A Respite From The Pain
Well… 23-59 but it can’t get any worse. I speak of the Knickerbotchers, but hopefully IT will be out. I like what I have seen so far from Donnie Walsh, but I know that things will still be bad before they start getting better. NYK should have a good pick this draft, but I don’t know if it will be a great pick. Still, I wouldn’t trade it unless it is as an incentive to get a bad contract off the books. If I was in charge, I’d be willing to trade almost all of the players as long as a shorter contract is sent back in return (henceforth denoted as “DfaBC” for “Dumped for a Better Contract”). I would try to draft a point guard, so that NY can just let Marbury finish his last year and then not re-sign him.
PG: I would just keep and play Marbury in his last year. He’s not as bad as people say, but of course he’s not as good as he thinks he is either. Marbury should be healthy and happier next season, so as they say, Get in the truck! I think Nate Robinson is ok as a backup for instant offense; however, he doesn’t really run plays and his defense isn’t great. Mardy Collins is terrible, but he’s still on that rookie contract, so he’s cheap.
SG: Jamal Crawford is not a playmaker, and he needs to be on a tight leash. I think if he could be decent if he plays under a coach who will sit him when he takes too many bad shots. Jared Jeffries should be DfaBC.
SF: Wilson Chandler looked good at the end of the season, and with time to heal his ankle he should probably start next season. He’s young and cheap. Renaldo Balkman needs to learn how to shoot, and even he admits he has no offense. Still, he could be a good, young, cheap defender off the bench. Someone please get rid of Quentin Richardson. He’s reached DfaBC since his back surgury, and he wasn’t really that good to begin with.
PF: I think if you can find a team that needs offense and rebounds, you just might be able to get rid of Zach Randolph. I’ve had him in FNBA and he will get you 20-10 consistently, even though he has to be the most selfish player ever. I would rather move Randolph than Curry, especially if you can get contracts that are more expensive but shorter. I’m not sure if David Lee should really be a starter, but he’s another good and cheap player.
C: I don’t really hate Eddie Curry as much as others. I think with the right coach and summer conditioning he could be good on offense and ok on defense. Most centers are scrubs anyway. Unless the opportunity for a good contract comes up, I wouldn’t trade Curry. Jerome James was a terrible mistake, but I can’t imagine him generating interest elsewhere. I’d like to see what he could do with 10 minutes a night, if he can get in shape and play for a good coach.
Random Scrubs: Fred Jones, Malik Rose, Randolph Morris all have DfaBC status, although perhaps they could just be cut since they don’t make much to begin with.
Coach: I have heard rumblings about Mark Jackson. I don’t know… Unless you are really committed to him learning on the job with a bad team, it might be better to get a more seasoned coach. Still, NY is going to be bad for a while, so maybe it’s ok to roll the dice. This is especially true if the better coaches get lured away to other teams (likely). I forget if NY even has any draft choices between now and 2010, since IT traded so many of them away.
Overall: Unfortunately, NY currently looks like a fantasy team put together by the auto-picker. If you can put together a team that starts Marbury, Crawford, Chandler, Lee, and Curry that will give you a streaky offense and a really poor defense. I’d start dumping expensive offense for cheap defense and look to draft a PG of the future. I don’t see Lebron coming here since Cleveland’s market isn’t that small, but with a hard-working team, NY could lure some very nice free agents in 2010.
The ideal team would probably be a young, deep team that defends well enough to compete every night. Then you can eventually dump everyone like what Boston did. I like what Chicago was doing, even though it didn’t work out for them, and that would be the route I would take.
