TwinkieFoot

The animosity that Knick fans have had for James Dolan must be one of the most puzzling anomalies present in today's sporting world. Yes, the Knicks have not faired very well during his reign as majority owner but it obviously isn't because of a lack of interest in the team. He has been open to spending insane amounts of money just to find a winner in a league today where contenders such as the Pistons let key players walk because of financial reasons. That kind of dedication is something that I personally respect. The strength to stand and continually do so while constantly being ridiculed by people that have no knowledge of how both aspects of the league function, financially and personnel wise, also is something that can not be ignored. Sometimes that strength, loyalty and dedication to people can become a negative as it did with Scott Layden but all in all, I believe things could be so much worse. We could currently have Donald Sterling as an owner that ran a team that whose main agenda was to draft solid players and develop them well enough to go to other teams and make them better. We could be the Seattle SuperSonics who are prepared to move a young player like Rashard Lewis because they don't want to pay a luxury tax. The fact of the matter is that while most of these teams attempt to set up smoke screens that they want to win, they don't go the extra mile to do so and accept the burden's of being a winner. Excuses are made about the luxury tax, or attempting to build a championship team by getting rid of there best players, that are all without merit. While most point out our $125 million payroll as a negative, I see it as a positive. Most ignore the fact that most players are not interested in the money that most rebuilding teams have to offer. Aside from the Bulls who recently signed Ben Wallace after spending 8 years at the bottom of the league (and still no where close to being contenders), I can not think of one team that has found big time takers for their available money except their own players coming off their rookie contracts. In today's league, when most big time players change teams they do so through a trade. Perfect examples would be Baron Davis, Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace, Tracy McGrady, Shaq, etc. The fact of the matter is that due to the way the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) is structured, players get more for staying with their teams. Most tend to resign based on that fact despite it not being the best situation in the world. Knowing that, we are the ones who truely are in the primer situation to land these kind of players which is the true aspect of rebuilding. When they finally tire of the situation, the expiring contracts that we have (which occur yearly due to how large our payroll is) which allow teams to match contracts and free up money along with the young players we get (through the draft) put us in very good situation to land these kind of players. Just some food for thought.

Cager

It's too bad that Dolan has wasted so much money over the last few years. He should have brought in an experienced, proven GM to run things. Isiah seems to be fine drafting players and may not be a bad coach but he is a terrible GM. Anybody have any clue as to what Isiah has been tryiong to do the last few years ?

As to the terrible Bulls, let's wait until the end of this season to see where they finish versus the beloved Knicks

danred7

OT-Paragraphs are your friend.

Willingness to spend is a good quality to have for an owner. But he's spending it in all the wrong places.

Instead of firing Larry Brown, the Hall of Famer, he would've been better off promoteing him to GM and canning Thomas. Brown would get his players to fit his system and turn this team around.

Instead he let Thomas trade his best assets (Hardaway expring) for pieces that don't fit (Franchise).

Great Franchises start at the top. If you do it right, you don't need to overpay. You have to be Savvy and Smart.

Heat, Spurs, Pistons are all under the Luxery Tax. And have won the last three Championships.

Giving Thomas another year to prove himself is the worse move he could make.

TwinkieFoot

Mitch Kupchak is an experienced GM but I doubt his resume means much because he walked into an already excellent situation. I think a GM should be judged more than anything on their ability to judge talent and acquire talent by any means necessary. So far, Isiah has been willing to do that so I have no qualms about his performance considering what he has had to work with. I personally have seen the reason behind each and everyone of his moves. Hopefully I could enlighten you to some of them:

Stephon Marbury- Prior to bringing in Marbury we were one of the best jump shooting teams in the league and nothing more outside of that. Adding Marbury allowed these jump shooters to become much more effective in a game and make us that more versatile a team offensively. It did it's trick but another problem was identified which brings me to the next issue...

Tim Thomas and Nazr Mohammed- Aside from being a good scoring team, there was nothing else the team could do very well. With hopes of improving the teams chances in the playoffs, Isiah added two players who fulfilled these needs. Tim Thomas was not the scorer Van Horn was but he did offer about the same accuracy with range with the added ability to get to the paint much easier and a better defender. Nazr Mohammed offered the rebounding ability that the team sorely lacked along with a longer body to relieve Kurt Thomas of playing center for extended amounts of time. Another flaw was revealed in the playoffs...

Jamal Crawford- Although the Knicks got progressively better in the playoffs against the Nets, a key flaw was revealed. Allan Houston's health could no longer be relied on, and the lack of shooting ability off the bench allowed the Nets to freely double Marbury without having to pay for it. Enter Jamal Crawford. Crawford's versatile game gave the Knicks and Houston some kind of cushion off the bench and the scoring bunch we sorely lacked. Most importantly, Crawford was an excellent ball handler that has had experience running the PG.

Jerome Williams, Malik Rose, Maurice Taylor- I grouped these guys together because they all had one purpose and that was to add depth and different options to use in different situations best geared to their skill. Jerome Williams was an added enforcer on our team that we needed down low. Rose was the experienced veteran who had become seasoned at defending and besting bigger, stronger and more talented big men in the playoffs. Maurice Taylor added the dimension of low post scoring that we never had on this team.

I could go on but I'd like to hear what you have to say about what I have before I continue...

TwinkieFoot

Larry Brown has proved very little managing player personnel. Personally, I believe he was responsible for the Sixers never winning a title. They moved Larry Hughes, Speedy Claxton, Nazr Mohammed, Tim Thomas, Jerry Stackhouse and so many other talented young players for hardly anything in return. If he would have just had the patience to develop these guys and keep them, they could have fielded one of the strongest teams in the league longer than a single season.

As for Isiah trading Hardaway, we got Steve Francis in return? Which one do you honestly believe would bring in better players? A star a year or two removed from the all-star game or bench player? Every year stars could be had for an expiring contract and some combination of a young player, draft picks or cash. I'd take that over an expiring contract especially since letting it expire does not put us in a better situation than we are currently in. As of right now, Isiah has continually made the team better talent wise and suplimented the team with fits to build a winner. I'd like to give him more time myself to see what he can do.

And yes, the Heat, Spurs and Pistons are at the luxury tax threshold proving a point that you don't have to spend alot of money to build a winner. If you look at those teams, none of them have been consistently winning a title (back to back championships). A commitment to use more money would help build those teams into that kind of winner but their owners, especially the Spurs owner refuses to pay luxury tax.