Hollinger: Knicks’ Off-Season “Roadkill”
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.
