I did read else where Laydog had laid ground work on Marbury. Suns told Knicks to wait and see how season went. Laydog was fired by then. No telling whether he would have pulled the trigger, or thought price was too high.

Below is a different opinin than most have voiced. Its worth digesting It supports Briggs view we paid too much.

It was my first reaction that I did not like this trade. No sense fighting what Dolan wants, its his team. I will root for this version of the knicks and hope that Thomas's vision is a good one. Marbury I hope grows into a true leader and takes this team far.

Unfortuanatly, I must agree that a top big player is needed and we have not the assets to aquire one.

From HOOPSWORLD.com
NBA RUMOR MILL - Are The Knicks Better?
By Steve "BskBALL" Kyler
Jan 10, 2004, 10:35

ARE THE KNICKS BETTER OR WORSE?
If you look at the recent mega deal the Knicks triggered, landing Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway, in exchange for Howard “They Paid Too Much” Eisley, Maciej “The Hyped Me Too Much” Lampe, and Antonio “My Knee Still Hurts” McDyess and a handful of draft picks and draft rights- you’d think the Knicks would be better. True… New Knicks President Isiah Thomas has gotten the credit for the deal, a deal who’s foundation was laid by Scott Layden, and simply finished off by Zeke. The deal brought in a home town hero in Stephon Marbury, but has he truly made any team he was on better? Were the Suns that much better because of Marbury, or was it because he had an impressive supporting cast with the likes of Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire? Steph’s first two games as a Knick were uneventful, averaging 7 points a game, substantially off from the 20.8 points he dropped as a Sun. So the trade has not paid immediate dividends - has the hiring of Isiah Thomas done wonders to improve the 14-23 Knicks? Well, rumor has it Isiah got into with a heckling fan during Stephon’s home debut. So emotionally and physically upset both he and the fan had to be restrained… not a good start for your President to be going after the paying fans, especially those that paid enough to be within ear shot of the President standing in the tunnel. Knick fans wanted change, and unfortunately, they are going to get it. Marbury is a nice player, but is he a team guy that gets you to the finals? The Nets didn’t think so and dealt him; the Suns didn’t think so and dealt him again. Zeke couldn’t do much for the Raptors and they fired him, the Pacers too thought so much of Isiah they fired him too, so now the Knicks have two guys in power positions that most clubs didn’t want. Zeke did a great job turning the Continental Basketball Association around, they had to file for bankruptcy and break the league up, and they are still trying to pick up the pieces. Now rumor has it Zeke is after Darius “No Jumper” Miles, and making overtures at Marcus Camby and Rasheed Wallace, and about to fire Don Chaney. Rockets assistant Patrick Ewing started talking about head coaching after his recent visit to the Garden… Please tell me Zeke isn’t hiring Patrick to skipper a team of Marbury, Houston, Miles, and Wallace anchored by Mutombo in the paint? If Knick fans thought Scott Layden ran the club into the ground, if Isiah is allowed to make some of these deals he’s considering, things could get a lot worse, before they get better for the Knicks.

[Edited by - nalod on 01/11/2004 23:15:27]

Just to support the first point, this is from Sean Deveney's column. Here is the link http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=insidedishmavsrecentmove&prov=tsn&type=lgns

The trade for PG Stephon Marbury will be on the Isiah Thomas ledger, but actually, former Knicks president Scott Layden had been trying to pry Marbury from the Suns for weeks. The difference is Layden would not take on SG Penny Hardaway's contract. After Isiah Thomas took over, the Suns also tried to get PF Kurt Thomas, but having already moved PF Clarence Weatherspoon, the Knicks would have been too short on forwards. …

Marbury got off to an awful start in New York as the Knicks lost their first two games after the trade by a total of 43 points. Some wonder whether Marbury will fit into the Knicks' system. He has a reputation as a good pick-and-roll point guard, and the Knicks are one of the most pick-and-roll dependent teams in the league (though that might change if/when Don Chaney is fired). But Marbury often "jumps" the pick, meaning he starts his drive before the pick is set, leaving his big man vulnerable to a moving pick foul

I give a near zero credibility to anything that comes out of Hoopsworld. Lots of not very well thought out opinions.

