[NYT] Rumor: Franchise to reunite with Cat in LA

Looks like their "special" relationship can continue....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/sports/basketball/20knicks.html?_r=1&ref=basketball&oref=slogin

Knicks May Stick With the Hand They Have
By HOWARD BECK
Published: April 20, 2007

GREENBURGH, N.Y., April 19 — In a season that was by turns frantic and frustrating, often promising and ultimately disappointing, the Knicks proved to be too flawed, too inconsistent and, in the end, too injured to break their postseason drought.
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Suzy Allman for The New York Times

The Knicks (33-49) frustrated Isiah Thomas at times, but the emergence of Eddy Curry and David Lee offset some of the disappointment.

So Isiah Thomas engaged in a familiar, if not entirely enjoyable, ritual on a mild spring day at the Knicks’ suburban training center. He sat in a chair for 34 minutes and tried to explain what went wrong and why things will get better.

Thomas began his fourth off-season as the Knicks’ president, and his second as coach, with a notably sunny tone and a decidedly modest agenda. After several seasons of dizzying change, Thomas sounded ready to stand pat.

“I’m pretty happy with what we have,” Thomas said Thursday afternoon, 16 hours after the Knicks closed out a 33-49 season. “Now, that being said, if there’s a chance to improve what we have, I’ll do that. But I don’t think I’ll be aggressively out in the market.”

Thomas said that he did not intend to use the Knicks’ midlevel salary-cap exception, which he used in prior years to sign Jared Jeffries, Jerome James and Vin Baker. Despite the rumored availability of several star players, Thomas also indicated that he would not seek to make a blockbuster trade.

If any player could change Thomas’s stance, it might be Jermaine O’Neal of Indiana. The Pacers are in shambles, and O’Neal, an All-Star, told Indiana reporters that he would not be opposed to a trade. Thomas coached O’Neal for three years in Indiana, and they remain close.

Kevin Garnett figures to be another potential target, but Minnesota’s general manager, Kevin McHale, said Thursday that he would not trade him. There could be other All-Stars on the market, including Pau Gasol of Memphis and Ray Allen of Seattle.

“Every team wants that great player, and the teams that have that great player probably don’t want to get rid of him,” Thomas said. “We’ll just keep plugging along with what we have and continue to try to develop our young players. And hopefully, one day they’ll be thought of as great players.”

With good health and a little internal growth, Thomas said that he believed the Knicks would be a playoff team next spring. Eddy Curry and David Lee had breakthrough performances, and Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson were having career seasons before sustaining season-ending injuries. The rookies Mardy Collins and Renaldo Balkman were better than expected. Stephon Marbury adapted to a new offense centered around Curry and became a better teammate.

“I don’t think we’re that far away,” Thomas said.

Thomas acknowledged that the Knicks were not a great defensive team, but he dismissed the notion that he needed to acquire a shot-blocking big man to pair with Curry.

The message was consistent with Thomas’s stance the past several weeks — that the Knicks would have been a playoff team if not for injuries to Crawford, Richardson and Lee.

Stability may soon become the franchise’s new buzzword. The players would certainly welcome it.

From June 2005 to August 2006, the Knicks added Lee, Richardson, Jeffries, Curry, Collins, Balkman, James, Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and Steve Francis, and cycled through three coaches (Herb Williams, Larry Brown and Thomas).

“We’ve got something special going on here, and it’s going to happen soon,” the veteran Malik Rose said Wednesday night. “We have a lot of talented guys in this locker room. We have one of the best coaches in the league.”

There were disappointments beyond the injuries. Jeffries, a defensive specialist, did not have the impact that Thomas predicted. Robinson’s greatest impact was in igniting a brawl with Denver in December. And Frye, the eighth pick in the 2005 draft, seemed to take a step backward. Thomas said that Frye was probably the player most affected by the new focus on Curry as the primary inside scorer.

No Knick had a more curious season than Francis, and — Thomas’s denials notwithstanding — he remains the player most likely to be traded or waived. Francis began the season as a starter, but the Knicks played their best with Crawford and Marbury in the backcourt. Francis spent half the season rehabilitating a sore knee. With Richardson and Collins, the Knicks have a surplus of guards.

A former All-Star, Francis pines for a greater role, which he is unlikely to have with the Knicks. His contract is significant — two years and $33.5 million left. But he started the final six games and showed in the past week that he has some spark left, averaging 25 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4 assists over the final four games.

“I’m very confident in playing, and given an opportunity, I still feel that I’m up there with the top players in this league,” Francis said. “It’s kind of tough when you play sporadic minutes.”

Francis did not say that he wanted to be traded or released, but he seemed to acknowledge his uncertain future, saying, “I’m going to work this summer like I don’t got a job.”

One destination could be the Los Angeles Clippers, where Francis could reunite with Cuttino Mobley, his close friend and former Houston Rockets teammate. The Clippers need a veteran point guard, given the age and decline of Sam Cassell and the uncertain status of their injured young prodigy, Shaun Livingston.

Thomas said that he planned to keep Francis. “If he’s healthy, you make room for that kind of guy,” he said.

REBOUNDS

When Eddy Curry tipped in the winning shot Wednesday night, he unwittingly dealt a blow to his former team, the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls, by sending Curry to the Knicks in 2005, own the Knicks’ lottery pick. The Knicks had the sixth-worst record when play began Wednesday, but ended the night in a three-way tie for the eighth worst. The odds of the Bulls winning the No. 1 pick dropped to about 1.8 percent from about 6.3 percent. The precise odds will be determined Friday, when the National Basketball Association will use a blind draw to break ties in the draft order. The Knicks will use the Bulls’ first-round pick, 23rd over all. The Knicks’ second-round pick was also dealt to Chicago in the Curry trade, but the Philadelphia 76ers now own it.