These are "the 3 Golden Rules" we need our front office (hopefully minus Isiah one day soon) to strickly adhere to when making any trades for this franchise for at least the next 5 years:
(1)
Trade for REALLY YOUNG players with a lot of promise. Even younger than our youngest, best trading chips. I want younger players than Eddy Curry and David Lee. I want players with untapped ability who might be sitting on the end of someone's bench, players teams have stached away in the D-League somewhere - basically players that aren't in a team's plans right now, players that teams might not know what to do with and/or a player that a team might already have an abundance of. No quick fixes or add-ons under any circumstances. No Ron Artest, AK-47, Jermaine O'Neal, Stomile Swift, Chris Webber, etc... Hey I'm guilty of it myself - as of a few weeks ago, I wanted to deal Lee to Sactown for Francisco Garcia and Justin Williams. I still think that's fair value btw, but it's the add-on type of deal that I just assume stay away from now. I said blow this thing up the other day and I meant it. Every word. I don't care what they did against the Spurs last night. The effort they gave last night is the very definition of
false hope. I refuse to get excited about anything positive this group might do from time to time now. It will never amount to anything as the whole collection is and will never be winning caliber. ABSOLUTE FOOLS GOLD! I now welcome the idea of the Knicks dealing for a young, unproven player that through hard work has the chance to be a big-time player one day - a guy we get now, develop, and then might only be 27-28 years old 5 years from now when hopefully this franchise returns to the land of respectability.
(2)
Do not under any circumstances take back a contract longer than 2-3 years unless we are unloading an even longer one in the process. I'm all for taking on the contract of a washed up player like Adonal Foyle - that type of contact - as long as the other team takes back a Jamal Crawford for example. Work the phones and start convincing teams that guys like Curry, Crawford and Lee are young enough and talented enough to help some team out there that's ready to challenge for a division title and/or in the position to make some noise in the playoffs.
(3)
Make a concerted effort to acquire as many draft picks as possible. Late 1st rounders, 2nd rounders, future draft picks down the road, It doesn't matter. When you're a team like the Knicks, a team that's been assembled this poorly and in such dire shape cap-wise, those are the best assets they can use to hopefully one day get this thing straightened out. Stockpile draft picks!!!! And utilize the D-league for Christ sake! Other teams can tuck away a Patrick O'Bryant, a Morris Almond or a Demetris Nichols but of all the teams out there, we can't?!?!? I don't care if it means buying out pieces on the active roster in order to make room - OK, so what? Do it. If you get a competent GM in place that can present this to Dolan properly (listen Jimmy, we buy out a few guys now like Jerome James, Malik Rose, etc. - basically guys that you aren't getting your moneys worth out of anyway - this way we can stach a decent player or two in the d-league that might turn into something one day and that in turn will PUT MORE MONEY IN YOUR POCKETS in the long run when your team turns the corner. Man I would kill to have the opportunity to be the GM and have that conversation with Jimmy...) I think he'd listen. I still can't believe we went out of our way to trade for Nichols when we clearly need quality high % distance shooters, then waive him, let him walk to a conference rival, and in turn forfeit our 2nd rounder this year that will wind up being at the top of the 2nd round, basically a late 1st rounder. Nice Isiah. Good job buddy...
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Keeping this criteria in mind, here are a few players I'd be willing to deal for by the Feb. deadline:
1)
Sergio Rodriguez - immense talent at the PG position. Can run the break, shoot, score and find the open man with the best of them. Has a little flair to him, but in a good way. Likes to get the crowd involved. The Garden would love this guy. He'd force guys to get out there and run with him, and when you run, you get easy baskets. How many easy transition buckets does this team really get during a game? Answer: not many if any. The comparisions to Jason Williams are unwarranted IMO. Remember Jason Williams in his heyday for the Kings and the Grizzlies? Remember how he used to just come down 1 on 4 and just jack up threes, completely out of control? Well I don't see that at all with Rodriguez. The kid's very unselfish - in only 10 mins. the other night in a win at Minnesota, he had 8 assists. That's 8 DIMES IN 10 MINUTES! Will be a much better player than White Chocolate once he gets the proper playing time. And at a lightning quick 6'3", 190 lbs., he's not nearly as weak and the defensive liability he's made out to be. That's good size for a PG. Sergio Rodriguez backed up by Mardy Collins would be a real nice combination that would compliment each other well. All this kid needs is the opportunity and right now, he's not getting it. He's buried on the depth chart behind Steve Blake and Jarrett Jack out in Portland and they just drafted Taurean Green. Plus, Brandon Roy handles the ball a lot too, so there goes some more opportunities to jump in a run the show. If we don't wind up getting a PG in the draft, I wouldn't mind it at all if we took a chance and went after this kid. I can't believe Isiah didn't insist he be part of the Randolph deal. Portland wanted to unload Zach so bad if we would've held out for Sergio Rodriguez to be included, I think we could've gotten him.
