Or jeffries and (expiring) jones for hughes.

Caleb– would you package Crawford and Lee to Cleveland for Larry Hughes and a protected pick?

Or Randolph, Lee, and Jones to Sac for Abdur-Raheem, Thomas, and Artest?

Or other trades that sacrifice the young talent to get rid of the contracts that extend past 2010? A month ago I would have resisted such a move, but if a new GM came in a cleaned house, I’m at the point where I’d support it.

Since I nominate you as Isiah’s successor, should he ever be terminated, I’m wondering where you stand on the issue.”

==

Good questions…

I would not make either of the trades you throw out there.

I look at it this way…
- I generally agree with Ben that our young players are more valuable than cap space. We can revisit this in 2010 when we know how good they really are, and what specific deal might clear the space, and who might be available.

- Be patient. Nothing we do now will change anything meaningful before 2010. Opportunities come up. It’s not ludicrous to think that in the next 2+ years, some playoff team desperate for a scoring boost will be willing to take Randolph (or one of the others) for another bad but shorter contract. No need to sweeten the pot… yet.

- To get under the cap by 2010, we only really need to dump Randolph, or two of the others. We don’t need to clear out all 4 bad deals.

- We should use our ability to take on 2009-2010 salaries without affecting our cap situation. For example — next year we could trade Malik Rose to someone, for a bad 2010 deal plus a draft pick. Like Cleveland, for Hughes. Or Milwaukee for Bobby Simmons.

- Here’s a partial list of the 2009-2010 deals that other teams could trade… either for an expiring Marbury/Rose deal plus a pick, or for one of our ridiculous 2010-2011 contracts (Randolph, Curry, Crawford, Jeffries):
Ben Wallace, Larry Hughes, Tracy McGrady, Stephen Jackson, Cuttino Mobley, Kennny Thomas, Udonis Haslem, Darius Miles, Earl Watson, Luke Ridnour, TJ Ford, Mehmet Okur, Etan Thomas…
Sure, most of those guys are overpaid slobs, but they can sit on the bench while we enjoy our draft pick or freed up 2010 cap space.

In the meantime, no one on the roster is untouchable, but I put a pretty high value on Lee, Balkman, Chandler and even Robinson.

- Even with his numbers off from last year, David Lee looks like an above-average power forward, at least a top 50 or 60-player in the league, and still just 24. A top 50 player is what you’d expect with a top 5 draft pick… so to give him up for any less, is a bad move. Lee is probably even more valuable than that, because his skills can complement almost any team – unlike Curry, for example, who’s dramatically worse when Randolph is on the court. Other than a top 5 pick, I might accept a David Lee deal that filled a need with a really good young veteran (say, Devin Harris).. or was a relatively high pick, like #10, and also cleared cap space.

- I’m a really big Balkman fan — I think he’s the kind of talent you get in the later part of the lottery. If Bruce Bowen is the 4th best player on a multi-championship team, Balk could easily be the 3rd of 4th best guy on a playoff team. That would make him well into the top 100 players in the league. That said, if someone else wants him and we could get a lottery pick — why not? Another reason to see if Chandler can really play; if he can, we have two valuable pieces.

- Same for Chandler. Obviously no one really knows if he can play, but it’s not a bad sign that he’s sitting on the bench — he’s only 20. The only guys who can really play NBA-level at that age are the Garnetts, the LeBrons, maybe the Andrew Bynums. I don’t think Chandler is at that level but it’s stupid to give up on him before we have a chance to see. He looked good in the summer, and I read a few articles from the stat gurus last spring — based strictly on stats he was a legit top-15 pick.

- I think Nate is worth about where he was picked… Personally, I love the guy, love watching him play and hope he stays. From a strictly objective standpoint, he’s expendable. he’s probably the best offensive guard on the team but that’s not saying too much, and he can’t play D or really run the point. That said I wouldn’t give him away… But if we could trade, say, Malik Rose & Nate to Cleveland, for Larry Hughes and a protected pick, I’d do it.

Immense? Crawford’s TS% has generally been below average. He doesn’t shoot well enough from three, doesn’t go to the foul line enough…

“David Lee is a bit overrated and is probably no better than Paul Millsap.”

I don’t quite know why you would say that. There are a lot of guys in the NBA that play Lee’s role, utility forward, and none of them are doing it as well as he did it last year. His numbers are a bit off this year, but not by that much. And he seems to be developing as a defender. I was impressed with how he has played Ming and Howard this year.

And I think he is really coming on of late, his +/- numbers in the last five have been stellar. I especially liked that +10 he posted in the 10 point loss to the Kings, on a night where Randolph was a -25. Not that that means much, but certainly the Knicks have a persistent trend of doing better with him on the court. It helps to have a player out there who doesn’t need to shoot to be effective.

