Knicks to get Crawford

I wasn't comparing him to anybody, I was shooting down your theory that a player at 6'8" or lower could still be an effective player, especially an effective rebounder. If anyone is delusional it is you, you're the one creating comparisons to Moses Malone. I watched every Knicks game and a lot of his time at Georgetown, and he's absolutely dominated rebounds at times. What he'll do remains to be seen.

If Sweetney becomes a guy who averages 12 and 8 I'll be a happy camper, I think he'll do more.

Yup, the Knicks had a weak frontline, I think those problems will be addressed in FA after the Crawford deal goes through.

 

Also, Crawford isn't that poor-shooting, he just got a ton of shots in Chicago last year, averaging 16 shots per game.

A few years prior to that, he averaged only 8 shots per game and shot 45%.

Here's a scouting report on Crawford, where I got the info:
"24-year old PG/SG averaged career highs in every major statistical category: points, rebounds, steals, blocks, assists and minutes. Explosive first step, excellent ball handling skills and the physical gifts to become a good defender, he is a versatile, exciting young talent. The knock on Crawford is his FG%, which comes in at a sub .400 clip; however, his FG% has dropped tremendously from his rookie year when he shot a respectable .448, so I attribute this nosedive to the astronomical increase in shots attempted per game (more than double, from 8.1 to 16.5). The lack of veteran leadership in Chicago and the Bulls laissez-faire style of play are partly to blame for this, but if his talent can be harnessed and focused in a strong system, Crawford should flourish into one of the great young stars in the league. Jason Terry, of the Atlanta Hawks (a fellow Seattle native), once called him the quickest player in the league not named Allen Iverson."

 

"you were the one making it seem like Sweetney...Mike Sweetney, for Christ's sake...was going to be this significant difference maker for the Knicks this year." I've said this like five times, but apparently you just disregard the points I make. I said that Sweetney could be a big boost to their front line. Why? He dominated the Big East, one of the best basketball conferences in the country and a conference many great big men have come out of, averaging of 10 rebounds per game. Last year, in the little time he saw, he grabbed a high percentage of rebounds, many of them being offensive. I, on one hand, view this as a good sign. Then you start rambling about how he's small. I countered with, while he is only 6'8", he has a great wingspan of over 7', and that many great rebounders have been around 6'8". Was I comparing them? No, I was simply stating that you can't just throw all facts about Mike Sweetney's upside out the window simply because he isn't 6'10". Once again, it's a we'll see at this point. I have my facts to backup Sweetney becoming a solid NBA player (he reminds me of Zach Randolph, he reminds you of Othella Harrington), and you have your facts of him failing and being garbage. Time will tell, the debate is over.

-"I'm sorry, but Crawford *is* a poor shooter. That is a statistical fact, unless you consider 38% to be the second coming of Bernard King. If Crawford needs a ton of shots to get his points, and guys who shoot below 40% do, how is he a good fit with Knicks with all of the one-dimensional twos and threes they have? Tony Delk and Rex Chapman scored 50 points in a game a time, or two, so his upside is not inevitable. If reaching his potential was so inevitable the Chicago Bulls would not be ditching him for such garbage. Who do you sit down to let him develop: Allan "100 Million contract" Houston? Tim Thomas? Stephon Marbury? You really want him to jack up 30 shots a night and get roasted on D so you can develop another mediocre wing player on a team with five of them already?" Once again, I provide statistics showing Crawford had a good year shooting, then the next year took double the amount of shots and his percentage went down, and you just say he is a poor shooter, emphasizing your point by putting asterisks on each side of is. If Jamal Crawford is the second coming of Bernard King then the league better watch out, King was probably a top 5 player in the NBA when his knee exploded. The Bulls haven't been offered garbage, they want expiring contracts and to get rid of their bad contracts, two things the Knicks have offered them. The Pacers offered Al Harrington, then dealt him to Atlanta. The T'Wolves offered Wally Szczerbiak. The Heat offered Caron Butler and Eddie Jones for Crawford and expiring contracts. Thankfully, all of these teams have fallen out of the deal, so they're left with the Knicks offer. Since you probably don't follow the Knicks too much, Houston hurt his knee last year and won't be at 100%. Crawford will start at 2 and probably play 35 minutes/game. I've consistently said let's throw contracts out the window, and you consistently bring it up in your posts, this time referring to Allan Houston as the "100 million contract." 100 million dollar. O well, Scott Layden stunk. What are you going to do?

