Well, then I guess he's changed: GREENBURGH, NY, July 8, 2004 -- Super-point Stephon Marbury is watching the Knicks Summer League practice from the sidelines, relentlessly rooting little brother Zech on. “If the Pistons proved one thing, it’s that you don’t need two superstars such as Shaq (O’Neal) and Kobe (Bryant) on your team to win the NBA championship,” he says. “You can do it with defense. You can do it with chemistry. You can do it with team togetherness. And you can do it with “just” a lot of good players.” http://www.nba.com/knicks/news/summerleaguedaytwo_040708.html Isiah's changed him, you could see it since he's gotten to NY.
well tom gugliotta didn't seem to love him. which made it funny when they got reunited on phoenix. he and keith van horn weren't exactly buddy buddy. which made it funny when they got reunited in new york. actually, it seemed like a lot of the new jersey players didn't like him. so maybe he just doesn't get along with mvp's, overpaid white guys, and franchises that start with "new j." although, he did get screwed in new jersey in the sense that damn near everyone was injured while he was there (though he may have liked that b/c it meant more shots) and then jason kidd looks like a savior in a one for one swap when really he got basically a whole new team to play with (though maybe everyone's injuries magically healed when they found out they didn't have to play with stephon any more). And you can do it with “just” a lot of good players.” so i guess he's saying we can scratch the knicks off the list of contenders for this year.
Didn't Dikembe almost kill himself in a car accident last week? From the report, it doesn't look that he can play again. That $4.5M is net loss. It doesn't look good in NYC, but I think their book looks a bit better after this trade. $9M/yr is reasonable this summer. Besides, Knicks don't care about $. They make too much money there to worry about it. Their capspace management is hopeless until both Houston and Marbury come off book, so they aren't thinking about that either. If Crawford works out well, then he will either be their future pg, or a trade asset when they rebuild.
Didn't Dikembe almost kill himself in a car accident last week? From the report, it doesn't look that he can play again. That $4.5M is net loss. That was Manute Bol that hurt himself.
this new deal for crawford is horrible! ny are burying themselves! im sorry zeek but its time to get fired! isiah turning into layden part 2! their backcourt is gonna be super overpaid... their front court sucks... im glad im a rockets fan!
I'm relatively certain that the Knicks are convinced Allan Houston's knee is shot. It's the only reason that Thomas would be so hot for Crawford. They are dealing their only guard that can play defense, however... Evan
I guess nobody here watches Knicks games. Saying Shandon Anderson is your best perimeter defender is like saying the Pope is a hedonist, in no way at all is it true. Shandon Anderson is one thing, overpaid. Houston's knee is shot. How is their frontcourt any worse when for most of the year last year Mutumbo and Harrington were on the bench. Sweetney's going to have a breakout year and they still have Kurt Thomas. Rockets look good now, but wait until Van Gundy bails just like he did to the Knicks. He and McGrady can't co-exist, I know from watching years of Spreeball in NY with him and JVG. Knicks have a nice young core of players, they'll be a team on the rise.
The Knicks have Marbury and now Crawford. That's it. Houston's knee is shot. Tim Thomas is a career underachiever. Kurt Thomas is a 32 with a new, long-term contract. Sweetney's a younger Clarence Weatherspoon. Not a young Clarence Weatherspoon, just a younger version of the one in Houston right now. What else is left? Is Nazr Mohammed the savior? Is Mutombo going to suddenly become the all-star he once was? The Knicks have ZERO financial flexibility. They have marginal players with big contracts. There's a reason no one here watches Knicks games; they're even worse than Rockets games! And now they fired Marv Alberts because he told delusional New Yorkers what everyone else already knows; the Knicks aren't going to win as they're currently made up. Isiah Thomas is as dumb a GM as he was brilliant a player. This is the man who proclaimed that Damon Stoudamire was a franchise player. He'll ruin the Knicks just like he did Toronto and the CBA.
while NY did get rid of their least productive players, they just bought themselves a backcourt that has little chance of success. and we thought our backcourt was trigger happy, crawford and marbury will avg 45 shots a game together, might as well pull out their 7'6 kid and keep him on the defensive end the entire game. and what the hell are they going to do with Houston?
