http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBqam1ocWIyBF9TAzk1ODYxOTQ4BHNlYwNlY2w-?slug=sk-atlantic101304&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

If Isiah Thomas has an unlimited budget, he's working hard to exceed it.

The bold general manager of the New York Knicks has brought a wealth of talent – and large contracts – to Gotham in an attempt to recapture the excitement that has been missing at Madison Square Garden the past few years.

After adding Stephon Marbury, Vin Baker, Tim Thomas and Penny Hardaway last season, Isiah snared talented Jamal Crawford from Chicago in a trade this summer. Add that group to Allan Houston and Kurt Thomas, and you have a gifted group of scorers.

But are there enough basketballs to go around? And do the Knicks have enough size to rebound and defend?

The talent doesn't seem to fit together, at least on paper, and one has to wonder if coach Lenny Wilkens can keep everyone happy and playing as a team.


Isiah's acquisition of Crawford was a head scratcher. There's no doubting the guard's talent, but the Bulls moved him because of his overwhelming need to shoot the ball. And with the Knicks' offense already being run by the electric, offensive-minded Marbury, it's difficult to imagine Crawford finding peace in New York.

Isiah seems to be following the blueprint designed by Portland GM Bob Whitsitt several years ago – get the 12 most talented players you can find on one roster and let the coach sort it out. Ask Mike Dunleavy and Maurice Cheeks how they felt about that strategy.

By January, Wilkens may be begging for a few role players who will defend and pass. His teams have always been well-coached and unselfish, but getting this group to share the ball will be an amazing achievement. However, if he can pull it off – or even come close – the Knicks will be the favorites to win the Atlantic Division.

I think this is totally fair....

"By January, Wilkens may be begging for a few role players who will defend and pass. His teams have always been well-coached and unselfish, but getting this group to share the ball will be an amazing achievement. However, if he can pull it off – or even come close – the Knicks will be the favorites to win the Atlantic Division. "

He's basicly saying if he can get these guys on the same page they will win the division. Crawford ISNT Ricky Davis. He's got the comfort of the long term deal. All he has to do is go out and play winning ball now. Nobody is going to judge him or Marbury on their points per game. Only their W's.

It was a very fair comment about the team. Put the Kool Aid down for a minute and realize we do have many flaws on this team.

Being better than last year, and Isiah not being Layden is just not enough. THe bar has been raised, but done so with lots and lots of money. All of Isiahs magic was done by taking on more salary than giving up.

We will have the Leagues highest payroll, and there is an absurd amount of money being shelled out. That alone will draw its critics.

Marbury, craw, Vin, TT, Penny, and H20 all have underachieved in some form for various reasons. Some of it attidude, some imaturity, some becaue of salary expectations, and some physical. One can even say that Isiah's uneven coaching/management record leaves him with much to prove. There is no reason to say with any certainty this team will achieve just because we have upgraded the talent.

ESPN did an article last February about Marbury and Isiah really needing each other, and this oportunity to elevate their performence and reputations. I agree and I think Kerr touches on a piece of that theory.

WE hope this talent comes together, we hope this group understands its individual shortcomings and has the humility to put the team ahead of itself to achieve greater achievement. If not, it could be very ugly.

TT is showing that he has not changed. If he needs this stupid comment flinging to motivate him, then he is truly unprofessional and needs to go.

Dumb article...

How can he even compare this team with the Trailblazers back in the day. They had stars at every position, some real pain in the ass players with headcases and a coach that was a complete b*tch.

Now Chaney might be a little quiet, but he gets more respect and he ain't a b*tch, Crawford and Marbury might have had ball hogging problems but they are far from headcases and neither is anyone else on the team and if this team is on the same talent level as was Portland then we should be favored to make the finals and win 55+ games. Also we have a deep bench that are full of role players.

