That is why I would love to have a guy like Larry Brown in N.Y to coach Marburry...I like the fact that Larry believe in passing the ball first which is something that Marburry would flourish at...Also, the fact that Brown wants his guards to crash the board and play D is another added bonus...Laimbeer would do a great job at that too...Say no to Herb

Posted by fishmike:

Marbury is a max player, Billups was signed to the MLE.

This is what happens when you sign high reward players. We would rather give $70mm to a 30 year old Big Z than add guys with upside like Steven Hunter or draft a high ceiling bigman.

wow big Z's contract is going up by $10 mil every hour. Soon we'll be signing him to more than a max contract!

I don't particularly care too much about Z, but I like his scoring ability. Defensively he is not what we need, unless we can find a freak to play PF....I mean an athlete that can make Marb or Crawfford look like magicians...

Marb is a keeper, we can win with Marb, we just have to draft the proper guys to put around him...And I believe that Isiah is on track..

Posted by gunsnewing:

Posted by diderotn:

I don't particularly care too much about Z, but I like his scoring ability. Defensively he is not what we need, unless we can find a freak to play PF....I mean an athlete that can make Marb or Crawfford look like magicians...

it would be a lot easier to find a oakley, etan thomas, danny fortson, Diogu, Morris, Turiaf, Pops type player than to sit and pray for a Marbury for Brand trade.

Posted by fishmike:

I know usually its more fun for you to just post those kinds of responses so how about answering a question:

Isiah openely tried to engineer a sign and trade for Dampier this offseason for the same money that Dallas signed him for. The only reason Dallas got him was they had a better off to GS.

So why wouldnt Isiah offer big Z the same type of contract? They are the same age, as some have mentioned big Z is an all star, and Z is better player.

You can poo poo this all you want but based on the last couple years thats the kind of money his agent will shoot for

relax, kid. I was just joking. One out every 100 posts I take a break from basketball to go off topic. If you want to talk about high ceiling players, getting Jamal Crawford last offseason has to fit that description. I'm not going to criticize Isiah for "almost" getting a player who would have been a poor choice like Dampier.

[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 06/13/2005 09:27:32]

Posted by Bonn1997:

relax, kid. I was just joking. One out every 100 posts I take a break from basketball to go off topic. If you want to talk about high ceiling players, getting Jamal Crawford last offseason has to fit that description. I'm not going to criticize Isiah for "almost" getting a player who would have been a poor choice like Dampier.

[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 06/13/2005 09:27:32]

well thats a good non answer. The fact is Isiah loved Dampier, openly courted him and tried to get him for what Dallas gave him. Is Big Z worth that kind of money and commitment? I say no

Posted by fishmike:

Posted by Bonn1997:

relax, kid. I was just joking. One out every 100 posts I take a break from basketball to go off topic. If you want to talk about high ceiling players, getting Jamal Crawford last offseason has to fit that description. I'm not going to criticize Isiah for "almost" getting a player who would have been a poor choice like Dampier.

[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 06/13/2005 09:27:32]

well thats a good non answer. The fact is Isiah loved Dampier, openly courted him and tried to get him for what Dallas gave him. Is Big Z worth that kind of money and commitment? I say no

I don't care about the money. The question to me is whether he'd be worth filling one of the fifteen roster spots for the next six years. He's been pretty healthy and a pretty good, though obviously not superstar, center for the past 3 years. I wouldn't mind having him fill one of the fifteen roster spots for six years; it would be better if it were closer to 4 or 5 years, though.

You're right that Isiah openly courted Dampier (although I believe it was only for an MLE contract). My point was simply that if you are going to set a new standard by which you criticize GMs for the deals they "almost" make, then you could make any GM look awful because every GM has some bad deals that they "almost" made.

[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 06/13/2005 10:06:03]

On a side note, there is NO way Cleveland would do the Penny + pick #30 for Big Z deal. That would basically amount to paying $15 mil (Penny's salary) for the #30 pick. They would just let Big Z walk.

Isiah said the MLE was never an option for Dampier and point blank said that he was going to try and do everything he could to get a deal that he deserved.

Sure you dont care about the money now. Its when guys dont work out and you have made it impossible to do anything about it because of their contracts.

Hey.. thats our whole roster.