http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/sports/basketball/05knicks.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

September 5, 2009

Knicks’ Long-Term Plans for 2010 Foil Free-Agent Signings

By HOWARD BECK

Donnie Walsh’s summer social calendar was scorched with ink. He feted Jason Kidd and Grant Hill. He chatted up Andre Miller and Ramon Sessions. Madison Square Garden was a virtual way station for wandering free agents.

But the Knicks’ checkbook never left his hip pocket, and Walsh, the team president, summed up his summer with three words: “Busy, but restricted.”

It has been an awkward off-season for Walsh, whose short-term goals were repeatedly short-circuited by his long-term agenda. He is committed to clearing salary-cap space in 2010, making it difficult to sign players in 2009. He has yet to re-sign his own top free agents, David Lee and Nate Robinson (although that will probably happen soon).

So for all of the activity in July and August, Sept. 1 arrived without a single signing.

“It’s been a difficult summer,” Walsh said. “We’ve tried on a daily basis to see if there were things out there that could make us better and yet not hurt us.”

Walsh was aggressive when free agency opened, courting Kidd and Hill in early July. But Kidd returned to the Dallas Mavericks, Hill re-signed with the Phoenix Suns and soon Walsh was forced to alter his plans radically.

On July 7, the N.B.A. announced a modest decline in the 2009-10 salary cap, and warned teams of a potentially large drop — up to 5 percent — for 2010-11. At that moment, Walsh said, he scuttled any plans to offer multiyear contracts to free agents, including Lee and Robinson.

“That changed everything,” he said. “It made it very difficult to project a scenario where you could fit in signing long-term contracts this year and yet have enough room to do what you want next year. Up to then, I wasn’t set against it all the way.”

Indeed, Walsh had offered three-year deals to both Kidd and Hill (as well as options for one-year contracts). Given the shrinking salary cap, the Knicks are probably better off having missed on both players.

Assuming the cap drops to $50 million in 2010 — the worst-case possibility outlined by the league — the Knicks would have just enough room to sign one superstar (for about $15 million), and about $7 million left to fill out the roster. They have only six players under contract for the 2010-11 season.

Had they signed Kidd and Hill to multiyear deals, it could have left the Knicks with as little as $14 million in cap room in 2010, eliminating them from the potential LeBron James sweepstakes.

So the rest of Walsh’s summer was shaped by a new reality. He made overtures to two talented point guards, Miller and Sessions, but both balked at one-year offers. Miller signed with the Portland Trail Blazers for three years and $21 million. Sessions appears on the verge of joining the Minnesota Timberwolves for four years at $16 million, unless the Milwaukee Bucks choose to match the offer.

Most awkwardly for Walsh, Lee and Robinson also remain unsigned, with training camp just a little more than three weeks away. But the strong sense among team officials and people close to both players is that they will sign one-year deals by the end of the month. The agents for Lee and Robinson are trying to exhaust all other possibilities first.

“Either a sign and trade will get done here in the next month, or we’ll find a deal that makes sense for everybody on a one-year basis,” Lee’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, said.

Walsh acknowledged the situation was not ideal. The Knicks badly want to keep Lee and have an investment in Robinson’s development. Walsh has maintained a constant dialogue with their agents, “so they know it’s just a matter of getting it together at the right time.”

Lee once sought a multiyear contract averaging $12 million a year. But only a few teams had substantial cap space and it disappeared quickly, robbing Lee of any bargaining power. Bartelstein said the Knicks have declined a number of sign-and-trade deals, but a team official said no team had made a formal offer.

The Knicks are hoping to retain Lee for $6 million to $8 million this season, and revisit talks next summer, when he will be an unrestricted free agent. Walsh will then face the same challenge, trying to sign Lee while maintaining enough cap room to land a superstar.

The threat of losing Lee will also be greater, with perhaps a dozen teams projected to have major cap space.

“Next summer, it changes,” Bartelstein said of the market. “Doing a one-year deal is never something we’ve been afraid of.”

As the roster stands now, the Knicks would open camp Sept. 29 with just three new players — the rookies Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas and the veteran Darko Milicic, who was acquired in a June trade.

So the summer of 2009 will probably go down as uneventful. But the Knicks’ 2010 dreams remain intact. Ultimately, Walsh said, he will judge his off-season on that basis.

“I think,” he said, “that I will feel like I didn’t screw it up for next year.”

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

[Edited by - PresIke on 09-05-2009 1:01 PM]

I like you, Walsh. You're a good man.

We also have to keep in mind 2011, cuz it's not just about 2010. It only seems that way cuz that's all the media talks about. We get one stud to sign and then also keep our options open for the following year when Eddy and Jared's 18 mil comes off the cap. Any negotiation I make with a FA would have to include making them fully aware of our cap situation and how we'll be able to keep improving the team.

Walsh really did the right thing IMO. When you think about it, why spend on guys that have no guarantee of improving the team beyond what we have already seen from this team or perhaps just a little better? Sessions wasn't a lock to set the court on fire here. I thought he had a good chance to be successful, but no guarantee that he'd be appreciably better than Duhon.

