i think if we had THIS YEAR'S unprotected #1, francis and rose would not be on this team...and we would be sellers in the offseason. the full rebuild could've been sold to dolan (following the rangers example) as well as the fans. our only really big deal left on the books would've been steph, and if we moved him ala orlando moving francis, this would've been our situation:

craw, q1, nate, q2, trevor, lee, frye, butler, malik, jerome, 2006 top 3 pick, 2006 spurs #1, with penny + AD off the books and mo expiring this summer and a dump of marbury (not to mention picks in 2007 as well).

this would've left us a TON of young players and major cap room in another year.

but we traded the picks...hence we gave up our best ASSET this year which was our top 3 pick and a 2007 #1. we gave up 2 #2's as well. so our only way of acquiring talent would be to trade some of our young guys or use the expiring deals. if penny and AD expired, we would've lost two of our best assets in talent acquisition. since nothing of real substance was available, we time-shifted the penny expiring one year with rose, and rented francis for 20 games in order to trade him this summer.

NONE of this would matter if curry showed signs of being a franchise player...but i would tend to think that heart issue or not, IF he was a franchise center, chicago wouldn't have given him to us.

the dice deal was the final nail in the coffin for layden. the curry deal could be as well for mr. popcorn.

when Larry Brown agreed to coach, he didn't want a youth team ala Chicago, Toronto, or Atlanta. He wanted and wants Isiah to get him hard working role players that he can shape into a championship team. Brown's not here to lead a team in 3 years to the first round of the playoffs. He's looking to make himself into a legend.

The rebuilding philosophy you describe is perhaps the most logical and safe way to approach the restructuring of the team. But it would by no means gaurantee anything. At the very least, after a few years, we would trade a couple of our youths for a disgruntled star.

So far, Curry hasn't been what we've expected. But I'm willing to give him more time to respond to good coaching. He sees the change in Jamal's. maybe he'll be motivated to work on his game as well. Jamal's doing what real leaders do...lead by example.

I'm not worried about giving up this year's pick. Yeah it sucks but it was a reasonable gamble. Nobody thought we'd have a top three pick. Next year's swap hurts a little more and I think it probably could have been avoided.

And Zeke won't be fired after two and a half years. As much heat as he gets on internet chart boards and from ridiculous ESPN commentators, there isn't the overwhelming hatred out there that there was for Layden.