The ex-Knick coach would not be specific but he believes some of Layden's moves were forced upon him by upper management. It's been widely reported owner James Dolan wanted Latrell Sprewell dealt because he thought it would improve the character of the team.

"Everyone has their own evaluation of Scott, but there's no doubt in my mind he worked extremely hard," said Van Gundy, who had a great relationship with Layden. "He followed orders from above him and ended up taking a lot of grief."

What is so hard to believe about this?

van gundy is a friend of layden's, so it's not that hard to believe he would say this. it's obvious that layden was forced to make the spree trade but what about all the other laydumb trades? he's was the president so i don't think he was forced to make those idiotic moves.

Posted by Andrew:

I think JVG is specifically talking about the Spree trade here.

Pure assumption on your part Andrew

Posted by Andrew:

Yes....and pure assumption on your part to the contrary.

Exactly! It sounds a lot better comming from a Mod.

Posted by fishmike:

Did Dolan want Spoon for 5 years? Did Dolan want Rice traded for Eisley and Anderson, 2 Utah guys? Did Dolan want McDyess? Had Dolan ever *heard* of McDyess?

There is no doubt Dolan wanted Spree gone. Thats apparent by his comments, but every other move Layden made flied in the face of logic. The guy was a bad GM, plain and simple. What was worse is he refused to rectify his mistakes, and he grossly overvalued ALL his players.

Generally speaking I thought that Layden was pretty bad, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Dolan was more behind some of the moves under the Layden era.

- Houston contract. I think this was set in stone by both Dolan and Dave C before he left.

- Ewing trade. Dolan may have forced Ewing out so that he didn't have to re-up/deal with him.

- was it Glen for Eisley/Anderson? If so, that was catastrophic.

[/quote]

Generally speaking I thought that Layden was pretty bad, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Dolan was more behind some of the moves under the Layden era.

- Houston contract. I think this was set in stone by both Dolan and Dave C before he left.

- Ewing trade. Dolan may have forced Ewing out so that he didn't have to re-up/deal with him.

- was it Glen for Eisley/Anderson? If so, that was catastrophic.


[/quote]houston contract was probably done dolan. i guess so about ewoing. i think the rice for eisley and anderson(probably layden's favorites from utal) trade was so retarded because it put new york in a bad cap situation.
but i think the mcdyess trade really did the knicks in. that was such a bad trade for many reasons.
camby was much maligned for missing too many games but nobody talked about the defensive and offensive precese he had while he was in the game. i could never forget that last camby game with the knicks against the indiana pacers, that fall was really something but people forget to remember that the knicks were on a four game winning streak before that game and it was largely due to camby's precense. he's having a big impact with the improved nuggets.
layden traded a number 7 draft pick where he could have gotten amare, nene, wilcox. the guys that some fans are wishing that isiah acqires. packing up mark jackson, i didn't mind but he could've been the vocal leader in locker room that the knicks still lack.
the knicks got back mcdyess who had numerous surgeries and got injured again. i acknowldge that camby was also injured but he didn't miss the whole season. the knicks also got the 24th pick which led to the drafting of frank williams. who isiah or lenny for whatever reason didn't give a chance after being compared to walt fraizer, called the future point, etc.. after those very impressive 4 wins. he's on the trading block and i'm just waiting for isiah to pull the trigger.
some fans seem to think that the knicks couldn't have acquired marbury without mcdyess in the deal. what i ask them is, whould the knicks have had the need to with all that talent along with the vetrans they already had? amare made an immediate impact with the suns and nene isn't bad either, however, wilcox imo has some nba learning to do. yes, they would have made the playoffs with all those pieces and had a great future a head of them with amare and the rest of the squad. keep in mind the knicks gave up a lot of the knicks future pieces to get marbury and penny. we could have always had marbury if we would have given phoe camby and amare straight up. but would we have had the need to?
i know this post reflects on what could have been.. what should have been. but i wanted to share my opinion none the less

JVG wanted Rice too... he demanded rice.

The wheeling and dealing should have left us Camby-Rice-Mutumbo-Vin Baker. Ewing trade had Baker included, with Detroit as third party.

Checketts would have left us with Vin.

Vin was not so far removed from his all star days.

David Falk, Agent for Rice and Mutumbo burnt Laydog for Mutumbo.

Nope Knight,Longely & Rice are on Checketts