<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">There's no way around it. There's no way to sugarcoat it. Isiah Thomas had himself a miserable offseason. OK, so it wasn't as bad as Bruce Ratner's. But whose was? But after promising bold, creative moves to get the Knicks back to contender status, the team's president didn't exactly get Lenny Wilkens what he desperately needs to get this team back to winning big at the Garden. Five months ago, Kenyon Martin destroyed the Knicks in Game4, putting the final touches on one of the franchise's most embarrassing playoff appearances ever. But instead of finding his own big man who can dominate a game in the spring, Thomas went out and got himself an undisciplined, immature shooting guard who still has to prove that he knows a good shot from a bad one.</div> Link. One word: Ouch.
The funny apart this is not the article because honestly I realized everything this cat was talking about way before this write up. The funny part is that I touched on all these topics in a debate I was having in the Nets forum about the Atlantic division. And a few Knick fans were trying to debate me, like I was telling some ungodly, untruth, even got into a two page debate over it. I think that this guy went a bit far comparing the Knicks & Mets. The Mets are my team, but fact of the matter is they have been absolutely horrific the last two seasons. The Knicks wont come close to being that degree of bad this year. But I also think that people who think this is a garunteed 50 win team,is seriously overratting them as well. Fact of the matter is this article is correct, the Knicks did not get that much better from last season to this one. They still have a very poor mix of players, despite some of thing being very talented indiviuals. People think that just because you put 3 or for players on a teamthat are capable of scoring 20 points a night, its automatically going to work & make a team better. What people forget to realistically view is what type of 20 point scores, these guys are...they are high volume shooters...meaning they need about 20 shots a night in order to get there points. And realistically you cant have 60+ shots a night between 3-4 players, which means there is a chance of guys becoming unhappy with reduced roles. So just because Allan Houston, Steph, Crawford etc are capable of dropping 20 a game doesnt mean that will all fit well together. And I think the biggest thing of the offseason, was not picking up a legit bigman. I think that is leading people to have unrealistiv expectations of the big guys on the roster. People seem imo to be expecting to much out of sweetney this year. People want him in the starting lineup, buy trading away Kurt Thomas etc, thinking he going to put up some spectacular # in that role. He isnt ready for such big responsiblites & expectations ,yet. Fact of the matter is he is still only in his 2nd year, coming off a rookie year where he did not gain much playing time or expeirence, despite is solid preformance inthe playoffs. I think people should look at this year as nothing more than extension of Sweets rookie, year. And expect him to struggle adjusting to the ups & downs of a rookie in the league. And take the move toward Sweets into the starting lineup slowly, by building up his minutes as the year goes on...The power forward postion is the best postion in basketball. And you dont want to feed him to the lions( the KG's, the TD, The JO's) too quick, with the expectations of him having to be the main guy playing against them at that level, it could end up back firing. Also I think the lack of a bigman acquistion is putting Vin Baker in a uneeded situation as well. It seems that Isiah wants to put Baker in the starting lineup. I think its partly as away to save face for not gaining that big during the offseason. But I dont think that Baker from a mental standpiont handle those type of responsiblities anymore. And If I was the Knicks upper management or coaching staff,I wouldnt put him in that position. Coming off the bench for Vin Baker leads to less pressure & expectations, which would problably lead to more consistent stablity & production. The touched on a few other things in the article as well like the Knicks Salary but there really isnt anything Zeke could do about that giving how far over the cap the Knicks are and will be for years to come..so the best thing he could do was work around it. But with that being said you dont give 60 million to a guard when your problems are in the front court. Imo if the Knicks couldnt land a big this offseason, they should have stuck out another 35-39 win season. And waited till next year to see if Zeke could work some magic in landing a bigman, when the market became more filled with quality bigs Zach Randolph, Stromile Swift, Pau Gasol, Eddy or Tyson from the bulls, (at least a few of these guys wont be back with there teams next season, whether they leave thru restricted free Agency deals not matched or sign & trades), instead signing & trading for a unproven Crawford, who was realistically only brought here to show us some type of new addition.
The Knicks would definitely be a East coast contender if they had some good proven players to thorw at the PF and C position. They did a good good with the smaller positions, but no size added. I think Dampier would of helped them majorly.
