What do you think the Knicks should do with Tim Thomas. I think they should feel him out the rest of the year. If he does not produce then let him go and let Ariza take his place at the three. Hopefully Larry Brown can pull the best out of TT. If he would get himself together to produce every night he could be an 21 and 10 kind of player. You never know though... the way that professional sports work, you can only hang on to "potential" as your ticket for so long. Tim Thomas is a seasoned veteran now who could help a few teams as a 6th or 7th man. Don't misquote me as saying that TT is an overly talented player, but he and Corliss Williamson can be compared over some seasons. The Knicks' problem is leaning on him as a salvation, when really he should be utilized as a big body off the bench. That being said, come trade deadline this year, if the Knicks are still bottom feeding in the East, they might be able to trade TT to a contender needing bench depth for a second half run. At 15-20 min per game, he can be an effective sub to put on a guy like Tayshaun Prince, as TT is 6'10 and fairly athletic. Plus, his contract expires... so teams looking to free up cap would lend an ear for a 1/2 season leased player. Because of the cap hole the Knicks are currently in, I would just rather let TT walk at the end of the year, and start putting some dough away for a big name FA. You never know... as I posed in another post, if Allan decides to retire, Penny gets bought out, and TT walks, thats 20+15+13 = 48 million dollars (approximately) that has been saved by the organization within a 2 year window. That combined would a few other smart moves could get NY under the cap for a potentially big Free Agent in the next few years... We can't just say that Trevor Ariza is out starting Small Forward either though. I mean, we can't tell what Trevor Ariza is going to be worth. It's only his second season, we can't judge how good he will be in 2 years. this season and next season will probably be his "break out" seasons. As of now, I would not like Ariza being the starting SF... You can't tell me how good he is going to be or how he will gel with the team. And I will tell you this, if he shoots a low percentage from the field, I don't even want him on the court. We lost a good shooter (percentage wise) in Kurt Thomas, so right now, our roster is full with low percentage shooters...
You bring up many good points, Showtyme, but if I were Isiah, I'd save my expiring contracts of Thomas and Penny until the deadline where teams start getting desperate. Nowadays, there's no telling what can happen around the deadline. Now that we have two expiring contracts for approximately 30 million, I would want to do what Golden State did with theirs and get a player of Baron Davis' caliber. Maybe we can save one of them and wait until they expire, but passing up on an opportunity to get an all-star caliber player at the deadline is something I won't be willing to do. The Knicks are a couple of impact players away from becoming a solid playoff team and with Larry Brown not getting any younger, I think the time for us to contend is now.
TT has so much potential, it's scary...he could truly be one of the best defenders in the league if he put his mind to it...he needs a more polished post-up game because hes a good shooter but needs to use that length and athleticism towards slashing to the basket...
I think the Knicks have several options in regards to TT. They could either 1) hold onto him and let his contract expire and benefit cap-wise/tax-wise, 2) trade him before the trading deadline for a quality SF, 3) sign and trade him to a long term deal in return for draft picks and/or quality player. My preferance is to go with option 1. TT is in his contract year which means he'll be playing for a new contract. Players always have better statistics in their contract year. Because of this, I think TT will have a decent, if not consistant, year. We also get cap relief if we follow this option. Alternatively, we could trade him for draft picks. I would prefer to trade him for draft picks rather then trade him for another SF. Our purpose should be to get younger and this really helps us accomplish this goal. We could also use any draft picks to trade for a good player. Perhaps, if we look long-term, the Knicks are looking ahead to 2008 when Lebron James will be a free agent. Trying to free up as much cap space as possible over the next few years while trying to remain competitive will be Brown's real accomplishment.
Well I'd like Zeke to let TT and Penny's contracts run out and save cap space.. unless a deal comes up that's a no brainer. You take thier salaries and add Houston's which comes off next year.. you've taken off about 45 million off the cap. And still have a young core of players. Somehow I have a feeling that by the end of November Zeke is gonna shop these two hard. On a final note.. Keep Crawford.
