Amare Stoudemire is 27 years old. Certainly, his knees could be considered a question mark three years from now, or next week... that is the risk of being a high flyer. The value of signing Amare is not simply in some perceived deep run through the 2011 playoffs, with the addition of ONE more component by the trade deadline. The value of Amare is as much in how he has changed the on-court presence of the Knicks and reset the playing personality for other players to follow.

If Amare Stoudamire breaks down like Antonio McDyess, Donnie Walsh knows he needs a contingency plan. If the unthinkable happens, the Knicks balance would be thrown for a loop but it would not, I repeat NOT, be destroyed. Walsh, or his successor, would still have the free agent class of 2012 to restock the roster at two positions. Which is also another reason why Donnie will never, ever trade a player like Landry Fields.

In the event Amare suffers a major injury, Walsh needs the insurance of players under 25 years old to step in, and step up. In 2012 Landry Fields will be the ripe old age of 24.

MSG3 - please read the context again. 2012 was only cited as an fallback option year for Donnie Walsh to field(s) a winning team in the event Amare is seriously injured.

"And Landry Fields will never be the type of player that can replace what an NBA star gives you on a nightly basis."

No one knows what Fields will be. Not even Fields himself. Besides, that was not the point being made. Landry Fields is only offered as one of several under 25 year old players who could step up. If Donnie could uncover a gem in the second round, chances are he just may uncover one more sparkiy jewel from the next two draft classes.

MSG3 wrote:

misterearl wrote:"we have to get Melo to make the STAT signing worth the risk."

Amare Stoudemire is 27 years old. Certainly, his knees could be considered a question mark three years from now, or next week... that is the risk of being a high flyer. The value of signing Amare is not simply in some perceived deep run through the 2011 playoffs, with the addition of ONE more component by the trade deadline. The value of Amare is as much in how he has changed the on-court presence of the Knicks and reset the playing personality for other players to follow.

If Amare Stoudamire breaks down like Antonio McDyess, Donnie Walsh knows he needs a contingency plan. If the unthinkable happens, the Knicks balance would be thrown for a loop but it would not, I repeat NOT, be destroyed. He would still have the free agent class of 2012 to restock the roster. Which is also another reason why Donnie will never trade a player like Landry Fields.

If Amare suffere a major injury, Walsh needs the insurance of players under 25 years old to step in, and step up. In 2012 Landry Fields will be the ripe old age of 24.

I disagree on several levels:

First, Amar'e doing what he did for the culture of this team was an extremely pleasant surprise. It was not why he was signed though. He was signed to show LeBron, Wade, maybe Carmello, etc. that we are serious about building a winner....not building a team for 2012 or 2013.

Now I think it's unlikely that STAT breaks down, but it is likely that he won't be the STAT he is today a few years down the road. By that point you *HOPE* you can team another star with him but it's too early to even speculate who that could be. Also, the Knicks balance might not be destroyed if STAT has a McDyess-ian fall from grace. However, our hoped of becoming a contender in the near future would be. Remember, Amar'e would still be under contract if he got hurt. So you'd pretty much have the current Knicks, minus Amar'e, plus a free agent. And Landry Fileds will never be the type of player that can replace what an NBA star gives you on a nightly basis.

I've always maintained that anyone who is comfortable with being a perenial 5-8 seed with no hope of challenging the elite whould not want us to do everything necessary to get Melo. I am not one of those people. This is our chance to become better than any Knicks team since the 69-70 and 72-73 teams. It has to happen. But I agree it has to happen the right way and we have to take CAREFUL advantage of our positin.

A player like Melo will not make us a championship contender. He occupies a massive amount of cap room. He is inferior to Lebron and Wade, and yet we'd be paying him more money.

Let Donnie handle things. The long term view is the right one. Locking up a player like Carmelo with a max slot, to help us in an area that we don't need is a huge mistake. And I think Donnie knows this.

knickstorrents wrote:A player like Melo will not make us a championship contender. He occupies a massive amount of cap room. He is inferior to Lebron and Wade, and yet we'd be paying him more money.

Let Donnie handle things. The long term view is the right one. Locking up a player like Carmelo with a max slot, to help us in an area that we don't need is a huge mistake. And I think Donnie knows this.

i keep hearing the same stuff from a lot of posters how a player like Melo doesn't make us a championship contender... Melo w/o any player even close to Amare's level was a good enough formula to take the Nuggets from a 17 win franchise to back to back 50+ win seasons & Western Conference Finals against tougher competition... how does adding him to our team with an already established MVP calibre talent like Amare not make us at least a contender for an ECF right away? after that who knows, a lucky bounce here or there or a hot streak can get you into the Finals, we've seen our own #8 seed team make it to the NBA Finals in years past w/o 2 superstars like Amare & Melo... would it be a guaranteed lock we'd be championship contenders by just adding Melo, maybe not, but we'd be a helluva lot closer than we are right now... after that who knows what will happen... maybe CP3 decides to force his way to NY to complete the big 3 he toasted about at Melo's wedding? or maybe some other veteran FA's decide they wanna make a run at a championship playing next to Amare & Melo in NY & agree to low money contracts & help to complete the puzzle? u just don't know what the future will bring... u can't be afraid to make moves to be successful in sports, & i believe Donnie knows that... if u really believe DW thinks locking up Melo to a max slot is a huge mistake then u haven't been following the situation too clearly... he's been clearing cap space for the past 2 years just so he could have the flexibility to make a move to acquire a player like Melo.

MSG3 wrote:Donnie has already been about as desperate as he's ever going to get with the moves to clear the cap in the first place. These things had to happen. Other than that, while I agree that Donnie shouldn't be desperate about anything, we have to get Melo to make the STAT signing worth the risk. If we're going to wait for Dwight Howard and CP3 to team up we might as well not have signed Amar'e. The plan was to always team him with another stud. We don't know what state this team is going to be in 2 years down the road. We have to make this happen. We'll be contenders immediately unless we give up too much. The only way we give up too much is if Dolan demands Donnie deos it.

If the Knicks are serious about contending they MUST keep a respectable chunk of that young and growing talent. To me its at least half those guys. The two guys I'm trying to keep at all costs are Mosgov and Gallo. Those are really the future pieces to making this thing work.

Anyone notice that when the KNicks made their comback last night Gallo was guarding Baron Davis? We are talking about a 6'10 player that is just starting to scratch the surface. He's got a slow first step but his ability to protect the ball with is body while he dribbles into the paint is impressive and it gets him to the line most times he's in the mood.

Mosgov is the athletic guy you stick next to Amare for... well ever really.

Even with Melo the Knicks wont contend this year, but as GAllo and Mosgov mature (any questions about their ability to improve and their work ethics should be answered by now) this *could* be an elite line up:

PG Felton
SG Melo 6'8
SF Gallo 6'10
PF Amare 6'10
Mosgov 7'1
bench who's left? AR? Douglas? Williams? Fields? you get the idea

"Hey bud, thanks for taking a chance on our sorry team, but we don't feel like giving you a shot at a ring this year. We're going to roll the dice, let these kids develop and see what we have in 2012. I hope you continue to keep throwing your body into harms way even though we're not willing to back you. Have a nice day."

Its rediculous. Make the trade. If Denver won't do it because of a grudge, fine, but that has to be made public.