Now that the only thing that stands between the Knicks and the free agency period that begins July 1st is a game left with the Toronto Raptors, Donnie Walsh will be making the decisions he feels are necessary to make us a championship caliber team. Which players from the current roster will return? David Lee is a flawed but very good player, but how much will he ask for and is he worth the money? Are Bill Walker, Tracy McGrady, Al Harrington, Earl Barron, and J.R. Giddens going to be here next year? Which potential free agents are actually going to hit the market? And will they sign with the Knicks? Will D'antoni be able to win with the talent he seeks out? Donnie Walsh has to figure all of this out and stick to his guns if we are going to be successful in the future. If Lebron, Wade, or Bosh don't come here Walsh cannot panic and sign Rudy Gay and Joe Johnson to long term max contracts. At the end of the day, Walsh needs to improve the team by adding a superstar like LeBron and a sidekick or complementary role players. And if that doesn't work out, Walsh needs to absorb the criticism he will receive and try to steal Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay, David Lee, or Amare at a reasonable price and surround them with players who can make this team competitive.
Even though David Lee thinks and acts like he is leaving, you can tell the guy wants to play in New York for his entire career. He loves it here and I am almost positive he will give us somewhat of a hometown discount to stay in New York. Tmac wants out, thats clear as day. He will be playing in Orlando next year and he will be playing for the ring he never got. Harrington is a total enigma. He has said in the past that he wants to play in New York and will give the Knicks a hometown discount. But if the Bulls offer him 15 million over 3 years can he resist that? I like Al as a Knick, but only in a limited role as a scorer off the bench when we are lacking firepower on the floor. I would be onboard with Harrington returning next year on a 2 year contract worth 4-5 million. Anything over that and I think Al will be packing his bags. Also, right now it looks like Giddens, Walker, and Barron will be back here next year because D'antoni speaks very highly of them and they are damn good bench players on cheap contracts.
With the recent rumors that Lebron is staying in Cleveland, Walsh has to start thinking about a serious plan B. He can't just assume one of these players are going to stay here. Right now, it looks like Lebron is remaining in Cleveland, Wade is staying in Miami (and if he does leave, Chicago is the likeliest destination), and Bosh will probably leave. Fast-forward to November 2010, what's our starting lineup? If we sign Bosh, who should his sidekick be? A Bosh and Lee duo sounds pretty exciting, but they are basically the same player. Would Bosh and Johnson/Gay be a better fit? Would we be better off just keeping Lee and not signing Bosh? Donnie really has to think about how all this talent would mesh on the court and not just sign the best players available and try to plug them in.
With that being said, I believe that David Lee is the best fit at PF for the Knicks. He is a tremendous scorer, has a vastly improved and deadly jumpshot, can take his man off the dribble because his quickness, shoots a very high percent from the field and the line, is the best passing big man in the league, is one of the best rebounders, hustles every play and gives it %110, is a great teammate and extremely fun to play with (according to Tmac), and improves every season. His defense is suspect, but it is improving and Bosh isn't much better than Lee on defense. And on a personal side note, I think he will really improve his defense this offseason. He will never be a shot blocker, but he does have the quickness to stay in front of his man and play good man defense. If Lee played next to a shot blocker, his inability to block shots would be masked and he would not be a liability on the defensive side of the ball, and if he can utilize his quickness, he might be able to excel. No one thought he would be the player he is right now, so why can't he work his ass off and become a good defender. It has already happened to every other part of his game, and I expect to happen to his defense as well. Another thing I like about Lee is that he is a willing passer and the offense can be ran through him even with a superstar like Lebron because Lee is a great passer and keeps the ball moving. Bosh is a great player, but he might not mesh as well as Lee might with another star because he is more selfish and not the same level passer as Lee.
If it came down to Lee and Johnson/Gay, I really have no idea who I would choose. They are both totally different players at different stages in their careers. Johnson has proven himself in D'antoni's system but Gay could really excel due to his athleticism and three point shooting. This is a total toss up in my opinion and it probably come down to which player takes less money. Also, I would really like to see Camby in a Knicks uniform because he would be a great fit next to Lee and the Blazers will probably let him go because Oden and Pryzbilla are returning next year.
Donnie has some decisions to make, and he should have ran through every possibility a million times in his head already and should be 95% sure of what he is going to do in any given situation. Hopefully our GM did his homework and didn't spend his afternoons napping.
I'm already looking forward to next season and can't wait for this waiting process to be over. Go Knicks!
4/12/2010 11:13 PM
