Larry Wanted Ratliff & Miles Instead <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Of all the mismatches Isiah Thomas has put together in his two-year makeover of the Knicks, pairing point guards Steve Francis with Stephon Marbury in a marriage of inconvenience is his most controversial move by far. One day after admitting chemistry is a problem for his 15-38 team, the Knicks' president yesterday added another shoot-first point guard from Orlando for Penny Hardaway's expiring $15.75-million contract and second-year forward Trevor Ariza. Although Thomas said he's satisfied with the team as it is, several NBA executives said it's likely Knicks shooting guard Jamal Crawford will be traded to Denver for backup point guard Earl Watson by today's 3 p.m. NBA trade deadline. The Nuggets need a shooting guard, the Knicks need a backup point guard who doesn't require shots, and the salaries fit NBA trade guidelines. Thomas and coach Larry Brown put a unified, happy face on the deal for Francis, who makes $13.77 million this year and is under contract for another three seasons totaling $48.7 million. Brown went so far as to compare this deal to the one that added Earl Monroe to a backcourt that already included Walt Frazier and Dick Barnett before the Knicks won their last NBA title in 1973. "Nobody thought Earl would fit in with the group here," Brown recalled. Including Crawford and Quentin Richardson in the equation, Brown said the Francis-Marbury combination will reduce pressure on their teammates. "The more experience and more quality people we have in the backcourt will make their development a lot easier." But executives and personnel experts around the league questioned the odd coupling, said Brown was not in favor and suggested yesterday's deal was part of a risky long-term strategy by Thomas to trade for superstar Minnesota forward Kevin Garnett this summer. One NBA general manager said Thomas sold Knicks owner James Dolan on a strategy to stockpile as many marketable assets as possible to make a play for Garnett, who has grown increasingly restless with the Timberwolves, who now might be ready to consider trading him. Brown is said to have favored trading Hardaway's contract to Portland for center Theo Ratliff and small forward Darius Miles to fill the Knicks' need for more defense, rebounding and shot-blocking. But Thomas gambled on Francis, a strategy that could blow up in his face if Minnesota refuses to trade Garnett. "Isiah has put a lot of talented players on their roster, but it remains to be seen if they fit together," the NBA GM said. "Chemistry is important. The Knicks have a lot of firepower, but Larry likes to play defense. Francis doesn't seem like his type. Larry wants hard-nosed players."</div> Source Man, this New York soap opera has just taken another twist for the worst. I tried to put a positive spin on this yesterday, because I thought Larry Brown actually pushed for this deal. But if this is just a gamble to land KG down the line, Isiah has reached a new level of stupid.
That's so incredibly stupid. If that is true, then this Francis trade is absolutely useless if they don't get KG.
Yea I thought that a Ratliff/Patterson or Miles trade would have made a lot of sense for the Knicks as it gives them a defensive edge that they badly needed. They would really only be a pg away from being a considerably good team. With a PF/C lineup of Ratliff/Curry/Frye that is pretty good. Patterson or Miles could bring some defense at the 3, while Jalen would be a decent scorer off the bench. Marbury is talented scorer and an above average passer at the 2, and Crawford should be able to handle the pressure as a backup SG. PG: ? / ? SG: Marbury/Crawford SF: Patterson or Miles/Jalen PF: Curry/Frye C: Ratliff/Curry 1. All New York would need is to trade for a pg with their Denver pick 2. Trade for a pg next year with Jalen's expiring contract 3. Sign a pg with the midlevel exception Maybe they will still be able to acquire Ratliff somehow before the day is done.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SkiptoMyLue11:</div><div class="quote_post">Yea I thought that a Ratliff/Patterson or Miles trade would have made a lot of sense for the Knicks as it gives them a defensive edge that they badly needed. They would really only be a pg away from being a considerably good team. With a PF/C lineup of Ratliff/Curry/Frye that is pretty good. Patterson or Miles could bring some defense at the 3, while Jalen would be a decent scorer off the bench. Marbury is talented scorer and an above average passer at the 2, and Crawford should be able to handle the pressure as a backup SG. PG: ? / ? SG: Marbury/Crawford SF: Patterson or Miles/Jalen PF: Curry/Frye C: Ratliff/Curry 1. All New York would need is to trade for a pg with their Denver pick 2. Trade for a pg next year with Jalen's expiring contract 3. Sign a pg with the midlevel exception Maybe they will still be able to acquire Ratliff somehow before the day is done.</div> We must go to war if you continue to label Marbury as a shooting guard. Rafer Alston is more of shooting guard than Marbury.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting j0se:</div><div class="quote_post">We must go to war if you continue to label Marbury as a shooting guard. Rafer Alston is more of shooting guard than Marbury.</div> lol @ Rafer comment, its possible. I don't want a war, its just a suggested lineup. I think a similar iverson theme could work if another pg came into the scenario. So Marbury would have a lot of ball-handling responsibility, but doesn't have to do all the work that a pg does. Kind of like how Wade can play point, but he usually plays the 2 until the 4th quarter. It really doesn't matter too much to me, If you want me to say Marbury is a pointguard then I'll say it. Marbury is a pointguard. I just think it would be interesting to experiment with him at the 2, because he is a shoot-first pg.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SkiptoMyLue11:</div><div class="quote_post">lol @ Rafer comment, its possible. I don't want a war, its just a suggested lineup. I think a similar iverson theme could work if another pg came into the scenario. So Marbury would have a lot of ball-handling responsibility, but doesn't have to do all the work that a pg does. Kind of like how Wade can play point, but he usually plays the 2 until the 4th quarter. It really doesn't matter too much to me, If you want me to say Marbury is a pointguard then I'll say it. Marbury is a pointguard. I just think it would be interesting to experiment with him at the 2, because he is a shoot-first pg.</div> Stephon Marbury is 7th all time in the NBA in assist per minute, he almost has 6,000 career assist in his 9 year career. No one else on this team can run this offense, Francis, Robinson, Crawford and Rose are off guards. Marbury breaks down the defense and gets guys like Channing Fyre open 90% of the time. I feel Marbury is really underrated at this point as a player, this Larry Brown offense is terrible, and Isiah continues to bring offensive minded players to a defensive minded system with poor offensive schemes. Check this out, this is most of our offense. Bring the ball up, drop it off to Eddy Curry, he either turns it over, gets an offensive foul, misses or makes it...those will always be the results. He never passes it out. So the ball movement on our team is the worst in the NBA. Which is why Marbury's assist numbers are 6.8, whe he averages over 8 each year. We also lack accurate shooters, and Marbury loves to play with shooters, cause when he breaks down the defense, there will always be someone open, and when Richardson, Crawford, Nate or any other guard on the perimeter is open, these guys shoot very poor FG % for the offense to be productive. Now we bring in Francis who isn't known as an accurate shooter and it totally kills us. This team = anarchy What Isiah is doing to us isn't fair, and it gets more disgusting knowing Isiah is still the GM of this organization.
j0se I think you might have a pretty good point there, maybe it is Larry Brown/Isaiah/Team setup and not Marbury. I kind of think the Knicks can't do much worse than they currently are, so maybe Francis will give a spark for the Knicks?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SkiptoMyLue11:</div><div class="quote_post">j0se I think you might have a pretty good point there, maybe it is Larry Brown/Isaiah/Team setup and not Marbury. I kind of think the Knicks can't do much worse than they currently are, so maybe Francis will give a spark for the Knicks?</div> We're not going to win anymore games, Raptors will finish 10 games ahead of us when the season is over.
