More than likely the Knicks will buy out KVH's contract, making him a free agent. But, D-R-A-T! Lampe is included in the deal. Drat. Drat. Drat.
New York's starting line-up Marbury Houston Mutombo Van Horn Kurt Thomas Damn, the Knick just became one hell of a team! They might come out of the East!
I'm not sure what to make of this deal. Marbury has a HUGE contract - $100+ ending in 2009!!! Guess Amare's recovery is going slow, so they blew off the season? PHX will have a boatload of cap space. Kobe's contract is old CBA and to get him, the Suns would IMO have to spend the entire cap windfall. Amare and Matrix are good, but the Shaq-less Lakers stink...even with Payton. Arguably, the two toughest positions to fill are PG & C. Those would be the Suns weakest positions if they pay big bucks for Bryant. Kobe's contract could make him a re-run of KG & the TWolves prior to the current season...
The trade involved Lampe. From ESPN.com: New York would acquire Marbury, Penny Hardaway, and Cezary Trybanski from Phoenix for Antonio McDyess, Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, Maciej Lampe, the rights to Milos Vujanic, and cash.
Also I believe PHX has an excellent scouting group for judging talents. The deal may not turn out that bad in the long term.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but while player contracts are grandfather-claused in terms of CBAs, the players themselves aren't. If Kobe walks and outright signs with a new team, that should fall under the current CBA. A sign-and-trade with the Lakers would be old-CBA. Who wants to bet the Suns were tampering before they pulled the trigger on this deal? Evan
The Suns have MAJOR issues. Yeah, they got some good players out of this deal, but it looks like a mish mash of players. They're loaded with talent, but they're far off from competing for a title. There were Suns fans talking about how much more talent they had then the Rockets, but just like I mentioned then, you weren't going to win with that frontline. McDyess contract is up so get McDyess while the gettin' is good! And I agree with Juan, keep an eye on Ward, he could become available.
IMO, still some big question marks... * Mutombo's age * Van Horn's history of playoff fades * Marbury giving Houston enough shots * Bench = Anderson, Eisley, Norris, Harrington * Backup C = Doleac > currently on IL
Suns have a good eye in identifying good PGs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Milos Vujanic http://nbadraft.net/profiles/milosvujanic.htm He is a dream for scouts and coaches in the NBA:. A late round steal. A point guards with scorer mentality….one of the best players in Europe this season with more than 25 points a game… A scoring machine who has had a break out season… a point guard with a scorers mentality who can also play as a SG…...Has shown so far this season that he can deliver at the highest level in Europe...This guy is only getting better….Has extremely developed his offense game… He's a winner - only 23 years of age but with huge European Experience. And lots with the Natioal Team. Next season he'll likely play for one of the biggest clubs in Europe or in the NBA..... Has good body frame size with nice athletic abilities and qreat quickness…. A Scorer and a shooter (improved his shooting stroke this season) good shot behind the arc but still inconsistent (most of his years so far 35- 40% from the 3 points)…He's very difficult to guard......Uses many skills on offense but his best weapon is his first quick first step…. Has very good ball handling ability…Excellent on drives (can dish the ball to an open player)… Has good court vision…Likes the ball in his hands in the clutch… Draws a lot of attention from opponents on defense. He draws almost 10 fouls a game… Has decimated his points average in Euroleague this season from 13.5 to more than 25 a game…Has one of Europe's quickest first steps. Has supurb body control…. Has quick hands (excellent ballhawk) but needs to improve his defensive game (more aggressive attitude)… His defensive game seems to be affected by his ability to score, more focus is needed defensively …. Excellent from the FT line…he is consistently improving... There is some doubt about his ability to play against aggressive guards especially in the NBA..... He must bulk up and be more aggressive in his floor game…. He is not a pure PG and sometimes forgets his PG duties…. Must become more consistent despite the fact that has greatly improved here during the last season….He has displayed great character this season with Partizan showing that he has "grown up" and ganed a lot of maturity..... Developed his game stepped up his mental approach.... A guy who shows up in money time – A clutch player in Europe, who can carry a team on his back. He's fearless and has that killer instinct. Outlook: He can play in the NBA as a reserve, but he must improve his weaknesses (aggressiveness and bulk) to become more. He is a clutch player adept at getting quick points. He would benefit by staying another year in Europe.
