Follow the bouncing balls
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- May
- 22
There will not be a single representative from the Knicks on hand for tonight’s draft lottery. Somebody from the Chicago Bulls will be occupying their spot on the dais.
Isiah Thomas continues to express confidence that he made a good deal for Eddy Curry.
 Really, there’s only a 1.9 percent chance that he’s dead wrong. The odds may change in the coming years depending on the development of the players involved.
Who knows, maybe Curry will learn how to rebound or defend.
Are you nervous?
Realistically, there’s just one player in this draft capable of making Chicago a better team overnight. Greg Oden. They would have to makeover the roster to accommodate Kevin Durant. The Bulls already have an overabundance of perimeter players.
 We can start getting into the draft later in the week. The new rule that prohibits workouts prior to the predraft camp resulted in a lot of dead air. It’s been extremely quiet at the MSG practice facility.
Let me do some homework in the coming days and we’ll start dropping names, but heading into this process I really believe Thomas is thinking best available athlete.
He filled needs last year with Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins, but whoever the Knicks grab this time around will likely wind up on the end of the bench. That means he’s likely to grab a project with potential who might fit into a trade somewhere in the near future.
Time will tell.
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on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007 at 10:28 am by Mike Dougherty.
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You know what. I’m actually OK if the Bulls get lucky and get the #1 or #2.
I’m happy with Curry showed last season and I think he will continue to improve.
Let it go people. Let’s work with what we got. What’s done is done.
No way would I be OK with the Bulls getting the #1.
Anyway, Morris Almond, Rudy Fernandez, Thaddeus Young, Acie Law & Marcus Williams MIGHT be available and are all worth taking a look at. Also, Marco Belinelli has made a name for himself in Europe. Any info on him?
I definitely think we have to draft the best player available at #23, but I would prefer that we try to package our pick with Nate Robinson to move up in the draft.
I agree, Curry will make a steady improvement next term and we really have to look at potential bit part players in trades over the next couple of off seasons.
Also I’d like to say how much I’ve enjoyed this blog over the season. As a Scotish Knicks fan exiled in London it’s not easy to keep up with events apart from the couple of games a year I get to see. Basically a big thank you to all of you for keeping me, and I’m sure lots like me, up to speed.
He did make a good trade with Curry.
1. Curry is giving a lot now
2. He has great growth potential and is very young.
3. the chemistry between he and Crawford
4. Didn’t we get someone else with him that basically turned into Renaldo Baulkman. Wait, till he gets seasoned!!! Phew!! A more athletic David Lee!
Should I stop there?
PS – Chances are even if we didn’t draft Eddy Curry we would not have been bad enough to get the #1 pick.
PPS – Chicago could only hope that their pick is as good as Eddy Curry 2 to 4 years from now. Good Luck.
I will take
Eddy Curry (19.5ppg-60%fg) and #23 (the bulls #1 pick)
over
Tyrus “free money” Thomas (5ppg-3rpg) and #9 every day of the week.
It isnt even close. The media and shrilly fans like to hype the Bulls chance of getting Oden. So you give up a future all star in Eddy Curry and #23 to have a 1.9% chance at Oden? 1.9% chance folks!
There are any number of ways to think about this, and I have to say I liked the way Thomas showed up in his first year in the League and the playoffs. That little spin move off glass shows nice feet and good touch and his eagerness to go after blocks was nice. Good luck to the young man, he can play for us any time. It remains to be seen if he is ever a guy you throw the ball to in the post with great confidence, and if he will ever be given the chance to develop that part of the game. As the League goes more and more to a face the basket game, the true pivot man will become very, very scarce, even though the value of that offensive skill set will never diminish (see: Tim Duncan). Basketball is still a game where the goal is hung 10 feet in the air, and a guy who’s 7 feet and can catch and convert next to the goal will always be an overwhelming advantage for his team. Chicago’s looking for one right now. We didn’t have one, the gamble (though its debatable that Curry had so many suitors at the time that Zeke couldn’t top-10 protect the pick this year – Mike, your insight?) was worth it to get that guy.
