Knicks shopping Kurt Thomas around the league
Saturday, May 29, 2004
By AL IANNAZZONE
STAFF WRITER

"Kurt Thomas will be in New York next week for a community appearance and to have surgery on his right pinkie. But the power forward may not be back with the Knicks next season.

Team president Isiah Thomas is shopping Kurt around the league and has already had discussions with the Portland Trail Blazers about acquiring forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, a league official said.

Since there is almost an $8 million difference in the two salaries, the Knicks would have to add more players to the deal. Moochie Norris and Othella Harrington are the other Knicks being mentioned along with Kurt Thomas.

But Portland isn't talking only to the Knicks about the 6-foot-9 Abdur-Rahim. The Nets are also involved in discussions for the former All-Star, with Kerry Kittles one of the players New Jersey would have to give up.

Portland has been trying to move Abdur-Rahim because of emerging forward Zach Randolph. Abdur-Rahim, who averaged just 10 points in 32 games with the Blazers last season after scoring 20.1 in 53 with the Hawks, didn't fit well in Portland after he was acquired for Rasheed Wallace.

Before the February trading deadline, Isiah Thomas nearly traded Kurt to the Spurs for Malik Rose. That deal fell through, and Kurt Thomas was given a four-year, $28 million extension that includes a 20 percent trade kicker. That may make him hard to move, but Kurt has value around the league and Isiah will keep trying to trade him.

Thomas wants to assemble a younger, more athletic team than the one he inherited when Scott Layden was fired in December. Thomas acquired Stephon Marbury in January, and then traded Keith Van Horn and Michael Doleac for Tim Thomas and Nazr Mohammed in February.

Kurt Thomas, Harrington, Dikembe Mutombo, and Shandon Anderson are among the Knicks on the endangered-species list.

KNICKS BRIEF: Shooting guard Allan Houston, who missed 24 regular-season games and all four playoff contests against the Nets with a bone bruise in his left knee, continues to rehab the knee. Houston has gone back to Massachusetts for water-therapy treatment. There is no plan for surgery at this point."






Rahim would be a nice upgrade at the PF position but I think there are other players that we should be trying to get first. I think our first priority should be adding Erik Dampier and then maybe thinking about the PF position (worst comes to worst Sweets can start). I like Rahim but he is a little "soft" and I don't really think he is the type of player we should be going after. Don't get me wrong Rahim is a very talented player and I wouldn't mind acquiring him but we should be going after guys that have a real passion for the game. If we do get Rahim though for KT, Othella, and Moochie, that would be a nice deal for us. Any comments?

The biggest thing I got out of that article is that Houston is once again putting off inevitable surgery. Now he's gonna get it late in the summer or early in the season. With Marbury worn down, injured or taken hostage during the Olympics and Houston obviously out for the beginning of the season, things aren't looking so dope for the knickerbockers.

KT, Othella, and Moochie for Abdur-Rahim works under the CBA.

Maybe I overrate KT's interior defense, but without him I'm not sure who the Knicks have to guard other teams PFs and Cs, unless Isiah is counting on Sweetney to do that.

Abdur-Rahim obviously adds a nice 2nd legit offensive option, and also a legitimate post presence for the Knicks. One thing I like about him is he gets to the line an awful lot, top 10 in the NBA in attempts. That's a definite plus since nobody on the Knicks is very good at that.

He's a career 20/10 type guy, and is a good enough of a shooter to run the pick-and-roll with Marbury pretty proficiently. Knicks would still have the ability to unload Mutumbo and Trybanski.

Hopefully we finally start to see a method to Isiah's madness. KT being re-signed, Weatherspoon traded for Moochie, and Othella leading to a 19 and 9 guy like Abdur-Rahim is a pretty good trade-off.

Also, the Knicks are getting more and more athletic. I don't even think Kurt Thomas can dunk, and going from KVH to TT at the 3 was a vast improvement. If this goes down, the Knicks will be turning into a fairly athletic, young team.

Posted by Chico:

The biggest thing I got out of that article is that Houston is once again putting off inevitable surgery. Now he's gonna get it late in the summer or early in the season. With Marbury worn down, injured or taken hostage during the Olympics and Houston obviously out for the beginning of the season, things aren't looking so dope for the knickerbockers.

