The Knicks Thread....

[John WB]

Hey JWB, did you check out the link I posted yet? You'll love it.

Hey Jeff, are you talking about SellTheKnicks.com?

Yeah, I've been there. I considered buying one of their shirts, but they're too plain for my tastes.

Next season shall be very interesting for the Knicks.

First off, Allan Houston's contract will be gone offically at the end of the season.

Larry Brown is out. This isn't a defense oriented team like the pistons, or the 76ers in there title run year. That's what Larry Brown needs. For that to be done, Isiah would have to do a whole lot of trading which he'd rather not do since this is his roster he assembled and believe it can work. Will it work? Well that's why he is coaching it now. If he gets it to work, then its a success, if he doesnt, then bye bye Isiah, and let a new era begin.

The question is will it work? Is there any reason to believe it will?
Well I think there is reason to believe so.

Marbury- Always dreamed of being a Knick his whole life. Isiah Thomas made that possible. Also his conflict with Brown is done since Brown is out.
Marbury may change due to having one of the greatest point guards coaching him. He could change from a 20/8 loser to a 20/8 winner. He will work harder and listen to Isiah since Isiah brought him here. The knicks had the choice of getting rid of him or Brown.. they picked Brown to leave. Even more pressure left on Marbury. This will either make or break his career on what and who he is.

Crawford- I'm not sure what to expect out of this guy, but he did get better under Larry Brown. He maybe the new star in NY soon. His clutch shooting last season was pretty good. He still had some bad mistakes, but he'll get better as time goes on.

Eddie Curry- With the one who gave him such a nice contract coaching him, Isiah may be the one that he will actually work for. Isiah helped him, now he needs to help Isiah out. Isiah may ship him some DVDs of Bill Laimbeer and show him how it was done. How not to be soft, how to be physical, how to rebound, how to shoot free throws. Curry still has potential! 18points/10rebounds a game is possible, maybe even more. He had his moments this year, but everyone has thier moments.

Frye, Lee, Robinson- All 3 played pretty hard under Brown. Some conflicts, and plenty of inconsistancy playing time wise. Isiah will fix that problem. You play well, you will keep playing. None of that "you start 3 games, and play good, then your on the bench playing 5minutes per game for the next 5 games."
He drafted them for a reason, they will play and continue to improve, especially Channing Frye. They all gained a instant name being in NY and could be crap else where ( see Mike Sweetney.) Playing for the guy that drafted you in this big name season could motivate you even more.

Francis & Rose were 2 players that Larry Brown requested. They will more than likely be shipped out, Rose in particular since he is in his contract year.

Everyone on this team has been acquired in the Isiah era. Instead of some coach trying to figure out what he is thinking, he will show us what he was thinking. If it was nonsense like Brown figured, then bye bye Isiah. This team seems more assembled for NBA Live rather than the real NBA.

I agree with all of that, BUT I don't think Jamal Crawford is any good and don't think he'll improve any either. He's shown to have horrible shot selection, he's turnover prone late in games, and kind of like Tim thomas was in NY, he;s inconsistent. Has one big game every 10 games, and then is nowhere the other 9 games.

Curry's crap too.

And wasn't last season the first seasons Marbs didn't average 20 and 8?

[J@3]

From an article posted at RealGM:

"Isiah wanted Larry to play like the Phoenix Suns ," one source said.

A fast breaking, outside shooting team without a single player who can, or wants to rebound. Next season will be great fun.

[Drex]

Just for the fun of it, somebody should compare the players of both teams

Marbury = Nash

[Its_asdf]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... 2240c.html

Isiah Thomas is looking to move Quentin Richardson, Larry Brown's biggest supporter in the locker room. He did his best work this past season as Brown's top perimeter defender. But it won't be easy to move him, since more than a few GMs stil believe Richardson was merely a product of Phoenix's system.

If he does get moved, I hope he can get back to the Richardson of old...

[Fenix]

A fast breaking, outside shooting team without a single player who can, or wants to rebound. Next season will be great fun.

Yeah, no rebounders, no distributors, no dynamic defenders (Kurt Thomas, Marion, Diaw, Bell). Greg Oden, here we come.

[Amphatoast]

A fast breaking, outside shooting team without a single player who can, or wants to rebound. Next season will be great fun.