Lastly, I still can't believe people stll hate on IT, he turned a team of overpaid scrubs into a team of overpaid stars. You guys want this guy to turn a team of overpaid scrubs into a team of underpaid superstars? And on top of that in less than a year?!!

did you guys read the article? Everything Kerr says is fair. He also says we have the most talent in the Atlantic and winning it is only a matter of doing a good job of coaching.

I love this.. I love this article. I dreamed about people writing these articles over the last couple years. But they never came... because we HAD NO TALENT. Now we have a bunch of good players. If they dont work well together you have TT, Penny and Nazr entering final years next offseason. Either way we have good players and exciting players and skilled players. No more debating who's better to start: Eisley vs. Ward and Harrington vs. Spoon. Yea... I really missed those days.

I think the article is fair (agree w/ fishmike). Forget about what happened last year. Just look at the team on paper.

One true star. Lots of "good" players. Highest salary in the whole NBA.

For all that money, I defy any fan to say that we're a top-5 team in the NBA. I'd even imagine it might be difficult to say without a doubt we're even a top-10 team.

The comparisons w/ Portland's recent teams (over the last 5 years or so) are very just. They keep acquiring good players w/o a clear plan of how to use them. Most recently, they draft a promising PG and then they trade for an aging Nick Van Exel... all the while Stoudamire had his best season in years. Talk about asking for drama.

Kerr is right in questioning how well our mix will fit together. We might have 2 (or 3) solid players at each position, but dividing up minutes and keeping the players happy becomes an interesting problem. We don't have a clear top-5 player list on our team. We have Marbury and everyone else. Position battles at every position. Yikes. Managing who gets 4th quarter minutes could get ugly really fast.

For the Knicks to win, a whole lot of things need to go right... but based on overall depth of talent, we're right up there with just about any team in the NBA.

Fair article...whats wrong with it....The trailblazers kept adding players instead of getting role players, you have four scorers, Marbury, Craw, TT, Houston, Where are the shots?

And Portland brought in Davis, Kemp, Pippen, non of which were bad guys, their big mistake was shipping Steve Smith to Atlanta for Isiah JR Rider....

For our payroll we are definitely not a top 5 team but whose fault is that? Did IT give Houston a $100 mil contract? Did IT bring on SA and Eisley and the whole mormon crew? Did you want IT to just wave his magic stick and fix everything all at once?

As for everyone getting enough minutes this is all a plan by IT telling everyone their job is up for grabs, they all ready know who is gonna get minutes and start at every position except for PF.

Marbs and Craw will take the majority of minutes w/Penny backing them up. If Houston comes back he will see limited minutes and then they'll just slide Penny to SF and give Ariza less minutes.
TT is locked for SF, Nazir will start w/Baker sharing minutes, and I doubt Baker will be complaining about his minutes.
Finally they will need all 3 PF's in Kurt, Sweets and JYD, Sweets will be in foul trouble very often, not to mention that so does Kurt once in a while. And finally Euro and Asian boy whoever stays will not play any minutes cept when we are in foul trouble or need some hacks against Shaq.

I think that it's easier to say "hey team no one's job here is safe... instead of hey Kurt we are gonna cut a lot of your minutes cause we want to play Sweets more." This way training camp is more intensive and we get more done.

I don't think the issue is that there aren't enough shots to go around. Don't think guys on the team are selfish. My concern is that too many of our guys are best creating with the ball, rather than finding open areas, making hard cuts and hitting open shots -- or taking advantage of teammates creating w/ the ball. It's not that Steph or Craw won't give up the ball ... it's that they, and TT and H20, imo, do their most damage beating their man off the dribble, the low or the middle post.

We need guys who can get open when their man doubles, and who can hit their shot or get fouled once that happens. That's why I think KT will play a bigger role this year than most of this board's posters. H20, even if healthy, isn't great at moving w/o the ball, imo, and shoots just as well off a 1 on 1 move as off the pass. Sweetney doesn't need the ball to be effective either if his rebounding approximates what he did at the end of last year.