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djsunyc
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/kelly_dwyer/02/07/knicks.problems/1.html
No way out
Knicks backed into corner with nowhere to go
The $32 million Jalen Rose is scheduled to make through next season is just a drop in the Knicks' ever-expanding payroll bucket.
Though it may not be as frustrating as rooting for a 14-32 team, it must be pretty damn frustrating for Knicks fans to stomach the words of renewal that accompany each new trade or deal this wayward franchise makes. The smiles seem genuine, the motivations of the new players hopeful, but, truth be told, this Knickerbockers franchise has gone out of its way to prove to a
loyal fan base and curious onlookers alike that they have no interest in being fixed.
The players, coach Larry Brown, team president Isiah Thomas and his boss, owner James Dolan, all have demonstrated zero interest in changing their ways for you or anybody. Rather, they seem far more interested in adding to that bloated payroll and trying their damnedest to stay on the back pages of the tabloids. Outside criticism just steels the resolve of a group that refuses to mend. Why else would the Knicks gleefully and persistently fly in the face of 59 years of accrued NBA basketball knowledge, especially when the moves have done little to end more than 30 years of championship-less frustration? Why else would this club continue to reward the over-heralded
and ultra-available -- as the bank accounts of Marvin Webster, Pat Cummings, Kiki Vandeweghe, Larry Johnson, Glen Rice and Quentin Richardson will attest.
Give this group a little credit, though; at least they haven't tried to sell this miserable season as part of "rebuilding." Yes, rebuilding teams often wind up on the other end of blowout losses, like these Knicks, on their way to a projected 25 wins, but that's just about the only thing these Knicks have in common with rebuilding franchises. Beyond that, New York has the
league's highest payroll this year, by about $29 million (or, nearly, the Charlotte Bobcats' entire payroll), and they'll nearly lap the competition again in 2006-07.
This summer's lottery pick will be headed to the Chicago Bulls, who will also have the option to swap theirs with New York's in '07. They also owe a first-rounder to the Phoenix Suns that has to be given in '08, '09 or '10, and have just three second-round picks to use for the rest of the decade. That's hardly the type of flexibility a team requires for an overhaul. Thomas, whose best work has come in the draft (akin to Steve Kerr's best work coming from behind 3-point line, as opposed to say, alley-oop dunks), has secured two lower-rung first-round picks in the upcoming draft (San Antonio and Denver's), but it cost him $23 million in '06-07 salaries, a figure that doubles when you add in the luxury tax.
But why wait for the draft to change the team's prospects when there's always another deal to be made at Madison Square Garden. Of all of the traits Thomas can be criticized for, perhaps his most damaging to the team is his stubborn unwillingness to let contracts expire. Just a week after sacrificing Antonio Davis' expiring deal for Jalen Rose's longer deal and Denver's steadily-decreasing draft pick, rumors abound that Zeke is in the process of sending Penny Hardaway's expiring contract to Portland for the services of shot-blocking center Theo Ratliff, who will be making nearly $12 million dollars when he is 35 years old. Yes, a lineup including Channing Frye, Eddy Curry and Stephon Marbury is years better then his predecessor's version of Clarence Weatherspoon, Kurt Thomas and Howard Eisley -- but Isiah could have rebuilt this team from scratch several times over in the two-plus years since taking over for Scott Layden.
Knicks diehards argue long and hard about how the team wouldn't be anywhere near cap relief next season, so it makes sense to trade for talent and "assets" while the payroll stays in the nine-figure range. Huh? Layden's guys are gone, their contracts erased, and yet Thomas continues to add and add to the mess -- while those rookie contracts are going to need extending sooner then you think. Curry-Frye-Jamal Crawford may seem like a nice talent base to add to, but with few draft picks and no cap space, how will Thomas build a winner?
He's already proven himself incapable of working the mid-level exception (see James, Jerome), and there's no way he's turning these huge deals into an All-Star. Danny Ainge would no sooner trade Paul Pierce to Thomas than he would sign a free agent sans the requisite CAT scan. And if Thomas thinks that Kevin McHale is going to send the nearly-30, beat-to-hell Kevin Garnett out to the Garden, then I have some Ruben Patterson I'd like to sell you.
So work yourself silly. Call the radio jockfests, or work the RealGM.com trade checker until your knuckles are blue and orange -- it hardly matters. The Knicks are more than happy in their role as the world's most famous 14-win team because they are sure as hell happy to bring it to you.
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2/7/2006 3:25 PM
