Knicks Trade Deadline Aftermath

The NBA Trade Deadline has passed, and Your New York Knickerbockers were active.

First, they traded Tim Thomas, Jerome James, and Anthony Roberson to the Bulls for Larry Hughes.

Then, they traded Malik Rose and Cash Considerations (imagine if someone named their kid Cash Considerations, would that make the NBA more awkward?) to Oklahoma City for Chris Wilcox.

Net result for the Knicks:

- Chris Wilcox, 26 years old, and serviceable. Also, he only has a contract for this year.

- Larry Hughes. He's terrible, but he's equally as terrible as Tim Thomas, and at least he plays the 2, where the Knicks need a guy. His contract is the same length as Thomas'.

- Two open roster spots. They can fill these with D-League guys (Ewing Jr? Richard Hendrix? Rod Benson - bring the Boom Tho Movement to New York!)

- No more Malik Rose, Jerome James, and Anthony Roberson wasting space.

- David Lee and Nate Robinson are still on the team.

It's not going to do much for them this year, most likely. They'll still be competitive, more or less, and maybe will get the last seed in the playoffs, or a lottery pick and a good feeling for next year.

However, it gives them more roster space, doesn't mess up the 2010 plan, and doesn't give up anything worth worrying about.

All told, as a Knicks fan, you have to be pretty happy about today. Despite being forced to actually root for Larry Hughes for the next year or two.

Muddling The Present For A Clearer Future

Busy day for the Knicks.

Let us say goodbye to Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph. I have to admit, they were starting to grow on me a bit. Jamal is a better player today than he was when the Knicks got him. Say this for him - he tried hard, he tried to listen to the coaches, and when he was on (which was too infrequently) he was exhilirating to watch. I'll also give Randolph some credit - he was playing hard this year, too, when every indication would say he'd tank it. Unfortunately for him, he'll always be a good numbers guy on bad team (the Shareef Abdul-Rahim Hall of Fame.) So the Clippers are perfect for him.

Let us pretend Mardy Collins never happened.

Let us say hello to Al Harrington. Some nights, he will be very good. Others, he will be awful. Believe me, I've watched a surprising number of Warriors games over the last two years. There is no in between with Al Harrington.

Let us say hello to Cuttino Mobley, and congratulate him on still being alive and periodically useful.

Let us try to ignore Tim Thomas and hope he goes away.

And let us not forget what this is about - cap space for 2010. All of these contracts expire by 2010, so the Knicks can make a play for one of the big free agents of that summer (LeBron, Wade, Bosh, and others.)

This is also about totally undoing what I*&!h did to the team, especially once Starbury, Curry, and Jerome (Big Snacks) James are finally gone.

As I said in my Disciples of Clyde post earlier today (also go ahead and listen to the new episode - we make Rudy Gay jokes, you'll love it) this ultimately will lead to mediocre basketball this year, and a big free agent in 2010. That makes me reasonably happy.

Since no one could undo this mess quickly, and we couldn't expect otherwise, reasonably happy is about as good as we can hope for right now. So let us sum up: nice job, Donnie Walsh. Let us hope it all pays off in 2010.

A Somewhat Sad, But Still Somewhat Hopeful Day

Renaldo Balkman's unlikely career with the New York Knicks is over.

The Knicks traded Balkman to the Nuggets for a second-round pick in 2010, along with Taurean Green and Bobby Jones, both of whom are expected to be released since neither has a guaranteed contract.

Like most Knicks fans, I like Balkman's energy and the flashes of potential he shows. But I also recognize that this was not the most intelligent of basketball players, and that it didn't seem like he had the mental makeup to be the kind of 20-minute-per-game energy guy he is destined to be.

Sorry to see him go, but the move makes some business sense for the Knicks. They needed to shed some guaranteed contracts (more of these types of moves to come) and this way they actually get something (the draft pick and cash considerations) out of it.

