in a rebuilding operation is completely wrong.

In free agency, most top free agents re-sign with their teams. There may be players like Larry Hughes available, but there's no guarantee you're going to be the team that he signs with.

As far as the draft is concerned, for every LeBron James, there's a Darko Milicic. Take a look at the 2004 draft. Here's what the lotter looked like. How many of those players would you build a team around?
1) Howard
2) Okeafor
3) Gordon
4) Livingston
5) Harris
6) Childress
7) Deng
8) Araujo
9) Iguodalo
10) Jackson
11) Biedrins

Rebuilding takes time and patience. It's happening now, but we're going through growing pains. Most of the players need work on fundamentals. When they get it all straight, we'll start to win games, but it won't happen over night.

Posted by Ira:

The idea that dumping salary and getting under the cap and getting in the lottery will automatically give you the talent you need in a rebuilding operation is completely wrong.

In free agency, most top free agents re-sign with their teams. There may be players like Larry Hughes available, but there's no guarantee you're going to be the team that he signs with.

As far as the draft is concerned, for every LeBron James, there's a Darko Milicic. Take a look at the 2004 draft. Here's what the lotter looked like. How many of those players would you build a team around?
1) Howard
2) Okeafor
3) Gordon
4) Livingston
5) Harris
6) Childress
7) Deng
8) Araujo
9) Iguodalo
10) Jackson
11) Biedrins

Rebuilding takes time and patience. It's happening now, but we're going through growing pains. Most of the players need work on fundamentals. When they get it all straight, we'll start to win games, but it won't happen over night.

Why do you have to build around the talent you draft? why not look at how many of those players could be part of a championship team.

Posted by Nalod:

Thats a plausable blow up.

Do the rockets have their pick?

IT can be done, but of course it won't. Should have done it two years ago.

Problem is what is in the draft that we can REALLY build upon?

the problem with that nalod is, people don't care, as long as we can say we have a pick or picks, it is the security blanket some in here need, and when we draft those rookies and they do what most rookies do, Struggle, people will be looking to the next years pick, lamenting that we don't have a possible pick in 2010 also.. It never ends....