Knicks are pretty far behind to come out of the East. BUT Marbury gives them a terrorizing weapon that will open up the jump shooters (Houston, KVH) that have never been good at getting their own shot. Penny is the backup SG they've wanted for a while, and takes Anderson to backing up KVH or out of the rotation. Frank Williams will be a decent back up PG, and takes Moochie out of the rotation. Kurt Thomas is happy and will likely have his contract extended, Mike Sweetney is the backup, and Harrington gets center fill-in duty if he's lucky. Mutombo.......well.........it's the East. They have an outside shot at making the layoffs, and look okay for next year. Evan
Aren't Marbury and Penny not exactly pals either? Chaeney, even though he must be the happiest man alive today, will have his hands full with this team
I checked out the Suns' and Knicks' forums, and they mentioned that Van Horn and Marbury don't exactly get along.. Does anyone know what happened between them?
In order to be an unrestricted FA, Kobe would be turning down $14+m player option from LA. Kobe's (Bird Rights) contract value to the Lakers falls under the old CBA just like Garnett re-signing with the TWolves for $128m. IOW, the raises are under the new CBA but the starting point the last seasons contract value. For the Lakers, the would be close to $15m. This would also be his value in an SnT. As an unresticted FA, Kobe's 8 year max contract starts at $13.2m. He'd be giving up nearly $2m to go to another team. My estimate is that with this trade, the Suns would have ~$27m committed for 2004-05. Maxing Kobe leaves them room for 1 more ~$4.5m signing and a vet minimum since they lose thier MLE by falling below the cap.
im glad that theres finally a lock for worst team in the west. everybodys so close even we had a shot for a while. ridiculous competition. ive missed seeing new york as a decent team. if they become decent enough i can pull back out the "oh hey can you hold this 1993-94 championship trophy" to knicks fans who will inevitably talk trash
On the Nets, Starbury straight up ignored KVH on the court on talked plenty of trash about him in the locker room to reporters. Evan
this is more of a temporary fix my isiah thomas than anything else. he should have just kept what he had and let their contracts run out. now not only do you have allan houston's 100+ mil contract you tack on marbury's 100+ million as well. THEN isiah would want to resign Kurt Thomas and I hope he is going to ask for good money (9 mil?). And lets not forget KVH's contract....and shandon andersons.....AND moochie's. With Mcdyess and company, you had big contracts but they were going to run out soon. Now, not only do you have a big contract, but you have it for another few years. AND you lose your draft picks to the Suns. I just think Isiah Thomas just mortgaged the Knicks' future just so that he can temporarily make them playoff contenders. Albeit the moves are FAR better than Layden's (b/c they actually have purpose/goal) but seriously, what if the Knicks don't make the playoffs and come into next season with a grumpy Marbury, and all the other bloated contracts? Thomas should have bide his time and take the cap and play with it.
Basically what emjohn said. Marbury basically trashed KVH on the way out of New Jersey. That should be interesting.
Agree about Isiah and the multiple huge contracts but... Kurt Thomas' value is no where near $9m. He's a notch above Kenny Thomas who took MLE money from Philly.
uhhhhh...you can't be more wrong.. He CARRIED the suns to the playoffs...I mean CARRIED on his back. He took over so many games down the stretch last year. I can count at least 10 games down the stretch where he carried the suns to a victory. He almost single handedly beat the spurs last year in the first round.
KVH has this plus two more years on his deal, not terrible to live with, and he could be traded away in a year and a half. Marbury comes a lot closer to earning his paycheck than Allan Houston ever has or ever will. Dropping unusable Eisley and McDyess for an overpaid but usable Penny is okay. Knicks concievably could persuad/pay off Penny to decline his option this summer, but I doubt it. It's tough to say this is a bad move for Isiah. Worst comes to worse, the Knicks should be financially straightened out in 3 years. Which was unthinkable with Layden. Evan