And, hey, maybe this move to Denver, in what was basically a salary dump, will finally get Balkman's mind focused on basketball, and he can turn his potential into an actual NBA career. Sometimes a young man has his head up his ass, so if he gets kicked hard enough in said ass, he begins to finally see clearly, or at least takes his head out of there long enough to see who kicked him.

Or maybe Balkman starts hanging out with JR Smith and robs a Dollar Tree wearing a Dick Cheney mask and a Zach Randolph Trailblazers jersey. Anything is possible.

Coach D'Antoni

As you all are by now no doubt aware, the Knicks have hired Mike D'Antoni to be their new head coach.

A lot of the focus of the "pundits" has been related to whether or not the current personnel of the Knicks can play D'Antoni's up tempo offensive style.

The answer, of course, is no, not with the team as currently constructed.

The problem is that the question is all wrong.

If anyone really thought that the Knicks had all the right pieces and were really just one good coach away, then we're dealing with insane people who probably also think that deep down Dick Cheney really is a good guy who wants to be loved.

As it stands, though, the Knicks need to be completely and utterly overhauled, gutted, and built back up from scratch. The current team was put together by one of the most incompetent and misguided NBA executive of all time, a man whose name we would do well never to speak again, because I fear that even the sound of his name in the air can poison it with the stench of failure and misguided arrogance.

If you're going to strip a team down and build it back up again, then you would do well to bring in a coach that has a unique vision of exactly what he wants to do and exactly who the right people are to do it with. Mike D'Antoni is this indeed.

In addition, you'll want someone with experience and a record of success so that he can withstand a couple of rough years. Because make no mistake, and harbor no illusions: the next year or two isn't going to be necessarily pretty. Expect no magical one-year turnaround like the Celtics had this year, unless D'Antoni can bring Amare with him. Which he can't.

The point is, this isn't a hire intended for the short term. This is a hire to prepare for three years from now. If everything goes to plan, they'll be able to rid themselves of the bad contracts and useless players, adding draft picks and getting the rest of the team experience in the Seven Seconds Or Less system. Then they'll have the cap space necessary to get a big-name free agent that can put them over the top and in position to make a run at the Finals for the next four or five years after that.

That's the plan, anyway. And if Donnie Walsh is as smart as he seems to be, then the fans and the media will give them the leeway to make that plan happen. Which will include allowing for another mediocre and possibly playoff-less year next year.

We should also keep in mind that they are obviously not going to be keeping these same 12 guys next year. I'm as curious as anyone to see exactly what they do (can they trade Curry or Randolph? do they bring back Steph at all or pay him to stay away? etc.) Ultimately, though, a little patience is necessary.

So while I personally would have preferred Avery Johnson to have been the coach (mostly because I like rooting for him, for reasons I can't adequately explain) I am ultimately happy that we have someone like D'Antoni instead of a retread like Rick Carlisle or Scott Skiles or Sam Mitchell.

And the optimist inside me (I can't seem to kill it, no matter how much vodka and rib tips I ingest) imagines if maybe one day the Knicks can be as exciting and as fun to watch and root for as the Suns were the last four years. Wouldn't that be something? Isn't that what we've been dreaming of? Wouldn't that be the cure for what the last eight years has done to us Knicks fans?

At least with this hire, it is possible. And possibility is all you can ask for at this point.

Where Isiah Happens

I saw this in Simmons' links column, and had to include it here, since this sums up everything about the Isiah Era, which can't be done soon enough.

Enjoy, or shed a single melancholy tear.

In Case You Required Proof

Via Basketbawful, here is video evidence of just how hopelessly terrible the Knicks are. And also why statistics can never, ever tell you the full story of a player's relative value to a team. For if you were to look at statistics, Zach Randolph would be considered outstanding. But that cannot account for the type of power forward who thinks this is a good idea, ever, even at an All Star game. Count down the days until someone can come in and attempt to clean up the mess that are your New York Knickerbockers.

