I think it’s really a matter of teammates/match-ups for Chandler. He’s a 3, but he can play 2 if you don’t mind having someone who can’t handle the ball at all at the 2 or just have no better option (the latter being the current Knicks’ predicament).
Danilo……… good question.
Douglas: he can guard 1s and he can shoot like a 2. He can’t play the 1 offensively as of today and it’s pretty questionable whether he can guard 2s consistently. Can fit in nicely with a LeBron/Wade/Roy/Johnson

“While I think the Knicks best shot (and maybe only shot) at LBJ is to get him another max guy to play with, I’d really like to maintain some cap flexibility going forward into 2011 and beyond. With a hard cap looming, I think we’re going to be entering an era of new frugality- owners definitely are no longer willing to write off short term losses in hopes of building long term equity growth.”

So, screw signing 2 of the best players on the planet… let’s just keep the cap room and be REEEEEEAAAAALLLLLLLYYYYYY cheap??????????????? Good plan.
Dolan is one of the last owners who has to worry. The Knicks play in a huge market. All the businesses he owns are close to monopolies. Also, he’s a total toolbag: if he loses money who cares? Not me.

“like Abreu, Matsui, Damon in MLB”

MLB has nothing even resembling a hard cap. Those guys had to take less money than they wanted because they’re old and can’t defend.

“D’Antoni (on his MSG show regarding the free agent chase) – “This summer we’re gonna go huntin’ bear with a big ol’ rifle. And that always feels good!””

Pretty accurate.

“1. Tracy McGrady
2. Eddy Curry
3. Al Harrington
4. Cuttino Mobley
5. David Lee
6. Chris Duhon
7. Danilo Gallinari
8. Eddie House
9. Wilson Chandler
10. Bill Walker
11. JR Giddens
12. Jonathan Bender
13. Sergio Rodriguez
14. Toney Douglas
15. Brian Cardinal”

PLEASE, don’t depress me.

“Deron Williams is really ticked that Utah traded Brewer to Memphis for a protected 1st rounder. Brewer and Deron were really close, plus he thinks that the team are worse off now, whereas the other West teams have gotten better. Compounded by the fact that the Jazz will likely lose Boozer this summer, trouble may be stirring in Utah. Incidentally, Deron’s deal expires in the summer of 2011. Hmmm?”

Yeah, Deron’s going to be really pissed right until that Knicks lottery pick comes rolling into Salt Lake… Then when the Memphis lottery pick comes in he’ll forget he even plays in Utah and think his like is actally fun…

“I don’t see how losing would make LeBron want to come to New York. Maybe another team, but not New York. New York is a worse situation than Cleveland when it comes to future winning prospects. If he did win the championship he might be more apt to rebuilding with a new team.”

Losing would make him more apt to leave Cleveland. Cleveland would be an old as balls team with no chance to get better. Then he’s got to look around and decide where he wants to go… He can (realistically) sign in Chicago, Miami, or NY. I would damn sure take NY of the 3.
If he wins a championship he wants to defend it with Cleveland and three-peat like the past two NBA dynasties (besides SA)… but that’s just my opinion.

My friend who scouts for a German team told me tonight he thinks Sergio Rodriguez can make several million a year tax free in Europe. He said 6… I doubt that, but I don’t know European basketball nearly as well as he does. I also don’t literally negotiate contracts with players in Europe the way he does.

“But LeBron James isn’t a free agent then!”

I agree 100% with going after LeBron, I’m just saying that if Donnie Walsh fails to execute this offseason the Jeffries/T-Mac deal will be a failure. His whole tenure to date will be a failure. James Dolan might as well have not hired a GM and just drafted the consensus pick (probably Lopez and Jennings), then hired a GM in offseason 2011. If Walsh fails to do something good this offseason the Knicks would have been better off if Dolan had done that. In that case tons of cap space, plus picks coming up. If Walsh doesn’t sign anyone we’re talking tons of cap space and no picks coming up. This deal means that it all boils down to what Walsh does this offseason, and he’s even said so himself.

“Whether we use the cap space well boils down to, does Walsh think the money is burning a hole in his pocket and he has to spend it RIGHT NOW!!!!! on the best available player THAT MINUTE!!!! or is he willing to wait for the right opportunity in trades, or 2011, or even 2012″

If he was going to wait, why did he trade away 3 draft picks? My German scout friend basically laughed at me tonight and called the trade completely ridiculous. 3 picks……. that is pretty ridiculous. I’m all for it, but only because LeBron is a free agent. If LeBron were not a free agent with some chance of signing with NY, I would have either hung myself or stopped being a Knicks fan as a result of this trade. That’s all I’m saying: if not for LeBron/Wade this would be a really terrible trade.

“It’s not either-or — that we get LeBron, or we go 17-65 — we could be decent or even good in the meantime, without busting the cap. $32 million can buy a pretty good team, in a lot of ways. You just have to sign players at decent value, not screw yourself, i.e. the opposite of what Isiah did.”

I am 10000000000000% all ears. Tell me how you build a team without signing one of the big 4 free agents. No one has done this to date. Please, please, please, please, please let me know how you would do it. If you blow your cap space to build a #5 seed, what was the point? How, with no picks, do you build a title contender if you miss on all 4 of the Big 4?

“Indy was a deep, non-superstar team.”

$20 mill per… not superstar money… come on. Are you kidding me? Jermaine O’Neal makes $23 mill per to this day, that’s superstar money.
I am a big Walsh fan, but I see nothing to indicate that he doesn’t overvalue scoring like the rest of the league. I see nothing to say he isn’t hell-bent on signing a “franchise player” like every other GM in the league is when he has enough cap space. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t have made this deal. He made this deal for exactly one reason, in my opinion: because LeBron James is a free agent. If LeBron James had signed an extension last offseason (or whenever he could have), I really doubt Donnie would have given 3 picks to get rid of Jeffries.

“I would call Toney Douglas an actual NBA player, especially with a year under his belt.”

He’s not a rotation player as of right now. At best he’s a specialist. He’s 6-1 and can’t play PG… his ast% is truly terrible. He can probably stick in the NBA with his shooting and defense, but he’s much better off in some situations than others.

““Lee gets $12 mill or so…”
I might be naive but I think he would take less to stay in NY — $8-9 million, with big annual raises to push the 6-year total past $60 million.”

My German scout friend literally HATES stats (he will not even listen to me about points per possession and got pissed at me tonight for saying OKC is a bad offensive team), and he told me Lee will get $12 mill per totally unprompted. He knows Sam Presti (along with pretty much every NBA GM) personally and knows David Lee personally, and he told me he guarantees Lee will sign with OKC for $12 mill per. Why Lee would shoot himself in the dick for the Knicks… I don’t know. They sure didn’t do him any favors last offseason.

“p.s. re: Murphy and Dunleavy, hard to say who was really running the team – Walsh knew he was going to be leaving and as a lame duck you might not take more of a hands-off approach.”

The buck has to stop somewhere. I said I blame the actual deal on Bird’s racial profiling (90% of the white Americans in the NBA play for Indiana… coincidence?); however, Donnie Walsh was Larry Bird’s boss in Indiana. As team president it was his place to step in and say Larry Bird is racist and this is a bad trade for the Indiana Pacers. Larry Bird is easily as big a joke as Isiah Thomas… Ironic given their history.

I really wouldnt mind some DNP-CD’s next to Duhon’s name soon although Im not holding my breath.