Posted by Rich:

The most ridiculous part of all the criticism is that Marbury has played 3 games for the Knicks, and Isiah has been on the job for 3 weeks. Can we give them a year before we fully and finally write these two off. That's why all this negativity is absurd.

exactly. thank you.

Posted by martin:

<snip>
Also, what big man was Eisley, Dice, Lampe and picks gonna get you? No team out there is going to trade their big men, especially if they are good. And let's face it, until a big man come to the east, either Shaq, Duncan or KG will win the title. To compete in the East, all you need is a good enough team.

Well... Antonio McDyess will be a free agent at the end of the season--- so he might be available for the mid-level exemption. :) (not that he doesn't feel used and abused by the Knicks)

Marcus Camby is also a free agent... and perhaps the confidence IT showed in him as a rookie will cause him to give the Knicks a discount.

The Knicks IMHO, had enough talent before the Marbury deal to make it to the finals. After the trade, we're a more complete team-- PG has become a relative strength rather than a relative weakness.

Frank Williams remains an X-factor for us-- his demotion in PT came as a result of his injury--- not necessarily the trade. Penny can alternatively give us the big backcourt people envisioned when we acquired Sprewell-- mega versatility.

Unfortunately, an area that needs to be addressed on this team still is athleticism... with Marbury instead of Eisley/Ward, at least there's an improvement. Ward's loss hurts us a little defensively (which of our guards is going to sacrifice his body on offensive fouls?) but perhaps the saving grace is no more breakaway fouls in the act of shooting (and-one's)...

Nobody is getting on Marbury just yet. He jumps on the pick too early, just needs coaching.

Nobody saying Layden was not in need of firing. But it is not foolish to question Isiah. Sure he is better than Layden, but COULD WE HAVE DONE BETTER? AND IS HE JUST A HIGH PROFILE LAPDOG FOR DOLAN?

If so, then things are not much better. It could be Thomas is here and gone in 2-3 years, not stay around if things start falling apart.

Some of us wanted a long term plan. Marbury is cool, and whats done is done, but big men are had thru the draft, and we gave up Lampe, and our pick in a deep big man draft.

True big players need a good supporting cast, example Garnett. But Thomas and Mutumbo are not the athletic type, and we need that.

Need not to be so star struck and not read or accept any critic of the deal. It was a ballsy move, took guts to do it. What does Thomas have to lose? His owner gave him the directive to get it done. What has Thomas accomplished in the past other than play big brother to Jermain o'neal? He is champion player, but after that the results are mixed. Camby and Stoudamire are not all stars, and McGrady was better than expected. He still took 4 years to reach star levels, somthing this team cannot accept. Some of us wanted to see what lampe can do in a few years. Here is a kid that could benefit the team 10-15 years. Same thing witht he Dice trade. It set us back. NeNe is developing into the Power forward we need. Big, powerful and athletic.

Detroit, Denver, even Dallas with Josh Howard, all blend in youth with experience.

Dolan is a Star Phucker. Dolan is right, cuz fans eat that stuff up.

Im not hating here. There will be no game to game analysis of success or failure. I root for this team to do well and hope like hell Thomas does well. One thing, and it was talked about that he would stand up to Dolan and rebuild. I think Dolan is in charge.

You want the knicks to lose so you can say i told you so ??? Funny, very funny ...lol...

Please, the knicks before the marbury trade didn't have a thing, now we have a top player in the league, a star type player that can carry a team in a big game, marbury can dominate his position regardless of who he is up against, that was a big weakness of the knicks, for this writer to trash the knicks shows his playa like idiocy....

And what do you think Thomas used to trade for marbury? Those second round picks in lampe and milos proved valuable as trade material.

What if Thomas overpaid for Marbury? Jury is way out on lots of things, and we all being patient. Jury is also out on Thomas also.


[Edited by - Martin]