The other perspective is, look how long Chicago was sucking before they’re well deserved run this year. Of course they are stacked with young players – they’ve been in the lottery for a long, long time and had do-over after do-over. All in all, Zeke has gotten us out of the purgatory that Layden inflicted in fairly short order – albeit he has made his mistakes. How valuable could Ariza and Hardaway’s contract have been? The Steve Francis thing was just bizarre, but the horse trading has created a good foundation. While we may fret about the price of Curry, none of us regret losing Cesary Trebanski and Macej Lampe or Nazr Muhammad or Vin Baker or Jalen Rose or Tim Thomas or Keith Van Horn or Mike Sweetney or any of the other means-to-an-end players that have passed through. Lemons into Lemonade all of them, so equal value for Curry with the Bulls, I think is balanced out by the value we’ve gotten from alot of players that you don’t even see in boxscores anymore.
Greaat points Willis.
Usually I write some long post but not tonight.
It’s pretty simple:
Chicago got Tyrus Thomas, #9 pick & Sweetney
Knicks got Curry and Renaldo Balkman and Bulls #23 pick.
Which one would you rather have?
Case closed.
For some reason I also think Isiah is going to do a trade on draft night. I think he’ll package his #23 pick, Frye, Robinson, Jeffries and maybe someone else. I don’t know who he’ll get but he won’t be sitting on his hands draft night.
Like I’ve said millions of times. As long as we don’t get rid of Lee, Balkman, Collins, Curry or Crawford it’ll be a good move. Only way any of those players get traded is if we get Garnett. Not O’neal or Gasol…...GARNETT!!
Isiah knows what he needs to do to improve this team. He has some players that are expendable such as Robinson, Frye, Francis, Jeffries and James. He has plenty of trade options. Not to mention our first round pick in 08 (next year).
Why not package Frye, Robinson, Jeffries, this years #23 pick and next years first round pick for something?
We already have that kid Morris and he would’ve been selected way before #23 this year. Isiah should pull out all the punches for this draft. If I was him, I would be working the phones all day and night.
Should be interesting to see what happens.
Can we package the players I mentioned above to move up in this years draft?
As I said before, I’ve made my peace with the Curry deal. If the Bulls get a player in this draft that has a greater impact than Eddy I’ll be suprised, and the Bulls will have to consider themselves very lucky.
However, do I do another deal that gives away two unprotected first rounders? Probably not. I mean, Isaiah expected the Curry trade to put NYK in the playoffs this year. If it had there is no debate about the trade. So, unless we’re getting our next superstar, a player that puts us solidly in the hunt we need to hang on to our lottery picks and keep creating cap space.
Also, we might have gotten a better player with the 2nd pick than Tyrus Thomas last year if we had kept the pick.
Don’t we still owe a first round pick for Marbury?
I think the Curry trade was good, but Isiah could have protected the pick 1-3 for sure. No way did Chicago think we would be that bad. Also, Had we protected this year’s pick (1-5 possibly) maybe we could have tanked the last few games to get the pick and give the rights to switch the pick the following year. They probably would bite on it.
But Thomas didn’t and that’s the 1 thing I fault him on. Imagine Curry and Ty Thomas paired together! Scary!!
willis,
Here’s my insight. I know other teams were talking with the Bulls about Curry, but I don’t believe anyone else was close to making a deal. Isiah probably could’ve protected this first-round pick 1-3, but he’d just hired Larry Brown and fully expected that second-year improvement that seems to follow the hall-of-fame coach around to land the Knicks in the playoffs.
Balkman was also an indirect result of the trade. Chicago didn’t do anything with the pieces we gave them. TT was bought out, Jermaine Jackson was waived and Sweets’ contract is up this year.
Some positives from the draft lottery:
We obviously lucked out with Chicago getting #9. They could have fallen as far as #12, but I’ll gladly take this.
We lucked out with Boston getting the #5. Durant or Oden in our division would SUCKKKK.
The entire Eastern conference lucked out by having Portland and Seattle get #1 & #2 and sending Oden and Durant out West.
Pretty good for the Knicks.
I agree with Tommy we lucked out big time. Maybe the luck will keep on going and
I am a fan of trading the chaff we have and our pick to move up in the draft. But we have to weigh that against thomas’ ability to get good talent deep in the draft.
Personally, I think we need shot blocking way more than shooting (one dimensional shooters can be had for the mid-level in FA… teams tend to hold onto one dimensional shot blockers since they are harder to come by). What is everyone else’s take? Am I the only one who thinks like this?
PS: Willis, you need your own column. I like your writing
Ha! Aug – get a column, or get a life!
