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**USSKittyHawk** · 10-20-2007, 01:52 PM

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Even before Stephon Marbury announced his intentions to continue his career in Italy after his Knicks contract is up, the search for his replacement had begun. Isiah Thomas admittedly looked into signing free agent Steve Blake, a good ball-distributing guard.

Meanwhile, Nate Robinson spent the offseason trying to get his wildly erratic game under control and be more of a defensive-minded player. He proved in the Las Vegas summer league that he could be an effective traditional point guard, albeit against lesser competition.

Marbury sat out Thursday's 110-94 preseason loss to the Nets, the second game of a back-to-back, and Thomas used it as an opportunity to see Jamal Crawford play some point. The ball moved better than it did in the 40-point blowout loss to the Celtics on Wednesday, but Crawford is more comfortable at shooting guard.
Before the game, Thomas raved about Robinson, who he said was "our best player" every day in practice so far. "Eventually," Thomas added, "I think those things will carry over into the game."

With Marbury's absence, it was a great opportunity to see if Robinson could be the player he was in the summer league. But Robinson instead played his usual backup role, with just 18:42 of playing time. He had four steals but shot 0-for-8 from the field, with one point, one assist and one turnover.

It is highly unlikely that Thomas would consider moving the $20-million Marbury to the bench, but there was enough evidence in the Boston game to suggest that the Knicks clearly lack a floor-general type to run the low post-focused offense. Marbury's offense would have more value, not to mention freedom, coming off the bench. But until someone can prove he can run the starting five more effectively, Thomas doesn't have a choice. He did sound as if he would be open to the idea.

"When a guy's not doing it, they bring in somebody else," Thomas said. "Rex Grossman led the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl last year. And now he's playing behind Brian Griese. So you want to keep getting better and the best people play.

"You've got to reward people for getting better and working harder. Everybody deserves a fair shot and a fair look."

The Knicks will hold their annual open practice at 11 a.m. Saturday at Hofstra. Admission is free.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basket...,5383285.story

I don't know, but I like Mardy I want to see him get some minutes. Looks like he is on the back burner for Nate so far.

**Gotham2krazy** · 10-20-2007, 10:59 PM

Mardyyy!

**HKF** · 10-20-2007, 11:03 PM

The season can't start soon enough. I am excited.

TwinkieFoot · 10-20-2007, 11:54 PM

If things don't work out I think the first person on the chopping block should be Marbury. Us getting off to a slow start should obviously make clear who the problem is on this team because we have far to much talent not to make the playoffs this year.

Personally, I'd love to figure out a way to acquire Andre Miller (or young up and coming PG). It's evident however that the more likely scenario would be us ordaining one of our young PG's to be the starter of the future and allow them to grow into that position. From what I've seen of training camp, Nate has stepped his game up significantly to the point where Mardy might be second fiddle. It'll be interesting to see how those two work things out.

KVIP112 · 10-21-2007, 01:05 AM

Derrick Rose!

**Truknicksfan** · 10-21-2007, 07:21 PM

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Mardyyy!

Argeed

**Numero Uno** · 10-22-2007, 06:03 AM

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Originally Posted by KVIP112

Derrick Rose!

Amen.

Kiyaman · 10-22-2007, 01:31 PM

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Originally Posted by TwinkieFoot

If things don't work out I think the first person on the chopping block should be Marbury. Us getting off to a slow start should obviously make clear who the problem is on this team because we have far to much talent not to make the playoffs this year.

Personally, I'd love to figure out a way to acquire Andre Miller (or young up and coming PG). It's evident however that the more likely scenario would be us ordaining one of our young PG's to be the starter of the future and allow them to grow into that position. From what I've seen of training camp, Nate has stepped his game up significantly to the point where Mardy might be second fiddle. It'll be interesting to see how those two work things out.

Marbury has been the Knicks PG Problem for the last 4 seasons, the Nets got tired of his slow starts, the Suns got tired of his slow start, and Isiah have to take notice that Marbury as the Starting PG only averaged this team a 33 WIN season for 4 seasons straight.

Nate Robinson could be the Knicks Starting PG if he had two other running uptempo starting teammates alongside of him that will play both ends of the court. Curry, Zach, Q.Rich, Jefferies, and Crawford can not do that.

Mardy Collins would make a nice Starting PG for the Knicks if Marbury or Crawford is not on the court alongside of him demanding the ball everytime on offense. However, he too would need two running starting players alongside of his pressure defense and steals for an easy basket on a fastbreak. Collins does play well in a halfcourt offense but he does like to pickup the speed during certain competition. Which would be hard to do with Curry, Zach, Q.Richardson, Crawford, or Marbury on the court with him.

TwinkieFoot · 10-22-2007, 03:03 PM

Like I said earlier, if we get off to a slow start then I think it's time for a major shakeup. You can't get much more major than moving Stephon Marbury. He runs the offense and considering how talented a team we have assembled right now, I think it would be fair to say he doesn't fit if we're not winning.