As It Was In The Beginning, So Shall It Be In the End

That didn't take long, did it?

It only took 5 games for the Knicks to revert back to being a complete mess. Who knows what will end up happening with Marbury? None of the options are particularly appealing at this point.

If they let him come back, how can that be good for team chemistry? Not to mention the fact that he looks like exactly the wrong point guard to be running this team. They need a pass first point guard who makes good entry passes into the post, and who can hit open long-range jumpers. That sentence in no way defines Starbury.

If they buy him out, how is that good for the team? Another $40 million down the hole, with a lingering stench of ineptitude and failure. And a mindset is further entrenched, so everyone knows that all you have to do is bitch enough and the Knicks will just buy you out, so you can go somewhere else.

They can't trade him. Who wants an aging shoot-first point guard that's not exactly known for being a good team guy and that's still making $20 million a year for the next two years? What can they even get in return? More problem players and bad contracts? How does that help?

They can't really afford to get rid of him either, from a basketball perspective. Who else is there to play the point? Mardy Collins? Yikes.

I can't even form a decent opinion about what I think they should do. Part of me wants them to keep him, and just take their lumps with him this year and buy him out at the end of the year, when they have a better idea of where the rest of the team is and what other point guards might be out there for them to acquire or draft.

And the rest of me would just like to see him go already. I'm beyond tired of Steph and his antics. Unlike people like Rasheed Wallace or Stephen Jackson or even Ron Artest, Starbury's play on the court doesn't make me want to forgive him his toxic personality and craziness off the court. If he never plays another Knicks minute, I won't miss him.

And we were just starting to get a little optimistic about this year. Silly us.

Like a large whole fish that's been sitting in the sun, this just stinks no matter what you do.

The only possible upside is that maybe this is what finally brings us the end of the reign of Isiah. Which would be fitting, since getting Marbury was his first big move as GM. If the handling of getting rid of him was Isiah's final undoing, it would be a kind of poetic end. Well, one of those poetic ends to a Shakespeare tragedy where everyone dies, but still.

Good riddance to all, and to all a good night.

Filowitz's Friday Five

1) Is there anyone in the National League that actually wants to make the playoffs? It doesn’t seem like it. Maybe they have a point – neither the Mets nor the Cubs nor the Brewers nor the Diamondbacks nor the Rockies nor the Padres nor the Phillies look capable of beating Boston, New York, Cleveland, or Los Angeles/Anaheim. Might as well not make it instead of embarrassing yourself in front of the nation, I suppose. And you can’t have your hopes crushed if you never had hope in the first place. So maybe Mets and Cubs fans should be grateful that their teams are falling apart worse than a sandcastle built by FEMA.

2) Does anyone know how many games Tom Brady has missed since he became the starter back in 2002? None. For all the talk of geniuses and model franchises and blah blah blah, it sure does help when your best guy playing the most irreplaceable position is never injured, huh? And is that not more than a touch of luck? Let me put it this way – I doubt anyone looks like a genius if Matt Cassel is your starting QB.

3) It is generally disgusting to me that Boston sports is about to have a phenomenal year. The Red Sox win the AL East. The Patriots look like the best team since the Cowboys of the early 90s. The Celtics get KG and Ray Allen. Giving these people, these insufferably arrogant people who whine and cry all the time and talk smack constantly, who lose horribly and win even worse, to give them all this success? Ugh. It’s exactly how I felt after Bush won his second term.

4) Yes, I’m a Knicks fan. Yes, I’m following the Isiah trial. No, I don’t want to talk about it right now. I’ve got other things to be depressed about, thanks.

5) I know no one cares about anyone else’s fantasy team. But in the Sherman Avenue Block Party league we have going on ESPN, my two starting RBs were Steven Jackson and Deuce McCallister, my QB was Drew Brees, and one of my WRs was Andre Johnson. I’m now left with Brian Leonard, Jerious Norwood, Braylon Edwards, and Chad Pennington. Interns in the back of Stephon Marbury’s truck aren’t fucked more than this team. If I win any more games with this team, I should be arrested for fraud.

