Knicks Trade Rumors 2010

The February 18 NBA trade deadline is approaching and Knicks president Donnie Walsh doesn’t plan on making a move unless he is sure it will help his club.

The New York Post says that Walsh “secretly admits” his acquisitions of Larry Hughes and Chris Wilcox last season “backfired”. Walsh doesn’t think it is urgent the Knicks acquire somebody.

“I wouldn’t think I have to make a move,” Walsh told the Post. “It isn’t like I woke up and [said], ‘Oh my god, I have to do something now.’”

If Walsh does make a move, it will be for a player with an expiring contract. Walsh will not acquire a player with a contract that extends beyond this season. He wants as much cap flexibility as possible for the summer’s free agent class.

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Knicks Surging Since December

The Knicks’ early season woes are behind them and they are climbing the ladder in the Eastern Conference hoping to be one of the top eight teams in the conference by season’s end. If they keep playing like they have of late, they’ll at least get in the playoffs as the 8th seed. 

It’s too early to tell where teams will be when the season ends, but after the Celtics, Cavs and Magic, the East takes a bit of a dip. The Knicks will have the opportunity to be in the mix for the 6th, 7th or 8th seed as long as they keep inching toward breaking the .500 mark.

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Knicks Win Big Against Suns, Lose to Magic

Two days, two games, two different Knicks teams. Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks followed a 126-99 win over the Suns with a 118-104 loss to the Magic. It’s amazing the difference a day makes. The Knicks ripped D’Antoni’s former team by 27 points. By the fourth quarter the Suns had most of their reserves in. The Knicks reached 100 points in the third quarter and really broke the game open in the second quarter. They took a 71-58 lead into halftime. It was a spectacular offensive performance for the Knicks.

The following day’s game against the Magic wasn’t a carry over from the night before. Orlando, a much better defensive team than the Suns, held the Knicks to just 39 points in the first half. The Knicks did, however, get good performances from their up-and-coming players Danilo Gaillinari and Wilson Chandler. Gallo had 27 against the Suns and 20 against the Magic. Chandler put up 14 on the Suns and 24 on the Magic. 

The future of this franchise may hinge on the development of these two players. A free agent’s choice to come to the Knicks may depend on the cast of players that will surround him. Gallo and Chandler are locked into the Knicks next season and you know D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh want to get them developed quickly, meaning they’ll be on the floor for extended minutes this season. 

The Knicks, meanwhile, would like to play teams that have an uptempo style of basketball similar to theirs every game. They have a better chance at outscoring teams in a 140-130 game than beating a team in a 95-90 game. When it comes to teams that play good defense, the Knicks won’t win. They have to hit open shots when they get good looks against better defensive teams or else they’ll be held to under 40% shooting and lose by 20. 

The Knicks have some building blocks. Their development of those blocks this season will be key for the future of this team.

Allen Iverson, New York Knicks

Allen Iverson to the Knicks. It’s a hot topic around New York since he and the Memphis Grizzlies parted ways. It feels like Donnie Walsh is going to put Iverson in a Knicks uniform. The whole city is in a trance over Iverson. It’s being discussed by anyone with sports knowledge around New York city. Although Iverson wants to go to a contender, contending teams probably won’t give Iverson a look because he wants to start and will bark if he doesn’t. This makes the Knicks a great team for Iverson. He can start and will score points in Mike D’Antoni’s offense.

The people who don’t want Iverson on the Knicks say he will stunt the growth of their young players such as Danilo Gallinari, Toney Douglas and Wilson Chandler. They’ll also say he doesn’t play defense and that’s what the Knicks are missing. To answer those people, the Knicks need a lot more than one strong defender and he can give the young players open looks when defenders key on him.

Iverson isn’t going to get the Knicks into the playoffs but he’ll waken up a fan base that needs a “brand name” on the team and will also sell some tickets. Bring AI to MSG, Donnie. Prove you can bring a “name” to the Knicks before 2010 when the pressure is on.

AI officially becomes a free agent Thursday at 6:00 p.m., if he clears through waivers, which is expected. All signs point toward the Knicks extending an offer to Iverson. 

There are some great opinions floating around twitter on the Knicks and Allen Iverson topic. Follow @alanhan, @TommyDeeTKB, @LeBron23NYK, and @Knicksfanblog.