Here's a potential trade that we might be able to explore that might rid us of Marbury's contract and avoid adding additional players to our roster:

Knicks Trade (to the Heat):
Stephon Marbury...PG

Knicks Recieve (from Heat):
Jason Williams...PG
Michael Doleac...C
cap fodder

The Heat do it because they need additional star power next to Wade and Shaq. Many people includign Heat fans felt the team failed miserably in the offseason attempting to add talent to the roster. Trading for Marbury would be an attempt to redeem themselves and potentially be considered real contenders. While Marbury may not be viewed as the prefect fit on the Heat team, remember that neither was a good portion of the people they acquired during their title run and that worked out just fine. Pat Riley has a unique ability to blend talent together and would have the opportunity to do so once more while giving up very little.

The Knicks make the move because they get the opportunity to free themselves of the financial commitment's to Marbury, a big plus. It also gives us the opportunity to play some of our young players, in particular Mardy Collins who is more of a traditional pass first PG and better fit next to two big scorers. I'd followed that up with....

Knicks Trade (to the Hawks):
Jason Williams...PG
Michael Doleac...C

Knicks Recieve (from Hawks):
$10 million trade exception
protected future first round draft pick
future second round pick
Anthony Johnson...PG

Essentially the Hawks would be renting both Williams and Doleac who would be able to fill in key positional weakness' for them, PG and C. They are below the cap and want to win so I doubt they'd have any objection to it especially considering there are no long term ramifications from making the move.

The Knicks replace Marbury with a cheaper and serviceable PG in Anthony Johnson whose a solid defender and 3 point shooter. He'd serve as the veteran alternative to a young rotation of either Mardy Collins or Nate Robinson at the PG spot. Worse case scenario is he gets cut but no worries considering we'd recieve an additional first round pick, Isiah's fortay.

I would have loved the opportunity to trade for Adonal Foyle because his acquisition would have meant the departure of Jerome James and productive but limited minutes from a veteran saavy center. Right now, I don't know of any other big men that really fit that bill and who we could exchange for James and one of our lesser contracts. Any ideas?

knickstorm · 10-22-2007, 04:38 PM

the hawks have a nice young core and have no reason to trade cap space and picks for williams and doleac, the time for a major shakeup was years ago......Isiah needs to go immediately.......i cant believe he can do a worse job than frank layden.....at least layden never harassed anyone

i forgot who but someone kept arguing with me marbury's a great guard and its everything around him that holds himd own and i kept basically calling a marbury a loser everywhere he went..........i think it's pretty clear you can put marbury on the spurs and he'll find a way to get them bounced early from the playoffs..marbury and thomas need to go before this team can even hope to turn things around

TwinkieFoot · 10-22-2007, 08:49 PM

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Originally Posted by knickstorm

the hawks have a nice young core and have no reason to trade cap space and picks for williams and doleac, the time for a major shakeup was years ago......Isiah needs to go immediately.......i cant believe he can do a worse job than frank layden.....at least layden never harassed anyone

i forgot who but someone kept arguing with me marbury's a great guard and its everything around him that holds himd own and i kept basically calling a marbury a loser everywhere he went..........i think it's pretty clear you can put marbury on the spurs and he'll find a way to get them bounced early from the playoffs..marbury and thomas need to go before this team can even hope to turn things around

The Hawks have a nice young core with no real depth at either the PG and C spots. The Hawks are also looking to make the playoffs after a decade jocking for position in the lottery. Veterans can help them here especially two that have tons of experience as starters and as members of a championship team. Neither come at the expense of any kind of young player. Yeah, they come with a $12 million price tag but I kinda thought the point of creating cap space was to use it. It's pretty obvious they intend on using it and specifically on veterans signing Lorenzon Wright, acquiring Anthony Johnson and drafting seniors in college the past 2 drafts.

Isiah has by no means done a job that approaches the mess that SCOTT LAYDEN (and not Frank Layden). I think people tend to have very selective memories when it comes to recalling what this team looked like years ago. Isiah has assembled talented and young players that most never would have dreamnt a few years before he came here. I think one of the only missteps he has taken is the particular PG he has chosen to stick with.

AS MUCH AS MARBURY IS A VERY GOOD PLAYER THAT COULD CONTRIBUTE TO A WINNER, I do not believe he is the proper FIT for a team that is in need of a prototypical PG rather than a combo PG. It's not fair to his game or the other Knickerbockers to continue to attempt to force mismatched pieces together. We have the young players capable of filling what we need at a fraction of the price, so why not just move on? Our success rests more in the future than now so why stick with a 31 year old aging PG at the expense of experience for our young players?

P.S., Frank Layden was an exec with the Jazz for several years and supposedly played a key role in bringing in many of the Jazz players (Stockton and Malone) responsible for their two consecutive Finals appearances and playoff success. Scott Layden is his son, the one we had running the Knicks.

I also like how you recalled "arguing with someone (whether) Marbury was a good guard that was held down by his teammates." Smooth, real smooth. Thing is that the best fit for Marbury is on a team of jump shooters who could move without the ball, something he has never had throughout his career. Unfortunately in this day and age, it is very hard to amass that kind of talent given how that skill is a rarity. Rewind all the way back to the 80's and I think you'd end up putting Marbury in the Hall of Fame.

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