Yeah, no rebounders, no distributors, no dynamic defenders (Kurt Thomas, Marion, Diaw, Bell). Greg Oden, here we come.

bulls have the knicks pick next year from none other than the famous eddie curry deal

Traded from Chicago, with Antonio Davis, to New York in exchange for Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney, two future second-round draft picks, a 2006 conditional first-round draft pick and the right to switch future first-round draft picks

they can swap picks

[Fenix]

Greg Oden, here we come.

bulls have the knicks pick next year from none other than the famous eddie curry deal

With 'we', I meant us, Bulls fans .

[Amphatoast]

Just as I suspected, Isiah has 1 year to turn this mess around- if not bye bye Isiah. See Dolan has SOME IQ..

NEW YORK -- Isiah Thomas has one year to turn around the New York Knicks -- something Larry Brown couldn't do. And if Thomas doesn't, he'll be gone, too.

"I'm saying this right with Isiah here. This is his team," Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan said Monday. "He made this bed. There's nobody better than him to make this thing go forward.

"But he has to do that and he has one year, one season to do that. At this time next year, Isiah will be with us if we can all sit here and say that this team has made significant progress towards its goal of eventually becoming an NBA championship team. If we can't say that, then Isiah will not be here."

The remarks by Dolan were his first since firing Brown as coach Thursday and replacing him with Thomas, the team president and general manager.

Dolan acknowledged that the team "made a mistake" hiring Brown.

Thomas assembled the roster that went 23-59, tying the franchise record for losses in a season. And though Dolan said the Knicks are still rebuilding, he wants to see results next season.

Dolan wouldn't say how many wins the Knicks would need, only that he wanted "evident progress, not just debatable progress."

And if he doesn't, he said Thomas would not only be replaced as coach, but he also would lose all his roles within the Cablevision-owned organization.

"It's his ship to steer," Dolan said, "his ship to make go fast, his ship to crash. His ship."

Thomas, who was seated to Dolan's right in a meeting with writers who cover the Knicks, said he was prepared to work under the deadline and would not sacrifice his plan to build with young players -- the Knicks have two first-round picks in Wednesday's draft.

"I've been in pressure situations before," Thomas said. "All my life has basically been about pressure and about having to get it done. Just because you say it publicly does not make me afraid of it or shy away from it. We've got a job to do, we'll get it done."

Dolan said his problems with Brown had less to do with wins and losses then with the Hall of Fame's coach refusal to go along with his bosses' wishes.

Reports surfaced in mid-May that Dolan planned to fire Brown. However, Dolan said that wasn't the case, and that he wanted to find a way to make things work going forward as long as Brown would accept certain conditions.

Instead, Dolan thinks sometime during that time that Brown -- who has a history of leaving jobs early -- decided he didn't want to return. Brown was fired with four years and $40 million left on his five-year contract.

"Larry never intended to coach this team beyond this season," Dolan said.

Brown was frequently critical of the players in the media, and he also spoke to reporters without the presence of a public relations official. Dolan said both go against his preferences and policies.

A bigger problem, Dolan said, was that Brown overstepped his role as coach by trying to get involved in personnel matters. He said there were at least two instances when the Knicks proposed a trade, only to be told, "That's great, but I got a better offer from your coach."

"We couldn't get Larry to focus on his job," Dolan said. "He wanted to focus on Isiah's job."

Dolan said he was particularly upset when Brown said after the season that five or six players needed to be waived for the team to avoid another poor result next season.

Despite all that, Dolan said he hadn't made up his mind to fire Brown when they met Thursday at the team's training facility. But he said Brown wouldn't acknowledge that any of the issues Dolan brought up had even happened, so he had no choice but to make Thomas the Knicks' fifth coach in the last three years.

"I had 50 million reasons to stay with this," Dolan said. "If I thought there was any chance that next season we could have the Larry Brown that everybody thought we were going to get, I mean I'd jump through hoops for that. But I don't believe there was any opportunity to do that."

The matter of Brown's payment now goes to NBA commissioner David Stern. The Knicks are refusing to pay the remainder, and a clause in Brown's deal -- one Dolan said he has never given to another employee -- makes Stern the arbiter if there is any dispute.

Dolan said the Knicks will go along with whatever Stern rules. A message seeking comment was left with Brown's agent, Joe Glass.

Thomas coached the Indiana Pacers for three seasons through 2002-03, going 131-115 and leading them to the playoffs in each season. But he said he wasn't planning to return to coaching with the Knicks, claiming he was both heartbroken and mad that his longtime relationship with Brown had ended this way.

