ESPN’s Chad Ford wrote a good article [Insider subscription required] about how the Knicks’ rebuilding plan has shaped up thus far.
They successfully shed Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph and Jerome James. But Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries are still on the roster, and their contracts will eat up cap space in 2010. Surprisingly GM Donnie Walsh passed up a chance to trade Jeffries for Kenny Thomas’s expiring contract at the trade deadline. I have no idea why he would do that.
The Knicks also did a great job of wooing Mike D’Antoni to New York. Players love to play in his up-tempo system and he has a number of connections to NBA stars given his stint as assistant coach for Team USA.
But Ford writes that “phase 3” of the plan has hit a few snags:
The plan was to restock the Knicks’ talent pool via the draft. Rookies have low salaries and high upside, and given the Knicks’ lack of talent the team hoped it could strike gold once or twice in the draft. While it’s still very early, things haven’t gone according to plan so far. The Knicks’ top targets the past two years have been off the draft board when they drafted.
In 2008, their two favorites — Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo — were gone, so they settled for Danilo Gallinari. While Gallinari showed enormous promise in Europe, he hurt his back in the summer league and played sparingly for the Knicks in his rookie season while he tried to rehab. Meanwhile, the Knicks passed on several prospects in the ’08 draft — like Brook Lopez, Eric Gordon and Anthony Randolph — who look like potential stars down the road.
In 2009, Walsh and D’Antoni had their hearts set on Davidson shooting star Stephen Curry. However, the Warriors took him one place ahead of the Knicks, who settled on Arizona forward Jordan Hill. While Hill has upside, too, he’s closer to Dale Davis than Amare Stoudemire.
And what about 2010? In 2005, Isiah agreed to send that first-round pick to Phoenix as part of the Marbury trade. The Suns then traded it to Utah. There are no protections left on the pick. It’s gone.
Isn’t it a little ironic that the Knicks are struggling at the one thing (finding talent in the draft) that Isiah Thomas was good at? Gallinari may still turn out to be a player, but I’m sure Knicks fans would trade him for any number of players that the team passed up. Ford mentioned Lopez, Gordon and Randolph, but what about D.J. Augustin or Jason Thompson?
While I like Jordan Hill, it seems a little counter intuitive to draft a power forward when you already have David Lee on the roster and are potentially targeting Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire next summer. However, the Knicks probably view Bosh and Stoudemire as potential centers in D’Antoni’s system.
To draft Hill, the Knicks passed up Brandon Jennings, who turned in a very good summer league performance for the Bucks and has the kind of speed, quickness and vision to be a nightmare on the fast break. The team has been flirting with Ramon Sessions (also of the Bucks), but has yet to come to terms on a deal even though Milwaukee put themselves in a tough position to match any offer greater than $2 or $3 million per season. As it stands, the Knicks don’t have a point guard to run D’Antoni’s system.
And, as Ford writes, the Knicks’ plans have soured with the economy. If they are able to move both Jeffries and Curry, they would have enough to sign two max-contract players, but even then, it would be tough to fill out the roster with the limited funds available. It’s looking more and more that the Knicks aren’t going to have the talent to attract LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. Forgetting about D’Antoni and Madision Square Garden for a moment, wouldn’t LeBron and Wade, assuming they change teams, rather play in Brooklyn with Devin Harris and Brook Lopez?
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donnie walsh is too slow at making decisions, almost as if he is unsure about what he is doing. He makes it seem as if his patience is somthing of a brilliant idea but im not buying that because his draft choices shows that he doesnt have a vision at all. He should take a class or 2 from colangelo about having a vision for a franchise . Where is he going with this ?
He has done a nice job of shedding salary — I didn’t think anyone would want Zach Randolph — but the last two drafts are a little suspect, especially considering that the Knicks still don’t have a point guard.
The Jeffries non-trade, if true, is very perplexing.
I think the jeffries to sac trade included rabinson and the knicks were reluctant to trade nate at that time. I think the knicks talent is actually pretty good, they really lack leadership. as far as the last 2 drafts are concerned i believe gallo is a better fit for the knicks style than other players that were still available (Lopez especially) and hill was just the best player available. he also serves as insurance i guess in the case that lee leaves ny. I like the way donnie runs a team getting rid of randolph n crawford was nearly as difficult as getting rid of curry n jeffries is gonna be. I do believe ny can shed those contracts tho. curry is in a make or break year and must play well. jeffries can be packaged w mobleys contract to save a team money. we will have to see tho. lee n robinson will be signed next season n i think before training camp sessions will b here too. his asking price was just a bit too high. look what big baby just got. more along the lines of what sessions should b making.
Out of curiosity, which team could trade for Curry??
Is there a team out there that would want him???
i don’t see why the Knicks can’t sign and trade Lee and package either Curry or Jeffries? that’s what i’d be doing. you don’t need Lee if you have Hill, who’s more athletic than Lee. Lee got a lot of double doubles, but it wasn’t like 20/25 pts and 12 rebounds he was getting. he’s more of the 12 pts, 10 rebounds kind of guy. i think most big men in the NBA have the ability to get 10 and 10, 12 and 10. he’s no Karl Malone, who would get 30 and 10 or 30 and 12. now THAT’S a double double. they’re best bet is to find a team that wants Lee – Portland perhaps? – and package Curry. Curry wouldn’t be a bad backup to Ogden who’s bound to get hurt a few times this year. or trade with Memphis – they’re always doing bad trades to help other teams out.
Lee was 16/12 last year, but I think that translates to 14/10 on a team that plays at an average pace.
Shon – I think you’re right about that Jeffries trade. The whole Robinson thing rings a bell, but now it appears that they aren’t too interested in keeping him around, so they probably should have pulled the trigger.
It’s going to be tough to move Curry and Jeffries because in order to save another team money, the Knicks will have to take salary on, and that’s exactly what they’re trying to shed. Curry and Jeffries would have to be packaged with a good player to get another team to take on their contract, and that means that the Knicks would be giving up assets (but it does explain why they’d be willing to give Lee and Robinson one-year deals — it would make it easier to trade them mid-season).
With all their faults, Randolph and Crawford are at least talented NBA players, which is why teams were willing to roll the dice. I don’t know that we can say the same thing about Curry or Jeffries right now.
In regards to Jordan Hill being closer to Dale Davis than Amare Stoudenmire, if i’m correct didn’t Dale Davis come closer to winning a championship than Stoudemire. Also, people have to realize you can’t just trade for, draft or sign a big name or the popular choice you have to get the best fit for what you are trying to do. A lamborghini is the sexy car, sleek, fast, maneuverable…but if you running errands, coaching little league you get the mini-van; not as sexy but all the more useful and beneficial to what you are trying to do.The Knicks biggest problem last year was by far defense and with Hill and Douglas you have two players that are defensive oriented. I see Hill setting the tone on the perimeter and Hill putting forth the effort on the inside. While Hill may not be as good as advertised he at least puts forth the effort, something David Lee simply did not do. And with the young guys going all out on defense it will definitley turn up the heat on some of the veterans who are in contract years to turn up their play.
I remember hearing about it at the deadline in was nate and jeffries for thomas and they didnt want to give up nate