"What FA frontline help is available to the Knicks now?" Stromile Swift and Keon Clark come to mind. The Grizz just signed Brian Cardinal, and if they don't deal Swift for Dampier in a sign-and-trade, I wonder if West would match him for the full MLE. He says he will, but that was before the Cardinal signing. He's an athletic shotblocker, something they could use, and I think would benefit from working with the Knicks big men coaches, like Abdul-Jabbar and Mark Aguirre. Keon Clark has had a few injury-plagued seasons, but two years ago he averaged I think 11 and 9 and more than a block per game, and a few years before that he averaged 2 blocks per game. When he was a FA with Toronto he expressed interest in NY, so maybe he'd think about it. I don't think he's signed with anyone.

"This is why breaking the bank for such mediocrities as Allen Houston, Shandon Anderson and 15 other Knick scrubs has been so disastrous for the team. People may want to play in NYC, but not for what you can pay them" The Knicks mistake was resigning Pat Ewing, and then trading him. Had they just let the contract run out, they could've rebuilt. They traded him for Luc Longley and Glen Rice. Longley had a big deal and never played. They traded Rice for a resigned Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson-awful trade, once again, thank god Scott Layden is gone. Yes, the Knicks are overpaid, but only because Layden set them up so you couldn't rebuild, because you have a million bad contracts and you can't buy them all out. That's why you have to develop sign-and-trade methods, like what they're doing for Crawford. They used expiring contracts last year to get Marbury, one of the best PGs in the league, and then they used expiring contracts this year to get Jamal Crawford. Who knows what they'll wind up with next year, when they have Penny, Tim Thomas, etc.

"How can you make that comparison? Houston's in the West, by far the superior league, especially depth-wise. We would have had homecourt advantage in the first round had we been in the East." I wasn't really making the comparison, I was just pointing out that you make fun of the Knicks for getting bounced, when your own team got bounced, I thought that was funny. The West is by far superior, but the East were champs this year. The Lakers had injury problems at almost every position, and the Rox couldn't capitalize. Obvoiusly the Rockets are going to do things this year with McGrady, but don't just bash the Knicks for getting swept by the Nets when 2 of their 3 best players were on the bench injured and their starting PF needed surgery while the Rockets, in full health, got smoked by the Lakers, who were thin, hurt, and uninspired.

"You have got to be joking. Garnett doesn't mesh with anybody? He was roundly criticized because he tried to mesh with his teammates too much, instead of taking games over. You're talking about probably the most versatile and talented player in the league here, who gives you 20, 10, and 5 year after year. He's a big reason why Cassell had a career year last year.

As to why his teams never made it out of the first round, well, the team was too young his first couple years in the playoffs, and the next 4 or 5 years after that, the West was too strong and his supporting cast was too weak. You put the T-Wolves in the East the past several years, and he would have gotten out of the first round a lot earlier."- I'm sure he and former teammate Anthony Peeler are great friends. Once again, he and Marbury just didn't get along. They were both like 19 and Marbury messed up. Big deal. It's not like when he left Garnett's career took off, as they made it sound. He needed two All Stars to be flown in for him to have any type of success. I was merely saying it wasn't b/c of Marbury that Garnett hadn't had playoff success.

 

An average margin of victory of 12.5 points after losing 35 points per game from two of your best offensive players.

Malone was hurt the entire playoffs, and Payton was a joke, Francis should've killed him. They also had no bench. Regardless, Houston gave them a run, if Jim Jackson's shot goes down it's a different series (that can be said a lot about LA, they got lucky time and time again last year).

Rockets will be dangerous this year, with the best big man in the West not named Tim and the best guard in the West.