# What Now?



## TwinkieFoot (Jul 8, 2006)

I think most people did not anticipate the Knicks being able to play at the level they are currently playing. It is very possible and even likely that we may in fact make it into the playoffs as soon as this year. This leaves us in an unusual position of being stuck in a sort of limbo; good enough to compete in the Eastern Conference but not in the position to land an upper-eschelon caliber player to really make us a league power. I'm certainly wondering what do we do now?

We have started to vindicate our players skill with some wins, so its likely that their trade value is up or better than it was this summer. It'll be interesting to see what Walsh does in response to this with respect to the 2010 mandate to get below the cap. Our better players (Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph) that have shouldered this winning effort each have contracts which extend beyond this year and at a hefty price. Do we trade them for players we think are even better? Do we trade them for financial flexibility and other assets? Do we keep them and look to cut fat through other means? Do we, or rather should we, ditch the 2010 plan and look to build a better team from this foundation?

I'm especially curious to see what happens with our draft pick this year which may look to be a mid to late first rounder. Do we give up that pick to Utah (to fulfill the Marbury trade)and then bum the following season for a shot at Ricky Rubio? Do we attempt to combine both that pick and a player of consequence to move up in this upcoming draft? Or should we just stick with the roster that we have now and add pieces as we go? Just what do we do?


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## Da Grinch (Aug 17, 2002)

I dont think the gameplan changes at all , every1 on the roster should be just as good if not better in 2009-10 as they are now except for the soon to be bought out marbury , jerome james and malik rose.

the draft pick in 2010 should be worse than whatever 2009 yields, just out of experience in the system.

the only way that changes is if they trade for future pieces , which is really what they should do . and even so they will need to sell their team so its better to have the draft pick in 2009 than in 2010 as an asset to sell to a prospective free agent what the team's future can be because that player will already have proven that he can play, wheras nothing really can be known about the 2010 draftee.

If D'Antoni is the guy and his system is the way the team is headed they need parts that fit it better .

that means more mobile athletic bigs , and better shooting perimeter personel(although the team after 10 games is shooting .389 from 3 , so maybe they dont need all that much help out there.) as good as they are playing a way to get the team more possessions by steals, blocks, taking charges and rebounds is probably the team's biggest need.

Lee tried but he's already proven he is far more impressive against bench units than as a starting center, and zach is 6'8 and cant jump over a phone book , as long as curry isn't playing the center spot is a barren spot requiring the knicks to double team even mediocre center threats like andrew bogut 

basically a 4/5 who can run , hustle, board, defend his position with at least avg. ability, block shots who can score on hustle baskets ...jumpshot a plus 

marcus camby circa 1999 would be perfect ...i dont think aquiring him now would be too wise , he's 34 with a lot of miles on those often injured tires....when this team's plan in 2010 comes to fruition he'll be 36, not exactly the age of a core player . even ben wallace in his declining state would be ok, but he is too old as well to begin a rebuilding project with as well.

biendris would be nice but the warriors wont deal him , because they need him for the same reason.

i think the best "aquirable " players that fits this need is Joakim noah, anderson varejao, josh boone, guys who probably aren't true starters but on a team that can allow them to do what they do best , they can be starters on teams that really need what they provide like duhon.


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## TwinkieFoot (Jul 8, 2006)

No Chris Kaman? He's been rumored to be in play and I think he certainly can keep up with the jones's in a fast break.


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## Da Grinch (Aug 17, 2002)

TwinkieFoot said:


> No Chris Kaman? He's been rumored to be in play and I think he certainly can keep up with the jones's in a fast break.


his deal last til 2012.


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## TwinkieFoot (Jul 8, 2006)

Da Grinch said:


> his deal last til 2012.


So does the guy we'd likely be trading for him. Certainly a lateral move in that sense but the cap will be at more than $60 million and Kaman will make just $10 million. If we keep our payroll in the vincinity of $45 million we'd have more than enough cap space to sign a big name FA. We just have to make sure that the players apart of our foundation is under contract and Kaman would certainly be one of those guys.


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

At the risk of sounding like a party pooper, I'm not convinced this will last, but if it does...well it just makes Walsh's job a lot tougher, because he won't have top picks to acquire potential cornerstones with. It almost puts him in a situation where he has to pull a coup like Ainge did with the big 3 to ever achieve the success New York demands.

The one good thing this could do though, if Walsh isn't scared of a potential backlash, is raise the collective value of a lot of players on that roster. Whereas Randolph pretty much had less than 2 or 3 situations that would work for him elsewhere, he could be one of the most sought after people at the trade deadline, if this keeps up. A lot of Knicks players know they're probably lame ducks, so I presume by playing well they could end up on a good team instead of auctioned off to whoever will have them.


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## USSKittyHawk (Jul 22, 2005)

and the jinx begins....


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## pr1ncejeffie (Nov 17, 2008)

No jinx. We did this without D'antoni's type of players. These correct collection of players aren't consistent. Crawford is still crawford. Randolph is not that good of a player. He is just padding his stats. The only holdover is probably Chandler and Nate Robinson. Walsh signed Duhon and it turned out good so far. He is the floor leader that can get our players better looks than the last floor leader.

I expect Walsh to try to trade any of the contracts that goes beyond the 2010 cap year. We want to be one of the 20 teams to go for Lebron. At the same time we need to have a nice young roster that can entice guys like Lebron, Wade and Bosh to come here.


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## TwinkieFoot (Jul 8, 2006)

Well it appears like Walsh decided to captialize on the trade value of the players in exchange for financial flexibility. Even though I felt we could have gotten back more in the way of draft picks, we might be able to still be fairly competitive. D'Antoni's system appears to be strongest with solid players. Remember his days in Phoenix? They got things done with Diaw and Tim Thomas in place of Amare and also made Nash look like a MVP. 

I think our starting lineup will look something like this:
Duhon...PG
Richardson...SG
Chandler...SF
Harrington...PF
Thomas...C

...Tim Thomas playing center is nothing new for D'Antoni, so I could see it working.


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## Ruff Draft (Nov 21, 2004)

Turn your TV off.


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## ChosenFEW (Jun 23, 2005)

Ruff Draft said:


> Turn your TV off.



so sad yet so true


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

Ricky Rubio is wondering what number looks good in Orange right now...


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