next year we will have 8 out of 11 signed players who will be 29 or older
Taylor--29
Marbury-29
Thomas-29
Rose -32
Houston-35
JYD-33
KT-33
Penny-34
-----
median age---32 years old

I don't necessarily agree with isiah that bringing in taylor and rose represents anything about getting younger and more athletic. It gives us more defensive and offensive depth, and that makes us a better club, but are we setting oursleves for a huge fall?

I don't know what they will do with Butler, hes only under contract this year, so I can count him yet.

so that leaves us next year with
Craw 26
Sweet 23
Ariza 20


I still think we are missing the balance between young and older players. Remember the Knicks in their prime were ALL in their 20s. When we let things get old, we got in big trouble--which has cost the franchise and its fans pretty hard.
thats why I think, for the most part, that I would like to see us come up with 4 players under the age of 25 incorporated into this team in the next year. If Butler is one, excellent. I think, for the most part we should keep the draft and our vet ending contracts seperate unless we are able to swap for young players like , for example, a favorite of mine devin harris. a player like that is perfect. But I dont want to start swinging draft picks for guys like michael finley.

I think a roster make up should look like this

7 vets-meaning [28-35]
7 players on the younger side[27-20]

this way you have a pipeline of talent and you don't have to have mulitple years of what we just went through.

Our important players (Marbury, Crawford, Sweetney, Ariza, and whoever is added over the offseason) are young. I'm not worried. The others are nice role players but an injury to any one of them does not destroy the season by any means.

[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 03/02/2005 11:38:39]

some good notes here, but I think we will come out OK.

We have the draft this year and next; I am guessing this will yeild us 2 players at about 23 years, but who knows how long they will stick.

I think we can agree that TT and Penny are going to be gone by the end of their contracts. I will put money on 1-2 of KT, JYD, Rose, Mo T not making it past 2 years on this team (most likely KT and JYD).

Anyone surprised at how old Rose was?

Yeah, the age thing is bad, but if we do the right thing and just use the draft properly, then the core will get younger and younger and that's what's important. However, Isiah can easily screw it up. If he drafts a PF or trades for a Boozer or Gooden (Whom I like) then he's only screwing with things.

you have to love Butler's story. He's no CBA retread. This is a guy that took bad advice from an agent. Then when he didnt make the cut after a summer league stint w/ Sota he goes to the CBA and is instantly one of the (if not the) best bigman in that league at 19. He should have been a freshmen in college.

Hopefully we work with him this year, keep him around the organization and he's willing to work give him a two year deal with a TO 3rd for 900k... something like that.

If you look at it this way:
Crawford 24
Ariza 19
Sweetney 22
Butler 19
Thats not bad considering...

He have good hard working guys to emulate in JYD and KT and Rose.

I think we have a good mix of players age wise. You can't really have nothing but young ones in your team. A team needs good stable guys that can teach the young pups how to go about their business. I beleive we have that in KT, JYD, Allan, Rose and even Penny.

In 2 years if Zeke doesn't trade our picks we would have another 4 young players in the pipeline.

That will be...
Crawford 26
Ariza 21
Sweetney 24
Butler 21
PLUS 2 Rooks and 2 Sophs.

That is more than half the team.

Posted by NYKBocker:

I think we have a good mix of players age wise. You can't really have nothing but young ones in your team. A team needs good stable guys that can teach the young pups how to go about their business. I beleive we have that in KT, JYD, Allan, Rose and even Penny.

In 2 years if Zeke doesn't trade our picks we would have another 4 young players in the pipeline.

That will be...
Crawford 26
Ariza 21
Sweetney 24
Butler 21
PLUS 2 Rooks and 2 Sophs.

That is more than half the team.

a couple of guys over 30 OK, especially if you are in the big time hunt

what is pheonix right now?

C- 22 YO
PF 26-
SF 24
SG 24
PG 30
6thman 20

Back up Cs 27 23
then you hav some older vets to tie in
jimmy jackson mcCarty

but their median age 6man core is 24.25

Bulls? Wizards? Cavs? Celts? these are the clubs, iMHO, that will be the next generation tier teams. We still are in no man's land as of now. 2 well executed drafts and perhaps 1-2 more moves could change that, but we are still wait and see.

you can't count Houston because he may never play again- the only other player you need to worry about is Marbury- everyone else that's over 30 are 'role players' KT, Rose, Taylor. TT if he's not gone will be resigned to much less.

I think the team is heading in the right direction- if we can get two good young players this year...

I am not that concern, None of these guys are ancient, Houston and Penny are the oldest guys. His core guys are young, and if he keeps those picks he can retool in the draft. One thing I will say about Isiah, and his current staff. It appears like they enjoy coaching young players. That could not always been said for the Knicks, especially in the 90s.

Posted by Pharzeone:

I am not that concern, None of these guys are ancient, Houston and Penny are the oldest guys. His core guys are young, and if he keeps those picks he can retool in the draft. One thing I will say about Isiah, and his current staff. It appears like they enjoy coaching young players. That could not always been said for the Knicks, especially in the 90s.

I'm not too concerned either. We had old guys with big contracts, you can't get rid of all of them with one swoop. We have our young guys who will get their minutes, along with others to come. In the mean time, we only have 1 starter over 30, and that's Kurt.