First and foremost I would have definitely protected our pick, but listening to Kenny Smith today and looking at the standings, I realized Curry?s value and his potential value. The whole heart situation did have an effect on Eddy Curry. Curry?s last basketball game he played was in March before playing with the Knicks. He played some preseason ball in October, but after being injured with a strained hamstring combined with the rustiness of not playing for the past eight months, Curry struggled, especially early on. Kenny Smith said players improve the most during the summer months and not being ?allowed? to play basketball during the situation, Curry wasn?t able to improve his game. This is also the reason why he came to training camp overweight. Also you have to take into consideration Curry is coming into a brand new system, adjusting to a brand new coach, brand new players, in a brand new city?the hardest city to play for I might add. This is all to a 22-year-old kid who never left Chicago. That definitely has an effect on his season. Let?s take a look at the Chicago Bulls. After letting go of Curry, they went from 4th seed with home court advantage to a ninth seed and very possibly out of the playoff picture this season. Curry?s presence obviously had an effect on the players and it shows how valuable he has become. Chandler went from a career year to his worst year as a pro partly because of Curry?s absence. Don?t get the feeling I?m trying to make excuses for Curry, I just as if he is deserving of one more year to get his act together considering what took place. We?ll truly see next year if Curry is the true center piece of this franchise or whether trading for him was yet another mistake to add to Isiah Thomas? ?bad move list.?
I think Isiah really didn't take advantage of the circumstances, during the trade. When a player doesn't want to be with a team or can't agree to a contract with a team, they generally are traded for less than they are worth. The Knicks were really the only serious contenders for Curry and with the no real end to their dispute, they clearly had an advantage. By giving up the 3 most coveted things in the NBA (a pick, a prospect, and an expiring contract), Isiah essentially set this trade to be a dud, unless Curry significantly improved.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Isiah really didn't take advantage of the circumstances, during the trade. When a player doesn't want to be with a team or can't agree to a contract with a team, they generally are traded for less than they are worth. The Knicks were really the only serious contenders for Curry and with the no real end to their dispute, they clearly had an advantage. By giving up the 3 most coveted things in the NBA (a pick, a prospect, and an expiring contract), Isiah essentially set this trade to be a dud, unless Curry significantly improved.</div> Well Isaiah didn't really give up an expiring contract (TT), because he got one back at the same salary with Antonio Davis. However he did give up Sweetney, next years 1st rounder, as well as giving Chicago the option to swap picks this year. (which could be worse than giving them next year's pick, because NY has a pretty terrible record this year)
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Isiah really didn't take advantage of the circumstances, during the trade. When a player doesn't want to be with a team or can't agree to a contract with a team, they generally are traded for less than they are worth. The Knicks were really the only serious contenders for Curry and with the no real end to their dispute, they clearly had an advantage. By giving up the 3 most coveted things in the NBA (a pick, a prospect, and an expiring contract), Isiah essentially set this trade to be a dud, unless Curry significantly improved.</div> Yeah, that's why I get so angry about the pick. The Knicks were the only one in the league after the pick. It could have been protected or at the very least been swapable both years. Isiah failed to take advantage of the circumstances. The prospect cancels out because Sweetney and Curry are two prospects, and the Knicks traded expiring contracts, so Curry can get his big deal.
When you evaluate the trade as a whole, including the draft picks, cap space, etc. etc., Chicago comes out on top. As far as a longterm deal goes. New York's not so hot right now, and neither is Chicago. Neither team has immediately improved from the deal, and Chicago has gotten 2 lottery picks, 13 million in cap space (roughly), and a big man who looks to be a solid contributor if he decides to lose weight (I will admit however, thats a big IF) The Bulls lost a lot of toughness in the paint. AD and Curry were our best finishers down low. Curry was a guy we could throw the ball down to and we could get an easy bucket, take pressure off of our guards, and gain an early 1st quarter lead with. Didn't have to play catch-up like we do now. On the other hand, with Sweetney, he has a couple moves but really he hasn't been effective enough to take the pressure off of guards, and for that he's been benched (among a few other reasons). Same with Tyson, he can't finish in the paint and is a sub-par freethrow shooter. Our interior scoring ability as a whole is a complete mess. Hopefully that will all change on draft day. But, a lot of positives came about for the Bulls. This year's draft pick, the choice to switch picks next year, and the cap relief makes me believe that what we recieved outweighed what we lost if we play our cards right. We'll likely end up with LeMarcus Aldridge via draft, and the TT contract helped clear some cap for us to resign our core, as well as pickup a very good player off the free agent market. The Knicks did however get a very, very valuable piece, especially for the East. Curry will never be a great rebounder, but as long as his heart problems don't affect his ability to play, you guys have a great piece to build around. While I think the Bulls won this trade, getting Curry will be very significant if you guys one day get a competent GM to clean up this mess and start building an actual TEAM instead an assembly of scoring guards. You get the right pieces around Curry, you guys will have a solid team.
Chicago didn't want to keep him, hench why we got him. I don't think he's that good, or worth that money. Jackie Butler isn't that different.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting j0se:</div><div class="quote_post">Chicago didn't want to keep him, hench why we got him. I don't think he's that good, or worth that money. Jackie Butler isn't that different.</div> Actually, to be completely honest Chicago did everything they could to keep him. Paxson even offered him a payment plan in which he would receive 100,000 dollars every year for the next 40 years if he took a DNA test to figure out what his heart condition was all about. This is in addition to whatever contract he would have signed after he took the test. Curry Refused, and trashed the organization. Hence that is why he became a Knick.
I say we trade Curry while the trading's good. Curry to Seattle for Danny Fortson, Nick Collison, Johan Petro and Seattle's pick. What do you guys think? We lose Curry's contract, add guys who rebound and defend as well as get a lottery pick. Seattle gets a big man who can score in the paint and draw double teams to make life easier for their perimeter shooters. Anyway I think Isiah Thomas should be fired.
