Knicks: Isiah Moving into Full Rebuilding Mode

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Knicks now have a team with five power forwards, no established center and only one player in the rotation as tall as 6-10, and that's Tim Thomas, who plays outside at small forward. The draft picks both figure to come near the end of the first round, so they are a crapshoot. If it all sounds a little confusing, well, the Knicks' president basically said he's in the middle of a full-fledged rebuilding project.

"I've been here a year, and everything that we're doing is a work in progress," Thomas said. "With the salary cap being the way it is and the dollar figure that we're at [$103 million, the NBA's highest payroll], it's a juggling act and we're constantly juggling."

The contracts of Mohammed, Norris and Baker all would have run out after next season, and Brewer is in the last year of his deal. Taylor's contract has two more seasons after this one, and Rose's has three additional seasons.

Instead of having about $43 million of expiring contracts to use as trade bait next season, Thomas now has $29.7 million, which is the total value of the contracts for Penny Hardaway and Tim Thomas expiring in 2006.

"We added one year with Taylor and got a better player [than Baker and Norris]," Isiah Thomas said. "When I look at Nazr, I didn't think we'd ever have the opportunity to trade him for two first-round picks. I like the player that I'm getting back in Malik Rose. He's a very tough player. He's played on two championship teams, and I think we're getting a very solid piece."</div> Source