Please, Walsh, for the love of god....
MOVE DUHON...
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Trade talk 2010
The most persistent rumor going around is something that must be coming out of Houston as a smokescreen. And its the Tracy McGrady, Cook, and Dorsey to NY for Harrington, JJ, Hill, a future #1 and so on (and many variants have 2 #1 picks leaving one way or another).
My major concern with this trade is that the cap space utopians imagine signing a team of All-Stars this summer thanks to losing JJ's and Hill's salary and being able to deep six T-Mac into retirement or a minor contract. I don't buy any of this for a second but it persists because its hard to be against something so absurdly desirable.
Pragmatically, cap space doesn't hurt but I'm a fan of JJ's play this year. Harrington can score points in a hurry. Hill will hold value for years to come. Treating all three of the major components of the trade like chopped liver is not only insulting but foolish. T-Mac is a high risk venture if Walsh and D'An truly believe he's got something in the tank.
Houston is playing its card, such as they are, right. They are acting as though they have no reason to trade T-Mac - how bad do you want him? Bad enough to give us this past year's #8 selection?
Not enough.
How about the 2011 first rounder?
Not enough.
...and so on.
If we're giving up first rounders then Houston better be taking Eddie Curry off our hands at those prices.
On the incoming side, Dorsey, a monster in college, has acted like an entitlement prom queen in the NBA. Brian Cook has settled into a comfortable minor bench player. Neither worth trading for unless you were getting a pre-injuries T-Mac.
If Houston has no use for JJ then take Curry, why waste good JJ on bad judgment? After all Houston is interested in the picks, not the players.
But I think Houston is being shrewd and using high-stress, high-pressure tactics to break Walsh's back. A KM, a fair trade might look more like T-Mac, Cook, Dorsey, and Houston's 2010 #1 for Harrington, JJ, Darko, Douglas and the 2010 Denver second-rounder NY owns.
Houston STILL makes out like bandits.
Let's turn our attention to the Luke Ridnour rumors. There was some talk of Ridnour for Duhon which the Knicks should do in a heartbeat but it would have to be for Duhon, a second-rounder and cash to make it worthwhile for the Bucks.
Our other PG interest, Augustine could probably be had by giving up Hill. Here, the trade makes sense. Charlotte gets an inexpensive big, NY gets their PG and the trade makes some sense.
That brings us to N8.
N8 will accept a trade to Orlando. Denver needs some size. Bass is unhappy in Orlando.
This trade works straight up; Hill to Denver, Bass and Lawson to NY, N8 and Petro to Orlando.
Now it might require some cash and a second rounder or two to make this work in reality but hey we're only speculating.
My major concern with this trade is that the cap space utopians imagine signing a team of All-Stars this summer thanks to losing JJ's and Hill's salary and being able to deep six T-Mac into retirement or a minor contract. I don't buy any of this for a second but it persists because its hard to be against something so absurdly desirable.
Pragmatically, cap space doesn't hurt but I'm a fan of JJ's play this year. Harrington can score points in a hurry. Hill will hold value for years to come. Treating all three of the major components of the trade like chopped liver is not only insulting but foolish. T-Mac is a high risk venture if Walsh and D'An truly believe he's got something in the tank.
Houston is playing its card, such as they are, right. They are acting as though they have no reason to trade T-Mac - how bad do you want him? Bad enough to give us this past year's #8 selection?
Not enough.
How about the 2011 first rounder?
Not enough.
...and so on.
If we're giving up first rounders then Houston better be taking Eddie Curry off our hands at those prices.
On the incoming side, Dorsey, a monster in college, has acted like an entitlement prom queen in the NBA. Brian Cook has settled into a comfortable minor bench player. Neither worth trading for unless you were getting a pre-injuries T-Mac.
If Houston has no use for JJ then take Curry, why waste good JJ on bad judgment? After all Houston is interested in the picks, not the players.
But I think Houston is being shrewd and using high-stress, high-pressure tactics to break Walsh's back. A KM, a fair trade might look more like T-Mac, Cook, Dorsey, and Houston's 2010 #1 for Harrington, JJ, Darko, Douglas and the 2010 Denver second-rounder NY owns.
Houston STILL makes out like bandits.
Let's turn our attention to the Luke Ridnour rumors. There was some talk of Ridnour for Duhon which the Knicks should do in a heartbeat but it would have to be for Duhon, a second-rounder and cash to make it worthwhile for the Bucks.
Our other PG interest, Augustine could probably be had by giving up Hill. Here, the trade makes sense. Charlotte gets an inexpensive big, NY gets their PG and the trade makes some sense.
That brings us to N8.
N8 will accept a trade to Orlando. Denver needs some size. Bass is unhappy in Orlando.
This trade works straight up; Hill to Denver, Bass and Lawson to NY, N8 and Petro to Orlando.
Now it might require some cash and a second rounder or two to make this work in reality but hey we're only speculating.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I Love NY
There's a report out on RealGM that asserts that Tracy McGrady if bought out would make his way to NY.
For over ten years free agents in their prime have avoided signing in New York. There's always one excuse or another but few players in their prime care a whit about coming here. Oh, they'll blow smoke up our asses about NY being in the mix but its always just a leverage mechanism.
But when those players lose their hops, reach a point of being overpaid that would make a decent man blush, they always turn their sites to NY. One last big score. A paycheck and a rush no one else anywhere on the planet can offer.
And so the media entertains the notion that trading or signing Tracy McGrady is both possible and desirable. In basketball for the Knicks such talk is the equivalent of a Biblical sign that the season is shot and the slide back into basketball hell is just a few games away.
