Will be interesting to see if Randolph’s mid-range FG percentage is higher when Eddie is sitting as the D may have to play off him more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX16V0iwmKA

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2924228

You were forgetting the current GM of the Bulls.

First, to reply to your last comment, maybe I’m wrong but I think wings in basketball would be more like hitters. Quality bigs (especially ones who excel on both sides of the ball), PGs, and pure shooters (especially ones who are not one imensional) seem harder to find. Wings seem to be abundant in the NBA. Maybe not LeBron James caliber ones, but most title contenders have at least a couple of mid first rounders or later and relatively cheap free agents contributing bigtime as wing players (like Josh Howard, Bruce Bowen, Tayshaun Prince, Greg Buckner, Andres Nocioni, Manu, etc.). This year in free agency alone your looking at Grant Hill, Jason Kapono, Vince Carter, Mo Pete, Gerald Wallace, Rashard Lewis, Nocioni, Stackhouse, Walton, Pavlovic, Pietrus, Desmond Mason, Matt Barnes, DeShawn Stevenson, Matt Carroll, James Posey, Ruben Patterson. You have quality wings going in the mid first every year like Richard Jefferson, Julian Wright, Al Thornton, Danny Granger, Gerald Green, Josh Smith, J.R. Smith, Dorrell Wright.

As far as the Randolph deal specifically,
Another negative is that there is no guarantee that this is going to work out offensively.
If Marbury and Francis had both bought into a well designed offense the Knicks might have been a better, even pretty good, offensive team for making the Francis deal. Unfortunately neither bought into what I’m not sure was a particularly well designed offense. Consequentally the Knicks probably would have been better off keeping Ariza.
Is Zach going to be Steve; Frye, Ariza? I think it’s at least a possibility because, like Steph and Steve, both Zach and Eddy want to be the offensive focus. Sharing shots might not be a problem in high flying offenses like the Suns’ or Warriors’, but the Knicks’ was 20th in the league in pace and Randolph, the focal point of the snail-Blazers’ attack, is not likely to speed things up much. Frye is unlikley to shine in Portlands’ stacked young frontcourt, but he, like Ariza, could be an efficient rotation player for 20 mpg.

Another problem is that this furthers the divide between the Knicks? backcourt and frontcourt. With a defensively inadequate, high efficiency, likely high usage, slow paced front court, I’d want a somewhat low usage/high efficiency backcourt that plays strong perimeter D, moves well without the ball, excels at hitting spot up Js, and feeds the post well. In contrast, Steph and Jamal are high usage/low efficiency, offer little perimeter D, only move if they have the ball in their hands, only shoot off the dribble, and don’t feed the post well (Jamal is obviously better at feeding the post).

If for some reason you felt inclined to build with a high usage/low efficiency backcourt that is defensively inadequate, you might want a low usage frontcourt, run-jump athletes so they can play at a high pace, strong defenders, and good rebounders on both sides of the ball to start the break and clean up the abunance of misses (rebounders the Knicks do have).

This is all even worse because collectively the Knicks have such a low basketball IQ and move the ball so poorly/inconsistently (I’m really hoping Randolph helps with the ball movement, but I think it’s far from certain: a career assist rate of 8 means he’s no Eddy Curry, but he’s not Scottie Pippen either). They have a bunch of high usage guys who don’t, or can’t, share the ball. Maybe Randolph will be satisfied with a lesser role, but the same could have been said about Steve Francis.

First, to reply to your last comment, maybe I’m wrong but I think wings in basketball would be more like hitters. Quality bigs (especially ones who excel on both sides of the ball), PGs, and pure shooters (especially ones who are not one imensional) seem harder to find. Wings seem to be abundant in the NBA. Maybe not LeBron James caliber ones, but most title contenders have at least a couple of mid first rounders or later and relatively cheap free agents contributing bigtime as wing players (like Josh Howard, Bruce Bowen, Tayshaun Prince, Greg Buckner, Andres Nocioni, Manu, etc.). This year in free agency alone your looking at Grant Hill, Jason Kapono, Vince Carter, Mo Pete, Gerald Wallace, Rashard Lewis, Nocioni, Stackhouse, Walton, Pavlovic, Pietrus, Desmond Mason, Matt Barnes, DeShawn Stevenson, Matt Carroll, James Posey, Ruben Patterson. You have quality wings going in the mid first every year like Richard Jefferson, Julian Wright, Al Thornton, Danny Granger, Gerald Green, Josh Smith, J.R. Smith, Dorrell Wright.

