The Knicks Fix

I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you.

ALAN-

okay for this week cause he's in town, but are we such losers that we're going to Soap Opera about Bron for the next 2 years on this blog every day?

Roberson is not an NBA player. The guy cant hit the shot in the Show and hasnt had EVEN ONE breakout game.

We coulda kept PEJr.

What is PEJr. Status after this trade?

Anyone asking For FatSnacky understand, if Fatso doesnt play till Febuary, the Knicks can write him off? I read that somewhere.

SplinterINTheArse admitted to Berman that Caoch offered him minutes and he said "I thought you were going in a different direction" Sounds like she DECLINED to play to me. Where is the debate?

Someone please get thei Splinter out of our collective Arses.

I am making a heartfelt appeal to TwinSnacker Cmon Curry, get in shappe and play. Knick fans will forgive you.
Doesnt the NBA have any rules about guys making 10 million and not being ready to play. Is the Players Union That Strong?

David Lee for Blog, why cant we give this solid guy some face time

Thanks Alan

Above is me

@ Knickolas, I agree about Roberson and Jr. Curry not so sure unless he gets an attitude transplant. Also agree about every twitch Lebron makes being scrutinized. I understand it now because of the recent cap moves but I hope we won't hear this ad nauseum for the next two years. Probably will.

Really nice win last night, did you guys catch the look of pride on Coach D's face during the press conference? Its nice seeing a coach who isn't trying to pull his last remaining hairs out when talking about the Knicks. There will be some nights like that again, but hopefully not nearly as many.

If Q could play the Wiz every night... Seriously nice game by Richardson. He seemed to have more snap in his wrist and a better follow through when he was shooting, maybe someone helped him with his mechanics. Still think he should come off the bench.

Tim Thomas was hiding out in the tunnel instead of sitting with his new teammates. Might be worried about the reception he is going to get and for good reason. Like Knickolas said, NY fans can be very forgiving if you produce.

Looking forward to the Cleveland game and wondering myself what the lineup will be.

clearly WILLIS would be your best blogging bet, but if it has to be an active player, then i will agree with SERGIO (for the first and only time,) and cast my vote with DUHON, who has clearly become the quiet leader who makes the glue stick on this team (AND the only knick with direct access to the white house).

a lot of people are saying the knicks took a talent hit through these trades, but in fact i think they will actually be a better team, with more versatility than before. they are longer, faster, better defensively, and perhaps most importantly, they have added players that have played on some very competitive teams.

the future does look much brighter for the franchise this weekend, and now that the payroll picture is clearer for 2010, we can begin to think about what the team might look like that will complement what will undoubtedly be two major free-agent acquisitions.

i am very impressed with the way nate is playing. assuming he costs less than 5m per (6yr/30m?) the knicks should re-up him, he is a force under d'antoni, and even more importantly, lebron loves the kid.

Dlee also looks like a keeper, he has developed a decent mid-range, has a great touch under, and his intangibles, especially his heart, are super high. hopefully he won't cost more than 7m per (6yr/42?)

even with re-signing these two at the above numbers, that leaves the knicks about 31 mil under the likely cap in 2010, and that is before lopping jeffries, jj and curry from the payroll.

the lee and n8 decisions will have to be made this off-season, but i think we have to re-up them. along with chandler, danillo and next years #1, this would become a formidable team when combined with lebron, another star (bosh?) and (gulp) a slowed but still brilliant nash.

first obama, then these trades. what next, world peace?

the should consider packaging Lee with Eddie and moving some more salary. This gives them a shot at two maxers in 2010

I'm thinking maybe with Dallas where there is smoke there is fire? Maybe Stack and Josh Howard coming back? Both are on the outs in Big D.

Lee will most likely get 8 mil average and while I like him as a player I think we can get a more athletic guy out there for his minutes. His hops have declined significantly in the past 2 years.

@ Knickolas...
Now you are someone who truly understands that words take on a whole different pulse when used in sentences with certain context, than they do merely as a dictionary definition.

Example:
Alan wrote: Marbury agreed to forfiet 1 million of the 21.9 million of salary. Walsh declined.

Now does'nt sound so respectfull that he declined?.....

