Tag Archives: Donnie Walsh
Frank Isola points out at his blog Knicks Knation that the Knicks shouldn’t put all their “eggs” in the Lebron James free agent basket. Isola points out how the Kobe Bryant saga ended with him still in Lakers purple and gold. He believes that Donnie Walsh should follow the Detroit blueprint where they brought in players that were top 10 at their positions, but not franchise players. Another interesting tidbit from the piece is Larry Brown discussing how he used the last two years as a “learning experience” after his failed tenure as Knicks coach. 
Frank brings up an excellent point. For the Knicks to strip the roster barren and wait for Lebron is not a wise decision. Lebron, as you can see in Cleveland, can’t win a championship all by himself. If you look at the Lakers and Heat they established a solid roster and brought Shaquille O’Neal as the final piece. Lets not forget that the Heat made the playoffs the year before Shaq came to South Beach with a players like Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, and Rafer Alston. Point being the Knicks need to start assembling talent, not just sit and wait for the elusive franchise player.
Tagged Donnie Walsh, Larry Brown, LeBron James |Greg Hutchins of The Garden Grasp outlines “4 points” that need to be addressed before training camp. He believes a solid number six pick, roster balance, coaching, and the atmosphere of the locker room are essential for the team to move forward.
I agree with Greg on every one of these statements. I believe that points three and four which discuss coaching and team chemistry are two of the biggest failures of the Isiah Thomas regime. The team in 2008, although not of championship quality, should not have been as bad as their record. If you look at the teams from the early nineties they didn’t have the most collective talent in the league. What did they have is the ability to know their roles, roster balance, and of course Patrick Ewing. I believe the 1991 to 1994 teams were average teams that became very good due to their hard work. Defense cures all ills so hopefully Mike D’Antoni looks at some tape from those Knicks teams. At the very least an atmosphere of winning and a focused plan should do wonders.
The first two points are far more complicated. No one really knows what they are going to do with the draft pick. At this point its an asset and hopefully Donnie Walsh maximizes its by the night of June 26th. Roster balance very well might come with time and patience. New York fans are not known for either of those traits but unfortunately that is what its going to take to turn this thing around.
Tagged Donnie Walsh, Mike D'Antoni |Marc Berman reports, in what should be viewed as a positive turn of events, that the days of Stephan Marbury dividing the Knicks appear to be over. Team president Donnie Walsh responded to questions about Marbury’s “coach killing” history with “I know one thing. Mike’s not going to be the problem,” Walsh said edgily. “Let’s put it that way. If that’s what you want me to say, I just said it.”. For what it’s worth reports are that Marbury is working out and plans to be in the best shape of his career.
Those that have listened to me on the radio this year know my thoughts about Stephan Marbury. Although an immensely talented player, he has never shown he could lead a team like a point guard should. When Isiah Thomas described his criteria for a point guard to be “one that leads and plays defense” I laughed because neither of those have been strengths of Marbury. The only value Steph has left, in my opinion, is that expiring contract. My concern is that a “leopard doesn’t change his stripes”and having Marbury around this team will continue to poison any progress going forward. Its a tough situation because, until the contract expires , you basically have to find a role that doesn’t harm the team for Stephan. The last thing you want to do is allow his bad karma to force a trade of the contract that hurts the team financially against the cap. I doubt Donnie Walsh will do this because he has been so adamant about his stance against the exact opposite. I will tell you one thing, Donnie Walsh doesn’t mince words and play games like a certain former GM/coach.
Tagged Donnie Walsh, Mike D'Antoni, Stephan Marbury |Marc Berman of the NY Post writes today that there is a possibility of the Knicks trading their first round pick. During a state of the union in Orlando Walsh was quoted as saying: “We’re going to look at every option. Trade it outright for a very good NBA player, trade back for multiple picks, or trade up. There’s a lot of different things you do. You explore everything.” Berman also points out how you could argue that picks 3 through 12 are very similar.
All along I have had this feeling that the Knicks will trade this pick. There seems to be no real “impact player” outside of Beasley and Rose. If OJ Mayo is the “best of the rest” that might not be the kind of risk this team wants to take. I am on record as saying that trading the pick for established talent is the way to go as long as you don’t bust the salary cap in the process. Now if a player like Carmelo Anthony is available then all bets are off. I believe its starting to look like the only way to 1) Move contracts like Zach Randolph for cap relief and 2) Get any type of guarenteed peformance out of the six pick would be to package it in a deal. Just a week into writing for Knicksblog and I already have waffled on my thoughts. For the record, I spoke to my friend Anthony Donahue who works for ESPN and is a Knicks season ticket holder and he has a sense that this pick will be traded. “Rice Balls” has a tendency to be correct when assessing the pulse of this team so I will take that into consideration.
Tagged 2008 NBA Draft, Donnie Walsh, O.J. Mayo |
