Comments on: Could Deron Williams Have Been a Knick?

By: John Kenney

John Kenney — Wed, 25 May 2011 04:49:34 +0000

Eh, possibly Brian. But when I asked him he said yes so quickly and so assertively that I believe him. He would have to be oddly committed to playing up that belief if he’s lying, and I don’t see why.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 24 May 2011 01:01:33 +0000

I think O’Connor would agree w/you, Brian. Saying the Knicks had “The kind of assets” he was looking for isn’t denying he preferred Favors, etc., but admitting that he would have turned to NY as Plan B had Melo gone to NJ

That’s the thing. I don’t think he would have taken the New York assets as Plan B. I think he would have either surreptitiously shopped D-Will to another team or just held on to him rather than trading him for the Knicks’ package.

By: Robert Silverman

Robert Silverman — Mon, 23 May 2011 22:11:12 +0000

I think O’Connor would agree w/you, Brian. Saying the Knicks had “The kind of assets” he was looking for isn’t denying he preferred Favors, etc., but admitting that he would have turned to NY as Plan B had Melo gone to NJ

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Mon, 23 May 2011 22:00:20 +0000

I continue to call BS on O’Connor’s comments about how the Knicks had the kind of assets he was looking for for Deron. He keeps saying that, but if he truly believed it there was no way that he wouldn’t have gotten involved in the mix before the Melo deal went down. He clearly had to have been targeting the Nets’ pick and Favors as what he really wanted (plus Harris to hold the spot for now), and was just waiting until the Melo deal happened because if Melo did not go to the Knicks, then the Favors/pick deal wouldn’t have been there, so why bother pissing off Deron if the deal wasn’t even going to be made?

By: Robert Silverman

Robert Silverman — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:19:49 +0000

Z: Huh? The Knicks had the package O’Connor wanted, and when the Knicks called they said he was unavailable? All so that Williams wouldn’t have time to veto a trade to the Nets? Why not just deal with the Knicks and make everybody (but Carmelo) happy? But, I suppose there were other weird things O’Connor was doing around that time… Like firing Jerry Sloan to appease their franchise player, only to turn around and trade the franchise player too.

It sounds like O'Connor was waiting to see who lost out on Melo and then deal with them. Telling the Knicks Deron was on the market would/could have gotten the information public, made Deron voice his dismay about a Nets deal, lowered the asking price on Melo, and basically turned the whole thing into even more of a circus/kerfluffle than it already was. Since he would have been happy from the assets from either team (in reading this, it doesn't sound like he PREFERRED the Nix package to the Nets), his strategy is sound. Though I too, think Deron would be better short & long term than Melo.

By: Owen

Owen — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:52:06 +0000

Good piece, I’d much rather have Williams than Melo so I am glad it couldn’t happen….

By: Z

Mon, 23 May 2011 15:38:47 +0000

Huh? The Knicks had the package O’Connor wanted, and when the Knicks called they said he was unavailable? All so that Williams wouldn’t have time to veto a trade to the Nets?

Why not just deal with the Knicks and make everybody (but Carmelo) happy?

But, I suppose there were other weird things O’Connor was doing around that time… Like firing Jerry Sloan to appease their franchise player, only to turn around and trade the franchise player too.

By: TDM

TDM — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:33:42 +0000

So if Walsh had maintained that Mozgov was the breaking point for the Melo trade, as reported around the time the trade went down, Melo may have ended up with the Nets and DWill with the Knicks. Hmmm. . .

By the way, it looks like predraft measurements are out. You always see a couple of guys that shock you in the measurements one way or another. For example: Kenneth Faried – only measures out at 6’6″ without shoes! That means he is shorter than Landry Fields, and slightly taller than Andy Rautins. Granted, Rodman was only 6’6″ but I’m not ready to give Faried that much credit before he even suits up for a pro team.

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements/?year=2011&sort2=DESC&draft=0&pos=0&source=All&sort=2

By: Nick C.

Nick C. — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:17:38 +0000

good reporting.