However, his blog title the other day was, "Marbury Refuses to play",

Now does'nt that sound nasty and disrepectful?...But then
again, I guess Alan, Johnette Howard and K-berg (who is now moved on to greener pastures, with the same old s h y t e) have to put this type bias spin on their article when they writing about "The Knicks - who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday"

@ BiggieSmalls

You are on the money about Lee's hops; it really showed last night on several plays...see it's peeples like you who I can read, because you pay attention to detail instead of what everybody else says about someone else. A man with his own mind...keep it up playa

We already have room for two max contracts and Steve Nash. Walsh isn't interested in trading Lee. David Lee scored a season-high 22 points on Saturday, hitting 9-of-16 field goals and 4-of-5 free throws. He also tied his season-high with 12 rebounds.

Deal Curry on his own when he gets healthy and Coach D can get him looking good.

We should re-up DLee and Nate for 2 years. Then find any conceivable way to unload Fatboy Curry. Then we'll be a decent team for two years, and have enough uinder the cap to get at least 2 max players, and maybe 2-3 more willing to play for slightly less money for a chance to play with 2 max money players and for a championship. We could get Dirk and D-Wade for the max, then Nash and Kidd for portions of the mid-level. Then our team is Nash and D-Wade at guard, Dirk at PF, Wilson at PF, and whoever we draft this year at C. Bench is Kidd, Gallinari, and Jared / Nate / D Lee / whoever we pick up as a FA. THAT'S a roster worth going over the cap for !!!

Sorry - Wilson at SF. And Nash will no longer be able to command max money - I think he'll be 36 by then, and a mortal-looking PG after two-years of slow-ball in Phoe. He'd love to be reunited withh Dirk, he can still pass with the bast of them, and he'd only have to play 25 min a game with Kidd as a backup. All we need is an athletic-good-defense-and-rebounding guy at C (hello Hasheem Thabeet) and we're there...

Here is who the Knicks should sign.
We should get Lebron for max money.
Amare for max money.
Nash for the vet min 5 or 6 million.
If we can trade Curry and Jeffries, we can have enough for one more max contract...then we can sign....wait for it.....wait for it.....we can sign Joe Johnson. He would be the perfect fit next to Lebron. Yes he is on that list of free agents in 2010.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Alan, Does Dolan give you the subject to write about each day. Your writting was nothing great with the Isles, but nobody read it and nobody cared. Now, it is an insult to any person not a drinking buddy of Alan's to take this blog seriously. It is nothing but propaganda for Cablevision/Newdsay/Knicks/Dolan. Forget about 2010, Lebron won't come to this mess a a franchise. Walsh must realize he made a mistake with D'anphony, who will be gone before 2010.

@Mike -

we have enough for Amare and Lebron is we only have 8 players under contract.

RIGHT NOW. with Eddie,, JJeff, Danillo and Wilson we have 24 mil committed.

Add in 3 mil for another #1 in 2009
5 milllion for Nate
8 million for Lee

and that gets us to 40 mil.

so we have about 25 mil free in 2010/2011 which aint gonna be enough to feed Amare, Lebron AND 6 mil for Nash/

Basic contract law.

Party A and Party B reach agreement. Party A will provide compensation to Party B. In turn, Party B will provide a service. Not the service Party B wishes to provide, but the service that Party A directs Party B to provide in return for said compensation.

If Party A fails to provide compensation, the terms of the agreement have been violated and legal action follows.

If Party B fails to provide a service, the terms of the agreement have been violated and legal action follows.

Party A is the New York Knicks.

Party B is Stephon Marbury.

Mr. Marbury has failed to provide the service for which he has signed a contract.

The New York Knicks have the legal responsibility to take action against Mr. Marbury on each and every occasion that he refuses to provide said service and, in addition, to seek additional legal penalty, which may include the coverage of the Knicks' legal fees and court costs and extend to further compensation for any and all damage to the Knicks' franchise, its public appearance, and its reputation.

A first-year pre-law student knows this to be true.

A 12th-year pre-law student who Lives in New Jersey and Toils at Lou's Auto Body & Prenuptial Agreements with offices in Trenton, Newark, Passaic, and Camden knows very little, if anything, about basic law.

