in admitting he was wrong about Isiah

http://www.nykfanpage.com/editorials/viewarticle.php?articleid=137
Damn the Torpedoes...
By Ethan Guild
August 6, 2004

...and full speed ahead!


Jamal Crawford is now a New York Knick.
That's what Admiral David Farragut said in the Civil War before plunging his battleship through a harbor full of landmines to capture an enemy stronghold. For Isiah Thomas, it's, "To hell with the salary cap and full speed ahead!" Except this time, unlike in the past, Thomas is fully in the right.

While I, along with NBA analyst Chad Ford and others, strongly disagreed with the path Thomas took in mortgaging the Knicks' future in the Stephon Marbury trade, I'm now a full believer, praise the lord! Why? Because, in the eternal words of George Tenet, the Jamal Crawford trade is "a slam dunk case."

It's easy to be skeptical of a franchise's management when your favorite team has played 225 consecutive games at or below .500. After years of bungling under the Scott Layden and Ed Tapscott administrations, many Knicks fans were convinced there was no successful way to avoid the salary cap. New York simply couldn't obtain players better than Clarence Weatherspoon or Michael Doleac without giving up too much.

Some fans (like me) whined and groaned and moaned when we saw Isiah throw away rookies and draft picks for another raft of long term contracts. "We've gone through this before," I bitched, "we're going to spend another ten years in salary cap hell."

Yet thanks to Isiah's relentless negotiations, there is actually short term and long term hope. The Crawford trade (Crawford and Jerome Williams for Harrington, Dikembe Mutombo, Frank Williams, and Cezary Trybanski) may leave the Knicks with little short term financial flexibility, but New York probably now has the best backcourt in the NBA beyond dispute. Forget Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell, and Glen Rice. The tight triple guard rotation of Marbury, Crawford, and Houston should produce the crispest ball movement in Gotham since the days of Micheal Ray Richardson.

And if Dampier does indeed sign for the Mid-Level Exception, it might just be the greatest management coup of all-time for this team.

The Crawford trade also gives Thomas greater roster flexibility than ever, and clears up many small problems. A breakdown of the other players involved in the trade:

Cezary Trybanski: Thank god. Whoever signed him to an NBA contract in the first place should be hung and quartered, not necessarily in that order. Trybanski was absolutely lifeless in summer league, and his bizarre claim of gorging himself at all-you-can-eat buffets and then watching his weight drop was, well, bizarre. He had no value whatsovever besides his contract. See ya.
Othella Harrington: was threatening a holdout if he wasn't traded away by the time training camp started. Harrington was acquired a few years back in what at the time was a good trade for backup point guard Erick Strickland. Harrington did the best he could to fill the enormous void caused by Antonio McDyess's injury in 2003, but mostly it was a disaster. His best days are behind him. See ya.
Dikembe Mutombo: A fan favorite to say the least. This was probably a career ending trade for the 38 year old, since Mutombo claimed he wouldn't play for any team except New York in the 2005 season. An all-time defensive great, Mutombo's effectiveness was severely limited last year, though he was effective for short spurts. Mutombo's contributions to the game and philanthropy, however, should never be forgotten. Have we seen the last of the finger wag?
Frank Williams: Frank Williams...once again New York proves that as a building block, the draft for them is meaningless. The franchise hasn't made an impact pick since Charlie Ward (too early to tell with Sweetney still). But that's the way it goes when you have two all star point guards. Here's wishing him well.
Jerome Williams: Before we get too excited about the Junkyard Dog in return for the above four players, let's realize that he has fallen off quite a bit since he peaked in popularity in the 2001 season. Yet he's still a banger, and he's the type of down and dirty player the orange and blue has been lacking for a very long time.
And if the Knicks add Erick Dampier? Short term, it may create a depth problem at the power positions. Where will Vin Baker play? However, in the long term, it's probably worth it. Because a team of this caliber may actually be able to contend...
for once, in my opinion, the Knicks have the pure talent to overcome all of their little character flaws and possible chemistry problems.

Is this the Olympic team all over again? A collection of good players with no obvious cohesion? No. This group of guys will have a training camp together, and I think Allan Houston may actually volunteer to be the sixth man on this team. Dampier and Marbury aren't just playing for money anymore. That's a good thing, because they'll be willing to share. Tim Thomas will begin to play for his next contract. That's a good thing too, because he'll have to hustle more to get his fair market value. Shandon Anderson and Moochie Norris won't be playing at all. Any doubt about that being a good thing?

Besides, what do we have to lose? Another boring season waiting to lower the salary cap? Another year of wasted game recaps, wringing of hands, and exasperated sighs? New York wasn't going to be under the cap until the 2008 season anyway, and if Jamal Crawford's contract is indeed front-loaded as rumored, that's still a good possibility. Isiah has nothing to lose.

Have I been smoking with Ricky Williams? Perhaps. But it's been a really long, really hard slog during the past three years, and for the first time since Vince Carter pumped his fist and slammed the door on the 2001 season, I'm actually excited about the New York Knicks.

Zeke...you're the man.

Good article.
It's nice to see people coming around.

One last thing on Det: While they were under the cap they never used their space to sign a bigtime FA.

They had Sheed's Bird rights. They lost Okur (as I said they would) because they didnt have the cap room to sign both. McDyess, Chauncey... both MLE aquisitions.

Posted by fishmike:

dude.. even I have to admit thats a total kool-aid article. Its from the Knicks fan zone. You or me could have written that article.

Oh, I know. I just like seeing critics turn around and finally see the light

The Knicks didn't take on any bad contracts either. JYD at $5.5 mil is being paid about 1.5 mil above his value in this market, which is not enough to be considered a bad contract.

Posted by fishmike:

"big difference between detroit acquisitions and ny is they took on no bad contracts and all players are two way players with length"

Ben Wallace is a two way player? Your talking about the worse player on offense since Chris Dudley. Billup's first four years he got traded 3 times. Everyone knows Sheed can guard 3 positions if he *chose* too. Rip Hamilton was NEVER a good defender until he was in Browns system.

The simple fact is winning changes the perception of these players. Everyone one of them is a cast off from a losing situation, except Sheed (who is regarded as never playing up to his capabilities and choking in big moments).

Now look at them. Were they all long 2-way players when they were 32-50? Your right about the contracts, but how can you hold Isiah accountable for that?

When you can rebound and defend like Wallace, it doesn't matter what your offensive game is like. He's a force. He still manages to average 9.5 pts/game, so he is getting a lot of double/doubles.

exactly, winning does change the perception, good post fellas, but this is typical Briggs BS.. if the pistons were the knicks he would find fault with them.. Ben wallace can't score, sheed at 29 is too old and will be 36 next year, they have no true center and blah, blah, blah... The fact is the knicks in a few years will have shed over 70 mil in contracts while upgrading the roster, what else do you want?