(2)
Martell Webster - I'm so envious of Portland. So many good young players in abundance. If Oden doesn't go down, they'd be talking championship in Portland right now. Webster hasn't shown much so far but he's young & man he has all the tools you would want in a wing. Pure shooter with nice athleticism & adequate size at 6'7", awesome range, runs the floor, gets to the rim for dunks - basically everything we're used to Q-Rich not doing, this kid does. He's only now starting to get the PT this season as he's averaging about 29-30 mins. a game in a starting role. Just a little on the inexperienced side right now, but put in a situation on a team where he doesn't have Brandon Roy, Travis Outlaw and James Jones ready to jump all over his minutes if his jumper isn't working might help him. We bring him here and give him 40 mins. a night and say go get 'em kid! Like Sergio Rodriguez, if we were insistent that Webster be included in the Zach trade, I'm convinced we could have gotten him - Kevin Pritchard wanted to unload Randolph at all costs. Dan Dickau and Fred Jones??? I still can't believe Zeke settled for that. Isiah must be one awful negotiator... I could see Portland having definite interest in Lee - the Blazer's aren't a particularly good rebounding team especially on the offensive glass (their top rebounder is Aldridge at only 7.5/game). Plus, Lee's good friends with Frye and being reunited with each other in a good ready-to-win-now scenario might be just what both players need to take their games to the next level. I think David Lee's always going to be a good, serviceable role player - but this kid Webster should be a star.
3)
Morris Almond - Why we took a chance on Wilson Chandler, a guy Isiah basically stakes his reputation on by drafting then is afraid to even put the kid in a game, I will never know. You can't do that, not when this kid Almond is still on the board and your two major outside shooters, Q and Craw, can't shoot a lick. I said it at the time and I'll say it again now. Big, strong, physical 2/3 with a sweet shooting stroke that can really fill it up. Excellent rebounder for his position also - a nice bonus. Maybe not the quickest player in the world, but who cares? Was Allan Houston the quickest player in the league when he was playing? Of course not, but he was a scoring machine. I see the same thing with this kid. Even moreso with Almond. The Allan Houston/Morris Almond comparison is really one of the few comparisons that these various draft boards came up with that I actually agree with for once. Has anyone seen what this kid's been doing in the D-league recently? Absolutely ripping it up - scored 51 points in a win over the Austin Toros on Dec. 21. That was against a 1st place team in the Toros and against Marcus Williams, the talented wing prospect drafted out of Arizona by the Spurs that's supposedly known for his defense. Here's the statline in that game for Almond:
46 mins (game went into OT), 18-35 from the field, 3-7 from 3, 12-16 from the line, 3 assts, 3 steals and a block. Absolutely insane. Back to back games? Tired? No sweat. How's this the very next night against Bakerfield:
43 mins, 14-33 FG, 8-8 FT, 9 rebs.
The last 3 games for Almond he's scored 21, 26, and 28 and has gone 9-12, 11-11, 10-13 from the line. So much for his getting to the line at Rice not transfering over to the next level. Utah may not know what type of player they have here, otherwise why trade for Kyle Korver? Between Korver, Ronnie Brewer, Harpring, and CJ Miles, how does Almond eventually crack the rotation there? I know they would love Lee on that team - he'd make for a much better backup big man than Paul Milsap and he's definitely a Jerry Sloan type of guy....
4)
Hilton Armstrong - originally I was thinking of Hilton to add to this team's group of current players, but now that I'm convinced that the whole thing should be broken up asap, I'd still trade for him with the future in mind. N.O. would like Lee as a player to add to their talented frontcourt mix. Lee's the more NBA ready of the two right now, and the Hornets look primed to really make a move come playoff time. Over time, Armstrong will show that he has a much higher ceiling than Lee. He's bigger than Lee, can play both the 4 & 5 without there being any matchup problems, and he provides the interior defense we haven't had on this team since Patrick Ewing retired. About a year younger than Lee. If we could ever get Armstrong and a draft pick back for Lee and another minor player, you pull the trigger on it and don't look back.
5)
Patrick O'Bryant - Even as raw as he is now, I'd much rather put my faith in this guy as my big man for the future than Eddy Curry. I used to think Andris Biedrins would be a good fit here but again, if we blow this roster up, O'Bryant could be the better option to build a team around over Biedrins moving forward. He has more potential and a higher ceiling than Biedrins. And you figure Mullin might like the idea of putting Lee up front with Biedrins. That would be one of the best rebounding frontcourts in the entire NBA, if not the best, and together with the rest of the talent and firepower that team has, could be an explosive combination that finally translates into wins on a consistent basis. The Warriors get out rebounded by about 6 rebs/game and they're only 5 games behind Phoenix in the Pacific, currently sitting 8th in the playoff picture overall out west. But where might they be with David Lee and a hot start to the 2nd half???
You wanna talk blueprints Isiah? How's that for a blueprint smart guy?
[Edited by - finestrg on 01-07-2008 8:43 PM]
