Posted by BRIGGS:
what are you talking about, isiah said there would be no rebuilding in NY and had no use for the draft in the first few weeks he was hied. remember mike sweetney is NOt his pick, its a guy who was here.
If you think rebuilding is spending 200mm dollars on Marbury crawford and Nazr, thats a TERRIBLE plan. the playetrs are CASTOFFS from losing franchises--how dos that=winning???? we got what we deserved going after TT, my bet is we couldve gotten much different better value for KVH when he was hot as hll last year. we couldve broken up all the assets we had i.e Mcdyess ending contract our draft pick, lampe and instead of spening so much, i mean what would you rather haev now, Marbury or say Al Jefferson and Josh Smith? Honestly, wed be in BETTER poistion with JEFFERSON and SMITh even if you dont understand it--like I sais the day after we traded for marbury and you can go look it up, trading for marbury put us DEEPER into the quagmire and we are in DEEP.
I mean how is this guy trying to tell you that the young core is here?
Id bet most savvy basketball fans would trade Marbury for Josh Smith and Al Jefferson in about a second.
Briggs, you're saying you would want:
Frank Williams, Howard Eisley
Allan Houston, Shandon Anderson
KVH, Josh Smith
Al Jeff, Sweetney
Doleac?
I like Jefferson and Smith too, but I think Isiah rightly realized that fans were sick of being perceived as total losers and needed a Spree-like star to identify with. Hence Marbury, the perfect NYC basketball star. And, Isiah also felt he was getting Rasheed Wallace last year for KT and spare parts, which I think we all agree would have changed the shape of the entire NBA, not just the East. Danny Ainge screwed him by assisting Detroit's trade and taking on more money (which he then dumped on the Lakers for PAyton and Fox in the off-season).
So, yes, when Isiah thought he could add Marbury and Wallace to a healthy Allan Houston, he was playing to get right into the Finals against the Lakers and rejuvenate the franchise (I believe he said "light the world on fire"). BUT (and with the NYK, there's always a but), Houston started showing the knee signs, Wallace went to Detroit thanks to Ainge and offers dried up for Kurt.
Thus, change of plan. Isiah shipped KVH at the HEIGHT of his value (how many games has KVH missed since that trade) for TT and Nazr, a trade that basically took a year off of the heinous KVH contract and upgraded Doleac to Nazr. Then, he shipped spare parts (Frank Williams' brilliant WEEK in December 03 notwithstanding) for Jamal Crawford and JYD, a young star who the fans identify with and a role player who plays like Oak used to. He gets the steal of the second round with Ariza and sets the team up to win the division in 2004-5, still telling everyone that his major move will come in the summer of 05 when his contracts look appealing again (well before Van Horn, Eisley, et al would have been).
As of 12/31/04, the Knicks were 16-13 and in first place and fans were ecstatic. Then, the wheels fell off the bus. Injuries piled up, Sweets went down, Penny and Jamal were already down, Allan never found a groove....aka...IT HAPPENS to the best of us. BUT, we're still set up to make a move this summer, when there's a better draft and there is a huge assortment of big men both readily available and potentially available via trades. So, yeah, I'm willing to give Isiah through August to improve the team.
[Edited by - crzymdups on 01/24/2005 17:27:51]
