The Knicks

[TBird41]

I don't really know how to put this....but I think Isiah Thomas might have some kind of mental defect.

He cut the Jerome Williams (saving $19 million against the luxury tax) instead of Allan Houston ($40 million). I guess the Knicks wanted to insure that they'd have a 4th option at shooting guard...if Houston's incurable athritic knee holds up. Can anyone explain this move to me? Will it at least give Sweetney more minutes? And where is JYD gonna end up?

[nodak89]

tbird41 said:

I don't really know how to put this....but I think Isiah Thomas might have some kind of mental defect.

He cut the Jerome Williams (saving $19 million against the luxury tax) instead of Allan Houston ..... And where is JYD gonna end up?

How 'bout the T-Wolves? Please!

[RBHoya]

Well, JYD ended up retiring as we have all discussed on the other thread.

But I don't think Isiah is necessarily brain dead. Dolan likes Houston and wanted to keep him. He still does a lot of things in the community that reflect well on the Knicks. He's a "Dolan guy" in that he is level-headed, eloquent even, and when he puts on a 3 piece suit he makes a nice impression at corporate functions. He is the type of guy who Dolan likes to market and point to when he sells season tickets to rich corporate executives to give out to families of clients and whatnot, most of whom know little about hoops. That has always been Dolan's M.O. He likes players like Houston who have family appeal and who he can use at fancy schmancy corporate events filled with rich execs and whatever else. If you read between the lines some of the things he has said in the past, its very clear. That was a primary reason behind moving Sprewell for Van Horn. Spree wasn't the type of guy that fit in at such functions, and Van Horn was. Guys like Camby (who got shipped out) didn't fit that mold either, but guys like Van Horn, Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisely, Antonio McDyess, and Clarence Weatherspoon did. They couldn't play a lick of ball, but they were Dolan-type guys. Scott Layden took most of the flack for the moves of that era, and he deserves some blame, but really he was just trying to reshape the team as Dolan wanted it.

I still believe in Isiah as a GM. He got stuck with the worst mess in basketball history. A bunch of overpaid stiffs, as mentioned above... and he has turned them into a young team with a lot of potential. They aint gonna win it all any time soon, but they have a bunch of players 26 and under and a bunch of draft picks coming their way. If the picks pan out, they'll be back in the playoffs before you know it.

Plus, Houston's big contract coming off the books after next year enables them to pick up some quality players a year from now, if they decide to make their cap situation worse yet again. They can deal Houston to a team that is looking to clear cap space to sign a big offseason free agent, and take back a "bad contract" or 2 (or 3 as the case may be) while picking up another talented young player. Cuban doesn't do this anymore, so the Knicks are the only team willing to just keep pushing further and further into luxury tax hell.... Like I said, well see if it works a few years from now if their young players develop.