Last night was fantastic. The effort and heart by all those guys made me proud to be a Knicks fan for the first time in a while. When they blew the 10 point lead over the end of the 3rd/beginning of the 4th I wasn't frustrated in the usual way (some old ineptitude), but bummed at the thought that these guys want it so bad and are playing so hard and its not going to work out. Well, sometimes you do get what you want. The Marbury lovers never seem to understand how much a player who isn't committed to winning, and who doesn't buy in to the shared effort hurts a team in ways that don't show up in a box score. Watching these guys hustle, scrap, spread the floor and hit the open man was a pleasure to watch. Imagine this team culture, with an extra lotto pick thrown in and another move or two with a real superstar operating in all that space. That would almost make the last 8 seasons worth it.

BiggieSmalls - Your projections show that Walsh still has more to do - if Zach and Crawford can be moved (and Mardy!!!!) then maybe Curry can be cleared out too. Any deal (Marion?) that swaps Chubbs for expiring $$ would push it to 50 mil, and that might get it done. A lot can happen between now and then.

Willis - About Q - THAT'S the kind of toughness and heart that I'm talking about. The shot may come and go, but the scrapping, rebounding and defending, not empty words, puts a smile on my face.

Cosmo - great thing about this country - if you don't like reading something, you can go elsewhere.

yeah, others are begginning to noticed how phoney and pretentious this "Lives" guy truely is.

seems like his point can be made in 2 or 3 sentences yet he's trying to sound like Truman Cappote

yeah, perhaps a failed journalist wanna be like Starberman

Possible destinations for Curry:

Miami- for Mark Blount (deal expires in two years, salaries are within 25% of each others - making a straight up deal possible)

Memphis - for Darko Milicic (he's not 99.9% sure anymore he'll be a Knick, but his deal expires in two years, and the salaries are within 25% of each other - making a straight up deal possible)

Dallas - for Jerry Stackhouse (More likely to be bought out than traded for a contract than can go past 2010 b/c Dallas wants to make sure they have enough room to re-sign Dirk, but they are void of low post scoring and may get desperate if they continue to struggle early in the season. He too has a contract within 25% of Curry's, making a straight up deal possible but highly unlikely)

I would imagine any cost cutting moves from here on out will be MUCH tougher for the Knicks to make considering how much attention these past moves have gotten. We're now well under the cap for 2010, but other teams want to be major players in free agency that summer as well, so I can't forsee any teams wanting to help us shed more salary without getting something significant in return (see: David Lee). Everybody knows the Knicks are now in a more than favorable position to land two superstars, they are not going to make it easier for us to possibly land a third. Hey, GM's are competitive too.

@ Wogu - Cant Dallas resign Dirk to the most money anyway?

I would agree with the Eddy to Dallas for Stack rumor but I think the deal would be extended to also include Malik and Lee with Josh Howard coming back. I saw somewhere Dallas and Denver were talking about a Nene for Josh str8 up swap.

that would make a ton of sense for both teams.

PETE NEWELL - tribute

Basketball has known all sorts of great coaches: from the magnificent purists such as Dean Smith, Larry Brown and Mike Krzyzewski, to the warrior-kings Bob Knight and Pat Riley, to the philosopher-king Phil Jackson.

There were three, however, unlike anyone before or after, with personal values as important as their accomplishments.

One is UCLA's John Wooden, whose records will never be approached and whose spirit would inspire his players long after they were through playing.

One was the Boston Celtic Godfather, Red Auerbach, who built the NBA's greatest dynasty, and longest-running extended family, on street smarts and will.

The third was Pete Newell, who died last week at 93.

Newell's accomplishments -- an NCAA title at California in 1959, an Olympic gold medal in 1960 with the Dream Team of its time -- were impressive, but his impact went far beyond that.

Gentle, unassuming and without an ounce of self-promotion, Newell crossed over into professional basketball, casting a long shadow over both worlds.

He was the coaches' coach, shaping generations of players at his Big Man's Camp, serving as surrogate father to greats as disparate as Jerry West, the NBA's Logo, and Knight, the college game's winningest coach.

