http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/18/sports/basketball/18knicks.html Knicks Get Grim News: More Surgery for McDyess By CHRIS BROUSSARD The optimism the Knicks felt about their future was crushed yesterday when a CT scan on Antonio McDyess's broken left kneecap revealed that he would need bone-graft surgery, which could keep him sidelined for most of next season. On Tuesday, at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, McDyess will undergo the third surgical procedure on his left knee in 18 months. When asked for a timetable on his return, Norman Scott, the Knicks' team doctor, was vague. While insisting the injury was not career-threatening, Scott said only that McDyess would be able to play "sometime next season." McDyess, a forward, missed the entire season after he was hurt Oct. 12, in the team's third preseason game. He had hoped to begin on-court workouts immediately and had been planning to play competitive five-on-five basketball in July. Instead, the Knicks found out that the knee was healing much slower than expected. "Antonio's fracture is definitely healing, but it's not healing at the pace we had hoped for,'' Scott, who operated on McDyess last Oct. 16, said. "Surgery next week will expedite this process. We want to get him back as quick as possible. That's why we're performing the surgery at that time. He will be the same spectacular player he always was." The undersize Knicks, who were counting on McDyess to fill their void in the middle, may have to change the way they approach the off-season. Perhaps they will be more willing to trade their lottery pick and a veteran for an established player. Perhaps they will begin thinking more seriously about trying to rebuild rather than reload. Scott Layden, the Knicks' president and general manager, has never been one to make knee-jerk reactions, and yesterday he said the Knicks' approach would remain the same. "This is a small bump in the road," said Layden, who joined Scott on a conference call and grew testy as he answered reporters' questions. "Look, he's going to play next year. Dr. Scott has said that we know he'll be back with the team, and we're going to plan that way. Certainly, you're disappointed whenever you hear this news. But he'll get well and be with us next season. We're going to always try and make this team better, but we're going to make it better with him with us and as a big part of our plans." McDyess could not be reached for comment, but Scott said McDyess was somewhat bewildered because he feels no pain. McDyess's left knee has caused him problems since he first injured it on March 3, 2001, in a game against Phoenix. Scott said there was no athlete he could point to who overcame the situation McDyess is facing. "This is very rare," Scott said. "Patella fractures from a jumping leg are very rare, and I don't know of any other player that's sustained this just from jumping. So we have to base our experience on the overall treatment and healing rate of patella fractures. Antonio's shown us no reason to think he's not healing. This is just to speed the healing process along." Since his first injury, a span of more than two seasons, McDyess has played in only 10 games, and his inactivity has been characterized by delays and disturbing revelations. After the first injury, which was a dislocated left kneecap, McDyess, whom the Knicks acquired in a trade with Denver last June, was supposed to be able to return without surgery. But six months later, only a few days into training camp the following season, he tore the patellar tendon in his left knee while landing awkwardly after a dunk attempt. He underwent his first operation eight days later, on Oct. 12, 2001. McDyess was expected to return in January 2002, but he did not begin playing again until March 1. When he did return, he was limited to 23.6 minutes a game, and even that light workload was too much. After 10 games, he was placed back on the injured list on March 21. Before the Knicks traded Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and Nen?Hilário for him in June, they were assured by Denver's doctors and by their own that McDyess's knee was fine. He played all summer without incident and seemed to be back to his All-Star form during the preseason, averaging 17.7 points and 13 rebounds in 29 minutes a game. But with 1 minute 55 seconds left in an exhibition game against Phoenix, McDyess reinjured the knee while dunking a rebound. The Knicks' doctors told McDyess that he was injured when he landed, but he said he heard something pop as soon as he jumped. He thought someone had hit him, and was surprised that no one was near him. Four days later, he had another operation. The Knicks originally said the injury, which was called a left patella fracture, was completely unrelated to McDyess's previous injuries, but yesterday Scott said that he was no longer sure of that. "It would be foolhardy to exclude, everything" Scott said. "I don't really know. I have no clear-cut unequivocal answer as to why this is going very slow. Any time something doesn't go perfectly there are a lot of theoretical explanations as to why it didn't, and I can't rule that in or out totally." The Knicks, after hours of trying to reach him, had not heard from him as of the early evening. McDyess said after his injury in October that he felt like giving up at times, and on Monday he said it would be hard for him to overcome the mental barriers that his injury presented. Now, one wonders what his mental state is. "One of the main things in my head right now is how is my ability going to be when I get back on the court," McDyess said on Monday. Salaries Sprewell 13.5M (expire at 04-05) Cato 7.3M (05-06) Norris 3.6M (06-07) It's a sad news and I feel sorry for McDyess. For knicks, they need a centre badly so that they can move thomas to power forward. Cato can be a competitive starter in the eastern conference. They want to trade Sprewell for 2 years now. I know knicks have too many PG, but Norris is just a cap filler as Sprewell is well overpaid. For rockets, I expect cato will not play more than 15 mins per game next year and he's too overpaid to play such mins. Well, Norris should not be used unless garbage time. With Sprewell, we have a SG with good defensive skill. He can play some small forward as well. We can also improve our salary cap situation. To simpify the senario, we trade 15 mins of cato for sprewell and we can improve our salary cap situation.
dragon167 - As much as I personally would like to see Sprewell as a Rocket, two backup WC players will not get the deal done (and that's not mentioning the $2+m you are short on matching Spree's contract). If backups would get the deal done, Lo Wright and Brevin Knight is a better package. IMO, if Spree's that cheap Cuban would dangle Shawn Bradley and either NVE or Abdul-Wahad and change. I don't think you've got enough value on the table to interest the Knicks. They would want some combo (not all just some) of Griffin, Mobley (to a 3rd team), or a re-signed Posey coupled with Cato (assuming they even want Cato).
