The Incentives for Success

by Ben Chayon on October 26th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

Going into the 2009-2010 season I like every true Knick fan around the world tries with all their heart to be optimistic. However, we must also be realistic. If we don’t hold team officials accountable for their decisions who is to say they will put a sincere effort into making positive changes? If they still sell out all the games no matter how terrible they might be it would likely lull them into inactivity. The main thing on everybody’s mind now a day seems to be next season. We should not be tempted to think of the 2009-2010 campaign as an afterthought. If the Knicks make no significant improvements from last season who can honestly expect Donnie Walsh to attract any big name free agents? It seems as though team officials have proscribed to this notion of a one track mind on next summer. From Lebron James to Dwayne Wade to Chris Bosh they all have the same interest. TO HAVE THE BEST CHANCE AT WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP! Simply having the most money is not going to cut it. The one roster move which frustrates me each and every day is the drafting of Jordan Hill. How can your #8 pick not even break the rotation? Meanwhile their #29 pick Toney Douglas is a lock to make the rotation. As stated in Dan Tomasino’s article, Douglas has progressed nicely through summer league and training camp. When the Knicks open their season Wednesday against the Heat in Miami, Douglas likely will play a more prominent role than lottery pick Jordan Hill. “He will be a significant part of the rotation,” D’Antoni said. “And hopefully keep growing into a bigger role.” To me this is simply unacceptable. Being that our draft rights in 2010 go to the Utah Jazz this was our last top 10 pick for the foreseeable future. Despite this fact at least the Knicks partially made up for their error in judgment with the excellent late first round pick of Toney Douglas.

Now to all mighty salary cap issue. The salary cap has shrunk minimally over the past few days with the Knicks picking up the options on Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari. To me this was a no-brainer. Both players will play a crucial role in the future of this team. Gallinari’s ball handing and shooting capabilities for a 6-11 player reminds me of a young Dirk Nowitzki. Once he fills out the sky is the limit for this kid. As far as Wilson Chandler is concerned, it has been quite a while since the Knicks have had someone so young (22 years old) who is such a freak of an athlete. I have nothing but praise for both players attitudes and potential… kudos to Donnie Walsh on these moves. The two players which pose the biggest threat to the sacred salary cap are Jared Jeffries and Eddy Curry. Jared Jeffries player option for the 2010-2011 season is $6,883,400. Eddy Curry’s similar player option is a staggering $11,276,863. Combined that is an $18,160,263 chunk out of the 2010-2011 salary cap reserved for our two most precious players (insert chuckle here). I have been at each of the Knicks home preseason games and Jared Jeffries has actually looked impressive compared to his dismal last season. Due to this fact I believe the Knicks actually have a great chance at moving Jeffries to a team that isn’t going to be a major player in next years free agency bonanza. Regarding Eddy Curry what is there to say? It seems like he has been surrounded by nothing but problems throughout his Knick career (another great Isiah move). Most people likely believe it would be impossible to shed his contract but then again the Chicago Bulls did take Jerome James off of our hands. Excluding the two player options mentioned above the only players on the books for next season are Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas. Clearly there will be tons of movement between now and next season but this is a nice core of young players going forward.

Lastly, I can’t overstate how shrewd Donnie Walsh is to play the contract year to his advantage. Instead of throwing long term deals at both Nate Robinson and David Lee, which would have hurt our chances to sign a big name free agent, he is forcing them to prove themselves and have the seasons of their lives. Whether it be Al Harrington, David Lee or Nate Robinson each player has everything to gain and a lot of money to loose if their performance this season isn’t beyond the norm. Being a season ticket holder I have a unique inside perspective to the New York Knicks on daily basis. I look forward to providing all TBK followers with positive news throughout the season.
  • jho

    I can’t wait for this season to get under way.

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    we will see in about 10-15 games what the knicks are about..

    i got a feeling doug will play in the rookie game if everything goes well

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    quote from danni boy

    he looks like the next AMARE

    lmao he don’t even look like wilcox or ely at this point..

  • itzyung1

    Why is everyone judging J Hill so bad for?
    In the little time that he has played I have been impressed and he is only getting better!? I really like this pick.

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    i’m not knocking hill
    but at this point he doesn’t look 2 good.

  • itzyung1

    I didn’t mean to reply to your comment that was an accident because that was meant to a lot of people who have tried to call J Hill a Bust and say he is bad.

  • gbaked

    “lmao he don’t even look like wilcox or ely at this point..”

    I believe that is a knock.

    All you do is hate on the knicks…

    at this point he looks like a draft pick that was drafted on potential, not immediate need.

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    an that was a bad move
    u could of found a guy like that in the second round

  • gbaked

    you could not find jordan hill in the 2nd round.

    you are talking out of your ass.

    http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/Draft/2009/
    Four Stars
    - Stephen Curry – PG/SG – Davidson
    - Tyreke Evans – PG/SG – Memphis
    - James Harden – SG – Arizona State
    - Jordan Hill – PF – Arizona
    - Ty Lawson – PG – UNC
    - BJ Mullens – C – Ohio State
    - Ricky Rubio – PG – DKV Joventut
    - Brandon Jennings – PG – Arizona
    - Hasheem Thabeet – C – UCONN

    others also had him highly regarded.

    you are just a hater dude.

  • itzyung1

    I agree you can’t find a talent with upsode like Hill’s in the 2nd round but that website has our boy Toney D with 1 star…..