As far as the Randolph deal specifically,
Another negative is that there is no guarantee that this is going to work out offensively.
If Marbury and Francis had both bought into a well designed offense the Knicks might have been a better, even pretty good, offensive team for making the Francis deal. Unfortunately neither bought into what I’m not sure was a particularly well designed offense. Consequentally the Knicks probably would have been better off keeping Ariza.
Is Zach going to be Steve; Frye, Ariza? I think it’s at least a possibility because, like Steph and Steve, both Zach and Eddy want to be the offensive focus. Sharing shots might not be a problem in high flying offenses like the Suns’ or Warriors’, but the Knicks’ was 20th in the league in pace and Randolph, the focal point of the snail-Blazers’ attack, is not likely to speed things up much. Frye is unlikley to shine in Portlands’ stacked young frontcourt, but he, like Ariza, could be an efficient rotation player for 20 mpg.

Another problem is that this furthers the divide between the Knicks? backcourt and frontcourt. With a defensively inadequate, high efficiency, likely high usage, slow paced front court, I’d want a somewhat low usage/high efficiency backcourt that plays strong perimeter D, moves well without the ball, excels at hitting spot up Js, and feeds the post well. In contrast, Steph and Jamal are high usage/low efficiency, offer little perimeter D, only move if they have the ball in their hands, only shoot off the dribble, and don’t feed the post well (Jamal is obviously better at feeding the post).

If for some reason you felt inclined to build with a high usage/low efficiency backcourt that is defensively inadequate, you might want a low usage frontcourt, run-jump athletes so they can play at a high pace, strong defenders, and good rebounders on both sides of the ball to start the break and clean up the abunance of misses (rebounders the Knicks do have).

To throw out a name, what about Jarrett Jack? He’d look great at the point, and Marbury would be fine playing a lot of minutes as a shooting guard. After the draft, Portland has about five point guards, including Rodriguez and Koppenen (?) from the past two 1st rounds. Great prospects. So they might be willing to swap JJ… think an offer of two prospects from among Collins/Chandler/Morris might get it done>

I feel your comments about Isiah’s deals, where the whole is often less than the sum of its parts. Just because you walk away from a deal with the most talent doesn’t mean you “won.”

I’d feel exactly like you do about this deal had I not just happened to stumble on this article by Steve Goldman about the Yankees a couple days before the draft. (Disclosure: I’m a lifelong Mets fan and Yankee hater.) http://www.nysun.com/article/57332

Goldman makes the point that the Yankees need to add another bat (to an already potent offense) to have any shot at the post-season. Certainly the Yankees *need* pitching more, “But improving the pitching staff is a problem akin to trying to get boat traffic under a bridge by lowering the river. Pitching is in very short supply.”

The Knicks were far weaker at the wing than PF with Lee, Frye, and Jeffries. As much as anything NY needs a Caron Butler-type wing who can defend the perimeter and score. But finding a high caliber wing is like finding a #2 or #3 starting pitcher. You’re always gonna overpay on the FA market (e.g., Vince, Kapono). Growing your own (e.g., Balkman, Chandler) is best but it takes time and tends not to yield star quality results (all things equal) unless you’re at the top of the draft. If you roll the dice on the injured and/or old Q-Rich is about the best you’ll do. (Even then, you might have to go through Penny and Jalen Rose just to get that.) You can try to find something in the recycle bin but that’s not likely to even last a full season (e.g., DeMarr Johnson, Qyntel Woods, Matt Barnes–who I honestly thought would solve our problems but he was horrible for us).

Suffice it to say Thomas has made a move at the wing nearly every season but has yet to settle the position. (Richardson’s back surgery by definition leaves the position unsettled heading into 07-08.)
I’ve been all up and down RealGm since the end of the season looking for a wing. I just haven’t found anything that seems reasonable from our end or doable for another teams.

Sometimes when you can’t find a starter the only option for improving your team is to add another bat.

BTW, Hollinger mentions the Kapono deal in his Sun column today towards the end. http://www.nysun.com/article/57662