To me it seemed a solid strategy to get as many young guys together as possible and then, when you see what you’ve got be in a position to do what everyone is suggesting here – package a few of the ones that aren’t working in your scheme before the “potential” rubs off, and go get a young guy who’s shown he can do it in the league and has the possibility of being an important player. I love defense, I don’t know where it comes from in this draft, but with Durant probably a lock to go to Seattle, they may be feeling flush and willing to do a bit of business. Nate for Sene? What about Diop? Or Mbenga – the feet of a ballerina on the body of comic book hero? Cuban doesn’t mind making deals. Reggie Evans must be expendable wth K-Mart coming back – not a shot blocker but a good man in the scrum to add the edge Eddie lacks. Draft wise, an item in a NY Tabloid said something about a Sean Williams out of BC – 6 10 shot-blocker. Don’t know him. Anybody? Mike?
blessed be The Google:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2734222
Sean Williams
He better learn to stay out of trouble if he is to play in NY. Check out this little piece of information from the article willis found:
“Williams was the early favorite for the national defensive player of the year after blocking 75 shots in 15 games.”
WOW.
Not to give this blind item too much legs but, hey, now is the time for rumors:
http://nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/seanwilliams.html
He’s projected in the 30’s by this site and sounds like he could be the second coming of Marcus Camby….or Keon Clark. Imagine the outcry if Zeke took this guy at 23 – it’d make the thrashing he took for Balkman look mild.
Knicks need two things:
1) lock-down defender at the 3
2) intimidating shot-blocker
I don’t know if Randolph Morris fills the second need, but regardless, if someone who fits the bill for either is there at #23, the Knicks have to take him.
Learn basketball guys!!!
The knicks need a shooter to spread the floor. This will make teams think twice about double teaming Curry or Marbury. Defense is good but the Knicks starting loosing because Crawford was no longer on the floor. He was the one shooter that you had to stay home against. This created a one on one situation for Curry most of the time. If the other team decided to double team Crawford was waiting on the other side of the court for the kickout pass.
Has anyone seen Darius Rice play lately. This guy had 50+ points in the championship game for the dev-league. He can shoot, pass and defend. I think the Knicks should look into this guy because it’s like picking up another lottery pick. Who has the rights to this guy?
Sounds like Free Agent signing Aug’s been hankering for. A healthy Q gave us the lock-down defender at three we (had) need, and the shooter. Let’s hope he makes a decent recovery and Crawford is back in force next year. I think Q has to lay off the weights a little bit and drop 10 pounds. If he comes back in any kind of fitness back wise, I like our chances. A quality guy, you know he’s ours for good because of the back, but I’m glad to have him
The Knicks have to take Sean Williams with the 23rd pick. We don’t need a shooter or a lock down 3 because we already have both of them. We have to get better through draft picks and that’s exactly what Isiah is doing.
Williams will give us shot blocking and much needed defense. He can rebound the ball with the best of them. I’m getting excited already just thinking about having Sean Williams, David Lee and Balkman on the front line during a game.
WE WOULD GET EVERY REBOUND!!!!
Our defense would be very very good also.
It’s a no brainer if you ask me. If Williams is there…..we should pick him up.
I like Sean Williams too, but his attitude and work ethic are an issue.
What we should do is get Sean with this pick and then trade Nate for another first round pick so we can draft a shooter also.
DaVonn,
Who is the Knicks lock-down defender at the 3? You might want to let him know also. I seem to recall a lot of not-so-good SFs killing the Knicks the last couple of years.
Q, if healthy, would help provide both a shooter and quality perimeter defender. But what are the odds that the Knicks get 70+ games out of him?
Many great points fellas. The notion that were gonna be able to unload James or Jeffries is ridiculous. I could see a Francis for KMart though. Theyre both Max players and both seem to be three years from their better days. Seattle has a slew of big guys. Sene, Swift,Petro… Basically all of them have not developed. I could see the Sonics unloading one of them for the hometown kid Nate. But these guys are not the answer. They are light years away from being productive players. A friend of mine is an assistant at BC, and as many know Coach Skinner is one of the nicest guys and best” players coaches ” around. You have to be a real dope to be kicked off one of his teams, and Williams managed to do this. There is no doubt that Williams could come in , block shots and rebound but I believe the Knicks will go with a shooter. Isaiah has done a HORRIBLE job with trades and free agent signings but he does have a great eye for young talent and the word about this draft is that the first 12-15 players are real legit studs, however, players 15-30 you could throw together talent wise.Lets hope the Knicks have a shot at a great player slipping like Boone and Williams did last year.
