If Knicks lose out on LeBron James and only land Amar'e Stoudemire, Donnie Walsh's plan was worth it Mitch Lawrence Monday, July 5th 2010, 4:00 AM Judging from his first comments in New York, Amar'e Stoudemire thinks along the same lines as Knick fans who are busy wondering why the team isn't making progress on a sign-and-trade for LeBron James. Or why Donnie Walsh isn't calling the Thunder to ask about Kevin Durant's availability. Or why Walsh hasn't made a move in the last two years for Dwight Howard. Around here, everybody dreams big. With the emphasis on "dream." So when Stoudemire talked about playing at the Garden alongside Tony Parker and Carmelo Anthony, you knew he'd fit right in with all the other dreamers. Dreamers don't worry about such small details as the salary cap or what teams are looking to get back for All-NBA performers such as Parker and Anthony. They live in a fantasy world and for them, the Knicks compete in a fantasy league. So may we be the first to give Stoudemire a real-world take on the Knicks, who know they need to find a top-notch playmaker to get the most out of one of the best finishers in the game: If you bring up Parker Monday when you meet with Knicks brass, don't expect to hear that he's flying in from San Antonio. The player the Knicks are more likely to tell Stoudemire about is Raymond Felton, the Charlotte playmaker who is free. Michael Jordan's Bobcats have moved on from Felton, who can play at Mike D'Antoni's preferred helter-skelter pace and would undoubtedly welcome the change from Larry Brown's highly structured halfcourt offense to a faster, looser style. "He's on the Knicks' short list," one NBA executive said Sunday. You know what list Parker is currently on? The wish-upon-a-star list. Maybe Eva Longoria's better half will come to New York next summer, after his contract runs out. But as for Parker being in the Knicks' starting lineup this coming season, Stoudemire might be disappointed to learn that it's quite unlikely. If he's surprised by that, well, he needs to take a look at the bare cupboard he's going to agree to join for around $96 million. "The Spurs are going to want a ton," said the executive. "For one thing, they'll want a young franchise-type of player in return." If the Nets, say, were to offer a package that included Derrick Favors, the third pick in the draft who is seen as a young Stoudemire, then the Spurs would strongly consider it. Favors and Tim Duncan would make a nice pairing, right? As for the Knicks, Stoudemire is about to learn his first hard lesson in the big city. The roster isn't exactly bursting with marketable assets. He's not in Phoenix, anymore, in a lot of respects. When he was a Sun, the team's general managers, Bryan Colangelo and later Steve Kerr, always managed to have players who other teams wanted. So they were constantly able to tweak the roster and remake a playoff team that went to the Western Conference finals three times in a six-year span. Among the bigger moves: Before the 2005-06 season, the Suns shipped out Joe Johnson for Boris Diaw, who had his best days playing under D'Antoni. In 2007-08, the Suns sent Shawn Marion, a key member of the D'Antoni teams that went to two conference Finals, to Miami for Shaquille O'Neal. In 2008-09, with D'Antoni coaching the Knicks and Diaw's play suffering, the Suns still converted him into a starting-quality player, Jason Richardson. As the Suns were reloading and had Steve Nash to get the ball to Stoudemire, who has made an All-NBA team four of the last six seasons, the Knicks were busy unloading salaries. They could have kept their best pieces - Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph - and had a nice, 38-win team that could have pushed for eighth place in the East. But Donnie Walsh didn't come here to preside over a team destined for the treadmill of mediocrity. Anyone can do that. Walsh had bigger plans, namely getting in position to make a run at a franchise player, the kind of talent that hardly ever goes on the open market. So he spent the last two seasons preparing for the great free-agent gold rush of 2010. The emphasis was on shipping out players and taking nothing of consequence in return, especially where the salary cap was concerned. Even if LeBron James tells the Knicks no thanks, the game plan was definitely worth the try. Unless you know a better way to acquire the kind of player who can finally replace Patrick Ewing. If you think you know, you probably also believe that the Knicks were stupid not to trade for Kobe Bryant a long time ago. And other such fantasies. mlawrence@nydailynews.com Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...05_hope_looks_blind.html?page=1#ixzz0sno1BrOH
The way that teams are overspending on free agents, and considering that the dearth of point guards; Raymond Felton could be an expensive transaction for New York. I predict that Felton would cost the Knicks about $7.5 million for 5 years to about $37.5 million. The Knicks would probably still have enough cap space left over to make a run at Mike Miller. Amare Felton Mike Miller That's not a bad off-season, but you know Knick fans were expecting more...
i don't see this as an improvement on last years team at all. letting lee go to sign amare is a wash. letting harrington, tmac, and duhon go for miller and felton is a wash. no talent upgrade, just a thinner depth chart and an injury prone star.
I agree completely. The only thing that will keep that team from competing for one of the worst records in the NBA is the fact that they are in the Eastern Conference. And I know the strong teams in the Eastern Conference are very strong now, but it is nothing at all like the Western Conference where 42 game winners are in the lottery.
Way I see it. Amare is better than Lee Miller is better than Harrington Felton is better than Duhon T-Mac doesn't even count since outside a few games he was horrible for them.
Yeah they'll be better, but still no playoffs, maybe 35-40 wins, I'm expecting the same kind of pick that Utah got this year.
Raymond Felton isn't a difference maker. He may end up like Duhon and have a decent year and then fade away.
It's only a marginal difference. They will also need a few weeks to build chemistry. They will lose even more games, while learning.
actually it's a pretty horrible offseason when you consider what they had to trade to get those parts. don't forget they are losing lee. felton would be nice if they pay him 3 mil per year for 3 years, but 7.5 mil per for 5 years then they are getting absolutely raped. felton had his best true shooting % year last year when he shot 52.5%. he is a career 49.3% ts%. he makes ariza look like a sharpshooter. i would love it if the knicks signed felton to an insane deal like you are suggesting. felton just isn't that good.
i don't see how amare is better than lee. better scorer, yes. worse rebounder, worse at creating for others... which is a problem is your the #1 option. lee averaged 3.6 assists per game. amare averaged 1. harrington was a 6th man of the year candidate. mike miller is a nice bench player. felton is an upgrade, but as a whole they are ending up with less talent overall. not to mention the undrafted rookies they will have to fill the bench with. they are 1 injury to amare away from being the worst team in the league. and even if he plays the whole season (which lee did for 3 years in a row and counting) they aren't a playoff team. they may not even be any better than last year.