Appropriately, Newell died at a friend's home in Rancho Santa Fe, waiting eagerly for the arrival of an old friend.

It was West, working on a new book and eager to introduce his co-author to Newell, who, as Lakers GM, had talked him off so many ledges at the end of his playing days.

Driving down from Los Angeles, West arrived a few minutes late, to find Newell had died, only minutes before.

"I got distracted and I went by the exit," West said. "I missed it by two exits, so I turned around and came back. . . . I went through the gate and they were standing on the porch with tears in their eyes.

"He had just passed away. I missed him by about two minutes. I walked in there and he was sitting there in a wheelchair. I walked over there and put my arm on his shoulder and said what I thought should be said, to myself. . . .

"He and I were probably a lot closer than people thought. He really meant a lot to me. He was very much of a father figure for me.

"He knew how I blamed myself for losses, not anyone else, and he was always there to kind of put a hand on my shoulder and say, 'Hey, look, you couldn't play better.'

"And I'd try to explain to him, maybe I couldn't play better, but we didn't win.

"He seemed to understand that part of me when I'm not sure, even today, I understand it."

Newell retired from coaching after the 1960 Olympics (West was on that team), became Lakers GM and scouted for several teams, but it was his Big Man's Camp that brought successive generations to him.

Held at Inglewood and Westchester high schools, at Stanford and in Honolulu before settling in Las Vegas, the camp started when Newell worked with two players, the Lakers' Kermit Washington and UCLA's Kiki Vandeweghe.

Washington was a fearsome but untutored power forward. Vandeweghe was going from UCLA to the NBA but had some things to work on -- or, as he puts it, "I couldn't get a shot off."

Thirteen years later, Vandeweghe retired from the NBA with a 19.7 career average and a 53% shooting percentage, having learned a trick from Newell that everyone now uses: the step-back.

Vandeweghe says Newell got the idea, watching him play against Washington, whom he was always bouncing off.

Stu Lantz, the Lakers broadcaster who was Newell's right-hand man at the camp for the last 20 years, estimates that of the big men who had success in the NBA, 90% attended the camp.

"After a while, a lot of teams started sending coaches with their players to observe," says Vandeweghe, now the New Jersey Nets' GM. "Then when the players went back, the teaching continued."

Hakeem Olajuwon, the ballet dancer of the pivot, attended. So did Shaquille O'Neal, before his first two seasons when the other campers watched wide-eyed.

"I can remember his first camp at Westchester," Lantz says. "There was a photographer rigging a camera to the backboard. I told him that wasn't going to work because of the way Shaquille dunked.

"He said, 'It'll be OK.' Sure enough, it came down."

When O'Neal came back the next summer, another camper, Sam Perkins, was asked why O'Neal was there.

"Damn if I know," Perkins said, laughing.

Newell had a lot of surrogate sons but none closer than Knight, who, for all his ferocity, revered the great coaches of the past like Clair Bee, but Newell most of all.

Knight included Newell in everything, asking him to address his teams, putting him on his Olympic staff in 1984, even as he set out to supplant Newell's 1960 team as the greatest ever.

Of course, Pete being Pete, he said that Bob's team had done just that as soon as it won its gold medal.

Knight and West talked on the telephone shortly after Newell died, Knight noting later it was "a very tearful conversation."

We call a lot of things "great," but if you want to know what real greatness is, the devotion Newell tendered and received was it.

Heisler is a Times staff writer.

mark.heisler@latimes.com

BiggieSmalls: you're absolutely right about the Mavs being able to resign Dirk regardless of theire cap standing, but that doesn't mean they're not trying to improve their cap situation. They have the second highest payroll in the league. I just wanted to put out possible trade partners for Curry to see what everybody thinks, because moving Curry is going to be an arduous task. Curry's contract is going to be much tougher to move, no team is going to want to help us further reduce payroll for 2010, especially while taking on the risk of bringing in the habitually unmotivated Curry.

I have read from several people who report on the Knicks, including Alan, that disagree with your calculations. I know you don't care for David so I don't want to argue with you on this. Let's just see what happens.

thats why most likely Curry will have to be packaged with things teams want -- young talent and expiring contracts.

