I've Said This Before

The entire problem with the Larry Brown affair was this. Brown hated the personnel that Isiah had assembled. Isiah, for his part, had done the best he could given the hand dealt to him. This included an existing animus toward the Knicks by many GMs around the league as well as Layden's well-known accumulation of dreck.

Isiah managed to clean house but never really got to the point where the talent had turned the corner. That remains true to this day.

But at the point Brown was complaining, Dolan decided to freeze trade activity. First, the money being paid out was yielding a terrible record under Brown but, secondly, Brown was making sense to Dolan, the players assembled could not win.

Yet, Dolan was hearing and respecting Isiah who was saying, stay the course, I like these players.

Instead of keeping a hands off attitude, Dolan not only froze the roster but forced Isiah to eat his own dogfood, so to speak. If Isiah liked the players then win with them.

Which brings us to today.

The reality is that no draft pick is going to redeem this franchise. Isiah needs to be free to make trades but needs two things to happen; one, Dolan needs to lighten up and Isiah needs to become dispassionate about his personal feelings for certain players.

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The Knicks have a keeper in Lee. Randolph also qualifies as a strong candidate to stay.

Difficult to trade commodities include Marbury and Jerome James.

Players who should be traded at a loss include Crawford and Curry who are complete busts in NY.

Players who may be most desirable to other teams as veteran stabilizers include Rose, Jeffries, Q, Jones. All of these guys should be made available at a net loss if need be.

Morris, Balkman, Chandler, Collins, and Nate Robinson all have limited but desirable value. The Knicks, depending on what they receive in trade could and should part with any of these players in the right deal.

In the right deal, the Knicks should be willing to give up the #1 pick, no question.

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My reasoning is this, I do not believe Isiah had the opportunity to turn the talent he had accumulated into the mix he actually wanted. That process was prematurely derailed two years ago.

Critics claim Zeke is a bad GM. I disagree with the caveat that he needs to emotionally cut loose both Curry and Crawford even at a loss.

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So who is rumored on the block worth talking about?

Artest, and Andre Miller, Bibby, or Kidd are all premium targets. These are starting quality players. As the games slide by Kidd is becoming less likely or desirable due to his milage though his expiring contract would be a welcome relief if allowed to expire.

Do we have the goods? Philly might not trade with us because of Brown. And Miller won't come cheap. Artest or Bibby (not both) are more likely though still highly unlikely acquisitions at this point in time.

If we could acquire one, I'd put my efforts into Artest. First, he wants to be here. Second, he is cut from traditional Knicks cloth. Third, we may actually have the goods to get a deal done with Sacto.

A centerpiece of Balkman or Chandler and N8 would give Sacto a young Artest replacement and a PG to replace some of Bibby's minutes. Jones expiring contract and Curry's inexpensive center presence allows Sacto to trade Miller.

NY would eat Thomas' contract to get Artest.

Of the second-tier rumors, Ben Wallace and Jermaine O'Neal are both bad contracts for damaged goods.

Wallace is rumored to be in exchange for Rose, Q, and Jones - a no-brainer. The O'Neal transaction is rumored as Randolph for O'Neal and quite frankly I think that the Knicks would be overpaying while not trading the correct assets.

If we trade for O'neal, add Daniels and Diogu and let's ship Curry, Crawford, Rose and Jones. That will save Indy some cash and result in a fair exchange of assets.