"I know from our standpoint, the Knicks' standpoint, we needed Larry Brown," Thomas said. "I wanted Larry to do a great job for us."

lol good article from ESPN. Isiah's fate all depends on this 1 year.
I'm suprised that Dolan mentioned "NBA championship team." Haven't heard those words and Knicks in the same sentence for a while lol

[Fenix]

He's just saying that to the media, IMO. Isiah wins 5 more games = progress, by Dolan's definition. Anyhow, the best this team could do is get to the playoffs as a #8 seed in a couple of years. I seriously doubt that is what satisfies Knicks' fans.

[Andrew]

I saw that at Yahoo! NBA yesterday. I've read Dolan's comments a couple of times since then and the more I look at them, the more they seem a bit ambiguous as to whether Thomas will be gone completely if he fails to improve their record now that he's back on the sidelines. If he's relieved of his coaching duties but remains in the front office, the Knicks are back to where they were at the beginning of last season.

[shadowgrin]

Curry can grab 10 rebounds? He has the worst rebounding instincts of any big guy in the NBA, he has no desire and has probably ate three cheesburgers while I was writing this.

Curry can grab 10 rebs. if the ball has the pic of a cheeseburger on it.

But he has to do that and he has one year, one season to do that. At this time next year, Isiah will be with us if we can all sit here and say that this team has made significant progress towards its goal of eventually becoming an NBA championship team. If we can't say that, then Isiah will not be here

Zeke can do it. Just like what he did with the CBA.

[Amphatoast]

quote from the NYTimes

Continuing with Brown was untenable, based on disclosures Dolan made for the first time yesterday, the most dramatic of which was that Brown wanted to waive several players. The group, according to team officials, included Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Jerome James, Jalen Rose and Maurice Taylor. Doing so would have cost the Knicks $150 million in salaries, in addition to an equal amount in luxury taxes.

"He knew that wasn't possible," Dolan said.

Brown admitted late in the season that he had lost many of his players, and he publicly called for a dramatic roster overhaul. But Brown knew that their hefty contracts made some of those players' untradable.

i find it funny he wanted the knicks to wavie them all lol

[Fenix]

It's gotta be true if Dolan said it, right ?

[Jackal]

He wasn't wrong in asking to waive those players, understandable he doesn't want them on the team.

[John WB]

quote from the NYTimes

Continuing with Brown was untenable, based on disclosures Dolan made for the first time yesterday, the most dramatic of which was that Brown wanted to waive several players. The group, according to team officials, included Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Jerome James, Jalen Rose and Maurice Taylor. Doing so would have cost the Knicks $150 million in salaries, in addition to an equal amount in luxury taxes.

"He knew that wasn't possible," Dolan said.

Brown admitted late in the season that he had lost many of his players, and he publicly called for a dramatic roster overhaul. But Brown knew that their hefty contracts made some of those players' untradable.

i find it funny he wanted the knicks to wavie them all lol

I'd want to too.

[Ruff Ryder]

ISIAH GET YOUR ASS OUTTA HERE!!! YOU RUINED THE DRAFT!!!! LAST STRAW!! THAT WAS A LOTTO PICK AT 20 AND YOU PASSED???? GTFO!!!

A MOTHERFUCKING 2ND ROUNDER AT 20? ARE YOU KIDDING? OMG!

[Jugs]

Yeah wow, Knicks just pwnt themselfs.

[Unrestrict3D]

And so Utah's pick for a first rounder in 2010 from New York looks better and better each day that passes by.

[hipn]

ISIAH IS AN IDIOT!!!!!! Wow....

[ElSeano]

I honestly thought the Knicks could not make things worse for themselves, that surely simple common sense would prevail in a draft and they'd at least make one right move. That franchise leaves me in awe and not the good wholesome kind that large breasts get, the bad kind.

[Jeffx]

ISIAH GET YOUR ASS OUTTA HERE!!! YOU RUINED THE DRAFT!!!! LAST STRAW!! THAT WAS A LOTTO PICK AT 20 AND YOU PASSED???? GTFO!!!

A MOTHERFUCKING 2ND ROUNDER AT 20? ARE YOU KIDDING? OMG!

I give up, man....I'm so defeated right now........

[j.23]

knicks fans, i empathize. i know what it's like to have a retarded GM for a team (rob babcock), but isiah sure takes the cake

[J@3]

On the plus side, at least Balkman plays D, rebounds and hustles... he's the exact kind of player NY needs... just not at #20.

[Fenix]

Let we get something straight. Knicks want to run and they have no real PG and yet they pass on two (Rondo, Marcus Williams) with All-Star potential? Isiah is God .

[John WB]

Ah well. I'm so disgusted with the Knicks. At least the Nets drafted who the Knicks should, taking Marcus Williams with one of their picks.