Walsh hasn't just sat on his butt as it may seem. I think we had a solid draft and adding Darko could really help the team. Last year we didn't have depth at all positions and this year I think by the time the season starts we should have a deeper team and a more balanced team and be STILL on track cap wise for the future.

Posted by fishmike:

its not rocket science. Imagine Wade or Lebron or Amare want to come here to this city, this arena, this coach and we cant make it happen because we have Ramon Sessions on our roster. Holy Gee I can just imagine the Brigg's posts over that one.

That's kind ridiculous you really think Wade or Lebron would come out say, "well I really wanted to sign with the Knicks last off season but they didn't have the cap room so that's why I'm stuck here". Somehow I think those guys have a bit more class then that. Really how can you miss something that you never had in the first place. Ultimately the goal should be about this organization winning again not just one free-agency summer.

The most attractive attribute a team can have is showing that they have solid management who can be decisive, a good coaching staff, and most importantly a successful team. Cap space is a part of it but there is always the sign and trade route that can be accomplished if you have some good talent that has proven to be successful.

I think we could've signed Sessions at 4 mil, then tried to trade Jeffries or Curry during the season.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by arkrud:

Posted by TMS:

Walsh needs to sign & trade Lee & Nate for an expiring(s) & picks.

People need to love and care about each other.
But can they?

i don't think it's that hard to get back an expiring & picks for Lee & Nate... both are young, talented & productive players... if we weren't trying to clear cap then i'd want to hold onto both of those guys, but the plan is for 2010, so i think we can find a suitable trading partner that can offer us expirings & picks in return... obviously not high lottery picks at this point but mid-late 1st rounders are not out of the question IMO.

But Walsh traded Crawford and Randolph for much less and they were more talented then NateRob and David Lee so if I'm another GM, I'm thinking why would I offer the Knicks anything remotely good in return for their players because apparently Walsh will take a lot less then first round picks.

How would any of you react to any of the following?

Yankees GM Brian Cashman, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it? "I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

Mets GM Omar Minaya, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it?
"I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

Giants GM Jerry Reese, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it? "I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

Posted by orangeblobman:

Posted by JohnWallace44:

How would any of you react to any of the following?

Yankees GM Brian Cashman, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it? "I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

Mets GM Omar Minaya, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it?
"I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

Giants GM Jerry Reese, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it? "I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

It's different with Walsh because Walsh's plan all along has been 2010...he said that when he was hired, so obviously you have to consider this

Why is that acceptable? You don't need a GM to make that plan happen.

Posted by JohnWallace44:

Posted by orangeblobman:

Posted by JohnWallace44:

How would any of you react to any of the following?

Yankees GM Brian Cashman, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it? "I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

Mets GM Omar Minaya, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it?
"I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

Giants GM Jerry Reese, you had a rough offseason, how do you think the fans should view it? "I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

It's different with Walsh because Walsh's plan all along has been 2010...he said that when he was hired, so obviously you have to consider this

Why is that acceptable? You don't need a GM to make that plan happen.

You do need a GM... one who doesn't act like Isiah.

But yes, you're right that if we end up waiting til 2011 then a vacant seat could have done no worse.


And MLB Gms have it easy with no salary cap at all so I dont se how that applies.

Posted by bitty41:

Posted by TMS:

Posted by arkrud:

Posted by TMS:

Walsh needs to sign & trade Lee & Nate for an expiring(s) & picks.

People need to love and care about each other.
But can they?

i don't think it's that hard to get back an expiring & picks for Lee & Nate... both are young, talented & productive players... if we weren't trying to clear cap then i'd want to hold onto both of those guys, but the plan is for 2010, so i think we can find a suitable trading partner that can offer us expirings & picks in return... obviously not high lottery picks at this point but mid-late 1st rounders are not out of the question IMO.

But Walsh traded Crawford and Randolph for much less and they were more talented then NateRob and David Lee so if I'm another GM, I'm thinking why would I offer the Knicks anything remotely good in return for their players because apparently Walsh will take a lot less then first round picks.

Zach Randolph had a cap killing contract that the Knicks were desperate to unload & whose value around the league was almost nonexistent, & we got back a young & productive player in exchange for Crawford who's played very well for us & filled a need... not the same type of situation i'm talking about here with Lee & Nate.

i would be willing to take back any scrub of a player as long as we could land extra picks & those players had an expiring contract at this point... u telling me we couldn't have used a couple extra 1st round picks in this past year's draft to maybe trade up to get a guy we coveted, like Rubio for example? for instance, u don't think u could feasibly get some scrub like Kwame Brown's expiring along w/a 1st round pick for either Lee or Nate at this point? i can run down a long list of other suitable candidates that u could probably get along w/a 1st round pick for either of our guys... IMO working out a deal of that kind wouldn't be that hard to pull off...

Now, on that last post: I feel like it won't screw up my next post.