Phone tag, you’re it
-
- September
- 29
Traditionally, it’s a busy weekend for general managers around the league.
Every single team needs something before heading off to camp. It’s much easier to settle into a routine a month before it really matters, so the phones are getting a preseason workout. Since they are coming in with 16 players under contract and Demetris Nichols waiting for something to sign, the Knicks will need to make a couple of people disappear.
You make the call.
Should the Knicks open the checkbook and lose the dead weight? It’s not going to be easy to decide who needs to move on. Dan Dickau? Jerome James? Fred Jones? Malik Rose? Jared Jeffries? I can see all of them playing some kind of role here this season.
Maybe they should go after some of the impact players who keep popping up in trade rumors. Shawn Marion? Ron Artest? Andrei Kirilenko? None of those deals will be completed without parting with a piece of the future. Opposing teams believe David Lee and Renaldo Balkman are valuable role players.
Let me know.
• Unless the jury can wrap things up in a hurry on Monday, we probably won’t see Knicks coach Isiah Thomas at Media Day, and I’m pretty sure the organization is very pleased with that little twist. With the focus shifting back to basketball, I’m certain nobody wanted to face leftover questions from the sexual harassment trial. He will join the players in Charleston, S.C. very soon after this mess concludes. Until then, I’m pretty sure the Knicks have enough coaches in place to blow whistles and run drills. It’s not like there’s a lot to learn.
• Somebody told me Renaldo Balkman was hosting a cookout today with a D.J. and everything. Did you get invited?
• It sounds like Allan Houston is going to sit and wait for somebody to offer up a guaranteed roster spot. He doesn’t need to be in a hurry. Who knows, maybe the Knicks will make a move in the next couple of weeks and decide they’re in a position to contend for an Eastern Conference title right now. I’m guessing that would be the best case scenario for Houston.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, September 29th, 2007 at 3:38 pm by Mike Dougherty.
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Randolph Morris
Wilson Chandler
Malik Rose
D-Nichols
Allan Houston
Fred Jones
Dan Dickau
Jerome James
all things equal (i.e. b4 camp) that is the pecking order in which I’d put the bottom eight players competing for 5 roster spots. Should some on the bottom really standout in camp, of course my list would differ
James should be higher just because he plays C but his 2 yrs have been so bad he puts himself here. He has to play like he did the playoffs b4 he joned the Knicks to even consider moving up. $$ isn’t that crucial so Dolan so I’ll put less emphasis on the size of a guaranteed contract.
Jones is ahead of Dickau because of his defensive abilities but they might as well be equivalent.
Allan Houston should be lower but sentimental value, veteran knowledge and his former shooting abilities garner him a little bit of leverage, albeit very little—like Zeke said he must compete.
I would have put Nichols higher (my favorite player in SL) but he’s a 2nd round pick and thus will have to outwork the comp., a challenge he appears apt for.
Malik Rose is increasingly losing his usefulness on the roster. But given the state of the team, I think it’s imperative to have at least one veteran with playoff/championship experience.
Chandler is someone I’m not as high on as most (being that we have Taz on the roster) but he’s our 1st round talent, so he gets some leverage here.
Morris gets this spot by default, we need a backup C and he has youth, and wasn’t bas in SL.
Either way it’ll be tough, training camp should be quite interesting.
I am convinced we will see a trade to thin the heard but if it comes down to simply having to cut people I think you have to look at Jones and Dickau as never seeing the light of day anyway and let them go.
If James comes in out of shape I would let him go and sign Houston. If everyone is in shape I might sign Houston and buy out Malik.
I say a 4 way with Artest and Kobe coming here, Matrix going to LA with Lee and Crawford. Balkman,Q,and the expiring deals (jones and Duncan) to Phoenix to get them down to the cap. Sacto get’s Nichols, Nate and jeffries.
Throw in some scrubs, cash and draft picks and we’re ready to go!
“Should the Knicks open the checkbook and lose the dead weight? It’s not going to be easy to decide who needs to move on. Dan Dickau? Jerome James? Fred Jones? Malik Rose? Jared Jeffries? I can see all of them playing some kind of role here this season.”
Any role they play would likely be a negative one. Get rid of all of them.