timewarp from: http://thebackpagesports.com/bp/sport_site/article_view.cfm?aid=1189

Why I Hate Zeke
It's Hard To Believe, But He's No Better Than Layden
By Will Bressman
Issue: Jan 31, 2005

"The remaining players on the Knicks roster can be broken up into three categories: Pretty-Awful, God-Awful and Franchise-Cripplingly-Awful.

Good news first-

The Pretty Awful category:

1-Bruno Sundov: 1 year, minimum deal. Adds absolutely nothing to the Knicks. Makes Gheorge Mhuresan look mobile.

2-Jamison Brewer: 1 year, minimum deal. Was so hotly coveted that he was unsigned for the better part of last year and had absolutely no suitors.

3-Jerome Williams: He is a good player, adds tons of energy to the Knicks, and he should be in their starting lineup. Unfortunately, with a 7 year $40.8 million contract, he's paid like a borderline all-star.

The God Awful category:

1-Vin Baker: Zeke was bidding against Alcoholics Anonymous to sign Vin to the 2 year contract extension he received from the Knicks this past off-season. On the positive side, he's one of about 7 members on the Knicks roster vying for the role of 12th man.

2-Moochie Norris: His 6 year, $22.7 million contract doesn't exactly make him a hot commodity on the trade market. Especially when he doesn't even have the crazy hair anymore.

3-Kurt Thomas: Krazy-Eyed-Kurt used to be the most underrated player on the Knicks roster. Unfortunately that does not mean that he still is. Now, at a time when he is on the downside of his career and regularly tosses up a 20-10 and then a 4-4 in back-to-back games, it is clear that he cannot compete at a high level on a nightly basis. That must be why Zeke decided to sign him to a 4 year, $30 million deal that expires in 2009. He is a holdover from the Layden era, but is paid like a charter member of the Isaiah Thomas era.

The Franchise-Cripplingly Awful category:

1-Penny Hardaway: He has a max contract. Let me repeat: he has a max contract. Kobe, KG, Shaq, Duncan, Jason Kidd, Nowitzki. These guys have max contracts. Penny has a max contract. I wonder if Phoenix is still offering players from the Marbury trade that Zeke feels he must accept to bring Starbury to NYC.

2-Tim Thomas: He has a max contract. Let me repeat: he has a max contract. Kobe, KG, Shaq, Duncan, Jason Kidd, Nowitzki. These guys have max contracts. Tim Thomas has a max contract. I can't even talk rationally about this.

3-Allan Houston: He has a max contract. Let me repeat: he has a max contract. Kobe, KG, Shaq, Duncan, Jason Kidd, Nowitzki. These guys have max contracts. Allan has a max contract. Hey, at least we can't blame Zeke for this one. Scott Layden is still bidding against himself to retain Allan Houston, even if he needs a wheelchair on the court.

4-Jamal Crawford: He was the apple of Isaiah's eye this off-season, which should have been seen by everyone as the first sign of trouble. When Crawford decided to honor Isaiah by wearing Thomas' former number 11, the Kennedy family probably would have turned down a straight up trade of their family curse for the Crawford contract. Crawford's idea of a good shot is a one-footer from half court.

No team in the NBA has a more poorly constructed roster"


Oor current roster seems stacked with potential when compared to where we were....

It's not where we were or were we are. It's what do we do from here. Do we make every move possible to garner an 8th seed and fill the seats do to our mediocrity, or do we build around our young guys. Which does not mean just getting more youth. It means building a team that compliments each other. Defense, offense, rebounding, ball movement, post play, outside shooting. We change from a culture of excuses, finger pointing, whining, blaming and lack of effort to an organization that preaches nothing but winning. We are exactly where we were 5 years ago. A team capable of winning 32-42 games. If we win 42 fans cheer. 32 and someone gets fired. But in reality neither is important. What's important is that the young guys continue to develop(which is obvious that last year has helped them rather than hinder them) and that management does not think about tickets but thinks about titles. Yes in the past we have been in this spot. In the past we sold our souls for the highest paid "savior". It's time to change.

what pisses me off is that we could be rid of most of those players for nothing. houston and JYD we did send into happy retirement, but pretty much every other one of those guys we exchanged for a worse contract. we definitely got more talented, but in contract terms we f-cked up bigtime. instead of shedding dead weight, we swapped, what, even jamison brewer for malik rose?

Posted by Masterplan:

what pisses me off is that we could be rid of most of those players for nothing. houston and JYD we did send into happy retirement, but pretty much every other one of those guys we exchanged for a worse contract. we definitely got more talented, but in contract terms we f-cked up bigtime. instead of shedding dead weight, we swapped, what, even jamison brewer for malik rose?

You can't just look at things in those terms. You have to look at how this team is setup with players that fit this new system for years to come:

Jamal - 26
QRich - 26
Curry - 23
Frye - 23
Lee - 23
Nate - 22
Balkman - 22
Collins - 22

That's not a bad start at all. We have a nice young group, but also enough veteran help to make this thing work. Right now we're in a MUCH better position than we were. People complain now that we don't have a true SF on the team. AH GEE, isn't that a shame :( Heck we would've killed to be able to say that years ago. We're really only looking at one position that you can say is weak. Stop looking back and look at where we are and allow this group to develop.

That's not a bad start at all. We have a nice young group, but also enough veteran help to make this thing work.

IMO, that's BS. veteran help? we have overpaid head cases keeping those young guys from playing. i totally support the youth we've accumulated. moves like the francis and mo trades (and arguably eddy too if he doesn't get his sh!t together) have only set us back.

Stop looking back and look at where we are and allow this group to develop.

i want the better part of francis, jalen, mo, steph maybe more, no where near "this group." i love the kids, don't like hte guys in front of them.

People think we can't rebound in order to start the break

we were 23rd in def rebs.

I agree with the point of colorfl1's post. This Knicks team is far more talented than the team was a year and a half ago. Most of the bad contracts drop off this year, which is why I never put much credence in those writers shouting about the Knicks having a $125 million dollar payroll. Next year the payroll will be around $75-80 million, assuming that a large contract is not added which looks like that might be the case given the Knicks new fiscal conservatism. Although Isiah has made mistakes, he has really improved the talent level of this team at every position. The only question that remains is whether this team can come together and win not only in the regular season but also the playoffs. That is yet to be determined, and IMO LB wasted a year that should have answered that question. That is why I am delaying any opinion on how good of a job Isiah has done as Knick GM until I see what he can do with this roster as the coach.