Step 1) Before reading this post, please review the following link that details the Knicks’ roster and salaries:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/roster?team=nyk
Step 2) Laugh your ass off.
Step 3) Attempt, if you feel you have the surplus brain cells, to understand how such a monstrosity came into being. (hint: the answer is that Isiah Thomas is insane.)
Step 4) Imagine trying to make an impact trade to improve the NYK. Then laugh some more.
This is, all things considered, the worst team in basketball. They tied for the fifth worst record in the league last year, but playing in the East makes that more like second worst (ahead of the Heat, who are now better). They don’t have much in the way of young talent with the exception of the Italian (who won’t contribute immediately in a meaningfull way). They have one bad center (Curry) coupled with an absolutely worthless backup (James, whose drawing of a NBA paycheck is tantamount to fraud). They have one bad PF (Randolph) backed up by a terrible player (Rose). Two questionable SFs in Chandler and Jeffries followed by two scrubs (Balkman and Richardson). I’m not exaggerating here. If it weren’t for David Lee (taken with the last pick of the 1st rd in 2005), the Knicks would have no good front court players. As it is, they have ONE worthwhile player back there.
One might be thinking, “Well, this is the Eastern Conference, I’m sure the Knicks have some guards who can play.” Wrong, wrong, wrong. The PG position was a mess of ball hogs and insanity (Robinson and Marbury). Logically, the Knicks tried to address this problem. But Chris Duhan is about as much a long-term point guard as Chucky Atkins. The SG spot is also comical: Fred Jones, Jamaal Crawford, and Mardy Collins get time here. Why not just add Cuttino Mobley and bring Sprewell back? A good coach choking never hurt a franchise. Plus, they can recapture that great shortened season magic of ’99.
This was the roster designed in hell.
What really makes this team the stuff of infamy is that these guys are untradable because nearly every one of them has an inflated (to say the least) contract. Many will stay (unlike the fans), while some might be dumped for salary reasons as the Knicks pick up smaller, but still bad, contracts in exchange for their terrible ones. Any trade ideas? A resusitation of this franchise would be the greatest and luckiest feat in NBA history.
Any ideas on a) how this team digs itself out and b) if there has ever been (considering “bang for buck”) a worse team in professional sports history? Oh, and c) has there ever been a fatter front line than Randolph, Curry, and James? No, just saying Oliver Miller doesn’t count.
re: Is it sad that the Knicks have been one of the NBA’s best punchlines for about 5 years now?
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LB23
yeah I’d like to see them doing well again some of my fondest NBA memories are of Bulls vs Knicks. just imagine, if the Knicks were a contender and the Celtics had to go through them to get to the Lakers for the finals. not that this year’s playoffs weren’t classic but it’s always more exciting for the game when the big city teams do well. -bB
wth Jared Jeffries makes 6 mil? 3 pts, 3 reb, and 1 ast in 18 minutes? that’s pathetic. and he even played 73 games so it isn’t as if it’s a small sample set. Jerome James, the “Garbageman”..when was the last time he even went into a gym? you are right, these salaries make for excellent morning comedy. -bB
re: It’s not just that this team is in trouble salary wise, they are just built horribly. Before Walsh and D’Antoni took over, this team consisted of a PG playing SG, a shoot first PG starting, a PF and a C that cannibalize each other down low (both need space to work and demand the ball at all times), and a SF that is mostly a catch and shoot player…but it’s hard to shoot when you never catch the ball because nobody passes.
They’ve done a nice job of cleaning it up quickly though. Now if you could only lead Curry and Randolph to a Whole Foods and away from the Dollar Menu at McDonalds…
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LB23
Is there any way out? They have to find a way to trade either Curry or Randolph. They’ll have to wait Richardson’s deal out, but Crawford might actually work with D’Antoni (at least that’s what D’Antoni says). After that, they might have room to get the Italian some playing time and have room to add a legit player or two. I just can’t believe how untradable these guys are. They’ll get nothing for Rose, Curry, Randolph, or Jeffries.