Hi Gater, Maybe I'm too high on cato and too low on Sprewell. Sprewell stats: 02/03: PPG 16.4 (.403), RPG 3.9, APG 4.5 Career: PPG 19.1 (.428), RPG 4.2, APG 4.3 I think spree's stock drops quite a bit after this season and it seems he has lost his athletism. How much would you pay for him at this stage of his career? I would say 6-8M and it's about what cato earns. Maybe I've heard too much praise from the posters of this board so that I am beginning to think he has lived up to his contract. Stats: Cato 02/03: MIN. 17.1, PPG 4.5, RPG 5.9, BPG 1.2 Bradley: 02/03: Min. 21.4, PPG 6.7, RPG 5.9, BPG 2.1 Actually Bradley is no better than Cato and I dont think dallas would trade NVE and Bradley for Spree. Maybe we can improve our offer by substituting Norris to someone else, but I would never throw in mobley or griffen in this trade.
Sprewell is a good player, but another poor shooter. I think we should try to cure our weakness rather than accentuate it.
Houston trades: C Kelvin Cato (4.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 0.3 apg in 17.1 minutes) € PG Moochie Norris (4.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.4 apg in 16.8 minutes) Houston receives: SF Latrell Sprewell (16.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.5 apg in 38.6 minutes) Change in team outlook: +7.6 ppg, -3.9 rpg, and +1.8 apg. New York trades: SF Latrell Sprewell (16.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.5 apg in 38.6 minutes) New York receives: C Kelvin Cato (4.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 0.3 apg in 73 games) € PG Moochie Norris (4.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.4 apg in 82 games) Change in team outlook: -7.6 ppg, +3.9 rpg, and -1.8 apg. TRADE DECLINED Due to New York and Houston being over the cap, the 15% trade rule is invoked. New York and Houston had to be no more than 115% plus $100,000 of the salary given out for the trade to be accepted, which did not happen here (only New York met the condition). This trade does not satisfy the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Try again.
Exactly. We can't just stockpile talent and hope it somehow develops chemistry and learns to win. We have physical talent that doesn't know how to win. We need to change the mix to make the team greater than (or at least equal to) the sum of its parts.
Spree would, in fact, be a good addition to Rox, and Cato to NY. This deal, to occur, will require EG, the prodigal going home, KThomas, and some mutual salary/personnel dumps. It could even include the Knicks' Lotto, assuming no conspiracies have it move up, depending on final make up of deal. Therefore, don't bank shot on it.
yet in still riley, he plays defense, shows up in the clutch, can handle the ball, and shows accountability. All these things are sorely missed on our team. If it was really snowing in hell, and the Knicks wanted to pull this trade for these scrubs, I would laugh all the way to the playoffs.
Set aside the possibilty of the trade proposed. I want to ask why we need spree. Isnt this guy un-coachable me-first kinda player. I doubt he's going to get along with anybody in the Rockets, especially Franchise. We need good role players right now. Spree is 1000 time worse than Cat in that regard. Man, Imagine Cat, Franchise, Spree, and MoT are on at the same time, they are goign to bite each other's ear. No spree in Houston!!! Now, if Allen Houston is on the table, Cat and Cato/Griffin for him is more sensible for the Rockets.
I have NBALP and watch a lot of Knicks games for primarily two reasons - Sprewell and the fact that one of the Knicks commentators is Walt "Clyde" Frazier. IMO, Clyde does an excellent job...not a homer, very objective and says what's on his mind without being abrasively negative. When I first started watching the Knicks, I was anti-Spree by virtue of the PJ incident. It did not take long before I realized (by listening to Clyde) that Spree was a decent team player caught in an ineffective Knick offense (although the Knicks play real good D). Perhaps some of the NY/NJ area posters can shed some light on your concern, but I did not get the same impression from Frazier.
It boggles my mind how dumb some people are. Do you honestly think that a team would trade away one of their top players for 2 of our role players, one is just a hair above decent and the other who sucks donkey nuts. I mean come on! This trade idea is like saying the Rockets would take Kareem Rush, and Samakie Walker from the Lakers for Mobley! This board should be infuriated at such an offer. Yet we think that GMs are this dumb, it blows my mind!
Spreewell would only be a problem for the Rockets, they should keep well away from him and not even think about it!
Cuttino Mobley/Eddie Griffin/Glen Rice/1st Round Draft Pick Latrell Sprewell/Kurt Thomas/2nd Round Draft Pick ARE YOU KIDDING?!? Sprewell is a bad shooter? Didn't you watch any of the games we played against them? Sprewell was just draining 3's like crazy. Swoosh swoosh.