Haha, I love these unresearched statements. TT is a career underachiever, that's true, but he's a versatile 3 who'll average 14 a game and have 1 30-point game a month. I'll take him as my 3rd offensive option any day of the week over most guys. Houston's knee is shot, that's why they'll get Crawford. KT is 31, and he now has a contract that makes him very, very underpaid with this ridiculous offseason. Cardinal for full MLE. Foyle for $40 million. Knicks got Thomas very, very cheaply. He's an 11/9 guy who can defend most 5s in the league with exceptions to Shaq and Yao, and most 4s who aren't ridiculously athletic (Kmart, Amare, etc). Sweetney's a young Clarence Weatherspoon, yeah right. Sweetney's the next Zach Randolph if anything. The guy came into camp jacked, has worked the entire summer with Mark Aguirre and Abdul-Jabbar, and was 2nd in the NBA last year in offensive rebounds per 48 minutes. Weatherspoon's like 6'5", Sweetney's 6'8" with a 7-foot wingspan. He'll average 14 and 9 this year. The Knicks, on the contrary, have lots of financial flexibility. They're expiring contracts last year netted them Stephon Marbury. This year it'll be Crawford. Next year they have $30 million (TT and Penny) expiring, so who knows what that'll get them. The Knicks are over the cap, as are, what, 15 NBA teams?? If you're $1 million or $50 million, you're still over the cap. The Knicks have a ton of expiring contracts coming up to turn into even younger talent. "Isiah Thomas is as dumb a GM as he was brilliant a player. This is the man who proclaimed that Damon Stoudamire was a franchise player. He'll ruin the Knicks just like he did Toronto and the CBA" Bad point. He's also the guy that drafted Tracy McGrady, your new savior of the Rockets. That wasn't a bad move, right? From Mt. Zion, everyone criticized him. Look how that turned out. Toronto didn't work out becuase Camby was made out of plastic, Stoudamire turned into Cheech, and they lost TMac. He assembled that team very well, but things went wrong that nobody could control. The Knicks will win 48-52 games this year, I'll bet my membership here on it.
And to retort your Damon Stoudamire comment, here were his three years in Toronto: Year 1: 19 points, 9 assists Year 2: 20 points, 9 assists Year 3: 19 points, 8 assists Too bad he smoked more weed than George Jung. On comparison, the immortal Steve Francis, regarded by some on this board to be the best PG in the league, his first 3 yeras were: Year 1: 18 points, 6 assists Year 2: 20 points, 6 assists Year 3: 22 points, 6 assists Francis always had good rebounding numbers for a 1, but still, Stoudamire and Francis were almost identical numbers-wise the first few years in the league.
Further proof that there is no more delusional fan on Earth than Knicks Fan. Ooooh..Stephon just lit up New York last year, didn't he? Remember that deep playoff run the Knicks had? Puhlease!
Just like that deep run Houston had. Marbury averaged 20 and 10 last year with the Knicks. He'll have a huge year.
And the Knicks will still be mediocre. Just like every other team Stephon's been a member of. Going 25-27 (following the trade) in the Eastern Conference doesn't impress me. They won't win more than 44 games next year. Crawford wasn't a difference maker in Chicago, he won't be one in New York.
complete agree. he had no one to pass to on the knicks too. the guy is at the top of the league in assists every year.
The fact that they were below .500 when he had neither Tim Thomas NOR Allan Houston on the team doesn't sway me one way or the other. He's had an offseason of being mentored by the greatest point guard ever, Isiah Thomas, and one of the best coaches ever in Lenny Wilkens. Sweetney's going to be a horse last year (remember, his father's death at the beginning of the season stunted his growth). Houston will come back at 80% and just be a spot shooter, Crawford will be able to create shots, and TT will be healthy. Knicks win 46-50 games in a weak east.