The Mavs have 22 mil coming off their cap this year when Kidd expires .

I dont think other teams care too much about what the knicks plan is or whether they are helping them out. They are trying to execute their own plans. Dallas - with Kidd dropping off the cap - will want to make a run next year with Dirk getting up in years and their other core pieces signed. Odds of them letting Dirk go in 10/11 is zero. So I think with Damp proving worthless they could use Eddie C -- in fact some Dallas blogs earlier this summer said Eddie C wold be a good target for them.

all interesting and I dont think the trading is done.. Probably somethign coming mid december. then they release Marbs.

@Jersey John
You in Anon's Basement, keeping him company?
Or are you a Berman Retread?

Ben Wogu - Neither Darko nor Blount are terribly appealing, but if the plan is to drop salary their value on the court is secondary. Both have a reputation for being inconsistent and lazy, but I haven’t seen either play that much so I’m just going n what I’ve read. Both also seem to have skills the Knicks could use in the short term – they are legitimate 7 footers, with Blount being the better player (shooting and rebounding) and Darko being a very good shot blocker. As big men, they may be easier to flip for shorter money or a pick next season when they are expiring. I’d swap Curry for either in a heartbeat.

Follow-up on the breach of contract thing – if D’A simply asked Marbury if he wanted to play, and when Marbury declined, didn’t order him into the game, then regardless of what that says or doesn’t say about Marbury’s professionalism, there was no insubordination, and therefore no breach.

Peaceman – not likely – that would imply Anon has a friend, which we both know is impossible.

We have a global recession (potentially, depression) setting in, and I would bet that this new economic climate is going to impact the 2010 free agency period.

That single fact should be enough to dissuade Walsh from giving up anything significant in the hope of getting Curry (and others) off the roster - since they come off, all by their lonesome, in 2011 (when many these 2010 FAs deals actually end).

Guys, please join me tomorrow night at the garden in chanting Le-Bron Ja-mes, clap, clap, clapclapclap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If that gives us .00001% of a better chance to land LeBron in 2010 then it's worth it!!

King James, MSG is your castle in 2010 !!!

LE-BRON JA-MES, CLAP, CLAP, CLAPCLAPCLAP!!!!

What the f#*k you are going to mindlessly cheer for a player on the other team on the same night that we have three new Knick players to cheer for. Are you kidding me? Are we that much of a joke now that Knick fans are going to actually openly cheer for the best player on the opposing team. Are we going to do the same for Wade, Bosh, Nash, etc. I have been defending the intelligence of Knick fans all season, I see now that I'll have to stop.

It's really pathetic that people would cheer for another player. Thats not being a Knick fan. Your're a toolbox D Miz....Thats not even being a fan...this is so manufactured that it's sad to see how the NBA has turned into this. We are basically waiting to be good and cheer for a guy thats not on the team. When you play the game, you go to war with the 4 other players on your team. You don't start cheering for the other guy on the other team just because he is good. You go out and you try to beat him and bust his ass...you try to stop him. Why don't you stick to bocce ball or something else D Miz. Your're probably one of the fans that booed Ewing right out of the building.

Nothing wrong with giving Bron a nice round of applause when they announce the starting lineup as a sign of respect, but after that, no way. No chants, cheers, nothing. Support this season's Knicks not
some player who may never come here.

Bob...I agree.

Am I the only one who finds it amazing that the Wizards just fired Eddie Jordan? The Wizards suck this year true, but they are without Areneas, Daniels and Haywood and made no upgrades in the offseason. Their drafts have been horrible and they haven't made one trade yet to improve their roster to help their coach out. This was a team that couldn't win even with Michael Jordan on their roster prior to Eddie Jordan coming there and he turned them into a perenial playoff team. They even made the playoffs last year with Arenas missing most of it. Want to talk about somebody being disrespected, Eddie Jordan deserved better.

From a Knicks perspective, he would be a good person to be an assistant coach with us for a while if no head coaching jobs open up. He works well with players and would be a good trade-off to D'Antoni's bluntness. D'Antoni also makes some curious late game decisions, so an X and O's guy like Jordan could help (although benching Bulter for the entire 2nd quareter was curious. . .maybe he was supposed to be guarding Q).

