Last night was a special night. It marked the first time the Knicks reached the .500 plateau in 3 years. The last time the Knicks exceeded .500 was October 30, 2001. From the 01-02 season to the early 03-04 were the dark ages for us. It felt like there was no hope for us as old player with bad skills with even worse contracts came to NY. Behind these horendous trades was a man named Scott Layden. The Madison Square Garden the place that everyone once enjoyed going to see the Knicks had become a place that fans went to so they can watch the other teams! The Knicks would just do poorly in the season and waste their lottery picks as they collected dust on the injuried reserve list. Things got much brighter when Dolan realized his mistake in hiring Scott Layden and decided to make Isaiah Thomas the President of Basketball Operations. Two weeks later the Knicks GM Isaiah Thomas made a trade that was the turning point in the Knicks 3 years of missery. He acquired NY's own Stephon Marbury. Stephon Marbury had become our franchise point guard. For once the Knicks had their first great point guard since the days of Walt "Clyde" Frazier. Within no time the Knicks were becoming a hot team soaring from their low standings. Isaiah Thomas again made a move again however, it proved to be a very costly one. They traded KVH and Doleac and acquired Tim Thomas and Nazr Mohammed. The Knicks slowed down and were not as hot which was due to lack of chemistry and the loss of elite SG Allan Houston. The Knicks wound up making the playoffs but their injuries and lack of skill cost the Knicks their series in a NJ Nets sweep. Isaiah made some moves in the offseason acquiring Jamal Crawford and JYD and getting rid of the Knicks stiffs. They were obviously an upgrade from what they gave up. Congratualtions to all Knicks fans who were there during the struggle. The days are long gone watching Howard Eisley slowly bringing the ball upcourt, or watching Clarence Weatherspoon playing the PF. This is a new era. Good things are definitely ahead.
Hopefully good days are ahead. But you make it sound as if Isiah Thomas is a genius sent by God to save the Knicks. His moves range from risky to downright bad. The Marbury trade was risky. Gave up a first round draft pick, Lampe who looks like he's going to be a great powerforward some day, and a good deal of expiring contracts for Marbury and Penny. I love these too but the Knicks team may have been better off if those contracts had come off the books. And if Isiah Thomas wasnt patient enough to wait until the end of the season then there could have been other ways to improve the team. We probably could have simply gotten a good back up shooting guard or upgraded at center or do other things to upgrade the Knicks. By bring in Marbury he crushed the development of Frank Williams who was doing a great job and had lots and lots of potention. Not the kind of potential that will never be realized that players such as Tim Thomas and Nazr Mohammed have. Which brings me to his next move. He for some strange reason traded away two proven consistent players for a pair of talented, skills deficient(think I spelled it right) underachieving bums whose names I have just mentioned. The first risky trade paid off. This one wasnt risky it was terrible. Added two players who play nowhere near their pay grade. "Player with bad skills with even worse contracts came to NY" and behind it all was a man named Isiah Thomas. The slow down wasnt due to Houston's abscence and a lack of chemistry as you say it was. It was due to the lack of ability that these two "players with bad skills and even worse contracts". As for getting swept in the playoffs your right about that. If Houston had been healthy and playing we certainly would not have gotten swept. Wish I could say the same about TT. But I can't because then I'd be lying to myself and anyone else who has bothered to read this far into my post. Lack of skills is correct but Isiah should have known that when he traded for Nazr Mohammed shouldn't he? You also missed the lack of heart part. Thats the part where TT calls the Nets out and is too afraid to come out and play on the same court as Kenyon Martin. That Crawford trade was the smartest one he made. Yes congrats to all of us Knick faithful. So now let as all now join in prayer and hope that Isiah Thomas' itchy trigger finger is satisfied. The days of Howard Eisley bringing the ball upcourt is over but quickly replaced by TT's ugly jumpshot. And Clarence Weatherspoon playing the powerforward position(it hurts my head when I think about it) has been replaced by Nazr Mohammed bumbling around the court trying to figure out what exactly he should be doing. Worship Isiah all you want but here's some food for thought Isiah Thomas has quietly created the Knicks largest payroll in franchise history. He fired Chaney(in the most disgusting way, who cares how bad he was as head coach that's not how you treat people) and replaced him with grandpa. Can someone please tell Lenny Wilkens the game has passed him by? The Knicks are pretty much coaching themselves. He's also tried to pull a stunt that sounds eerily familiar to something that happened over ten years ago involving Mark Jackson and another general manager. Let us hope that history repeats itself and the same fate that befell that GM befall Isiah. Don't get me wrong. I like the team we have now but it could have been better if Isiah Thomas had kept his hands to himself and not tried to make a mark on this team. This is a new era and hopefully Dolan gets rid of Isiah before he has another flameout and ruins things again. Good things will certainly be ahead when Isiah is sent packing.