  • Jeff Cykiert

    It is a huge disappointment that our lottery pick isn’t going to be fully in the rotation, but it doesn’t mean it was a bad pick. Clearly, he was picked for his potential, and it appears obvious that his basketball knowledge and experience is very raw, so you have to assume the scouts saw that in him, yet still knowingly chose him.

    The organization wants to win as many games as possible this year, and the truth he is not ready to be a part of the rotation that gets this team to the playoffs. That doesn’t mean he won’t continue to develop as he has since he started playing the game, and when February comes around if we’re not in the playoff race, you will get your wish. And even if we are in the playoff race, maybe he will have earned some real minutes by then. If he works hard there’s no reason to believe he can’t improve dramatically.

    Thabeet was the third pick, and they don’t have any crazy expectations for him this year. Sometimes with big men you just have to be a little patient. We wanted a few guards who could be special and could contribute right away, but clearly we missed the ones we actually wanted, so we went with the pick for potential.

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    lmao.
    man i’m a knick fan.

    if u got good scouts an u know talent
    u can find talent.

    hill most likely is going to be mikki moore tops..

    if curry don’t get injured he will win rookie of the year curry was the second best player in the draft..

    sorry knicks fan we should of traded that pick also cuz hill is mikki moore

    sorry again

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    there is alot of fools that rank players i rank em how i see em
    phuk drills an practice what u see in real game time is how u rank a player

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    this guy is a jumpshooting big might an well bring back frye
    we need a banger som1 that backs u down an slams it in your face hill won’t do that in this league i doubt it..GOODLUCK hill…may the force be with u

  • Dave the Rave

    Exactly. Hill has plenty of time to improve but he has looked flimsy, and if D’A keeps him out of the low post it will be maddening. Seeing the skinny guy hoisting his crappy shot from the outside on this center-less team is insane.

  • Mucha

    Hill was a pretty good pick but I don’t like the way the Knicks are using him. They want him to be a jumpshooting center but he’s not strong enough to be a center and he’s not a jumpshooter! Like DTR said he has plenty of time to improve but let him play his game first!

    But remember Gawd, Jermaine O’Neal was terrible in his early-20′s. But in fact All-Star Jermaine O’Neal was a HUNDRED TIMES BETTER than All-Star Chris Bosh. You can criticize the fact that DW picked a player who’s not NBA-ready/who doesn’t fill a need (I’d agree with you) but it’s too early call him a bust.

  • Mucha

    He was more of a hustle player in Arizona – nothing like Channing Frye.

    Blame D’Antoni – not Hill.

  • peeg

    You think Donnie Walsh will see a full arena and decide he doesn’t need to try to make the team better? You think he will become complacent if cablevision makes its money? That is ridiculous. Walsh is a b-ball lifer who will feel like a failure if he can’t turn the Knicks around, and to suggest that attendance will have any effect on his decisions is poor logic.
    Also, the moves that Walsh is making is anything but one track. What should he do? Should he have thrown max contracts at Lee and Robinson? What other move was there? Even if those big free agents stay with their teams, Walsh has created flexibility with cap space, open roster spots and expiring contracts. He is positioned to try to sign the big free agent or two, but if not, there are still trades, a core of young players to develop, and more free agents in ’11 and ’12.
    While Isiah was throwing away the future trying to patch something together, I heard a lot of fans say to rebuild. Well now that it’s being done nobody wants to pay the piper.

  • gbaked

    it was late and i went with the first one I could find before bed.

    I am sure if you dig you can find 20 other sites that has hill as a 1st rounder.

    Point is dude has tons of talent, and while it would have been nice to grab one of our top targets, you cant argue too much with hill.

    I remember before the draft, everyone had their top picks and HIll was #4ish on most peoples board.

  • Sergio

    Playoffs are not realistic with this roster so I’ll be satisfied with these few things …

    1) Danilo Gallinari stays healthy and shows potential to be a sidekick Toni Kukoc/Hedo Turkoglu on a winning team in the future. Which means he shows he’s more then a spot-up shooter.

    2) Jordan Hill also shows potential to be a starting frontcourt player on a winning team. He better be playing in the rotation by February. Hill has the skills to be a Udonis Haslem PF next to a Star frontcourt player.

    3) Donnie Walsh is able to trade Jared Jeffries for an expiring contract. I’ve given up trading Eddy Curry.

    That’s pretty much it.

  • Sergio

    Big difference between Jermaine O’Neal and Jordan Hill. O’Neal came straight out of high school. Hill went to Arizona for 3 years. If he’s not contributing by the end of the season, I’m going to be very concerned. We desperately need for Hill to be ready to contribute in 2010. You can’r rot his Rookie season away. I understand Jared Jeffries needs to play to increase his trade value but once he’s traded (hopefully), Mike D’Antoni needs to give those minutes to Hill.

  • Mucha

    Jordan Hill : “I started playing organized basketball my ninth grade year (…) eleventh grade year I didn’t play because of my grades (…) then my senior year I went to Patterson, North Carolina and played there”

    I understand the fact that JO came straight out of HS but Hill still has a lot of upside unlike most Juniors – and I don’t expect him to follow JO’s footsteps. But the fact that he’s extremely raw doesn’t mean that he won’t be successful in the future.

    He’ll have to play though, I totally agree.

  • jaknicksfan

    I really think that with time and of course minutes J.Hill will become a good player for us. Just give the guy some time

  • DaGawD_KnowLedge

    o’neal never got to shine in portland donnie believed in him

  • Mucha

    Well D’Antoni will have to believe in Jordan Hill! JO was reeeeaaaly raw back then as well.