I bet a lot of fans in the Big Apple rejoiced in 2003 when the Knicks fired GM Scott Layden. It’s too bad that they hired Isiah Thomas to replace him. Since then, Thomas has made a series of bad moves (mixed in with a few mediocre moves and a couple of good draft picks) and now has a roster loaded with overpaid, underachieving players.
Cap Situation
The team is on the hook for around $133 M next season – no, that’s not a typo. The silver lining is that the contracts of Allan Houston ($20.7 M), Jalen Rose ($16.9 M), Maurice Taylor ($9.8 M), Shandon Anderson ($7.2 M) and Jerome Williams ($6.4 M) all come off the books next summer at a total potential savings of $61 M, bringing New York’s commitments down to around $74 M for the 2007/08 season. But that’s still way too much to pay for the second-worst record in the league.
Complicating matters is a backcourt consisting of three players – Stephon Marbury (3-years/$60.3 M), Steve Francis (3-years/$48.7 M) and Jamal Crawford (5-years/$43.2 M) – that will combine for a total $40.6 M in salary next season. Considering that the trio hasn’t shown the ability to co-exist in Larry Brown’s system, something has to give. And right now, it looks like it will be Brown.
Offseason Blueprint
As good of a coach that Brown is, the roster does not fit his style – hard-nosed defense and mistake-free, team-oriented offense – and the Knicks should let him go pursue other opportunities. They will try to unload Francis or Marbury this offseason, and if they can swindle some unsuspecting franchise out of an expiring contract along with a first round draft pick or a nice prospect, more power to them. Even if they are able to find a taker, history has shown us that Thomas doesn’t care much about his cap situation, and it’s just as likely that he’ll take on more long-term contracts, which will only make matters worse.
Knicks’ owner Jim Dolan should buyout both Thomas and Brown, and hire Mike Iavaroni, the Suns top assistant, to bring Mike D’Antoni’s wide-open style to the Big Apple. If – and this is a BIG “if” – Iavaroni can get Francis, Marbury and Crawford to buy into the Suns “share and share alike” philosophy, the Knicks might be able to win 40+ games. They could start Marbury and Francis together in the backcourt and run Crawford or Quentin Richardson at small forward. The other would come off the bench like Leandro Barbosa does in Phoenix. Throw one of last year’s top rookies, Channing Frye, out there at center and all the team needs is an athletic power forward to do some of what Shawn Marion does for the Suns. Dolan should find a detail-oriented GM, one who will look at the long-term impact of trading away draft picks and expiring contracts. But it looks like Thomas might take over the coaching duties, which would, barring a miracle, end in disaster.
Regarding this year’s draft, Thomas traded the Knicks’ first round pick away for Eddy Curry’s questionable ticker. Moreover, the pick is not lottery protected, so the Bulls ended up with New York’s #2 overall pick. What’s lost in all of this is that Chicago has the right to swap first round picks next year as well. Considering that the Bulls are a playoff team and the Knicks aren’t, the Curry trade is looking worse and worse as time goes on.
The Knicks do have the Spurs’ first round pick from the 2005 trade that sent Nazr Mohammed to San Antonio. If they go with my blueprint, they should draft an athletic power forward to can run the floor and shoot the ball. Josh Boone seems like a good fit, or they can run David Lee at the four. Give Lee 35-40 minutes and he can give you 12/9. If they can get Marbury and Francis to slash and dish to create open shots for each other and for Crawford and Richardson, the Knicks might actually improve to borderline mediocre.
Anything’s better than being a laughing stock, right?
Notes:
EFF = ((Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks) – ((Field Goals Att. – Field Goals Made) + (Free Throws Att. – Free Throws Made) + Turnovers))
348 players averaged greater than 10 minutes/game AND played 20 games or more.
EFF/Min = Total Efficiency/Minutes Played = EPM
Knicks Leaders in EFF/Min (league average = .441)
Player EPM Rank ’06-’07 Salary ($M)
Channing Frye 0.531 # 48 2.3
Jackie Butler 0.497 # 77 –
David Lee 0.483 # 85 0.9
Eddy Curry 0.479 # 91 8.8
Stephon Marbury 0.427 # 142 17.3
Steve Francis 0.418 # 153 15.1
Jamal Crawford 0.403 # 178 7.2
Qyntel Woods 0.393 # 194 –
Jalen Rose 0.378 # 220 16.9
Malik Rose 0.367 # 240 7.8
Nate Robinson 0.353 # 261 1.2
Maurice Taylor 0.333 # 282 9.8
Quentin Richardson 0.300 # 302 8.0
Interestingly, the team’s four most efficient players are all big men. The franchise shouldn’t even consider trading Channing Frye this summer, but he is the only player on the team that is untouchable.
