The Knicks are in the process of adding more big salaries to their roster. Two league sources told ESPN Insider Chad Ford that New York has traded Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer to the Spurs for Malik Rose and a first-round pick. Once again, team president Isiah Thomas is willing to take back huge contracts to get more talent. In the Spurs deal, the Knicks are sending back $5.5 million in future salaries for the remaining four years, $27.3 million of Rose's contract. For the Spurs, not only did the clear $21 million in long term salary, they got another legit center in Mohammed – something the team felt the desperately needed.
It's like we're watching a bad movie, and all the characters are doing exactly what we expect them to do. RC Buford makes a great trade. Isiah Thomas makes a horrible trade.
Oh, no. Why do all those teams keep making the Spurs better? Now, The Spurs just add another shot blocker in Nohammed who is a legit center and played quite well in Knicks.
Why did the Knicks give up so much for Rose and a bad pick? Straight up, wouldn't you rather have Mohammed than Rose?
Man, the Knicks really love the mediocre power forwards. Now they have Williams, Sweetney, Mo, Malik, and then Kurt Thomas as well. I just don't get it. they had one center, Nazr, and they trade him.
Great trade for the Spurs! They get a LEGIT backup C/PF with some legit size and lop off Rose's contract all for 2 1st rounders that mean nothing to the Spurs anyway. Now the Spurs will have someone like Nzar that can bang with Shaq if they meet in the finals instead of pinning all of their defensive hopes on Rasho!
At what point does Isiah's office end up like the scene at MSG during RNC from this past year? I'm wondering if Isiah gets attacked the next time he watches a game in person. Evan
watching isiah work is like watching a train wreck. what in the hell is this guy thinking??? seriously. he'e one of the worst GMs in the league, hands down. i mean, some of the moves this guy makes are absolutely atrocious. he's single-handedly setting the knicks organization back years. i'da canned his ass a long time ago; the guy is clearly incompetent as an NBA GM.
Well, Sweetney hasn't really played PF at all this year, but rather, the backup 5. I suspect either he will be the starting 5 now, or they will move KT to the 5 and let Mo start at the 4.
News filtering is has it that the Spurs have put forward, Romain Sato, on waiver. Will you interested? I believe he is making league minimum.
You know the Spurs have the best PF/C in the league and an above average center even before this deal. But they saw a weakness in their previous line-up, one that two teams were best in position to exploit. One is Miami who they only play twice a year and who may not get by Detriot when it really matters anyway, the other team is you know who. Nazr was a good signing for essentially two late 1s. But it also reveals a lot about a rather immediate concern they have for what is going on about 200 miles east. I believe we are their chief concern not just down the line but perhaps this season as well. Makes sense on their part. We beat they twice already and played them tough for 3.5 quarters with incompentent point guard play and off a back to back. If I were they I would feel pretty confident about handling any other team (though I think the Suns can cause anyone problems and don't buy into the Suns are playoff fodder stuff), but we would have to be the most unpredictable from a match-up point of view.
Sweetney is just fat. Yeah he has some talent but if he does not control his weight problem, he could end up like Spoon and Oliver Miller.
Exactly what I was thinking. And what really sucks is when you consider their team and long term prospects: Their stars Duncan, Ginobili and Parker are locked up long term - and Parker and Ginobili are only going to get better. They have a solid group of role players who I believe are under contract for several years or likely to be resigned by SA: Rasho, Bowen, Barry, and now Nazy. Add a couple of promising young players in Udrih and Brown. They probably have a couple of foreign players stashed away I don't even know about. The Rox have their work cut out for them to battle their I-10 rivals during the TMac/Yao era.
Just for some more perspective. Manu (27) is two years older than Tracy. If he has room to grow as a player, certainly Tracy does (I think both are about at their peak honestly and Tmac will always be substantially superior). TD is going to be 29 by the time the playoffs comes around. Rasha and Nazr are 27 & 28. Barry's contract is going to look pretty bad as they are going to be paying serious moolah when he is a 38 year old dinosour. Parker is young (22). But in truth the Spurs will go and fade with Duncan. IMO Parker and Manu (only 1 year younger than TD) will not be good enough to carry the team far once TD fades. Also, an injury to TD puts them back to the lottery too. Now the Rockets core is 25 (TM) and 24 (Yao). Every other Rocket on the whole team will be new in 5 years. The Spurs know their best chances are the next 3 years or so. That is why they traded two 1st for a solid back-up center Nazr. The Rockets however, assuming good health of the big 2, have like a 7 year horizon.
This is crazy talk. You have T Mac and Yao and you are still planning on the future? The future is now. You never know what will happen from one season to the next. The Rockets should be selling out for a title chance at all opportunities.
Spurs got a solid A while the Knicks got an F- in this trade. Unless Isiah really hates Nazi, the trade does not make ANY sense.
I didn't mean to imply that Tracy wouldn't or couldn't improve. I think both his defense and his shot selection will improve over the next few years, assuming he stays healthy. But I think Ginobili will improve more over the next few years than Tracy. Just compare how much each of them has improved since Ginobili came into the league three years ago. I think Tmac is closer to his peak than Ginoboli is to his, despite the difference in ages. But I agree that the Spurs will succeed or fail based on Duncan. And, IMO, the Rockets will catch them or not largely based on Yao. So my guess is that we are probably at least two years away. Sure, we have a decent chance this year. But we will have a much better chance with each passing year as Yao progresses and he and Tracy (and the rest of the team) develop some chemistry. I wouldn't "sell out" too much of our future opportunities for our title chances this year.
