So far:
Knicks drafted Gallo who the Knicks see "as a power fwd".

They signed Chris Duhon to bring professionalism and stability @ point guard.

They signed Anthony Roberson cuz he didn't miss a shot in practice.

They basically waived Balkman and got a 2nd round pick for their trouble.

Problems us fans still want solved:

Zach and Eddy situation. One has to go with the majority wanting Zach out. Yet a lot of fans wanna see Curry benched for......

A shot blocker.....fans want a shot blocker.

Marbs disappearing from the organization.

Decision made on David Lee.....its hard when they see Gallo as a power fwd. What does that mean for David Lee?

Jerome James.....nuff said.


What should the Knicks do now? What can they do? Who's available? Will they even do anything?

And if you dare......grade the off-season thus far.

so far...

gm: A
hired one of the best and most professional execs in the league over the past 15 years.

coach: A
hired the best coach avaialble but still, imho, has something to prove.

draft: C
don't know if gallinari will be good or not and they couldn't acquire another pick.

free agency: C
filled a need with a point guard but not a high caliber player.

trades: F
balkman deal was dump, so they sold low on him. and that's the extent of moves so far.

overall grade: C

I think getting Donnie Walsh was safe.....yet when he started to open his mouth he seduced me into thinking he knew what he is gonna do....

Signing D'antoni has me hype. I like the swagger of this coach and I like his offense.

I was ok with the Gallo draft with the idea of Wilson Chandler playing power fwd. They threw me for a loop saying they see Gallo as a 4. Ok that's basically the same thing with Wison playing the 3. So what happens to Zach and Lee if this is all th case?

Jermaine O'neal......Knicks could have traded Indiana Marbs contract....they got TJ ford so I guess I can stop crying.

Brand just signed with Philly. Knicks have Zach. Did the Clips even attempt to sell Brand on NY?

Camby was available for ****. Its crazy the Knicks. Mean to tell me some kinda deal involving balkman and Malik couldn't have been made? Come the **** on. This troubles me to the core.

So what do we do now?

I am not sure about Walsh. I think Kiki has done amazing things in NJ with Thorn. I think West should have gotten an interview and I think Walsh was hired on the condition that Isiah would be retained. I understand why D'Antoni was hired but I don't think he was the right guy for the rebuild that needs to be done in NY. However, he is a class act and the organization needs to rebuild its image after all of the classless things that have gone on recently. I am not sure about Gallinari. I think there were better choices, I am always weary of euros in the draft, and I don't like the link to Isiah. I am on the fence about the Duhon signing. I like the idea of having a smart guy who plays defense and distributes run the offense. I like the idea that the team is moving on from Marbury. I think it is good when an organization has a guy in mind and gets him. I am still very concerned that Isiah is still employed by the Knicks. I don't find it a reach to connect him to all of the moves made this offseason and that drives me crazy. Until he is gone I will find it hard not to second guess every move that the organization makes.

I really think we did as well as could be expected in hiring Walsh and D'Antoni. This franhise has been an embarrassment and still we ended up with 2 top tier men to head the team. Despite the desire of many to get a "defensive" guy in here, Mike is a proven winner and a great BB mind.

On the draft I really wanted Mayo, however now I feel we did the right thing. I think Gallo has a chance to be a really good fit for this team and a bigtime player. l don't see Mayo being a CP3 type of PG. I also liked Westbrook, but who knows if he could run an offense like this. Bayless was a sexy pick too, but once again he may have been too offensive minded for what we needed or perhaps they felt he wasn't cerebral enough. In any event I like Gallo and what he brings. He has that Euro approach which I think fits perfectly with what Mike does.

As for Wilson and Gallo at the PF spot, I think in the end they'll be solid FORWARDS and no need for any further distinctions. SF or PF won't matter with these guys. I think either can be effective at either position. I fully expect Gallo to grow into his body and get strong enough to be a PF. It's not about this year.

Now we wait and see what happens before the start of the season and at the trade deadline.

