Knicks Ready To Sign Almond?

by Myles A. Mills on July 3rd, 2009 at 4:42 am

Via Marc Berman:

“Grant Hill isn’t the only Lon Babby client the Knicks hope will be on their club come October. In fact, the Knicks may have found their “Almond in the Rough.”

In another sign of Nate Robinson‘s looming exit, the Knicks signed Morris Almond, Utah’s 2007 first-round pick out of Rice, to their summer-league team. According to a team source, the Knicks fully expect to sign the free agent sharpshooter for next season as long as he performs decently in Las Vegas. The summer league begins July 14.”

I hope this isn’t premature, like the Anthony Roberson signing was.  I hope the Knicks did their homework on Almond and extensively scouted his time at Rice and in the NBDL if this is true.  There’s no question he can score, but there’s a reason he hasn’t been able to stick in the league.  I don’t think the signing should be because he can drop 25 points on a bunch of scrubs in the Summer League.  But I do trust Donnie Walsh and Almond has unlimited range.  I’m not sure if he’s really a spot up shooter.  I also heard some rumors about some of his Jazz teammates making fun of him because he never passed.  Anyway, this summer league team is going to be great.  The starting lineup will probably be Toney Douglas, Almond, Korolev/Acker, Hill, and Sene.  That team shouldn’t lose many games, if any.  I’m also excited about seeing Tyreke Evans, James Johnson, Thabeet, and Austin Daye.  

Also, for those who don’t support signing Jason Kidd and Grant Hill, consider that the Knicks did not have a captain last year.  I figured Chris Duhon was the captain, but after finding this out, I now can understand why this team went into so many slumps where they looked uninterested and clueless on the court.  Kidd, albeit 36, won’t let that happen.  Grant Hill would not only really help Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari but despite being 36 years old, he played in all 82 games last year for the Suns, and started 67.  His health doesn’t bother me.

About Myles A. Mills

Myles is a sophomore at The Browning School, an all-boys private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He's been a Knick fan as long as he can remember, and 02-03 was the last season he could remember in entirety. He hopes to one day see the Knicks in the playoffs. Myles is also fond of the Mets, and follows them vehemently, but his the bulk of his time goes to the Knicks. Myles wants to be a radio hosts on WFAN or ESPN 1050 radio, and he hopes to write for theknicksblog.com for years to come. View all posts by Myles A. Mills →
  • Jeff Cykiert

    These two signings would be perfect for us. We aren’t getting our major guys yet. We need to build a culture based on good smart leaders and have some foundation. Kidd and hill are both very established veterans who know how to play the right way and lead a team. Not to mention, they are pretty darned good players. They arent superstars, but they would complement one greatly, and could definitely win enough games for the time being to make the playoffs with the support of our developing players. . The idea is that they would be cheap (midlevel), and not effect our cap room that much for 2010, (assuming we can dump either curry or jeffries, which you know donnie will do.)

    Bottom line, there’s no reason to over react to the crazy moves that the top contenders make every year. It is not our time to do that. The cap IS going down and cap room is increasing in value. the economics are not just some myth, it is true. If there is any player we want to sign to a midlevel salary right now, it should be players to establish a real ethic to our team, and lead us in the right direction to improve our youngsters so that they can support whoever else we bring in 2010.

    Kidd and Hill will both have some good years left in them, and if we do happen to get LeBron plus another pretty large contract in 2010, having them be complemented by kidd and hill plus chandler, galo, lee, and whoever, for a couple years, will be amazing.

    We are NOT in a rush to sign some crazy game changing player right now…. pattiencee.

    I LOVE these signings, these are two GREAT players on the cheap still playing great basketball, to help build our team.

  • danisrob

    I am happy with these moves as well but we still just seem so stacked at 3 and 4 and havent addressed our problem of centre and future PG (unless Darko pans out).

    And also if we do get Lebron next year, we really need to surround him with shooters and right now we havent done that, the likes of Kidd, Chandler, Lee, Hill just can’t offer that.

  • jingo

    At the moment the Knicks have Curry, Darko, Sene and maybe even Lee. Its not perfect but its not the fiasco at PG.

  • Jeff Cykiert

    I don’t think it matters what holes we have right now, we can’t just go shopping for whatever we want without making an irresponsible purchase. Our biggest hole is having an established culture of playing and some real leadership. As we have all been saying for a while (apart from a few) We’re not guna just fall into some great players at the positions where you think we are weak, and all of a sudden be a good team. If we got some other young, inexperienced players who show some promise, our team would still lack any direction/leadership.

