LOL.

Posted by martin:

Right now we don't have an all-star or a super star on the roster. Any one is tradable.

I agree big time. Especially if the Knicks have 2 more bad seasons. The bottom lines is, if we can't sign players then we are going to have to trade for players that this team wants. Even the new rookies have to watch out because you know Dolan probably has 3 year time table before he wants to see progress.

Posted by martin:

Right now we don't have an all-star or a super star on the roster. Any one is tradable.

Please not Gallo. We just drafted him last year. He is untouchable.

Wait, I thought The Mayor was a franchise player?

However you want to look at our situation & this current group of players, we're gonna need to come up with the big star here sooner or later to add to the mix. It's unavoidable and Donnie knows it - that's why he's shied away from bringing back talent and adding talent up to this point. It would just be too much of a cap hit for us to take right now and unfortunately, building a team in the NBA is mostly a money game... He doesn't want anything to jeopordize his plan which revolves around adding that big player or two down the line and I respect that. Gotta face facts, we aren't going anywhere until we add that big centerpiece. For the time being, that seems to be the top priority and I agree that it should be. A priority that always needs to be keep in perspective. That one piece is gonna make all the difference. In the meantime though, we've managed to amass a few decent players here - solid young rotation players like Gallo, Chandler, Hill, Douglas, maybe Darko if we see some improvement, Lee and/or Nate if we can find a way to keep them in the fold, Sessions if we can get him, etc.. That potential nucleus is (or would be) just as good if not better than what 'Bron currently has to work with in Cleveland. Difference is the Cavs have a LeBron James and we don't. Simple as that. If we can add the star to that core, we're suddenly talking 55/60-win plateau ourselves. And I do feel adding Sessions is worth cutting into Walsh's master plan a little bit btw. He looks like he's gonna be a steady, skilled playmaker for a long time. I like him. He'd work out well here. I hope we can get him.

Walsh knows exactly what's in front of him. Like most of us, I'd love to open up the paper tomorrow and see that he went out and made a bigtime move but I realize he's being patient for a reason and I acknowledge and support his patience. I think we're OK. Outside of adding Sessions which I think is completely worth it even if Walsh has to do a little recalculating, I kinda like where we are at the moment. I know what time it is. It's not gonna happen overnight - the man's done an endless amount of restructuring & juggling to get us to this point and there's much more to follow I'm sure.

Having said that, I think we could still add a better option or two at the off-guard spot. Hughes isn't an option after this year, Chandler might never be a consistent enough perimeter threat for MDA's liking at that position and I don't think Morris Almond is the answer either (I'm glad they brought him in for a look although I feel they should've known a little more about his limitations coming in, much more than me or the average Knick fan that only read about him & hadn't seen him play before, because he has quite a few - to tell the truth, I actually think Joe Crawford's a better all-around shooting guard talent than Almond after what I saw this summer). The 2-spot is definitely an area of weakness right now moving forward imo. Hopefully we can come up with a cost-effective upgrade somewhere before training camp opens. I'll say it again - AD Vassallo and KC Rivers, 2 above-average college shooters that went undrafted, are two guys off the top of my head that I think are flat out better players than Morris Almond. If they don't wind up getting commitments elsewhere, they should be options for us. I'd go out and invite both guys to training camp in a heartbeat if they became available. Toronto, a division rival that suddenly improved tenfold, just went out and got a very good shooting guard prospect with a ton of potential, Marco Belinelli, for next to nothing. That concerns me. I'd love to see us pull off something similar. If we can add Sessions and come up with a quality longterm shooting guard on the cheap I think we're well on our way. There would suddenly be quite a few solid components in place..

[Edited by - finestrg on 08-04-2009 01:03 AM]

Gallo, Chandler, Douglas and Sessions.

Gallo and Hill are the only two players with a lock on being here beyond next season. I think MDA and Walsh also like Chandler, who is a solid two-way player with potential. Douglas showed that he has the discipline to be a pg in this league. Walsh and MDA will give him a couple of years to develop (if his offense comes around, he will be a solid pg and might even turn into a starting caliber player but that is a long way off). That is pretty much it. MDA likes Nate's offense but does not like his crappy pg skills. MDA likes Lee's rebounding, but does not like his piss-poor defense and only average passing skills. Guys like Harrington and Jeffries could stick around in a specific role. As you can see, we don't have much longterm.

Ideally, we should trade Nate and Jeffries for an expiring. Trade Curry for an expiring. And sign and trade Lee for a 1st round draft pick and young prospect. We go into next summer and try to come out with no less than Amare and Joe Johnson. A team of hopefully Sessions, Joe Johnson, Chandler, Amare, and Darko, with Gallo, Hill, and Douglas on the bench, will be fairly competitive. I don't see us getting LeBron or Wade. Bosh might be an option, but I really think he is going to Miami to play with Wade.