Every manager makes mistakes. The great ones realize those mistakes as soon as possible, admit them, and go in a different direction.

I love the fact that the Knicks finally appear to have some fiscal responsiblity. The fact that we waited to see what Jackie Butler's market value would be before outbidding ourselves is a good sign. Personally, I think we should keep him for that price, but whatever the Knicks decide I'm OK with because it shows some control. It would be great if we don't use the MLE this year. This organization would be in much better shape if we didn't offer Allan Houston 100 mil, offer Weatherspoon the MLE, or even worse not learn from that mistake and offer Jerome James the same thing.

In order for the Knicks to get to the next level, we need to cut some of our losses. If Jerome James comes into camp out of shape, we should look at him as a sunk cost and buy him out. I would also tell Mo Taylor and Jalen Rose to stay home and collect checks until either the trading deadline or they expire (ala Tim Thomas in Chicago). It worries me that Isiah said he was close to all his players and the player he is closest with is not Marbury, but Jalen Rose.

Many others have mentioned this before, but from this point on we should not take on additional salary in trades or trade picks. We should use the unlimited resources to our advantage in 2 ways:
1. I would buy a pick every year - Isiah has an eye for talent and teams are always looking to dump mid to late first rounders for cash.
2. The only time I spend the MLE is for young guys who fill a need -- A guy like Jared Jefferies this year would be good if we didn't have so many guys already under contract.

I start Marbury and Francis to build up their value. They should trhive in this system, but as soon as a trade that makes sense comes along I go for it. Cap relief and draft picks. These guys will never lead a team through the playoffs and that's the ultimate goal. We need to have the discipline to unload these guys when they're at the top of their game (exactly what the Suns did with us) -- imagine if Lampe or Vujanic turned into players? Even without them it was still a great trade for them.

I don't care who starts but for extended time I want to see lineups with Nate or Crawford at pg, Q at the 2 to spread the floor in transition, Balkman, Lee, and Frye. Every one of those guys will play with heart and can get up and down the floor. We have very solid perimter defense, it's a pretty good rebounding unit. We lack interior defense but hopefully that unit will be going against other second units and won't see too many post players. When they do, they can make up for it with speed.

i hope they don't sign anyone w/the MLE... the only FA's they should look to sign at this point is matching the offersheet Jackie B signed w/the Spurs... if they can get Qyntel w/the LLE, then fine, but you'll have to clear a roster spot to accomodate both those guys.

buying out multiple players is not going to happen, so forget about that idea.