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Panos
Posts: 30453
Alba Posts: 3
Joined: 1/6/2004
Member: #520
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I always have a hard time reading the articles posted on MSG.com.
We all know Dolan likes to control what is said by his staff.
So how censored are these articles? The following one is by Steve
Popper on 6/16. A little hard for me to determine. There seems
to be some propaganda in there setting up some of the moves that
IT is likely to go for this summer. And then at the end, there
seem to be some jabs at IT for the players he traded away.
Any thoughts?
Jun 15, 2006
The first round of in-house workouts are done and the pre-draft camp is concluded -- although that only brought players who might even be drafted below the Knicks picks at No. 20 and 29.
Now, the Knicks have begun the process of narrowing in on their choices for the upcoming draft. But before they weigh the merits of Josh Boone and Shawne Williams, Rajon Rondo and Kyle Lowry, a moment of sanity.
The Knicks already put three rookies on the roster last year in Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and David Lee. Add in barely more than a rookie Jackie Butler and you’ve got a team that on some nights was younger than some mid-major college teams.
Are there enough young players on the Knicks already? (AP)
So do the Knicks really need two more first-rounders -- players who they would be bound to for years -- on the roster?
It’s hard to imagine a team with six players of this little experience on a roster. The upside to it is that the team will develop over time and that by stocking half of the roster with rookie salary pieces, the Knicks can afford the bloated deals that occupy the rest of the roster.
But come draft night, the Knicks might be better off to cut off the building process -- at least a little bit.
The most beneficial way to do that would be to try to package their picks at No. 20 and 29, along with a piece (the expiring contracts of Jalen Rose or Maurice Taylor?) to move up and get exactly what they need, rather than wade through the leftovers at the back end of the first round.
Could that package get them high enough to take Marcus Williams or Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge or Tyrus Thomas? Maybe one of them. But the point is two-sided, unloaded unneeded baggage as much as plucking the exact piece that they need.
A little house-cleaning and stocking of lottery type talent would help long-term and could change the focus of the offseason retooling to the free agent market.
While more spending may sound like an outrageous proposition for the salary-loaded Knicks, spending the right way could solve some of the obvious problems that the franchise has faced. With a roster that boasts a payroll dwarfing any other team in the league, the Knicks are built -- at least on the payroll checks -- to win now, or at least compete now.
Even with the youth on the roster, they still are paying the massive paychecks to Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Eddy Curry, Quentin Richardson and an assortment of other pieces. Not exactly rebuilding on the cheap.
But in this summer free agent market, the Knicks can find a few pieces that could be had for bargain prices and could provide a far more immediate impact on the franchise’s fortunes than an end-of-the-first-round project.
First of all, Ben Wallace isn’t coming. Although if he did, Isiah Thomas might be on his way to a turnaround year.
The Knicks can set their goals a bit lower than the Pistons’ free agent defensive monster and still find pieces to help.
FREE AGENT TARGETS
SPEEDY CLAXTON
His career path took a dip when he was sent to the Hornets and wound up being pushed aside by Chris Paul. But he’s still -- well, Speedy. And he played with Larry Brown in Philadelphia, if that still matters.
NENE
Could you spend your mid-level exception on a player who totaled three minutes last season? Well, it would bring the Knicks back to a piece that they probably never should have dealt away on draft night, a move that accelerated their tumble through the standings. Nene still is a powerful inside piece and a player who most NBA observers believe has his best days ahead of him.
JOEL PRYZBILLA
He’s just what the Knicks could use beside Curry in the frontcourt, a player who thinks defense and rebounding first. But he’s likely priced out of their range -- unless they can work a sign-and-trade with Portland. Much more likely to wind up in Chicago.
VLADIMIR RADMANOVIC
This sharp-shooting big man might have been a more attractive piece for the Knicks before Frye arrived with a better skill-set (other than the 3-point range of Radmanovic).
COULD’VE BEEN A CONTENDER
While the playoffs have gone on without the Knicks, it hasn’t gone on without any ex-Knicks. In the Finals, Keith Van Horn, Shandon Anderson and Michael Doleac are all still playing. Go back to the Conference Finals and add Kurt Thomas and Tim Thomas from Phoenix and Detroit’s Antonio McDyess and you’ve got a painful reminder of what could have been.
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6/20/2006 10:09 AM