Knicks fans addicted to cap space illusions of grandeur will argue that he's a rental and comes off the books. True enough. But if the cost is existing expiring contracts, who cares? We'll be trading functional, useful players out to contenders and get what may be no more than another Mobley contract to hang on the wall.
The media is reporting considerable turmoil among the players. N8 swearing at D'Antoni during a timeout. D'Antoni trying to unload Harrington as a bad influence on the younger players. And so on.
Walsh may be a good steady businessman but the Knicks like Bill Murray's character in Ground Hog's Day are once again in turmoil, in crisis, with no hope in sight. Walsh, bless his heart is a nice man but his nose for talent; Duhon, Milicic, Harrington, the resigning of N8, D'Antoni, and so on is a grim reminder that while the media is selling a shopping spree this summer any analysis of the available players on the market who the Knicks have a legitimate shot at signing is indistinguishable from a discount bin of bench warmers.
As someone on another blog said, "At least Isiah was entertaining." With Walsh, there is a drone of progress that is no more exciting than waiting for the mail to arrive.
For over ten years free agents in their prime have avoided signing in New York. There's always one excuse or another but few players in their prime care a whit about coming here. Oh, they'll blow smoke up our asses about NY being in the mix but its always just a leverage mechanism.
But when those players lose their hops, reach a point of being overpaid that would make a decent man blush, they always turn their sites to NY. One last big score. A paycheck and a rush no one else anywhere on the planet can offer.
And so the media entertains the notion that trading or signing Tracy McGrady is both possible and desirable. In basketball for the Knicks such talk is the equivalent of a Biblical sign that the season is shot and the slide back into basketball hell is just a few games away.
Knicks fans addicted to cap space illusions of grandeur will argue that he's a rental and comes off the books. True enough. But if the cost is existing expiring contracts, who cares? We'll be trading functional, useful players out to contenders and get what may be no more than another Mobley contract to hang on the wall.
The media is reporting considerable turmoil among the players. N8 swearing at D'Antoni during a timeout. D'Antoni trying to unload Harrington as a bad influence on the younger players. And so on.
Walsh may be a good steady businessman but the Knicks like Bill Murray's character in Ground Hog's Day are once again in turmoil, in crisis, with no hope in sight. Walsh, bless his heart is a nice man but his nose for talent; Duhon, Milicic, Harrington, the resigning of N8, D'Antoni, and so on is a grim reminder that while the media is selling a shopping spree this summer any analysis of the available players on the market who the Knicks have a legitimate shot at signing is indistinguishable from a discount bin of bench warmers.
As someone on another blog said, "At least Isiah was entertaining." With Walsh, there is a drone of progress that is no more exciting than waiting for the mail to arrive.
Monday, February 8, 2010
February Chill
The Knicks losses continue to pile up and while the dreamers dream of LeBron or Wade, the reality is that our chances of signing a bonafide talent this summer diminish with every passing day.
As a pragmatist, I see a sharp drop off in talent among FAs after the top 5 or so. Of the available Point Guards, none are more that low-end starters or second-stringers on good teams [Lowry, Foye, Ridnour, Blake, or Sergio Rodriguez].
None of them project out as game changers here. While anything is better than Duhon, marginally better is not a solution.
And I've lost faith in the cap space solution primarily because while it ensures a snow ball's chance in hell of signing LeBron, it delivers us to the doorstep of long-term mediocrity yet again with many casting an eye on who will be available in the 2011 NBA draft.
I find that prospect unacceptable.
The following recommendations come from the Occam's razor observation that whether or not Lebron comes we're really building around David Lee, for better or worse.
If I were GM, I'd be pursuing the following trade lines [some mutually exclusive of others:
The need for a decent PG cannot wait.
As a pragmatist, I see a sharp drop off in talent among FAs after the top 5 or so. Of the available Point Guards, none are more that low-end starters or second-stringers on good teams [Lowry, Foye, Ridnour, Blake, or Sergio Rodriguez].
None of them project out as game changers here. While anything is better than Duhon, marginally better is not a solution.
And I've lost faith in the cap space solution primarily because while it ensures a snow ball's chance in hell of signing LeBron, it delivers us to the doorstep of long-term mediocrity yet again with many casting an eye on who will be available in the 2011 NBA draft.
I find that prospect unacceptable.
The following recommendations come from the Occam's razor observation that whether or not Lebron comes we're really building around David Lee, for better or worse.
If I were GM, I'd be pursuing the following trade lines [some mutually exclusive of others:
Boston is reeling. They have multiple needs that the Knicks can fill and no cap space in sight. They've been losing and are realistic enough to know they cannot beat Orlando, Cleveland, or the Lake show.
Al Harrington, JJ, and N8 give he Celtics much of what they're lacking. It also give those three a nice opportunity to compete for a ring. In exchange the Knicks get Ray Allen [an expiring], Marquis Daniels [rent-a-PG], and Boston's 2010 #1 [a late-first rounder].
There are numerous good things that are by-products of such an exchange for both teams.
Jose Calderon and Sonny Weems for Mobley and Toney Douglas. This trade lands a capable PG and a nice SG prospect. The trade saves Toronto money and lands them a very capable and inexpensive PG backup in Toney.
Eddy Curry and Toney Douglas for Samuel Dalembert
Acie Law and Nazr Mohammed for Mobley. Charlotte needs to clear salary for purchase.
The need for a decent PG cannot wait.
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