For example David Lee.

A guy picked 30 you hope he makes the roster as a hustle player. Instead he's worked hard and turned his game into a really polished offensive player who can shoot, score in the paint, handle the ball, pass and rebound. A guy that gives you 20/12 and shoots 55%. From pick 30! My god... what team wouldnt be thrilled with that? Yet the Knick fans gripe and worry about paying him too much or focus on his defensive liabilities. Its unreal.

Not a lot else good has happened since Ewing retired, lets face it.

Knicks need some luck. They need Gallo to become a good player. They Chandler to become a good player. They need at least 2 of the Walker/Giddens/Douglas trio to be solid players.

The Knicks can rebound next year. Walsh needs to sign a couple of good players and bring back Lee. He needs to buy some picks or draft some guys thats got passed for one reason or another who are good players. Those are usually undersized later classmen who get passed for younger or more athletic players. guys like Collison, Morrow, Jameer Nelson, etc

Its impossible to be optimistic with this ownership and its history.

The Knicks were where good basketball minds go to die. Layden, Chaney, Isiah, Larry Brown, DAntoni, Walsh, Lenny Wilkins... all these guys were good NBA people at one point and had their own lists of positives they brought to the table. Every one of them failed utterly and completely. Only Walsh and MDA have any hope of redemption.

fish.mike - the only thing your list of basketball minds has in common is the franchise ownership. Unless the Dolan family has empowered Donnie Walsh with an unusual amount of autonomy, authority and PATIENCE, there will be more pain and suffering.

The Knicks return to excellence will require at LEAST three more years of wandering in the wilderness, and commitment to Walsh, because these things take time. There is no precedent for the current strategy, missing a high lottery selection. None. When the Knicks had a moderate amount of flexibility twenty years ago, they also had the building block of Patrick Ewing.

The building blocks, while encouraging, are unproven. The best assets the Knicks own are Lee, Gallo and The Mayor. That's it.

Pine Brothers? I like Bill Miller and Toney Douglas for their toughness. Sergio pushes the ball. I'm wid that. Everyone else can take a hike.

No other franchise will help the Knicks. Quite the opposite, each team will do anything within their power to hold on to assets. Cleveland, Miami and even Toronto - will no let stars walk away without putting up resistance.

Donnie Walsh Needs At Least Three Things Need To Happen

1. one top tier free agent to leave his current environment, persuaded by money and the allure of the big city...

2. ... a Summer League surprise and

3. ... some serendipity and outright blind luck in the second round of the NBA draft

misterearl wrote:

The Knicks return to excellence will require at LEAST three more years of wandering in the wilderness, and commitment to Walsh, because these things take time.

what?? he gets exactly till 7/1/10 and not a day longer in my book. he rolled the dice on the franchise and its future on that date; let's hold him to it.

Marv wrote:

misterearl wrote:

The Knicks return to excellence will require at LEAST three more years of wandering in the wilderness, and commitment to Walsh, because these things take time.

what?? he gets exactly till 7/1/10 and not a day longer in my book. he rolled the dice on the franchise and its future on that date; let's hold him to it.

You have to figure we at least get Joe Johnson. I'm one of the few around here that like his game (4 time all star). The question is who else and what else.

sebstar wrote:I'm with you on the smoldering ashes, but I'm not seeing the new beginning. Just the same song.

Yes, nobody can see thru the haze. Only speculate.

Its easy to see whats obvious and project into the future.

The goal was create opportunity. Thats what we look forward to.

If failure to execute then we'll deal with that.

"what?? he gets exactly till 7/1/10 and not a day longer in my book. he rolled the dice on the franchise and its future on that date; let's hold him to it."

Not so fast Marv. djsunyc is correct, July 2010 is only the first day of another cycle. March 10, 2011 should provide enough evidence whether the Knicks are headed to the first round of the playoffs or back to the draft lottery.

Not a day sooner.

Marv wrote:once again, donnie gave away hill, a #1 and swapped a #1 for the sole purpose of shedding jeffries' contract by 7/1/10. if he doesn’t score big that day then he gave away huge assets that he didn’t need to. that is what i'm judging him on. i would have been fine with judging him in 2011 if he hadn't decided to roll so much of our future on this one day - 7/1/10. that’s exactly what i'm holding him to.

That seems to be a bit twisted logic. If you're only real shot to land 2 Max guys or maybe 3 lesser All Stars, was to move Jared and Hill's money, then how can you say that he didn't need to use those assets. It's clear he did need to use the pick and Hill to get the space. This is the BIG FA market, not the next summer, THIS summer, so if you're going to roll the dice and go all in, this is the time to do that, right? So for the chance to win big you have to risk big. If he halfwayed this and fell short people would say why didn't he go all in.

Marv wrote:

misterearl wrote:Sheesh Marv

"what?? he gets exactly till 7/1/10 and not a day longer in my book. he rolled the dice on the franchise and its future on that date; let's hold him to it."

Not so fast Marv. djsunyc is correct, July 2010 is only the first day of another cycle. March 10, 2011 should provide enough evidence whether the Knicks are headed to the first round of the playoffs or back to the draft lottery.

Not a day sooner.

once again, donnie gave away hill, a #1 and swapped a #1 for the sole purpose of shedding jeffries' contract by 7/1/10. if he doesn’t score big that day then he gave away huge assets that he didn’t need to. that is what i'm judging him on. i would have been fine with judging him in 2011 if he hadn't decided to roll so much of our future on this one day - 7/1/10. that’s exactly what i'm holding him to.

But, you would not have had the ability to potentially pick up someone like a James, and another big FA who would come along for the ride if James is on board, and a big FA like a James might not want to come to a team like the Knicks if the team did not have the ability to sign a sidekick FA (or two) personally chosen by him.

Our ability to pick up one of the top 3 FAs might be linked to our ability to pick up one of the top second tier FAs at the same time. No??