http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/23956.htm

YEAH, DOLEAC MAY BE BACK

By MARC BERMAN

June 28, 2004 -- With Thursday being the first time Isiah Thomas is allowed to phone Rasheed Wallace and Kobe Bryant, the Knick president has tried to downplay his impending bid for the league's two biggest marquee free agents.

Instead, Isiah has attempted to sell the notion the Knicks aren't bad off and only need to plug holes, perhaps realizing his chances of landing Rasheed and Kobe are longshots, particularly the latter.

Remember Isiah's remark on draft night: "I don't think it will necessarily be a lot of the bigger names in the market, but there are pieces floating around that we think if we can acquire, they will make our team better."

While combo guard Jamal Crawford would be a wonderful free-agent piece with the mid-level exception or a sign-and-trade with Chicago, Isiah is also considering bringing back center Michael Doleac, who hit it off with Stephon Marbury.

The thinking is Isiah can get Doleac with the smaller exception — $1.5 million. Doleac is not a sexy name, not even as sexy as free agent target Antonio McDyess. But the Knicks missed Doleac in the playoffs against the Nets. They had nobody to come off the bench and bang in perimeter jumpers that might've eased the triple teams on Marbury.

"The Knicks are one of three, four teams Michael will definitely consider," his agent Glen Schwartzman said. "He enjoyed playing with Steph. He played his best ball playing with him. There was chemistry. You can't explain it. New York definitely could be the right situation."

When Isiah made his curious All-Star Sunday trade of Keith Van Horn and Doleac for Nazr Mohammed and Tim Thomas, the Hawks had agreed to release Doleac. Isiah thought he had a great chance of getting Doleac back on waivers.

"His intention was for Michael to come back to New York," Schwartzman said.

In fact, Schwartzman requested Denver and Utah not claim Doleac on waivers because his strong preference was to stay the season in New York. Utah abided by the request. Denver didn't.

The Jazz, if still interested Thursday, will likely top Doleac's list. He played college at the University of Utah and makes his offseason home in Salt Lake City. One plus for the Knicks is Dolac's fiancée, Shannon, lives on the East Coast, in Boston.

Doleac had a poor first year with the Knicks but emerged last season as a valuable role player, coming to camp with a new crew cut and chiseled look. He hit the boards harder and when he and Marbury started working the pick-and-roll, Doleac's shooting percentage rose.

Isiah has toned down the talk of adding a star. With the Knicks in season-ticket selling mode, Isiah speaks about how much he likes his club, sounding too much like former GM Scott Layden, who had less personality than a toaster.

Apparently, Isiah ruffled feathers in the Pistons' front-office earlier when he told The Post, in reference to Rasheed, he would cause "holy hell" on the franchise come July 1.

Well, at least the Knicks have a better chance at upgrading the roster this summer with Isiah as the franchise's charismatic face rather than the still-unemployed Layden.

Copyright 2003 NYP Holdings, Inc.

Sounds good, I'd love to bring Doleac back for the LLE. He's a good backup C behind Nazr, doesn't need a lot of minutes, and for the 15-20 minutes he does play, he's effective.

Now they gotta get the other piece, either Crawford, Etan Thomas, Stephen Jackson, Darius Miles, Chris Mihm, etc. If you can get Doleac and one of those guys, it's a good offseason.

There were times last year that when we needed an offensive spark, Doleac was the one to look to, strange as that sounds. Here's a guy that consistently knocked down an open jumper and with a good amount of range. I also liked the way he always hit the boards last year with a great amount of effort, and he even seemed to play decent post defense. He's the perfect role player for this team, and not only does he fit well with Steph, he fits great in Lenny Wilkens' offense.

Posted by fishmike:

Doleac would be a valueable addition, but I dont like our chances. Somebody is likley to give him $2-$2.5. If I were the Jazz (who has no bigs right now) I would give him that in heartbeat. He does like the NY area, but I'm not sure its enough.

Agree...it depends on how long he would wait for us. If we can't sign anyone to the MLE we could split it and give him that much, but he might decide he doesn't want to play the market for too long and will accept whatever Utah gives him, since he lives in that area. Denver really screwed us over by taking him off waivers and not even playing him that much.

Utah is under the cap, aren't they.

Payroll is not a concern.

No one here is talking about Doleacs defense and rebounding while he was in NY.

Doleac was straight kicking arse when he was here. I'd take him back for the 1.5 exemp with the quickness. Knicks need a center...platooning Doleac just makes sense cause of how he spread the offense when he was here. He's just another option on offense which is what the Knicks need.

Doleac isn't Ewing but his jumpshot and thick body is needed to add another plug into the whole scheme of things.

Nazr and Doleac would be quite servicable.