The problem with signing such long contracts is, it ties up the money. Zach is our latest casualty. We got rid of Francis, yes' but Zach's contract stays for four years and eventually goes up to 17 million. Remember, Francis would have ended in two more seasons. If we had kept Frye and Francis, Frye would have come off the books, with a team option after this next season. If he improved, then we'd pick him up and he would have the option of staying the following year. With Francis, he would have made 17 million in 2008-2009, and after that he would have come off the books. But that's all in the past now, so here's what can happen in a two year plan from now, if' Thomas played it this way.

Coming off the books next season
Fred Jones $3,300,000
Dan Dickau $2,800,000
Randolph Morris 810,000

We could option to sign them or someone else to one more year, guaranteeing they come off the books after 2009-2010 season.

Coming off the books in 2008-2009
Malik Rose $7,101,250
Starbury $21,937,500

After that, we could offer them, or someone, a one year contract guaranteeing they come off the books after 2009-2010 season.

We have a team option on Nate in 2008-2009, we could trade him for a few future draft picks (in the team option year, we'll have $2,020,178 coming off the books). Or we could option to keep him, provided he make some strides as a 'team' player.

For the 2009-2010 season, we could buy out Jerome James in his option year.

After all is said and done, we could have coming off the books $38,000,000 after the 2009-2010 season.

Here's what's coming

LeBron James in his option year (2010-2011) can be available, providing he's still fighting for a championship and not happy.

Dwayne Wade in his option year (2010-2011) can be available, providing he's still fighting for a championship and Shaqs not effective anymore.


If Thomas can stop making these long term contracts and give it two years, we could land a bonified superstar, and sign several more strong pieces to fill needed areas. We lose no one, other than the one's coming off the books (and exercising our options). In return, we gain a tremendous amount of talent, as well as a playoff guarantee and possibly a championship run.

We would still have:
Curry (who should be a lot better by then)
Zach
Q
Crawford
Lee (well developed by then)
Balkman (well developed by then)
Collins (well developed by then)
And any other rookies we may pick up.

And the other plus would be we would have a few more draft picks, and with other contracts ready to expire in the upcoming season or two. We protect the cap (the money would be well invested) and we continue to improve and grow. The money has to be handled correctly though. This is my proposal, what do you think?

i think next year we're trading Marbury & Lee for Troy Murphy.

I think Isiah did the best he could to make the team more competitive in a weak Conf. It may not be everyone's favorite move, but it made sense considering what we have for the next 2 years. This actually gives us a fighting chance and I see no reason to be against it.

I think what you're suggesting makes sense and there's a chance that Isiah has already considered what you're talking about.

Posted by TMS:

i think next year we're trading Marbury & Lee for Troy Murphy.

Do you supose Thomas is actually following what some of the fans are proposing? The fact that Zac is here and his contract is so long, does not do us any good. I can't even consider him in a scenario above, other than the fact he'll still be here for at least three seasons.

Unfortunately, the real bottom line answer is Isiah needs to go.


I like rationalizing as much as next man, but cmon ....

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by 4949:

Wasn't that one of the biggest problems of the Ewing era was that they couldn't get anyone who really wanted to come to NY. So trades were the name of the game.

I am assuming that star players who are not happy elsewhere, would come to NY if we had the money fixed up right now. Kobe is a good example. He could still bitch and force them to trade him. He just has to do it in a way that isn't controversial, but annoying more or less. All he has to do is keep talking about how unhappy he is. That's bad PR for the Lakers. They couldn't land KG, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens in the coming months.

I think Kobe is about the only one of these such free agents that would come to NY but it takes a special type of big name guy that says hey I am willing to take NY money. I just don't see Lebron or Wade doing so. I mean I agree cap space is important but I do think that NYers are sometimes full of themselves and think that everybody wants to play at the Garden on a regular basis. They couldn't get it done in Ewing's era where it wasn't as bad. Hell they had a bad enough time just trying to keep him in a Knicks uniform without him always throwing DC in their faces. Lebron and Wade would get more where they are at. Also, I don't know how much of this Kobe and other free agent stuff is more about these guys playing because Thomas is here. Like I said the Knicks have never been big at attracting free agents. Who knows if a guy like Thomas isn't here and some of these guys say hey I don't like the Knicks as much as I did before. Oh yeah too much traffic and snow. Even with Houston, it took Patrick Ewing getting on a jet to recruit him, a video of Spike Lee to sell NY.

Hmmm. Interesting.

Maybe I had it wrong the whole time. 'It doesn't matter if NY has more money than any other team and no one wants to play in NY?' I guess I got to change my whole outlook on money matters and just hope like the rest of everyone else. It's no wonder we don't get anywhere and probably why we will never' win a thing. I don't mean that to sound negative, but I don't know what else to say about developing the Knicks. I had been thinking it was the only way to develop this team. I guess I'm getting a lesson here about this being the way of life in Knick land. It's very boring.

Posted by 4949:

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by 4949:

Wasn't that one of the biggest problems of the Ewing era was that they couldn't get anyone who really wanted to come to NY. So trades were the name of the game.

I am assuming that star players who are not happy elsewhere, would come to NY if we had the money fixed up right now. Kobe is a good example. He could still bitch and force them to trade him. He just has to do it in a way that isn't controversial, but annoying more or less. All he has to do is keep talking about how unhappy he is. That's bad PR for the Lakers. They couldn't land KG, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens in the coming months.

I think Kobe is about the only one of these such free agents that would come to NY but it takes a special type of big name guy that says hey I am willing to take NY money. I just don't see Lebron or Wade doing so. I mean I agree cap space is important but I do think that NYers are sometimes full of themselves and think that everybody wants to play at the Garden on a regular basis. They couldn't get it done in Ewing's era where it wasn't as bad. Hell they had a bad enough time just trying to keep him in a Knicks uniform without him always throwing DC in their faces. Lebron and Wade would get more where they are at. Also, I don't know how much of this Kobe and other free agent stuff is more about these guys playing because Thomas is here. Like I said the Knicks have never been big at attracting free agents. Who knows if a guy like Thomas isn't here and some of these guys say hey I don't like the Knicks as much as I did before. Oh yeah too much traffic and snow. Even with Houston, it took Patrick Ewing getting on a jet to recruit him, a video of Spike Lee to sell NY.

Hmmm. Interesting.

Maybe I had it wrong the whole time. 'It doesn't matter if NY has more money than any other team and no one wants to play in NY?' I guess I got to change my whole outlook on money matters and just hope like the rest of everyone else. It's no wonder we don't get anywhere and probably why we will never' win a thing. I don't mean that to sound negative, but I don't know what else to say about developing the Knicks. I had been thinking it was the only way to develop this team. I guess I'm getting a lesson here about this being the way of life in Knick land. It's very boring.

This is not Knicks land. It's Cablevision land.
And big public corporation have no tomorrow. So the Knicks...