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Insider: Fixing the Knicks - Includes Hawk Trade

Lascar78

By Lascar78
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Lascar78

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A three-part plan to fix the KnicksBy Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
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The field I teach in is conflict resolution, so, as you may guess, I get a lot readers who write in asking me if I could solve all the Knicks' problems.


My reply? Middle East peace might be possible ... making the Knicks good, not so easy.


As I wrote in my blog, Isiah's problem is that he's intent on always getting the best individual talent in the deal, no matter what it costs. He showed this again in his acquisition of Steve Francis.


One problem with this approach is that the Knicks need role players to fit around their so-called stars.


If the Knicks are going to win, they're going to have get rid of some of the egos and actually make a trade or two where the goal is chemistry and role, not scoring.


Given that Isiah just dealt away his best trading chip, Penny Hardaway, it won't be easy to fix the team overnight.


But, for what it's worth, here's what I'd do. It's not going to win the Knicks a championship, but it could make them respectable.


Step 1:


Turn around and trade either Francis or Stephon Marbury. (Francis can be re-traded immediately as long as he's traded by himself.) I think Marbury's a better player, but perhaps Larry Brown's had enough of him and I'm sure Marbury's had enough of Larry.


Could they move either guy? It wouldn't be easy. Neither is much of a hot commodity now.

But I wonder about the Lakers. Clearly the idea that they were after Francis is coming from somewhere. If they were after Francis, wouldn't Marbury be an even better fit? And, if it's true they are no longer high on Lamar Odom, which is what just about every GM in the league that I talk to believes, then there's a deal there.


Here's the deal:

Lakers send Odom to New York; Kwame Brown and Smush Parker to Atlanta; and Devean George, Stanislav Medvedenko and Laron Profit to Utah.



Utah sends Carlos Boozer to Lakers.


New York sends either Marbury or Francis to the Lakers.


Atlanta sends Josh Childress to Utah and Tyronn Lue and Donta Smith to the Lakers.


Here's why this might work:


The Knicks would do this to turn Steve Francis or Stephon Marbury into Lamar Odom. Everyone knows that Francis and Marbury are not going to work well together in the backcourt. The Knicks have too many me-first, shoot-first players, especially on the perimeter.

Odom is the opposite, a team guy who can play multiple positions and does what's best for his team. He's not going to drop 30 on you too often, but that's exactly the attitude Larry Brown needs on his roster right now.


I know Lakers coach Phil Jackson isn't thrilled about the idea of losing Odom in midseason, but this one could pay off in the long-term. The Lakers need to get two players for Odom to make something like this work -- a guard and a rebounder, at least. Francis (or Marbury) and Boozer are overpaid, but they should serve their roles just fine as long as both can stay healthy.


The downside for the Lakers is that they would lose any cap flexibility they were going to have in the summer of 2007. However, the cap flexibility isn't going to be much because the Lakers would have to waive all but three players on their roster to get far enough under the cap to sign one max player. I seriously doubt the Lakers are considering putting eight minimum players on their roster in 2007.

This deal would give the Lakers more balance, more scoring and more star power. Whether Kobe would ever pass the ball to the new guys is a different story altogether, though you would have to believe that Marbury in particular would be more adamant about asking for it.


The Jazz basically would be giving away Boozer for cap flexibility and a nice, young two guard with some potential. With the development of Mehmet Okur this year, the Jazz don't really need Boozer -- Okur, Andrei Kirilenko and Greg Ostertag have the frontline covered.


That move would also put the Jazz roughly $13 million under the cap going into the summer, allowing them to use their cap space this summer to either find a two guard who can create his own shot (kind of like they guy they gave away, Kirk Snyder) in the draft, via free agency or with a sign-and-trade.

The Hawks might do it to try out Kwame (who hails from the Atlanta area) for the next season and a half. He would not be a long-term commitment and this summer's free agent market is short on bigs.

Parker is also interesting. He's had some success in L.A. this year and might be a good fit in the backcourt next to Joe Johnson.

Childress has shown potential, but the Hawks have a huge logjam at the wing position.

Step 2:


New York sends Jamal Crawford to Denver.


Denver sends Earl Watson and Greg Buckner to New York.