For tomorrow, I think we should use our athletic bigs to double Lebron and Williams just about every time they touch the ball but from different angles. Big Z can shoot, but Wallace and Varejo are suspect both from the field and with the FT shooting. They aren't going to post us up so cheating over and cutting off the driving lanes is going to be key. I would switch between Duhon and Chandler on Lebron and tell him which side the help is coming from. We are actually in a much better position than when Crawford and Zach were here because they couldn't guard anybody. Now we can cheat, rotate, and play the other players (not named Lebron or Williams) straight up with no help. Interested to see if we come out with defensive intensity or if we are just going to try to outscore them. Should be a great game.

For all those that think Lebron isn't a shoe-in to come here, I have a back-up plan that may work even better. I say that three ex-Suns should be brought here, Stoudamire, Joe Johnson, and on a two-year small contract, Steve Nash. Makes sense because of their past history with D'antoni. Plus, I feel like Nash would take a smaller contract for two logical reasons 1) to finish his career playing for D'antoni 2) finishing his career in the city he spends his offseason in, obviously the guy likes it here, so I would think he would accept less money to play here. He may not be what he once was, but I'm sure he could still be solid. We would need a solid back-up though.

That way, this is your lineup:
C Stoudemire
F Chandler
F Gallinari
G Johnson
G Nash

Bench:
Lee
Jeffries
2009 1st Round Draft pick
etc.

Thoughts?

I'm liking it Mike. That's the thing the naysayers don't get with this deal - it's not about putting all our eggs in one basket just for King James; it's about roster FLEXIBILITY. We're not going to be shedding any tears if Bosh and DWade come knocking at our door instead of Lebron.

And don't forget Nasty Nate coming off the bench (future 6th man of the year), and Duhon could be a solid backup pg (one Nash didn't have in Phoenix).

Also, to all those Knicks fans heading to the game: absolutely no cheering for Bron tonight during the game.

i agree K4, i lost a lot of respect for ernie today. based on the success he has had these past four years, jordan deserved time with a healthy team.

Starberman will give Steph a standing ovation when Steph parks his butt on the bench

The only time I cheer for LeBron is:

1. When he's in the Olympics kickin some greasy Grecian butt..

2. When he's making the Celtics cry...

Firing Eddie Jordan seems like a classic example of management scapegoating a coach to cover their own ineptitude. Its his fault that they extended an injured gunner at 130 mil? Capped themselves out with a team that clearly had gone as far as it was going to?

Mike M - I agree completely - LeBron is the prize, but sensible financial management is valuable going forward no matter who ultimately signs.

Cheering for LeBron? If he comes to NY - sure, but until then, not a chance.

Mike M that team doesn't play any defense. Defense wins championships.

world and live your life with a social consciousness,that approach can be dangerous and less profitable game but your legacy endures and respect grows...or be a corporate whore only interested in advancing your own brand....great choice for $$ and shine in your prime but you fade from the public conscious like every other fad when your day's up..sadly lebron has taken the jordan route...i'm much more interested in watching Bill Russell sneeze than listening to michael jordan speak...

A mega athlete has two choices to make, impact the world and live your life with a social consciousness,that approach can be dangerous and less profitable game but your legacy endures and respect grows...or be a corporate whore only interested in advancing your own brand....great choice for $$ and shine in your prime but you fade from the public conscious like every other fad when your day's up..sadly lebron has taken the jordan route...i'm much more interested in watching Bill Russell sneeze than listening to michael jordan speak...

BiggieSmalls is right on the money. Why keep curry and Jeffries package them with Lee and ship them out. Lee is definately definately not worth 8 mill

I agree Pete, if they had a healthy Arenas since day one that would be another story.

Kandiman
do you still suport Isiaih Thomas? I don't understand why you still supporting him when he is such a failure. I already told you before that we was going to destroy the Knciks. Why do you still supprt Isiaih? Do you agree now that he destroyed the Knicks? I told you before that he would.

@kandiman......

huh?

i THINK i know what you are trying to say, but i feel like i am deciphering a left-wing sarah palin.

my head is spinning.