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Welcoming In The Seven Seconds Or Less Era!
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Knick Thoughts
I love, love, love the D'Antoni move.
As much as I respect Marc Jakson as an analyst as a coach he's a total unknown commodity. With D'Antoni we're getting a coach with a great track record. He's a proven winning coach who players love playing for. As Chad Ford points out the combination of an offensive minded coach and the draw of playing in NY will really help the Knicks recruit players in free agency.
This team is still rebuilding, that hasn't changed, D'Antoni isn't a miracle worker. However at least this team will be entertaining in this transitional phase. If were going to lose games I'd rather lose 130-115 than 80-68.
Personally I'm excited for the 7 seconds or less era in NY, however we need players that fit the scheme. Here's some trades (that I think are realistic) and would help our team in the short and long term.
New York trades Jamal Crawford to the Raptors for T.J Ford.
Ford, who is overrated and injury prone, gives the Knicks a true point guard who can run the floor. His contract is similar to Crawfords so we don't have to add any salary in this move.
The Raptors have Calderon who clearly is much better than Ford. Calderon wants more playing time and is a restricted free agent, moving Ford gives him more PT and Crawford gives the Raptors another offensive weapon. New York trades Zach Randolph to the Bucks for Bobby Simmons and Desmond Mason
A your junk for our junk kind of trade. Randolph needs a fresh start and while he seems to be a guy who ruins whatever team he goes to you can't deny his skill on the offensive end, he's a 20-10 guy. The Knicks take back a similarly bad contract in Simmons (thought it's one year less) and also pick up Mason's expiring contract.
The Bucks get to move Simmons who never lived up to his lofty contract and get to roll the dice on a very talented player without sacrificing much long term payroll flexibility. New York trades Eddy Curry and Renaldo Balkman to the Jazz for Andrei Kirilenko and Jaron Collins
AK-47 will thrive in a fast paced offense. He also is lock down on the defensive end, acquiring AK-47 will give D'Antoni his Marion in this offense. Also much like Marion AK will be able to guard almost anyone on the floor.
Why would the Jazz do this trade? AK clearly doesn't fit into their scheme and he has been asking for a trade almost every off-season, and his large contract is going to make him difficult to move. In Curry the Jazz get to roll the dice on a talented big man while manging to save about 20 million. Balkman also gives them another role player who can replace AK's production defensively.
Besides these trades I would hope the Knicks also do two things:
One: Draft O.J. Mayo Two: Waive Stephon Marbury. He symbolizes an era the Knicks are trying to move away from.
With these moves the Knicks can trot out this roster.
C: Lee PF: AK-47 SF: Q-Rich SG: O.J Mayo PG: T.J Ford
Off the bench the Knicks would have plenty of options also in this scenario.
Simmons is a long defender who could shut down top stars in crunch time. Mason is an athletic freak would be throwing down many alley oops in the run and gun offense. Robinson is also a guy who should thrive in a running offense.
and don't sleep on Wilson Chandler who really came on late last year.
This team wouldn't be a playoff contender but they'd be fun to watch.