More on AI and the Knicks

Knicks Worst Start in Franchise History

With a 121-107 loss to Golden State, the Knicks have fallen to 1-9 on the season. This marks the worst start in Knicks franchise history. The Knicks are basically playing with a team that Donnie Walsh put together in the middle of last season that was supposed to contend for a playoff spot. The Knicks have been awful in the first 10 games this season. A tanked season does no good for the Knicks as they do not own a first round pick in next year’s draft. The Utah Jazz, who own the Knicks first round pick, may be looking at having the most balls in next year’s lottery. A bad season for the Knicks also doesn’t look good to potential free agents.

The only bright spot thus far this season is the play of second year man Danilo Gallinari who has been shooting the ball well from beyond the arc. This bright spot is very, very dim  and any strong personal performance is being overshadowed by the Knicks inability to win games. They have been falling behind early in games and digging themselves so deep they have no chance in making a comeback.

Knicks fans are going to put up with a dreadful season in hopes the team can land a marquee free agent or two in the upcoming free agency period. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudemire and Chris Bosh headline the free agent class that has an abundance of superstars and may be the best free agent class in the history of sports.

Knicks’ “Session” Gets Timed Out

Picture this: June 25, 2009.  The NBA Draft at Madison Square Garden.  The Knicks are optimistic they can land a point guard with the eighth overall pick in the draft after the first four picks are point guard free.  Minnesota owns the fifth and sixth picks.  With the fifth pick the Timberwolves select Ricky Rubio, a point guard from Spain.  With the sixth pick the T’wolves select Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn.  One last coveted point guard remains and the Knicks are second in line.  With the seventh pick the Warriors select point guard Stephen Curry from Davidson.  The top three point guards are off the table.  The Knicks select Arizona power forward Jordan Hill with the eighth pick.  

No one could have predicted this.  After no point guards were taken in the first four picks, it was a forgone conclusion one of the three top point guards were going to drop to the Knicks.  The T-wolves wouldn’t take two point guards back-to-back.  They would take one of the point guards, but not two.  No way.

How wrong we were.  

Now the T-wolves have done it again.  Point guard Ramon Sessions, who has been on the Knicks radar this summer and several times was reported to be close to signing with the Knicks, has been signed to an offer sheet by the T’wolves.  The Milwaukee Bucks have seven days to match the offer.  

T-wolves 3, Knicks 0.  

This leaves the Knicks out of options this summer.  The only real business they have left is David Lee and Nate Robinson.  Donnie Walsh and the Knicks have struck out in this summer’s free agency.  Hopefully they are saving the free agent signings for next summer.

What has Donnie Walsh Really Done So Far?

Donnie Walsh was supposed to be brought into the Knicks organization as a savior.  He was supposed to cleanup Isiah’s mess and turn the team into winners.  He was brought in to appease Knicks fans and give the franchise hope.  Lets take a look at what he has done in the one year and four months that he has been the president of basketball operations of the team.  

Walsh’s first area of business was hiring a new head coach and he lured in ex-Sun’s coach Mike D’Antoni and his explosive seven seconds or less offense.  This was Donnie’s first move and it was a great one.  D’Antoni comes with a pretty good resume and playoff experience.  

This is to the extent in which Walsh has proved he is worth all the hype.  Since then, he has done minimal to improve the Knicks.  I know he has been able to let go of some dead weight and regain some financial flexibility but he hasn’t improved the talent on the team.  You can say he is positioning the team to make a splash in next year’s free agency but what if he isn’t able to land an elite player in 2010?  Then what?  All of this dumping of salary is great but if the Knicks don’t use the money on superstars, then they are going to be stuck as a mediocre team because those elite free agents will turn teams into contenders. 

The players that Walsh was able to acquire so far are guys like Chris Duhon, Darko Milicic, and Larry Hughes.  There’s no elite talent there.  He drafted decent players (Gallinari and Hill), but no elite players (yet anyway).  Walsh hasn’t done anything extraordinary and I believe the job he has done so far could have been done by other guys.  It’s what he does next summer that will show us if he really is the great basketball savior we all expected.   

Donnie Walsh has a lot of work to do and this summer has been terrible  Other than the draft, he has done nothing to improve the talent on the team.  He has tried.  He put out some offers to veterans but nothing has panned out.  Hopefully Donnie can put a team on the court that will play well in 2009-10 and hopefully he can land a superstar in free agency next summer.