Houston, we have a problem

As one of our esteemed readers brought up in response to the Kanye West piece, Allan Houston has signaled to ESPN that he is 90-95% ready to return to the hardwood, but, and here is the key, he doesn't expect to return to the Knicks. Allan Houston is my least favorite Knick of all time. I do not count the Knicks who arrived with or since Isiah because that era simply doesn't exist for me. I choose to remember the Knicks of the late 80s through the exodus of Spree only.

As Ewing's tenure was winding down the Knicks were faced with several choices on how to transition, they could trade Ewing for 45 cents on the dollar to escape his balloon payment contract or let his contract finish and then get under the salary cap, they also had to choose between which type of team they wanted to have. The choices were simple, keep Vanilla Allan Houston and build around a sharp shooting soft as a Dairy Queen parfait non-defending 2 guard or pick a maniacal, yacht driving, computer geek, lock down defending swing man in Latrell Spreewell. Compounding this was the growing rift between the GM and Coach Van Gundy who favored an attacking offense and a strong physical defense. As with most Coach GM battles, the owner chose the GM, the Knicks got rid of Camby and Spree and banked on Houston, Charlie Ward, Howard Eisley Shandon Anderson, Antonio McDyess and Kurt Thomas among other superstars.

Maybe Houston has what it takes to return, but keep this in mind, the NBA instituted a rule allowing teams to cut an injured player and not have to absorb the cap number just for Allan Houston. Forget about his soft play, its been a long time since Houston contributed in any meaningful way, can his body take the pounding of an NBA season, does he really have the desire to play again? Only time will tell, but at least he is not the Knicks problem any longer.

How's That Now?

Howard Beck of the New York Times is a great basketball writer. I enjoy his coverage of the New York Knicks more than I enjoy the coverage in any of the other New York papers.

That said, this line, towards the bottom of his article about the Knicks summer league team made my eyes pop out of my head:

[Randolph] Morris is stuck behind [Eddy] Curry at center and [Zach] Randolph and [David] Lee at power forward. But if he progresses quickly, he could make Jerome James expendable. (emphasis mine)

He could make Jerome James expendable?

Could?

Jerome James was expendable the minute he signed (a five year, $30 million deal, after he played a total of four good playoff games against a team with no center. We pause to raise a toast to the incomparable genius of Isiah.)

The chairs that rookie prospects play against in those pre-draft workouts make Jerome James expendable.

A corned beef sandwich from Katz's Deli makes Jerome James expendable.

Jerome James is not only expendable, he is execrable. He is excrement in basketball shorts.

I would rather see Eddie Lee Wilkins on the court, as he is TODAY, than to see Jerome James play one more New York Knick minute.

I would rather see a baby get punched in the face than see Jerome James play basketball.

I would rather see Oprah and Al Roker make love on a beanbag chair than see Jerome James on the Knicks bench.

I would rather...well, you get the idea.

Could make Jerome James expendable? Come on, Howard Beck. Come on.

The Knicks Fan's Confusion

Zach Randolph.

Really?

Zach Randolph.

Seriously?

Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry on the court at the same time.

This works? Really?

Zach Randolph in a locker room with Curry and Starbury and Nate Robinson.

This is a good idea?

Trading for four years worth of this contract, so they can't make a good move for a huge free agent until 2011.

This helps?

There is a ton of talent on this team, but it looks more like a fantasy team than a coherent product on the court.

Playoff team?

Marbury, Crawford, Richardson, Randolph, Curry start. Lee, Balkman, Jeffries, Robinson, and, um, Mardy Collins, or Fred Jones off the bench.

Playoff team?

Isiah Thomas always does something.

When does he go away forever?