    What player would you have liked to get to fill our holes at center and pointguard? I don’t see PG as a hole, i see it as a missing puzzle piece and only once piece will fit, (maybe another if you really squeeze hard). There’s no point in trying to jam in pieces that don’t fit just because we can and we are anxious.

    Being stacked at the 3/4 is necessary because we will end up playing a big lineup and have maybe 3 of those guys on the court at a time.

    Kidd/Duhon/Douglas
    Chandler/Hughes/Douglas
    Grant Hill/Harrington/Galo
    Galo/Harrington/J. Hill
    J. Hill/ Darko/Lee

    That is a playoff team in the east, and we haven’t wasted money on anything above the mid-level.

    Don’t look at it as ‘surrounding lebron wtih shooters”. Lebron isn’t even here… What we need to now is become a good team, without sacrificing too much of our future cap room. This is the best way to do that. Yea, we could have gone out and signed artest and gordon and traded Jordan hill and Chandler for Rubio, and than we would be Isiah’s random assortment of players 2.0 with no future.

  • KBT1615

    We offered Kidd 3 Years 18 Million By The Way. Say what you want but Kidd is still good.
    Also I am glad more people are embracing the idea other than looking at it as “We Didn’t Get Rubio Or Curry Because of Kidd?”..

  • joetheknick

    Good post. Agree completely. Kidd or Nash will be the first step toward respectability and leadership. DW will try to improve at every position in the coming year. MD is good at getting the most of what he has on the floor. Should be a better year.

  • HaS

    I don’t see how signing to geriatric patients is going to “turn things around” for the long run. Yes it may help us be competitive in a very weak eastern conference but for what? You think Lebron James is stupid enough to fall for a 1 year plan to make him say “Wow, I wanna play with Jason Kidd for 1 year before he turns to dust, let me sign a FIVE year contract to play with someone for for ONE year.” That situation doesn’t seem very appealing to me. Please elaborate on what Lebron’s thinking would be? Someone help me see this. Unless you’re signing Kidd to mentor Nate Robinson and groom him into the starting or at least future backup point guard, I see no point (pun intended).

    Also, WTH do you “trust Donne Walsh” so much, Mr. Myles A. Mills?

  • HaS

    I sincerely hope Wilson Chandler has increased his ball handling skills to be able to play the 2 spot that everyone has just engraved in stone for him to play. I love “Ill” Will’s game, but he dribbles too high and his first step leaves a lot too be desired. With that said he may be the only potential star on this team (if his lack of fire and personality don’t hold him back). With all of that said I’d love for him to make that transition to the 2 guard spot or even better be able to be swingman and give the team some flexibility. He can definitely guard those 2 positions well.

  • Chris3035

    I read that kobe can opt out of his contract next year, if we do not sign kidd and hill and we are able to move the contracts of curry and jeffries do you think it would be possible to land both kobe and lebron…if that ever happened watch out the 2000′s may have been painful but the 2010′s will be amazing

  • KBT1615

    I Can Answer That, He Hasn’t Steered Us Wrong Yet.
    And Jason Would Fix The Leadership Problem With Our Team, and we have many talented players we just need someone to keep our team driven and Lebron is a leader himself and hopefully by the time Lebron gets hear either Toney D would develop into a true PG or we steal one from someone like Chris Paul the next year….

  • Cheech

    Just stop right there.

  • KBT1615

    Hey Chris Imma play Devil’s advocate whats better Jordan and Pippen or Lebron and Kobe?

  • HaS

    This isn’t NBA 2k9. It’ll never happen.

  • HaS

    Yet? It’s been ONE year. He hasn’t earned my trust by just not screwing up! All he has done is cut salary, which is a lot like putting all your eggs in one basket.

    So, “by the time Lebron gets here”? Really? That’s your answer?

  • HaS

    D’antoni “is good at getting the most of what he has on the floor”? By “most” you are referring to 3′s I guess? He doesn’t get the most out of a team defensively that’s for sure.

  • CircleLimit4

    On the flip side of that coin, is one year really enough to earn distrust? His first season he said his goal was cap flexibility and he has certainly reached that goal.

  • KBT1615

    He did something many people thought were impossible he cut salry and had us in some sort of a playoff race. I have no clue why you Walsh bashers are ignoring the facts and you all act like Al, Gallo, and Duhon didn’t help last season.
    Yea by the time Lebron gets here either Toney would have became a true PG or we steal a replacement for Kidd from someone.

