In this league, you don't win by acquiring expensive players on the decline of their playing careers. You win by finding and nurturing inexpensive players who are just about to explode.

Up to this point, this is why I have been so happy with Isiah. He is determined to improve the roster from within and has been looking at every possible basketball player to improve the team (Eddie Griffin, Dermarr Johnson, Vin Baker). He came in and set an example. Lampe wasn't working hard so he was shipped out. The hardwork that Frank Williams and Sweetney displayed was rewarded with playing time. Isiah is the first Knick exec for as long as I can remember that is willing to play young talent.

He cannot give in to the temptation of a legit center for a salary starting at 9 million a year. First off, he is lazy and inconsistent. He will not be a good locker room guy and will set bad examples for the rest of the team. After he makes his money he will most likely go back to a 10ppg 8 rpg guy. And in 2 or 3 years he will be a Shandon Anderson for us. We cannot hamstring the future of this team by signing him to a 6 year deal. I would offer him the MLE but not for more than 5 years. Even then, he may turn out to be a Weatherspoon type guy. Spoon did average a double double the year before Layden signed him to the full MLE and that turned out horrible.

Instead I would go in the direction of Crawford. We will overpay him as well but at least he is only 24 and has yet to hit his best playing days. He will give us the ballhandling that we need when teams trap Marbury and will give us the insurance for Allan Houston. Marbury and Crawford can develop into a dynamic backcourt for many years to come.

Aside from Crawford, don't overpay for anybody. Open up roster spots, bring along Sweetney, Ariza, and Frank Williams (if not included in the Crawford deal). Look for young centers like Jamal Magloire, the Sam Dalembart, Dan Gadzurick. None of those guys were drafted in the lottery if my memory serves me correctly. It is unlikely that we can win the championship next season so make this a 2 year process and find the center when the opportunity presents itself rather than hamstringing us for the next 5 or 6 seasons.

Offer Chris Mihm 3 mil of the MLE. He has potential to be a solid center. Offer 1 mil of the MLE to that center who blocks everything that Briggs brought up the other day.

Well put!

Posted by Ray15:

He cannot give in to the temptation of a legit center for a salary starting at 9 million a year. (shortened text)... And in 2 or 3 years he will be a Shandon Anderson for us. We cannot hamstring the future of this team by signing him to a 6 year deal. I would offer him the MLE but not for more than 5 years. Even then, he may turn out to be a Weatherspoon type guy. Spoon did average a double double the year before Layden signed him to the full MLE and that turned out horrible.

Instead I would go in the direction of Crawford. We will overpay him as well but at least he is only 24 and has yet to hit his best playing days. He will give us the ballhandling that we need when teams trap Marbury and will give us the insurance for Allan Houston. Marbury and Crawford can develop into a dynamic backcourt for many years to come. (abbreviated)

Good stuff.

Posted by simrud:

Just an FYI, Griffin affair was a total bust for the Nets.
Demarr and Baker did not amount to anything.
If Shanden was 6 11 270, we'd all be in love with him right about now.
Have you checked the market latley? What was that deal that Foyle and Cardinal got? Some other role player? Hedo? Okur?
A guy coming of a 12 12 2.5 season will aks for a lot.
Last time I checked 28-33 was a pick time, especially for bigmen who are late bloomers.
I frankly don't care what happens 3 years from now. So many thingw will happen by then, that lookin at one guys salary and makein predictions to the state of the etnire team is just dumb.
Real centers cost a lot, get over it. Ticekt prices are gogn up this year no matter if we get Dampier. I don't care how much Dolan spends. He will get his anyways. So bring in players and pay them as much as you want. Migh tas well when a bottel of water cots 5 dollars in the gardetn.

Simrud, If you haven't realized this yet -- you will. I hope for your sake you don't learn it the hard way but history always repeats itself and if you don't pay attention to the past in detail you will get burned. The fact is that we cannot give average NBA talent allstar money anymore. We did it with Eisley, Anderson, and Spoon and it killed us. Sure Eisley and Anderson had some good years in Utah but they were not worth those contracts and we have been hamstrung ever since. Spoon averaged a double double in his contract year and Layden offered him the full MLE and look how that turned out. If we overpay for Dampier he may have one or two decent seasons but he is lazy. He played for his contract and once he gets paid will revert back to a 10 and 8 guy. After those two seasons we will have a Shandon Anderson type player for the rest of his contract and he will kill us.

Frankly, I don't care if ticket prices go up or if Dolan spends 9 million more each season. What I do care about, however, is getting ourselves into a contract that we can't get out of. So many things will happen 3 years from now. But if we get into another bad contract, I can guarentee that we will still have that bad contract and it will hurt us for years to come.

"Real centers cost alot, get over it." The only thing I can't get over is how false that statement is. Aside from Shaq, real centers don't cost that much. Teams overpay for centers but REAL centers don't cost much. The real centers aside from Shaq are Yao, Jamal Magloire, Sam Dalembart, Ben Wallace (who makes a little over the MLE), Theo Ratliff (who is paid what he is worth), Vlade (who just got the MLE), Brad Miller, and Jeff Foster. Big Z is the only productive center in my opinion that is overpaid. Guys like Jerome James, Calvin Booth, Adonyl Foyle, Greg Ostertag, and soon to be Dampier are centers who are overpaid but they are not REAL centers.

Don't get Dampier who put up similiar numbers to Weatherspoon when he was in his contract year and hamstring us for 4 or 5 years more.

You know if its a decision of whether to get Crawford or Dampier, I think most people on this board would say Crawford.

There are going to be some that say we need help up front, but I tend to think we just need talented players and Crawford is a young stud that is showing upside potential.

potentially two years from now both players could be busts- everything everyone is worried about both will come true- the only difference is that with Dampier, he would be another Weatherspoon or Shandon Anderson- some marginal talent that got a big deal based on one good year. With Crawford, he's a player you took a flyer on and his rocket crashed and burned- he's shown signs every year in the league, he's young and has a chance to grow-

all we're expecting from a Dampier acquisition is more of the same, with Crawford there is hope of more- be it consistency, scoring, passing- whatever.

If Damp can reproduce his 12-12 year, great

I understand Ray15's point and he is right. Thats really my concern about getting Dampier. He is looking for a big, BIG deal, and the fact is that, no matter what happened in Golden State, he hasn't really earned it. The reasons why he had a good season on a contract year remains to be seen, but people have their right to believe it was because he wanted big money, and thats a terrible player to pay a lot for. I would hope for him to play like he can, but because that's something uncertain, Im still not sure about wanting him that much. If he comes for the money he is worth, then sure, get him. But paying him too much really hurts us in the point Ray15 makes. Its Dolan's money, true, but it also affects how the team will be able to make future deals. If it is such a big contract teams will not want him if he is indeed a lazy player. A team option after the 4th year would help a lot.

Now, who knows if the Dampier trade gets done after what happened yesterday and that Philly-GS rumor. If it doesn't happen, well so be it. If it happens I hope it does for the right price or the right option.

Posted by Nalod:

Damp is not a real center.

Yeah, I've always thought of him as more of an SG/SF

Posted by simrud:

If you say Dampier is not a reacl center, then there is absoultley nothing to talk about, you just know nothing about bball man.

You were directing that toward Nalod, right? (You knew I was being sarcastic?)

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by Nalod:

Damp is not a real center.

Yeah, I've always thought of him as more of an SG/SF

http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=DAMPIER01

As you can see from the above link, his weight and height clearly determine he is bigger than Houston. I bet you he can do more than Houston too. Wait, no way u will take that bet. My Poland Spring bottle can do more than Houston.