John Hollinger of ESPN wrote an interesting article recapping the summer
thus far in the Eastern Conference. I agreed with him on many levels, including the off-season’s that the Raptors (he calls them the Euraptors) and the Pistons have had. He claims that the Raptors spent a lot of money, but he is not sure if it will work. He thinks it might, but there is no guarantee. My take is that if Chris Bosh is the elite, max superstar that he himself claims to be, then adding supplemental players around him should be a good thing for that franchise. Even with all of their acquisitions, however, all eyes are still on Chris Bosh. As for the Pistons, Hollinger seems baffled at the moves that Joe Dumars has made. Frankly, I am too. Ben Gordon was a pretty good idea, but that team needs a true point guard more than a pure scorer. Charlie Villanueva received a contract that now looks to be more than market value. Then Dumars shelled out a contract to Chris Wilcox for 2 years and $6 million when better players were out there for the taking.
Anyway, back to the Knicks. Hollinger wrote the following regarding the Knicks:
“New York: The Knicks didn’t sign anybody, which is probably a good thing considering whom they targeted. Jason Kidd? Grant Hill? Does this make any sense for a rebuilding team? Hey, you want to put in an offer for Adrian Dantley while you’re at it?
They still haven’t moved to retain David Lee or Nate Robinson, as they’re caught in a quandary of whether to forfeit their 2010 cap space and a possible run at LeBron James. Trading Quentin Richardson for Darko Milicic will help a bit as they now have a legit center — albeit one who plays hard in around one game in five — but that’s about the high point of the summer thus far.”
The fact of the matter is that Donnie Walsh has not done much this summer. He has shown interest in and offered contracts to a couple of guys, but the only new players that he has added to this point have been Jordan Hill, Toney Douglas, and Darko Milicic. He has added three able bodies to a roster that was lacking in that area last season.
As the summer continues to shake out, it is looking more and more likely that Walsh will be able to piece together a competitive roster. If the Knicks do not add Sessions, Walsh will have the entire MLE and the bi-annual exception to play around with. Walsh can conceivably split up the MLE and bring in multiple players capable of playing rotation minutes. Names like Allen Iverson, Wally Szczerbiak, Rashad McCants, Gerald green, Jason Williams, Jamaal Tinsley, CJ Watson, Leon Powe (he is set to miss the first couple of months, but I would be willing to take a gamble on the cheap), Carlos Delfino (he will probably go back to Europe), among others can be had for less than the MLE.
Sessions is the only free agent remaining (aside from our own guys) that I would be willing to give a multi-year contract to of any significant price. Aside from that, I am willing to let Walsh build a team of talented players still looking for jobs. If for nothing else, Walsh has the chance to stockpile assets to trade during the season. The NBA season is filled with unexpected injuries, and depending on how well some of these free agents can play, Walsh might be surprised to see what a desperate contending team might be willing to part with to save a season. Or, some of these free agents can provide roster insurance if Walsh decides to trade away either Nate Robinson or David Lee in an effort to dump Curry’s or Jeffries’ contracts.
I have no problem with the way Walsh has handled this off-season. It is frustrating to wait, but there have been plenty of teams that have stood pat. Patience is a key here. Slow, maybe, but “roadkill” might be overstating this situation a bit.
Our MLE is very interesting, we have to spend it THIS offseason, but on who? and for how long?
And when its all said and done, I think Nate and Lee will end up signing 1 year contracts
The thing people forget is Isiah was very active during the offseason too and where did that take the Knicks? I agree they should sign someone and Kidd nor Hill were the right options but I believe adding Sessions, resigning Nate and Lee will point this team in the right Direction, not only for 2010 but the future. A team of Sessions, Nate, Chandler, Gallo, Lee and the two rookies Should be something a true star would love to take over and lead. Aren’t the knicks 1 to 2 trades away from luxury tax freedom? If they can find a taker for Curry and/or Jeffries they would have the money needed. They were able to trade Crawford and Zach so there is hope. I agree the waiting game has been killer but so far Walsh’s doing nothing has been better than Isiah’s doing too much.
“A handful of patience is more valuable than a bushel full of brains.”
– Old Danish Proverb
I agree with your point. I begin with the premise that signing either Lebron or Wade is a long shot at best. I would like to set our sights a little more realistically and go for Joe Johnson in ’10 (that is, if the Hawks don’t sign him to an extension) and then make a play for Dwight Howard or Chris Paul or some other “star” in’11.
In the meantime, I’m kind of psyched to see us put a young core of players (Lee, Gallo, Chanlder, Hill, Douglas, Sessions/Nate(?), et al.) and watch them grow. After suffering through the Layden/Thomas years, I can wait another year or two, so long as we do it right.
Donnie is after the prize of 2010. Nothing will deter him from that . He has no shot by signing all those players and all those players DO NOT make NY a contender or , for that matter , a playoff team.
I think he is going to try and shed as much salary as possible so he can actually try and get 2 FA’s while holding on to rookies that live up to their potential this year. If Lee re ups for a year its teh best for everyone. Same for Nate.
They come off the books next summer but NY can sign lebron and Bosh for example and then resign anyone they want especially while holding their bird rights . Add MLE and LLE and bi annual and NY can then catapult themselves in a whole new position in the EC
Stick to the plan !!
Do you think John Hollinger gets lonely up there on his pedestal?
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzz……….When is this David Lee Saga going to end???????…..ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
who cares ???
much better players have signed much later in the offseason (ie. josh smith)
much much much better players have signed for less money and less years than hes asking (ie lamar odom)
d. lee’s selfishness has rendered him dead to me.
I totally agree about having patience. The summer’s not over yet so something may still happen, but for now it’s a relief to see the Knicks without any terrible contracts. It’s seems that a competent person with a plan is running the Knicks.