I'm sorry but they got beat by a Nets team that had a gimpy Jason Kidd. Granted he's Jason Kidd but he was no where near 100%. Marbury should have taken advantage of this but he didn't. And I'm giving him enough credit to think that he could have taken Kidd on. And then they got raped by KMartin. Kenyon "I have no perimeter game" Martin. A capable big man like a Dampier would have stopped him. My point? Why in the world are you going to keep adding swingmen and undersized guards when you can add a big man? In the east, having a capable center along with having a marbury will go a LONNNNNNNNNNNNNG way moreso than having a whole bunch of guards. As for this team being able to win 46-50 games, for Isiah, Lenny, and Marbury's sake, they better. Otherwise, this will be another perennial overpaid, over-the-cap Knicks team.
Are the Knicks going to win "48-52" games, or "46-50?" Which is it? Were the Knicks not playing in the "weak east" last year when they rolled to 39 wins? Remember, you are pinning your hopes to a point guard who could never mesh with front line talent like Kevin Garnett and Amare Stoudemare, a soft small forward who has never came close to earning his exorbitant salary and was shown to be a total punk in the playoffs by Kenyon Martin, a one-dimensional, injury-prone 2 guard with an unmovable contract- wait you have *two* of those guys!- and the immortal Mike Sweetney- all 6'8" and 3.7 rebounds per game- and Kurt Thomas anchoring the frontline. Now you add an erratic, poor-shooting Jamal Crawford to the mix and expect to improve? How many wins did he lead the Bulls to again in the last three years...six? Does this team look like it could ever get past Detroit, or Indiana? How Knicks Fan of you to be satisfied with being just good enough to get chumped in the playoffs. Hell, the Celtics got the Eastern Conference finals a couple of years ago...look where they are now. If the NBA is about match-ups, length and defense, how in the hell are the Knicks built for playoff success? Let's review: the Knicks are soft, undersized, play poor defense and have a roster full of redundant guards and forwards. You should be used to mediocrity by now, so get ready for another serving of also-ran pie. Maybe Frederic Weis is still around somewhere in France. Nice franchise.
The Knicks were 10-19 when Isiah came over, over .500 after him and after Marbury came in the regular season. They went through a lot of change, I think they'll improve, you think they won't. It's basically opinion vs. opinion. Marbury meshed with Garnett, they just didn't get along. Last I checked, Garnett doesn't really mesh with anybody, and the T'Wolves needed to acquire TWO All-Stars to get out of the first round of the playoffs. Marbury meshed with Amare. The papers reported they didn't get along but Amare and Stef both said that was false and they were friends. You talk a lot about contracts, which I don't really care about. I've said time and time again if you're a million or 50 million over the cap, you're still over. True, Tim Thomas is overpaid. He's still a great 3rd option on offense and is one of the more versatile 3's in the East. Houston is injury-prone, not really, he hurt his knee last year and rushed it back to try to help for the playoff run and injured it again. He's past 30 and his body's wearing down, luckily they now have Crawford and he'll onyl have to play 30 minutes per game. The Knicks only had Thomas, Houston, and Marbury at full health last year for 6 games and they were 5-1. Crawford had a 50/7 game last year, bums don't have 50/7 games. I love this "immortal Mike Sweetney" quote. How tall is Ben Wallace? How about Dennis Rodman? Charles Barkley? 6'9", 6'8" and disputed anywhere from 6'5" to 6'8". Great rebounding takes timing and leaping ability, two things Sweetney has. He averaged more rebuonds in the Big East than Okafor (11 his JR. season), has a 7' wingspan, and was SECOND in the NBA in offensive rebounds per 48 minutes. No, the Knicks can't get past the Pistons or Pacers. How many teams in the NBA can? In the case of Detroit, zero. Indiana, a few. Ouch, the Fredreic Weis low blow. Anyway, we'll have to check back in April and see how they fared. Hopefully they turn out alright.
