SportsTalk: Knicks + D'Antoni = Disaster or Divine?

[senorcorazon]

Sorry for the SportsTalk, but are people expecting the Knicks to be somewhere above total garbage next year?

[Chris L]

Barely.  I believe if the the Suns had gotten over the Spurs hump they could have won a championship playing that style, but you need the right personnel, and the Knicks won't have that for at least the next couple of years.  Although Eddy Curry might be slightly quicker than Shaq in the fast break. 

Where else can you find brilliant, unique analysis like that except FOT SportsTalk™?

[Gilly]

I disagree, the Knicks have been run into the ground by poor management and as the Celtics showed this past season, it only takes one offseason to correct that. The Knicks have a bunch of guys who will be playing with an expiring contract next year and those kind of players are easy to get rid of for a superstar and there will be somebody that asks to be traded this offseason. That's the way to go in the NBA anyway, free agency has become dull and teams overpay for semi-stars. The way to get a superstar is to trade expiring contracts to a small-mid market team. The NBA really needs to fix that.

At the very least they are only a year away once they get rid of that awful Marbury contract (they might actually have the option to terminate that now but I'm not sure- it might be a player option) and re-sign David Lee with a couple high draft picks on top of that. Plus, you're always going to be able to lure good mid-level exceptions to New York. They have the pieces to be creative and now that it seems like they have the right guys making decisions I think they could turn the franchise around really fast especially in the East.

[senorcorazon]

I've always been surprised at the terrible contracts they have -- one would expect to be able to find a ruthless contract lawyer in New York willing to stick it to basketball players. I think they might even technically be still paying Charles Oakley somehow. I'm thinking they'll end up a little like the Jason Kidd Nets, enjoyable to watch but completely unable to seal the deal.

[Gilly]

Once they get rid of Marbury their contracts aren't going to be so terrible. Quentin Richardson should be the only one making way too much money. The only problem might be that they have too many players making a lot of money that they deserve. By deserve, I mean according to NBA standards. Other than Richardson all of their big contracts that aren't expiring are pretty good players. Crawford, Randolph and Curry are all worth what their making on the open market.

After this upcoming season they'll have around 41 million dollars off the books. The crazy thing is that they'll still be only 2 million under the cap (they are 40 million over right now...crazy NBA salary cap). So all that money off the books won't mean anything other than they won't have to pay luxury. They still won't be able to sign players other than their own. I have a feeling the Knicks no matter who's managing the team aren't going to go through a rebuilding period.

I think the smart move for the Knicks is to use Marbury, Jerome James and Nate Robinson's expiring contract and their draft pick if they fall out of the top two to get a superstar if one becomes available (and somebody will). Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry would make a great front court but they are not leading men. If they got a leading man without losing David Lee they'd be pretty good in the East.

But, screw the Knicks, I'm praying that the Wolves finally get some luck and turn up the #1 or #2 pick tonight.