The Knicks need a real point guard -- one who doesn't need to take 20 shots a night and one who's willing to defend on the perimeter. To fit those needs, Watson is the best guard on the trade market. His defense, especially, would get Larry Brown excited and add balance to a backcourt featuring Francis or Marbury. Buckner is another defensive stopper who could get some love from Larry.


This isn't an ideal situation for the Nuggets. Crawford isn't the world's greatest shooter or the world's smartest player. But he's 25, knows how to score on the perimeter, is rarely injured and would provide an instant boost to the Nuggets' run-and-gun team.


Step 3:


New York sends Quentin Richardson to Washington.


Washington sends Antonio Daniels and Jared Jeffries to New York.


Remember, we're remaking the Knicks not with stars, but with role players. Richardson is a terrible fit for Larry Brown and isn't happy sitting on the pine. Daniels struggled as a starting two guard in Washington but was very effective coming off the bench as a point guard for Seattle last season. He provides defense, size and scoring in the backcourt.


Suddenly the Knicks' backcourt would look pretty balanced, with Watson and Daniels on the defensive end and Marbury/Francis and Nate Robinson in the scoring role. Jeffries is a pretty terrible offensive player, but his length and athleticism make him a nightmare for opponents as a perimeter defender.


Washington might do it because Daniels has been terrible in Washington and Richardson could provide them some more size, rebounding and 3-point shooting in the backcourt.


If the Knicks could pull off all three deals, here's how their team would look:


PG: Earl Watson, Antonio Daniels

SG: Steve Francis or Stephon Marbury, Nate Robinson, Greg Buckner

SF: Lamar Odom, Jalen Rose, Jared Jeffries

PF: Channing Frye, Maurice Taylor, David Lee

C: Eddy Curry, Jerome James


I don't think that's a championship team. But if the Knicks' young players were to develop, it would be very solid.

With the roster, the Knicks' players would have defined roles. Francis (or Marbury) and Curry would be the primary scorers, with Odom and Frye able to reach 20 points on any given night. Watson and Daniels would be there for defense and chemistry. Odom has the ability to handle the ball, defend, and he also would be the best rebounder on the team.


Suddenly Larry Brown would have the defenders to hide some of the team's defensive weaknesses.


It's not a perfect plan, but conflict agreements rarely are. This much I believe: That team would win more games than they lost, and the team would't be giving up any young assets in the process.


Are Knicks fans asking for anything more at this point?


It's chad ford, so it's pure speculation. I thought that first trade was interesting though. Would you guys do it?

For us, it looks like Chill/Lue for Smush/Kwame

Smush is dirt cheap and a great deal, Kwame is overpaid ($25M over 3 years) and pretty useless. But he is young and tall. I think that we would be paying more for inferior talent, but it certainly would adress our needs.

I don't think I'd do it, because I have given up on Kwame. I have seen him fail in Washington, I have seen him fail in LA. 6/6 in 26mpg in his 5th year? Yuck. Our "bust" Marvin is getting 7/4.5 in his first year

It would be great to have smush pushing the ball on the break with our youth though.

What do you think?
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Packfill Proficient

Packfill

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I'm tired of hearing we have 'a logjam at the wing position' What other team gets accused of having too much talent? We have Al, Smoove, Chill, Marvin to man 2 positions. Is that a logjam? And if so who cares?

It is a logjam if 4 of your 5 best players essentially play the same position.

Still, that deal stinks. If it was for a Devin Harris type of young point guard then I would do it, but not for a fringe NBA player like Smush.

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lifelong Newbie

lifelong

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I'm tired of hearing we have 'a logjam at the wing position' What other team gets accused of having too much talent? We have Al, Smoove, Chill, Marvin to man 2 positions. Is that a logjam? And if so who cares?

It is a logjam if 4 of your 5 best players essentially play the same position.

Still, that deal stinks. If it was for a Devin Harris type of young point guard then I would do it, but not for a fringe NBA player like Smush.

yeah, but in the pistons game, for example, our best stretch was when all 4 were on the floor with JJ. we went from down 15 or so to having the lead.
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Buzzard Enthusiast

Buzzard

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horrible

It’s a Chad Ford trade proposal that involves the our Hawks. What did you expect? Not something that resembled us getting a good deal I hope wink.gif

I wonder if Chad actually believes he would make a good GM? BK does this deal; he would be fired this time next year.

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