Could the Knicks Be Fixed?

I am not a GM. I am not Danny Ainge, I am not Mitch Kupchak, and I am certainly not Gregg Popovich. What I am is a man who has watched way too much basketball in his twenty-four years on this planet, and has read way too many articles on everything NBA. One of the mainstays for me as a strong basketball follower, has always been that I could count on the once storied franchise of the New York Knickerbockers being in complete dissarray. Since Patrick Ewing left the Knicks in the year 2000, for as long as I can remember, (thanks a lot, alcohol) the 'Bockers have been one of the worst teams in the entire league with one of the highest payrolls. How in blue Hell does that happen? Well, a good start to ruining any great sports franchise starts right at the top. You have to give the most power to the least qualified people possible. On December 22, 2003, the New York Knicks hired Isiah Thomas as their President of Basketball Operations. I consider myself a very compitent writer, with a strong vocabulary, and a fine grasp on the English language. I still cannot put into words how much of a disaster "Zeke" was making the decisions for this team. The next step towards turning a once proud organization into a glorified garbage heap is for the unqualified powers that be to start bringing in horrible personnel at outrageously large contracts. At one point, under Isiah's regime, the highest paid player in the entire NBA was Allan Houston, who spent most of the time after signing off on his undeservingly large pay day on the inactive list. Last season, The Knicks paid Stephon Marbury over $20 million to play for the Celtics. In addition, in 2006 Isiah found it necessary to shell out $30 million over five years because he wanted to bring in a defensive presence. Does anyone remember who this stalwart hero, this franchise saving defensemen was? Jared Jeffries! Are you kidding me, Isiah? But this wasn't even the icing on the cake. Since the Jeffries expiriment wasn't enough to get his woeful Knicks back into the playoffs, Isiah then decided to mortgage his future and send two draft picks, that turned out to be lottery picks by the way, to Chicago for... you guessed it, Eddy Curry. Isiah then went on to pay Curry over $10 million per year, one dollar for every pound Curry was overweight. His bad contractual decisions don't even tell the whole story. Let's talk draft day. Isiah Thomas is 98% of the reason that I love that the draft always take place in New York. To hear Knicks fans boo at the incompitent decisions of their fanchise every year not only puts a smile on my face, but often causes a tear of joy to trickle down my cheek. In 2005 The Knicks selected Channing Frye in the first round over Andrew Bynum and Danny Granger. I've already explained why the Knicks didn't have a pick in the 2006 draft. But instead of landing Tyrus Thomas, Brandon Roy, or Rudy Gay, the Knicks traded into the first round so they could grab the coveted Mardy Collins. In 2007, again the Knicks' first rounder went to the Bulls who grabbed Joakim Noah, but the Knicks traded in and with the 23rd pick selected the man who Spike Lee deemed "That Brother at DePaul" Wilson Chandler. Pathetically, this may have been the best pick Isiah made as President of the Knicks. As much fun as this is for me, though, the point of this article is not to bash Isiah Thomas and The New York Knicks. At least it wasn't to begin with, but then I kind of got on a roll.

What I really wanted to convey is the fact that The Knicks, since replacing Thomas with the far more compitent Donnie Walsh, have put themselves in position to make the long climb back to relevancy. His first move was luring a great coach, Mike D'Antoni, over to New York from Pheonix. Going from Thomas to D'Antoni might be the biggest coaching improvement in the history of sports. Next, seeing that the insanely strong free agent class of 2010 was only a few years away, when Walsh took over in 2008 he started making moves towards clearing out cap room to make a splash in said free agent class. This season, the Knicks will spend around $86 million on their payroll. While obviously poor for a team that is 3-10 to start the season, (at least they aren't 0-13 like their neighbors) the Knicks' payroll will drop to around $27 million at seasons' end. While this leaves the Knicks with only six players on their roster, and while two of those players will be Curry and Jeffries after they inevitably accept their player options, this still leaves the Knicks in great position to bring in two of the 2010 free agents which include LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, and Shaquille O'Neal, just to name a few. I'm well aware that some of the big names will re-sign with their respective teams and that there are quite a few teams that also have a great deal of cap room, but I think that the Knicks, with their big market appeal, have the best chance of luring one of these juggernauts from their current team. And of course we've all heard the rumors of LeBron James wearing Yankees hats and shoes that say NYC on them, and the more it is talked about the more and more I become convinced that The King is Big Apple Bound. If the Knicks could bring in LeBron and another one of those guys listed, draft well, and sign a few cheap veterans to short term deals, Donnie Walsh could have this franchise back in championship contension as soon as next season. Its all speculation, and it all remains to be seen, but its looking like this new Knicks regime could have Willis Reed stop spinning in his grave, (he's not actually dead) and maybe they can even make Walt Frazier a good color commentator. I take that back, nothing can make Walt Frazier a good color commentator.