Hopefully Isaiah keeps his god like composure and keeps striking these deals that make every NYK fan happy. I've became a NYK fan thanks to Isaiah's moves, he's the best GM in the NBA except for maybe his former teammate Joe Dumars. Hopefully we get over .500 this season and I think we will Jamal Crawford is reborn, Stephon is still good, Sweetney is on his way up and Ariza is emerging to be a great bench player and maybe even a starter for us in the near future.
I think Thomas has don ta good job with all the transactions he made. He got us a i good slashing sg in Crawford, a great pg in Marbury , A very good rookie in Ariza and Sweetney looks he'll have a break out season more soon. Maybe even this year. I think these are good moves and gives us a much better team, especially since Allan Houstan is injured (althought he wasnt much help anyway)
I personally feel the Knicks should 3-1 rather than 2-2. I mean they had 3 straight games at home and Boston Celtics should not have won, but nonetheless that is the past now. I can understand the New York Knicks and the fans alike being excited, but really, the LA Clippers?, how hard could that be. Don't get me wrong I am cheering, but I will be moreso especially if the win games they shouldn't such as this road trip they are on currently, if they can go .500 now then thats something to be extremely happy about and worthy of undue credit in my opinion. For now I am content, and expected the New York Knicks to win these past games, and they need to especially after seeing their November schedule. Lets hope they can slow down Ron Artest and the Indiana Pacers tonight, now that will be a great win if they can cause an upset. Finally they let Penny Hardaway play some real minutes against the LA Clippers, and I thought he along with the rest of the bench played really well. The New York Knicks shot the ball well also, and Stephon was great, along with Jamal Crawford. I still cannot understand how some people rank Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers over the New York Knicks, I just don't get it.... why? how? Anyways, lets hope Trevor Ariza messes up the Indiana Pacers. New York Knicks 88 Indiana Pacers 99
Reply to Tribute to H2O: Isaiah Thomas might have brought in TT and Mohammed for KVH and Doleac who were playing well in NY. However, Isaiah Thomas has also done other good moves. Marbury was a great move. Getting rid of the 1st round picks was necesary. For a franchise player and a good role player in Hardaway you have to give up something. We also got rid of Eisley, Ward and McDyess. I liked Ward in NY but, he needed to go. The only real risk was trading Lampe but, the risk wasn't too serious. He also acquired Crawford, and JYD. Although one might think KVH and Doleac was a horrible trade, it can definitely not outshine all the other great moves Isaiah made.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">Reply to Tribute to H2O: Isaiah Thomas might have brought in TT and Mohammed for KVH and Doleac who were playing well in NY. However, Isaiah Thomas has also done other good moves. Marbury was a great move. Getting rid of the 1st round picks was necesary. For a franchise player and a good role player in Hardaway you have to give up something. We also got rid of Eisley, Ward and McDyess. I liked Ward in NY but, he needed to go. The only real risk was trading Lampe but, the risk wasn't too serious. He also acquired Crawford, and JYD. Although one might think KVH and Doleac was a horrible trade, it can definitely not outshine all the other great moves Isaiah made.</div> The Marbury trade was gamble but it paid off. Although I still think that for everything we have up we could have improved a bit more. Without crushing Frank William's development. My problem is that it seems he's being awfully reckless. More concerned about putting together a high flying high scoring team rather than a winning one. I also think he's trying too hard to make it look like he's busy and is making trades for the sake of making trades. The working enviroment I imagine cant be any good. Sure it might motivate players to play their hardest for awhile but still I dont think its good for players on a team to be this worried about getting traded. I'm worried that he's going to make another unneccessary trade which will ruin this team. Which is why I want him gone. Dont trust him to relax and wait to see what happens with this team. Overall though he's done a good job revamping the team. I just don't want to see it messed up and as long as Isiah's there...anything can happen.
Isaiah does get people a bit nervous sometimes w/ the trading but no one got nervous with Layden. Players just didn't care because they were getting payed and he never made any trades. Also not many teams would take some of those stiffs w/ those contracts. To quote Stephen A Smith last year: "The Knicks will never win a championship as long as Layden is around." From those years of missery that Layden did Isaiah Thomas does look like a god and might be a bit overrated however, it just shows you how bad Layden was. Who knows if Layden was still around he might have traded someone like Kurt Thomas for Potampenko.
