Posted by fishmike:

the drama is here and on realgm and in the post... its not with Donnie. These guys get wind of something being discussed then report on nothing for 2 months while you guys eat up every bit and byte.

The Knicks really did want a veteran or two to come in here short term to speed up this process. Hill and Kidd were among them. It didnt work out.

What are you saying? That Walsh shouldnt talk to FAs because its not fair how potentially disappointing it is for all the fans who follow every piece of fiction pumped out there by every tabloid and blogger?

Posted by JohnWallace44:

You can say, "so what." However, the problem is that we've become the Clippers, we've become the Raiders, we've become the Nationals.

We're the teams that do nothing in terms of building a franchise, but every agent who's worth their salt uses those teams to drive up their client's value.

In the years since the Ewing and Camby trades, we've gone from a team that players wanted to go to, a place where people would take lesser money to go to, and we've ended up a complete joke franchise.

The Sessions, Lee, Nate, Hill, and Kidd negotiations of this Summer have been a joke, a complete joke and I think that Donnie forgets that he's supposed to be running a premier franchise, and not the Pacers.

In the larger context, the three year saga with LeBron, who is a child, and Bosh who has done nothing, are much of the same embarrassing, desperate looking flirtations.

What I'm saying is that Donnie is devaluing the franchise in the sense that I don't think he's making it a destination for FA's, he's just making it an angle that FA's will use to leverage dollars and if the 2010 plan falls through we'll be the laughing stock of sports to a larger extent than we are now. We'll be the Pittsburgh Pirates operating in the New York market.

I can't stand this strategy. Maximize on the league's desperation for 2010 cap space and grab talent and 2011 cap space instead. Be the only team on a different plan and capitalize on that. This plan is not going to work. When Stern came out with his announcement we should have written up a new plan instead of desperately holding on to the 2010 pipe dream.

what's the alternate plan? Richard Jefferson, Baron Davis, Tyson Chandler? JW, state what you would have done.

You start with the big pieces first and work the others around him/them. 2010 was realistically the first chance the Knicks will have after the Isiah cleansing is done.

Posted by JohnWallace44:

I get it Donnie. The Knicks aren't even attempting to compete this year. Please stop making it appear as if you're chasing every free agent out there even though you have no intention of doing anything.

The Kidd and Hill fiascoes were embarrassing. I can only hope that was a favor to their agents that can be repaid at some juncture.

The Sessions drama all Summer has been a joke. I wonder if Free Agents will even take us seriously next year after seeing what happened with Sessions.

You can only pull that junk so many times, and we did it to Sessions, Lee and Nate in one Summer. Before the off-season is over I'm sure we'll do it again.

There is no leverage that has been gained by the Sessions flirtation. When Stern came out with his announcement, why not just hold a press conference and tell the truth to the fans. This is the kind of stuff that might work in Indiana, but he is treading on dangerous ground in New York.

He's had opportunities to upgrade the roster. The draft does not look like it went well based on observations of the Summer League for better or worse. If you took a poll of the informed posters on this board, then we likely would have ended up with upside guys; Derozan and Beaubois. We went extremely cautious and got Hill and Douglass.

I'm waiting for Walsh to man up, come out to the press table and say, "Look, we appreciate the support of the fans, we're trying to make deals, but we can't add salary, so don't expect anything, and we'll do our best next Summer."

So Donnie, let's just call a spade a spade here. Stop trying to sell tickets or gain leverage that's non-existent. To me it is an embarrassment. Layden had the wrong idea in a conservative sense of player evaluation and made some of the worst trades in sports in the last 20 years. That was rough. Isiah was like watching the Reggie Bush version of basketball GM. He could out evaluate anyone, but he had flaws in his plan that he completely ignored and continued to hurt himself and the team. He's essentially a bust of a GM if there ever was one. That was terrible to go through. Donnie... he's got one pick that was hurt all year and they knew he had a bad back coming in and this year's crop looks even worse. Aside from trading two of the leading scorers in the league at the time for Al Harrington... I mean, that's his only accomplishment. I wouldn't be bragging if I was a Donnie supporter.

Do we want this guy making the big decisions for our team next Summer if these picks end up being busts too? Seriously, what is there to base that on?

At least be honest with the fans and stop jerking our players and the free agents of the world around Donnie. Everyone knows you're stuck at this point. Get it right next year please. If you come up empty in 2010, that's going to be a flop that no basketball fan, let alone Knicks fans will ever forget.

When the league projected that the salary cap would decline substantially next summer, Donnie Walsh's flexibility this summer disappeared.

"That changed everything," Walsh 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."

The Knicks are likely to have made few roster changes once the off-season comes to an end. But Walsh's overriding priority was to preserve the team's cap room for the summer of 2010.

"I think," he said, "that I will feel like I didn't screw it up for next year."

Posted by JohnWallace44:

Joe, making excuses after the fact isn't exactly what I'm asking for.

Posted by martin:

Posted by JohnWallace44:

Joe, making excuses after the fact isn't exactly what I'm asking for.

so mostly all you are offering here is a bit of whining?

Posted by JohnWallace44:

MARTIN:

what's the alternate plan? Richard Jefferson, Baron Davis, Tyson Chandler? JW, state what you would have done.

You start with the big pieces first and work the others around him/them. 2010 was realistically the first chance the Knicks will have after the Isiah cleansing is done.

Hey, its not easy, but I think you could have an intern do what Donnie's done thus far and people want to make it like he's done some great job.