I have trouble with a few things…

I’d like to think that Eddy Curry is a bit too offensively talented to be a backup, especially considering the number of teams lacking a low post presence. I certainly can’t think of a backup center anywhere near his level of scoring skill. There are backup centers that specialize in defense, such as Zo, Diop, maybe Kwame, but they don’t offer much on offense. With that said, I’d probably rather have Kwame or Diop than Curry, but that’s because we desperately need defense.

Jamal Crawford is a very similar situation to Curry. How do you utilize a player with immense offensive skills, but lacking anything else? I have to think that a real coach would get Crawford to play defense and choose better shots. To compare him to Eddie House is ridiculous though. House is a catch and shoot guy, whereas Crawford can manufacture his own shot and can generally get into the paint with his speed and ball handling. There aren’t many guys in the league who can do that, and most of them are superstars. The closest comparison to Crawford is Ben Gordon, who is effectively used by the Bulls as a 6th man offensive sparkplug. I think Crawford is built for this role. However, it often feels that he is capable of so much more, and under the right direction would be a borderline all-star. Maybe I’m just crazy, but once a game Crawford takes his man off the dribble and scores in a way that probably only 10 players in the league can match.

I agree that David Lee is a bit overrated and is probably no better than Paul Millsap. However, he is exactly the kind of glue guy that championship teams need to put them over the top, so I wouldn’t jettison him. Balkman might become one of these types as well.

You say Mardy Collins is a career backup. Personally, I think he’ll be out of the league in a few years. He just plain sucks.

How can you call Chandler a career backup? For all we know, he could be a superstar one day. Unlikely, but you don’t know what you have until you give him some minutes. In most cases, I would say that the reason he doesn’t play is because the coach can tell in practice that he’s not ready. Needless to say, I question Isiah’s judgment of what players deserve PT.

Beyond these objections, I have no problem trading everyone. With that said, many on this board have suggested dumping these players for absolutely anything. I’m not sure we should be looking to trade bad players with bad contracts for bad players with worse contracts.

Anybody who is willing to throw their body on the floor and work his ass off can be a solid defender. The problem is he is surrounded by awful defenders on a terrible defensive team. If you were to put him on a solid defensive team with clearly defined roles, there’s no doubt in my mind that he could be at least a solid defender.

I realize that team is defensively focused, but the Bricks’ scorers are still members of the team. If you’re not getting the points, you bring in Curry or Randolph or Crawford.
But at least the other team doesn’t get to jump right out to a 12 point bulge.
And frankly, the scoring team isn’t scoring that much.
Last game the Bricks went 0-12 before they made their first basket and were down 10 zip.
The scorers keep creating mountains for the subs to overcome.
I’d rather run a solid defense oriented team out there. Also, I’m not entirely convinced that Lee wouldn’t be a good scorer given the chance to be among the teams top three scoring options.
I also think we have seen some solid play from Jeffries of late. Clearly, he’s not going to be an offensive player, but you would have Robinson to stretch the defense with his outside jumper and he and Marbury to penetrate. And then you have Lee, who has become a fairly effective scorer, and could get better. All reports I read are that he has become a much better shooter than his in game stats show to date. But people who watch him practice say his low post and mid-range is improving noticeably.

But if you need a scorer to come in the game, Curry, Randolph, and Crawford are available for the infusion.

And, as I have written here several times, the lineup I propose will only get you to playing .500 ball the rest of the way. They still are weak, but the young players will get valuable experience and it will be entertaining to watch them.

Zach Randolph – No D, black hole on offense
Quentin Richardson – Overrated D, cannot shoot (30% FG), 11th or 12th man caliber
Eddy Curry – Worst frontcourt defender in the entire league, cannot rebound, cannot pass, offense becomes stiff and turnover prone when he’s the go-to-guy, he’s probably a 20 mpg backup on a good team.
Jamal Crawford – Terrible defender, low percentage shooter, should be a Eddie House-type guard off the bench
Stephon Marbury – Loser, selfish, quitter, suffers from a mental disease
David Lee – Overrated, cannot shoot or defend, a career backup
Nate Robinson – A smaller Jamal Crawford but a better shooter
Jared Jeffries – A taller Quentin Richardson
Fred Jones – 11th or 12th man caliber
Renaldo Balkman – An anorexic David Lee with better perimeter D
Malik Rose – 11th or 12th man caliber
Jerome James – 11th or 12th man caliber
Mardy Collins – A career backup
Wilson Chandler – Probably a career backup
Randolph Morris – Who knows but probably a career backup