How does the coach get an A and hasn't coached a game yet...I think this coach had the perfect players for his "system" in Phoenix...I think he will be in for a rude awakening with these players..Serously Chris Duhan???...That said, I'm just happy because we look like we are rebuilding...This is very far from a finished product, but we need to be patient and invest int he young players...

As far as coach/GM I don't think we could've done better. We got 2 guys with excellent resume, patience and bball smarts. D'Antoni has already shown he can be a part of a rebuild and he might actually give us an advantage in the East by giving this team a different look in terms of pace and style of play. I think we did pretty well with the draft, though there are a lot of questions to be answered. Still we grabbed one of the highest upside players. From the glimpes we saw, there's a lot to work on, but also some innate talent in shooting and ballhandling that's going to be a bear to deal with for defenders. As far as FA, Duhon was a solid signing. IMO, for the MLE and less he was probably the best option for what we were looking to get- a pass first guy who was intelligent enough to not only run the new system- but help other players adapt to it (and that to me is as key as anything).

Its the back of the rotation stuff that's been questionable. Roberson I don't have a huge problem with in concept, but he didn't seem to deliver whatever promise they were seeing in games and there were some other interesting options out there. Trading Balkman for nothing was not something I would've done. I personally thought he could really develop in this system and be versatile a la Boris Diaw, but they apparently wanted nothing to do with him. I personally would've tried to acquire another young player who just doesn't fit in their situation as opposed to a future 2nd rounder- but then again we don't really have the spots.

Posted by EnySpree:

Raise their value?.....if their value is raised to the point the Knicks are sucsessfull.....then why trade them if they do raise their value? At that point the kNicks would have to build with them.

NO! We may be able to play better with guys that aren't optimal for what we're trying to run, but you don't then keep those players just cuz they get a bit better. We need guys that will get this team to the highest level and IMO and probably that of Waltoni, some of these guys can't get us there.

Mike has already tried to win with a team of overachievers in PHX. Nash, Amare and Marion is OK, but really how good is Marion? How good is Amare? Nash plays at a high level, but he's not Kobe! Then behind their big 3 you have a bunch of 3rd tier guys. Mike got that team to play at a high level.

With this team we need him to do a similar job. We may be able to move one of these guys before the season, but if not we really need to play much better and show our players in a better light. I would have no problem with that in year one. We would also still have the trading deadline to see if a deal can be made.

I can't wait for tomorrow's Eny-rant.

Posted by TMS:

moves that still need to be made:

get rid of Marbs & Zach
get a shotblocker

Do you think the Knicks will be able to do it?

I know I said no shoulda, coulda, woulda talk but the Knicks missed a few opportunities already.

I was thinking earlier how the Knicks got Marcus Camby. How I remeber it happening was a friend told me something like "yo son the Knicks traded Oak man!" I probably said "oak? Get the **** outta here! For who!?!?"......lol....well I know as soon as he said Camby I lit up cuz I know that kid was young at the time, athletic and could do a lot of things. Camby also didn't seem like he was gona go anywhere. Not sure what the climate was in Toronto surrounding him.

Now I'm looking around the league....can Donnie pull something like this off? Zach is not terrible. He is a second tier talent, just a notch below boozer, Brand, bosh at his position.

There was a New York Knicksday article saying there was stuff brewing and basically telling us to be patient cuz something was going down eventually.

My question is.......like what?

To be honest some of the guys I had targeted last year to come in and be our shotblocking option haven't exactly tore up the league. I mean really who is it that teams have who we could get and justify giving a lot of minutes to?

The only guy that comes to mind right now is perhaps Josh Smith and he's not a PF/C. It's not so easy to fill that need. I think this is why Waltoni want to keep Curry. Despite his girth and laziness, he's one of the few bigs that can take up space and at least hold his own against any bigman. On offense he's got great catch and finish ability and i'm sure they hope they can get thru to him to get in shape. If they were ever able to do that we'd at least have half of a bigman and maybe he could get off the ground to block a shot once in a while.