Saw this posted on another board-interesting and well thought out

My Offseason Plan
Now, this gets a bit silly, and it's all entirely conjecture and nonsense, but this is what I would attempt to get done if I were the GM of the Knicks over the summer. Bear with me, if you're interested.

MY plan involves three moves. All of them fairly major. It involves us picking up some FA's in sign and trades, because that is the only way we can do it.

The first, simplest, best, and most realistic of my trades is thus:

Andre Miller (Resigned for $6-7 million) to the Knicks for Ward, the rights to Milos Vujanic, and $2 million in cash. This move makes alot of sense for both teams. It gives the Clipps a young PG prospect in Vujanic to pair with his national teammate Jaric in the back court for a player they would have just let walk anyways. And the Knicks get Andre Miller, who, despite a bad year is still a solid point guard, and a player that Layden covets. So that takes care of our point guard situation.

Now, the second and slightly less grounded, but still in my opinion possible trade is this:

We trade Latrell Sprewell and Travis Knight for Tim Thomas and Jason Caffey. We also swap picks here (the #9 for the #8). Milwaulkie does this trade because they get out of two bad long term contracts, and they get a hometown hero who they have expressed much interest in in the past. Knight is there as an expiring contract. Latrell only has two years left, Caffey I believe 3, Thomas 4. NY gets a real SF with size, and has to take on an over paid Caffey, so as compensation we swap picks, a difference of 1, but since both teams are looking for size, that will be key (see later).

Here is my third, and most out of nowhere trade:

Indiana is looking to avoid paying the luxery tax. Indiana has a lot of FA's to sign, and they are coming off a miserable post season which has led most to conclude it is time for a change. Indiana has also been looking to dump Austin Croshere, basically ever since they signed him, and have yet to even remotely find a taker. I think we could help them out like this. We trade Antonio Mcdyess for a resigned Brad Miller and Austin Croshere. We may have to throw in a second round pick to make this work, or that might not even be enough, I'm not sure, but it seems fair to me. Indiana finally gets rid of Croshere, loses Miller, who they had a good chance of losing anyways, and gets cap relief in Mcdyess's huge expiring contract. NY gets a legit center, and adds another bad contract. I don't believe Mcdyess will ever play again, but there is a chance that he will. That makes this a risky trade for NY, and adds some possible gravy for Indiana.

Then we go into the draft:

And for the first time in a while, we fully intend to keep our pretty decent #8 pick. Since we pick before the Bucks, there will be at least one of the following promising big men available and I say we draft whichever is left out of:
Chris Kaman
Maciej Lampe
Anderson Varejao
Sofiklis Schortisiantes

So where are we left?

NY had added some more bad contracts, but none of them are longer than Houston's, so it does nothing to further damage our already drastic cap situation. You can't kill a dead horse. And anyways, our team is going to have one of the highest payrolls whichever way you look at it, so we might as well at least make the playoffs. And this sets us up for a major cap windfall in I believe 2007.

We have kept our two best players from this year, Allan and Kurt, and have added some quality players around them. Our line up is deep, has some young talent, and I think is pretty good. We would easily be top 4 in the East, in my opinion.

Check out the roster:

Starters:

Brad Miller (Finally a big center)
Kurt Thomas (Back at his natural position at last)
Tim Thomas (Finally a big small forward)
Allan Houston (Still clearly the focal point of the offense)
Andre Miller (A good point guard)

Bench:

Austin Croshere (Better than anyone on our bench this year)
Big Man Rookie (Some young talent!)
Howard Eisley (Back in a back-up role where he belongs)
Jason Caffey
Clarence Weatherspoon
Shandon Anderson
Michael Doleac
Frank Williams (It just wouldn't feel like the Knicks without some young talent rotting on the bench)
Othella Harrington (Although a team may want him as an add in in one of the above trades?)
2nd round pick (Chris Marcus?)

So this is what I would do if I were GM, I hope Scott Layden reads it and steals some of my ideas. I promise I wouldn't be mad. I honestly feel that these moves could make us an instant contender, and brightens up our future considerably.


__________________

Scott Layden is a genius.


Last edited by H2O on 05-08-2003 at 03:52 PM

I think the knicks should go after Zo. Even if its only a one year deal, if healthy he could give a defensive presence and rebounding. Also if he draft a big man he can help them develope and would be a good teacher. Zo would also demand a double team in the post, with him and dice or thomas that great post defense and rebounding.

^co-sign

I swear..with all the talk about Kaman around here...I would be surprised if he doesn't go #1 in the draft.

but the Post you copied calls for even LONGER contracts...so how are the Knicks going to even out?

Posted by Swishfm3:

but the Post you copied calls for even LONGER contracts...so how are the Knicks going to even out?

yeah how?

NOT KAMAN!!! UUUUUUGH!!

First of all I rather have Dice and his bad knees instead of Brad Miller and Austin Croshere..Period.

Next it seems like you are trying to make the team good instead of builcing a winner. Frank williams IMO has similar ability to Andre miller, they both are similar players, who knows with playing timew what kind of player Williams will be, we know what kind of talent he displayed in college. To build a winner it takes shrewd moves, like developing talent on the cheap, siging good but cheap FA's like maybe a ZO who is better with bad kidneys than any of the guys you want to trade for and their long horrible contracts..

I rather make Zo an offer, Keep our pick. For christ sakes Keep our got damn pick for once, then trade spree and our 2 good second round picks for a mid 1st round pick and a player. This gives us two maybe 3 young players to develop and play with a nucleus that can still win some games in Houston, Kt and maybe Dice. Meanwhile we lose contracts like Ward, Knight, and not get in any more long term monster contracts with a bunch of bums like Croshere and Caffey.. The only way I take on Crosheres contract if he is comming over with Al Harrington...