I would have to get at least one decent young asset for Lee in order to justify dealing him. Other teams may think they have us over a barrel but they really don't -- if you want Lee, pony up at least one young asset, preferably two. If not, no dice. Donnie's not gonna just give him away..

I put up a post about a month ago discussing a hypothetical deal with Sacramento where we could dump Curry and pick up a decent young center with upside in Spencer Hawes: http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=32550&page=lu.

I think if Eddy comes back and shows he's healthy and ready to contribute, maybe something could be done with the Kings. Big if, we'll have to see how Eddy looks and then go from there. If we ever did something like I outlined, we'll need to then come up with a 2-guard ASAP. I wonder how much progress Rashad McCants is making and if he's anywhere near being ready to play. Gerald Green's a FA as well and might be worth taking a chance on for the rest of the year for evaluation purposes...

BRIGGS wrote:

Finestrg wrote:I wouldn't want to just give Lee away for Kenny Thomas by himself (doesn't work salary-wise anyway 1 for 1, there would have to be other components involved). Now you're saying Lee AND a pick?? What do we get outta that? We don't have to give Lee away -- if the right deal never presents itself, you keep Lee and then attempt renegotiation in the offseason if he's still in the plans. Or simply look elsewhere for a trade...

I would have to get at least one decent young asset for Lee in order to justify dealing him. Other teams may think they have us over a barrel but they really don't -- if you want Lee, pony up at least one young asset, preferably two. If not, no dice. Donnie's not gonna just give him away..

I put up a post about a month ago discussing a hypothetical deal with Sacramento where we could dump Curry and pick up a decent young center with upside in Spencer Hawes: http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=32550&page=lu.

I think if Eddy comes back and shows he's healthy and ready to contribute, maybe something could be done with the Kings. Big if, we'll have to see how Eddy looks and then go from there. If we even did something like I outlined, we'll need to then come up with a 2-guard ASAP. I wonder how much progress Rashad McCants is making and if he's anywhere near being ready to play. Gerald Green's a FA as well and might be worth taking a chance on for the rest of the year for evaluation purposes...

Fin-- I think we have to lower expectations for what we may or may not get for some of our guys who had much more value just a short time ago. While we may have some good young players--which a lot of teams had in the draft--I think we missed the big fish + extra opportunities to get more by being conservative and holding our guys. Conservative doesnt always mean you get best value--there is something called risk reward and we didnt play that game and were going to be punished for it. I think we almost had pick 5 in two consecutive drafts for Lee and Chandler--you don't think DW is having a great deal of regret for not doing more right now? We can say we have some promising young guys but clearly we COULDVE been in a MUCH better position--i.e Jefferies and Nate to sac last year on down the line.

I'm not sure I follow you -- I agree that our guys aren't playing well right now but Lee and Chandler still have value - you can't just give either guy away. When you mentioned Lee to the Kings above you didn't say anything about what you wanted back and made it sound like you'd be OK with trading Lee off on the Kings for just Kenny Thomas in a dump move. Why would we do that?? Lee and his contract aren't killing us right now and overall he's been productive (he's going for almost 18 & 10 so far this season). Okafor's long-term contract on the other hand is looking terrible for the Hornets right now. New Orleans appears like they're looking to flat out dump that contract, so I could see the logic behind just getting Kenny Thomas back...What this does verify for me is what I was originally discussing in my Sacarmento post from a month ago -- the Kings probably realize that they're not ready to attract the big FA yet, so they might be one of the few teams out there that may be willing to add some substantial salary players to their payroll right now and see how things mesh with their talented young core. Hopefully they don't pull the trigger on this deal with NO quite yet which would give us time to get Curry on the floor and showcase him a little. An in-shape & productive Curry, David Lee (who's slipped a little recently but is still putting up better numbers than Okafor - I feel you there, Lee long-term at $7-8 a season might turn out to be much better value than Emeka and that albatross contract he signed) and Chandler is pretty good value in return for Spencer Hawes. If Curry didn't work out there for whatever reason he'd come off the books after next year whereas they'd be stuck with Okafor for years at gargantuan money. And this would work nicely for us -- we dump Curry, move ahead with Hawes at C and have even more money available to us next year to rebuild the team (now suddenly getting two max. FAs is a realistic goal and no longer a pipe dream).

As for your criticism of Walsh, it does indeed look like we could've pulled the trigger on the Jeffries & Nate to Sacramento awhile back so I'm with you there (at the time I think they were just way too indecisive on whether Nate was to remain part of their future or not) but the other two deals to pick up back-to-back #5 picks, from what I remember reading, Donnie was prepared to move on those. Lee & his agent shot the first one down by saying he wouldn't resign with Memphis long-term and I think Washington simple got what they believed to be a better offer than Wilson Chandler (who was coming off ankle surgery btw) for their #5. Walsh was willing and able on the last two so it's kinda hard to kill him on those and call him "conservative." Overall I agree with what you're saying now though - take some chances on some young talent, be smart with the cap room and see what happens. I agree with you. There's still some time for our guys to get their value back up to what it was..Gotta see what happens...

TMS wrote:what possible thing do we have to gain by trading Lee & a pick for Kenny Thomas' expiring?

That came out wrong--I meant to say Lee for KT and their pick 2010#1.

Expand it and make it David Lee and Fishlips for Emeka, and some throw in expirings like Devin Brown and Sean Marks to make it work....Hornets get a new look and some reinforcements.

Donnie needs to do some work....this season needs to be salvaged.

TMS wrote:would go Curry & Chandler for Okafor, but that's about it... we can't mess up our 2010 situation any worse than it is right now... Okafor's not gonna vault us into the playoffs this year & his contract is an albatross anyway u wanna slice it.

you are right and yeah I'd do this too...but the knicks need to get better. They can't get better with David Lee at center. Though David and Okafor would be a nice tandem.

Checkout what okafor brings...you over pay for **** like this.

By trading David Lee you install Jordan Hill at the starting 4 spot. Not really losing.

2010 is all good but the Knicks have got to start putting pieces together. Okafor is an elite big man in this league because of his defensive abilities...he played for UCONN. It's a good look.

that would leave u with a much improved defensive team for this season & beyond, & you also benefit by gaining a pick in a deep draft this year that we otherwise don't have... & u don't hurt ur chances of landing FA's in 2010 by going this route so it fits into Donnie's plan.

C - Okafor / Darko
PF - Harrington / Hill / Fishlips
SF - Gallo / Landry
SG - Douglas / Nate
PG - Hughes / Duhon

i can deal w/that team for the rest of this season... at least we won't have to watch guys waltz into the paint to get easy layups on every single possession... & u still have some good young pieces in place to put around a future star FA.

EwingsGlass wrote:

EnySpree wrote:Larry Brown said Eddy was a franchise player....maybe if the dude plays well enough Brown convinces Jordan to trade for Eddy....Chandler and Eddy for Okafor is allllright with me.

Kind of behind the times on this one? Okafor is no longer on Charlotte (the Bobcats). He is now on New Orleans. Remember the Ty Chandler / Emeka Okafor trade?

you are definately right dude....I'm just drooling and foaming at the mouth and not typing straight....I did have it right earlier in the thread though....

bottom line...they already denied it....but if sactown is trying to get okafor and that dude is available Donnie needs to call....for a shot blocker like him you have to make a hard decision.

SupremeCommander wrote:I am so confused by this thread... what does Sactown have to do Okafor? Is New Orleans shopping him? Are the Kings inquiring about Okafor?

That's what got me too? And how can Sactown offer OK4 if he doesn't play on their team? And how did this thread get this many replies without this being cleared up lol??