http://www.nba.com/knicks/news/summerleagueroster_040706.html

Knicks Summer League Roster Begins Practice
by Tom Kertes


GREENBURGH, NY, July 6, 2004 -- Leave it to President, Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas to continue to surprise.
Yes, the avalanche of changes around the Knicks -- an almost everyday thing last season -- may now be a thing of the past. With all the free agents-slash-trades conversation floating around, Thomas is now mainly looking to improve from WITHIN.

“I really like our team,” he said following the opening practice for the Knicks Summer League squad at the team’s Westchester Training Facility. The team has four days of practice there before next week’s appearance at the Long Beach Pro Summer League in California. “I’m very comfortable with where we are. I think we’re young enough, I think we’re experienced enough, and I think we’re talented enough. I think we can build on the way we finished last year. I like the direction we’re going in. You have to remember how rarely you saw a fully healthy Knicks team last year, especially when it came to Allan Houston. So it’s easy to forget for a moment what an incredible shot-maker a healthy Allan is.”

And right now, according to Thomas, Houston “looks pretty healthy. I like his whole presence, his entire demeanor is very different from last year. I’m very encouraged.”

Which, of course, doesn’t mean that Thomas will ignore free agents. “Not at all,” he said. “Though we WILL err on the side of caution and conservatism at this point, there are two or three guys out there who could help us, who would turn the Knicks into a better team. I’m going to go talk to those guys face-to-face this week or next week when we’re out on the West Coast. That is my job. My job is not to sit in my office and go ‘Hey, Kobe (Bryant) is out there.’ My job is to go talk to them, because you never know. But, let’s face it, we are over the cap so we’d more than likely have to juggle things with sign-and-trades and such and that’s always a much more complicated situation than just signing someone who’s free.”

“So our chances of getting Kobe? I would say less than zero. But that doesn’t mean you don’t go and talk to him.”

Jamal Crawford? “We can’t talk about him the same way because, right now, he’s not a free agent. He’s Chicago’s player,” said Thomas. “But let’s put it this way. I like the three-guard combination we had with the Detroit Pistons when I was playing. I like to have Allan, Stephon (Marbury), and Frank (Williams) in that type of a combination, when a couple of those guys can play the “one” AND the “two”. Jamal, if that could somehow happen, would fit in with that idea very well.”

But what about playing time for everybody, especially if Houston is healthy? “Look, in order to win the championship you need a lot of good players,” smiled Thomas. “Not just one or two. Look at the Pistons, they had a lot of good players.”

Improving from within will be the main focus for the Summer League team as well. “The most important thing for us is the growth of a player within the team,” said Thomas. “So guys like Michael Sweetney, Frank Williams, DerMarr Johnson, and Cezary Trybanski will be getting lots of playing time and special attention.” Include second-round draft-pick Trevor Ariza in that select group. “Today, I already saw from him the athleticism we thought he had,” said Thomas. “And his great feel for the game. The question now is his physicality and strength. Can he take a hit and keep on going? Those are the kind of things we’ll find out about him over the next two weeks.”

Ariza can’t wait to show his stuff. “I came out of school because I felt that I was ready,” he said. “No, I wasn’t disappointed in falling to the second round. At least I was drafted, right? I was surprised by being picked by the Knicks, though -- pleasantly surprised. As far as I’m concerned, this is the best place for me, learning from a couple of all-time great point guards. The way I feel is, if there is any doubt about me making the team, that’s on me. There’s no stress -- if I do what I came here to do, I’ll make the team and that’s that.”

Fortuitously enough, the UCLA product will get his chance to make his run at the Knicks roster just down the freeway from his high school and college campuses, at Cal State University, Long Beach. “Everyone I grew up with will be there to see me play,” he smiled. “My mom, dad, family, friends, everybody. So my comfort level will be very high. And I’m going to use this experience to relax, learn, and get better at every part of the game.”

I agree if sweetney, williams and Dermarr improve and Ariza becomes a contributor somehow, the knicks will be a much better team...

You know what, Frank will improve just because he needs more PT, and he'll get it.

I'm sure IT liked what he saw when Frank didn't back down against the nets. and about this 3 guards rotation, we saw it come and I'm glad he's trying to do that.

sweet and Frank alone, with some improvements, could make our team better.

(Hopefully, Isiah fires Lenny if he forget to do that)

Enough about firing Lenny, I'm sick of hearing it. The guy only coached for half a season, I think he deserves one full season before we evaluate how good of a coach he is for our team. He definitely isn't that type of coach that will get in your face if you do something wrong (the type of coach we could really use) but on the otherhand, he doesn't made stupid coaching mistakes like Chaney did. I think he is now comfortable with the team, it just took him awhile to figure out what players should be getting minutes (ex. Sweets, Frankie). Trust me there are a lot of things that this team needs, but a new coach is not one of them.

regarding rudy T, plz tell me why on earth, if you were, would you go to coach LA as it's gonna be a freacking mess out there next season ?

Posted by Silverfuel:

Posted by raven:

regarding rudy T, plz tell me why on earth, if you were, would you go to coach LA as it's gonna be a freacking mess out there next season ?

IMO, if he can get Shaq to stay, he might be able to handle it.

I really don't know how they could win next yr as they couldn't last season. If they've the same team, the same circus will be around and there won't be so less pressure on their shoulders.

ONe thing though, I believe payton is not so finished that most people believe. He could have been better used, and that made him play poorly as he toally lost his confidence. He's old but he could still be usefull.

Jackson diodn't want to see that and stuck to his triangle offense though with 4 stars like that they could have used a different system to feed from his players creativity.

At the same time, I understand and accept that it's easy to criticize, as they had already a tough and long season in their legs.