Yea thats another thing that bugs the hell out of me. I know H2O doesn't want to have surgery put rest alone isn't gonna help him. Like ir or not it looks like he needs to have surgery. Hopefully he will be healthy by the start of the season.

I think Isiah wants to see what he can get out of Rahim in NY. If it doesn't work out, his expiring contract (I think around $14 mil) should be a very good trade asset at the trading deadline.

That would be a steal of a trade and I doubt Portland would do it. A 20 pts scorer with a big expring contract for the multiyear deals of KT and Mooch? Doesnt make much sense to me on Portland's end, but I'd love it for NY. Shareef is a true 2nd option...a versatile scorer, solid rebounder, good FT shooter and is durable. His defense is not great, but at this pont you have to look at upgrading talent first and foremost and this would be a big talent upgrade. Would certainly want Shareef over Dampier. Dampier is known to be lazy and you have to worry about contract year guys. In this case Shareef would be playing for his next contract and would be a consistent performer with more motivation.

What's more amazing is that this trade doesn't even use some of our better trading chips (FW, Sweetney, Nazr, Tryb, Deke). These are obviously preliminary discussions, and if something does happen I expect that we'd give up at least one young player and take back a bad contract in return.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/nets/story/197921p-170914c.html

Here is an article about what the Nets are offering for Rahim. It is Kittles (10 mil expring contract) and Aaron WIlliams. They could also expand it to include Lucius Harris and Rodney Rogers and would have to take on Ruben Patterson.

In order to match we'd have to add Mutumbo and Trybanski and take on Patterson. Fortunately that works under the cap, Trade ID number 1620632.

For the 2nd rounder Sato or Herve Lamizana from Rutgers would be my choices. I agree on Sato...he can spot up and shoot, and at the very least he can be a pretty good defender. Lamizana is a guy I've seen a ton...nearlyevery game for the last 3 years now. He is tremendously athletic and can block shots. Big upside with him.

Back to the proposed deals, I agree, I am very willing to take on Patterson's contract. He is top notch perimeter defender and a good energizer. Character and contract questions aside, we need his kind of fire and defense, and would be a good replacement for Anderson in the rotation.

Posted by martin:


You know, this is a good point. I was gonna put a little smack down on those who were suggesting trading Rahim for Kurt and fodder because of defensive reasons, but if Isiah can get rid of Moochie's contract and get Rahim and then trade him again for a better player, than I am all for it.

Exactly. In fact, perhaps we can add another pick in to make Portland consider it. Shareef is definitely overrated, but he is still worth a hell of a lot more than KT, Moochie, and Othella. Obviously it makes sense for us, but for Portland to consider it, they need to also get a future pick in return. Perhaps we can give them our 2nd this year, and future considerations?

I think Rahim would be an excellent fit for this offense, and would be a nice 1-2 punch with a PG like Marbury. Like the posters mentioned earlier, he can run the pick and roll and he gets to the line at an excellent rate. He can go inside/outside and be enough of a post presence to keep teams honest. Remember the Knicks offense was rolling along pretty decently before Van Horn got traded with Marbury and Van Horn in there. Shareef would be better version of that. We really need a 2nd option, and I think Abdur Rahim could put up 18 and 8 here easily.

Posted by VDesai:

I think Rahim would be an excellent fit for this offense, and would be a nice 1-2 punch with a PG like Marbury. Like the posters mentioned earlier, he can run the pick and roll and he gets to the line at an excellent rate. He can go inside/outside and be enough of a post presence to keep teams honest. Remember the Knicks offense was rolling along pretty decently before Van Horn got traded with Marbury and Van Horn in there. Shareef would be better version of that. We really need a 2nd option, and I think Abdur Rahim could put up 18 and 8 here easily.

I don't think Rahim would be our 2nd option here. IMO a healthy Houston would easily be our 2nd option. If Rahim comes here he would probably be our 3rd or 4th option (I think Tim is gonna explode next season). Rahim is very talented but the 20 points per game he put up was on a bad team so I would expect him to put up around 15 points a game on the Knicks where there are 3 other good scorers.