I hope we get someone at 23 that gets a lot of DNPs. That’ll mean we’re healthy. I think that was probably the major factor in the Knicks missing the playoffs last year. People rip Francis because he makes a lot of money and missed a lot of games but imagine a healthy Francis coming off the bench. Would there be a better #2 PG in the league? And, if he isn’t happy but he is healthy he’s a great trade piece in the next two years. Same thing goes for Q. Losing Jamal and D Lee killed us, but those guys injuries are not career threatening. Frye’s health inhibited his progression as well. I was really looking forward to us coming together late in the season and it did not happen. It did give us a chance to develop some players though (see Balkman, Collins). I think we shouldn’t make any deals until we know better what we have.
Hey Mike, any update on the injuries to David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson and Steve Francis?
We don’t have a lockdown defender at the 3 (other than Q) but we do have players with the athleticism to do it – Renaldo and Jeffries have the potential. We also have to learn how to defend as a TEAM better. It’s not always about foot speed, it’s about covering your teammate’s back too. If Renaldo/Jeffries learned how to do that (hell, our whole team) we wouldn’t need a lockdown defender.
If you look at the championship level teams though, they do have a presence that can block. Whether it’s a center in the lane (Duncan) or a weakside helper (Rasheed) the elite teams all have this. We don’t have any kind of shot blocking presence at ALL.
This deep in the draft, you have to draft for need, and we need a blocker badly (unless we start playing Cato more)
I know many of the local rags have trade proposals which I never take seriously. There is one that I read this am which I pray that never comes to life. If the Knicks get Vince Carter like Mark Berman suggests they are trying, Im afraid that I cant watch them anymore.Vince Carter is one of the most overrated players in todays game. He cant finish( because his knees are so shot), plays no D ,he dominates the ball and is a HORRIBLE end of game player. He did zero outside of Jersey in the playoffs and is the reason why NJ lost that series to the Cavs. If Frank had any balls, he would have had their offense run through one of the top ten point guards EVER, whose playing his best ball EVER. Jason Kidd has got to hate playing with this guy.The off balance jumpers, kicking the leg up, when there is NO defender on him is the type of ball that makes me want to strangle him. And Frank is too scared to actually coach because hes scared that Kidd or Carter might run him outta town like has been done with many a Kidd coach. What really boggles my mind is that Stefanski and Thorn are actually trying to resign him. Knowing the genius of these two front office men, I have to believe that this is a front to get VC his max money and get something in return. MAybe a Gerald Wallace and Sean May. As long as the Knickerbockers are not involved, Im fine
VC is not the answer. We’ve already groomed Crawford to be the Man in the closing seconds.
Vince is my favorite player. So yeah I’d be happy to get him. The only valuable piece we are giving is Frye so thats not bad.
You guy are all studip!!!
Learn the game of basketball.
slackers trying to understand the development of ignorant players
Jersey Jay,
Learn to use plurals and then call people stupid.
I’m a sucker for guys that can shoot the basketball. I’m so bored with guys that can jump out of the gym but can’t make a free throw. So I understand the urge for Vince. Still this has disaster written all over it. He comes here and goes on the DL. Someone we dumped comes to the garden and kills us. We get stuck with a 60 million $ price tag.
Vince is 30 years old, on the decline of his career and wants 20 million a year. What happened to rebuilding and growing from within? We still need work, but Vince is not the answer.
NO MORE STOP THE BLEEDING TRADES!!!!!!!!!!!
Knicks fans should be sick of this already. I would ONLY do this trade if it involved getting rid of our crap contracts such as Francis, Jerome James & possibly Jeffries. I’m hesitant to give up Frye, but if he is the only real useful piece we are sacrificing than I might be for it.
Still, Vince Carter WILL NEVER lead us to a championship. Don’t accept it Knicks fans.
Jersey J , Teach me tha game please. Teach me how Vince QUIT on the Rapters and snaked his way outta town. Then teach me how Vince did NOTHING in the playoffs. Then teach me how against the Raptors in this years plaoffs, Vince didnt want to leave Jersey because he was a joke in Canada.What he did against Cleveland was one of the worst”so called” stars performances ever.Like a guy wrote, yeah if were gettiing rid of Francis, Jefferies and James, Jump on it. Otherwise Rod doesnt want our overpaid rejects. The Knicks getting this guy is the equivalent of the Yanks getting Abreu. The stats look great on paper but when you see him play all the time you realize that the numbers are shallow
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