  • joetheknick

    He got defense out of Raja Bell and Barbosa and Diaw. Cann’t get blood out of a stone. I think our guys can learn defense and how to play like a team. I guess it will take some more time. Your thoughts.

  • HaS

    Never said I distrust him, I just don’t see why he gets a pass. Trust is EARNED and he hasn’t done anything in his career or here that warrants my undying bromance love like a lot of people re giving him after 1 year of cutting salary. New York has never been patient enough to sit thru a couple losing seasons to get a high draft pick in order to get a future superstar / perennial all-star before Mr. Donnie Walsh, before they’d go after some washed up star looking for a last payday from a desperate team interested more in ticket sales rather than the standings, now all of a sudden no one is looking at the bottom line of winning and losing games we’re on a wing and a prayer that a player is going to leave his HOMETOWN team who had the BEST RECORD in the league last year and who has shown they’re WILLING to do ANYTHING to keep him and be a CONTENDER by getting players around him. He’s gonna leave the 1st seeded team to come to an 8th seeded (hopefully) team?

  • HaS

    No one thought it was impossible, people thought it was impossible to do in New York because the fans are so impatient they want to have a winner tomorrow by getting someone else’s superstar instead of getting their own thru painful losing seasons and smart drafts.

  • KBT1615

    WHAT? If you say you thought it was possible to unload all those HORRIBLE contracts for expirings who helped our team out In ONE SEASON Than You are a Lying Punk….

  • HaS

    Barbosa was not a defensive player, Diaw? don’t make me laugh, the man averages less than half a block and half a steal at 6’11″. Raja was already a defensive player because that’s the only thing that kept him in this league at one point and gave him a shot in Philly, he’s not gonna lose that no matter what coach he plays for. D’antoni can lose a game 120-115 and never mention getting a defensive stop he’ll talk about offensive execution or not being able to get a shot to drop in a key moment. He’s an offensive genius but he could care less about defense. His philosophy is a short bench and running out of the gym, players get tired and the 1st thing to suffer is the defense.

  • HaS

    I personally didn’t think it was impossible, no. I’m definitely not a punk and I’m not lying either lol. The dudes he got rid of were talented players and better than anyone on the roster at the end of the year.

  • bob go knicks

    you are the one overeacting to these signings.although KIDD and HILL once were great,they arent anymore.they really are notSTILL playing GREAT basketball(as you say).their production curve is almost falling off a cliff! i dont know why you guys DONT WANT to see what really is. your treating DONNIE WALSH as if he were an old favorite uncle of yours.to me ,he gets treated fairly,he makes a bad move,he should be taken to task for it ,(just as if he makes a good move,he should be applauded)but you cant continue to cheer every move this guy makes just cuz hes DONNIE WALSH

  • bob go knicks

    HASNT STEERED US WRONG YET? what do call DUHON and ROBERSON?

  • bob go knicks

    Let me ask you guys something, with KIDD and HILL both on the decline ,their bodies breaking down seems inevitable,(hills body has been doing it since he entered the league)as a matter of fact,last year was the first FULL season he has played in 11 years.if we give both these guys at their ages ,3 year contracts,and they beak down and dont play after say 1 year ,their salary stays on our cap and we will continue to pay them well into 2012,SOUNDS FAMILIAR DOESNT IT? these just dont sound like very WISE signings.paying players salaries long after they’ve stopped playing is stupid.if we dont sign LEBRON,then in 5 years we will be where we were when ISAIAH took over .old players,hurt players and over the cap.you cant give a FREE PASS to DONNIE WALSH just because the media tells you to

  • bob go knicks

    you thought it was impossible,because thats what the MEDIA told you to think.(you are really good with calling people names that dont agree with your DONNIE WALSH ASS KISSING )

  • darkseid

    LOL Roberson…I love how people point out one of Walsh’s “biggest mistakes” last year

    Roberson was and insignificant low risk move that was traded as part of a package that included ridding the team of Jerome James.

    If someone told me that we could sign someone for $700K and use him as part of a trade to rid the Knicks of arguably one of the worst contracts ever given to a basketball player for a an expiring contract…I would do that in a second.

    Also, the reason people like Walsh is that he actually does what he says he will do. The plan is cut salary and stay competitive. He obviously cut a lot of salary, but when the team was in a playoff run he did not unload Nate as part of a deal to clear JJ2′s contract.

    Duhon wasn’t a total disaster either…let’s be real 11.1 pts 7.2 assists (9th in the league) isnt that bad for the MLE expiring after this season)

    Who were the other point guard’s available for MLE last year?

    How did they do?