Here are the players that the Knicks have to make decisions on this summer. My decision will be in bold.
- Fred Jones - Unrestricted free agent - I would let him go. He will demand more money than he is worth.
- Randolph Morris - Restricted free agent - No need to keep him on the team. Too many bigs on the roster.
- Stephon Marbuy - Early termination option - Hope and pray that he opts out this summer. If not, then hope to trade him for pennies on the dollar. If not, play him or try to buy him out.
- Renaldo Balkman - 1 year
- Wilson Chandler - 1 year
- Mardy Collins - 1 year
- Jamal Crawford - 3 years
- Eddy Curry - 2 years
- Jerome James - 1 year
- Jared Jeffries - 3 years
- David Lee - 1 year
- Zach Randolph - 3 years
- Quentin Richardson - 2 years
- Nate Robinson - 1 year
- Malik Rose - 1 year
To start the rebuilding, the Knicks hold the sixth pick in the upcoming draft. Apparently Mike D'Antoni loves Danilo Gallinari and is prepared to take him in the first round. I've never seen the kid play, so I have no clue on if he can or not. With that being said, I think New York would be wise to trade back a few picks (no further than the 15th pick) and draft someone like Donte Greene, Chase Budinger, or Darrell Arthur. Let's say New York drafts Donte Greene with the 12th pick after trading down. The trade would look like this:
- 6th pick - Jared Jeffries - Nate Robinson to Sacramento
- 12th pick - Ron Artest to New York
Next on the agenda is Stephon Marbury. What can New York do with him? Does anyone want him? At this point, I don't think that anyone is going to trade much to get him. With that being said, there are two choices. 1) Play him. 2) Buy him out. At this point, I would hold onto him and see if he can garner any trade interest around the trade deadline. With 20mil coming off the books at the end of the season, he would be pretty attractive to quite a few teams.
I know I haven't done much for the team this season, but by grabbing Ron Artest and Donte Greene, the Knicks have gotten deeper and a little better. With Marbury's contract expiring at the end of next season, New York could be getting rid of around 30mil and become major players in free agency. Here is what the team would look like this coming season. Players in the last year of their contract are in bold:
PG: Marbury / Jamal Crawford / Mardy Collins
SG: Crawford / Quentin Richardson / Collins
SF: Artest / Greene / Renaldo Balkman / Wilson Chandler
PF: Zach Randolph / David Lee / Malik Rose
C: Eddy Curry / Jerome James / Rose
This team isn't going to be a championship contender this season, but they would be much improved. Hope this works for who was asking. It would be a few seasons to right the ship, but this is a decent start.
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Comments
not a bad idea to get rid of Curry.
Who would NY use down low then?
I assume a combo of Randolph/Lee/James/Rose would be the thought there.
Also, what would you do with Marbury then? Interested to know what you think.
Marbury? Try him out in the system. If he doesn't work, let his contract expire.
The only way I would trade Marbury is if it was for someone like Kidd or Iverson - another big contract with maybe one year left on it.
One trade that might work - might - is Shareef Abdul-Rahim, Ron Artest, and the Kings pick for Marbury and the Knicks pick. Maybe the Knicks get the Kings to throw in a 2nd rounder, too. The Knicks get Ron Artest. The Kings get some huge salary cap relief, plus move up in the draft.
I think the Kings trade makes no sense for the Kings. Jeffries is a cap killer.
An idea that was brought to my attention was Zach, #6 to the Sixers for #16 and WIllie Green.
Essentially this would be done by the Knicks to rid themselves of Zach's contract, since he doesn't fit into the Phoenix style. That isn't the Knicks style though... saving money, so it probably doesn't make sense.
I hate Zach's game a whole lot, but I think, as a Sixers fan, I would accept it and deal with him for 2 years until he becomes an expiring contract. This is all assuming the Sixers can't get a post threat from anywhere else. The Sixers would then take Russell Westbrook with the pick. Who knows? Maybe Zach would play well? I doubt it though.
I don't know why people say Jeffries is a cap killer. He is only going to make around 6mil this season. Artest is making around 8mil. Jeffries can defend as well.
If the Knicks are trading people to just rid themselves of salary, then they will be even worse than they already are.
Years matter more than dollar amounts. If you want to create cap space at some point in time, you don't trade expiring contracts for fringe NBA players that are due to make 19+ million over 3 years.
Pretty good ideas, GM. I would say that I like the proposed Artest trade for the Knicks, but I don't think the Kings would go for it. They might still be in salary cutting mode, meaning they wouldn't want a long dead weight contract like Jeffries back. Although moving up to the 6th pick might make it worth it to them.
I am definitely in favor of trading down, unless the Knicks get a good shot at someone they really want - Mayo, Danilo, whoever. If they trade down, one more name I would add into the mix, someone who fits the draft record of the Knicks over the past five seasons, is Chris Douglas of Memphis. He's a steady, solid player with not much upside. Straight Bangin' wrote a post about him today. He would be a good pickup at #12, or at an even lower pick.
Like another deal the Knicks could make - Curry + #6 (which allows Toronto to pick up another Euro in Danilo) for TJ Ford and the #20 (Chris Douglas). At the same time, the Knicks are shedding a bit of salary weight, too.