Frank:
I’m sure someone out there is about to type that Deandre Jordan was a 2nd round pick and now is playing really well.by the way, did I mention that Jerome Jordan will be 26 by the time the season starts?This isn’t Deandre Jordan we’re talking about here, who is entering his FIFTH year in the league and is only 23.

Good point. Puts his “potential” in perspective.

Maybe its me, but I don’t see why the Knicks don’t inquire about a “Godfather-ish” offer for Howard. From what I’ve read that the Nets are offereing, we couldn’t do better? Does Howard really want Brooklyn over Manhattan that bad?

I think these are the 2 things that have people upset:
1) too many years for old guys
2) giving up on “potential” in JJ/Jorts/TD + 2 2nd-rounders

To address #1 –
- Camby will only get 2 years, which is fine by me. It’s unlikely IMHO that he will have a catastrophic dropoff in that time period. The $5M/year salary – who cares?
- we have no idea how many years are guaranteed to Kidd. I think it’s likely 1 or 2 years guaranteed. The $3.09M/year salary – who cares?

To address #2-
- this team would have been 10 deep WITHOUT even considering Jorts/TD/JJ. After this season (regardless of this trade happening or not), we would only have mini-MLE and vet’s minimum to sign players (no sign-and-trades allowed after this summer for taxpaying teams because of new CBA).
- TD would certainly be allowed to walk. He’s not bringing anything in trade other than possibly a late 2nd. He’ would not have played for us this year unless there was a total injury catastrophe
- Jerome Jordan – I’m actually sort of sad about him because his #s are interesting, but is there really any chance he turns into anything other than a reasonable backup center? THCJ can say whatever he wants about NBA front offices, but when was the last time a 7′ guy with talent came out of nowhere after being drafted in the 2nd round, relegated to Europe for 1+ seasons, and being unable to get off the bench? These are the guys that people give chance after chance to if they have ANY talent.
- Jorts – I like Jorts, but he has zero chance of ever being better than a 9th man on a good team. You can find 9th guys for the minimum every year.

So – TD wasn’t going to play and was going to be let go. Jordan is interesting but unlikely to amount to much. And Jorts is a 9th man. All 3 were prob going to be elsewhere in 13-14. No sign/trades after this year. This is called taking crappy “assets” that will be worthless in 12 months and turning them into Kidd/Camby.

massive:
I wonder if Grunwald has a move or two in him left. One of those former 6ers would be really nice.

Considering that the Knicks finished the season going 18-6 and we removed all of the net minuses from the roster, I really think the division is ours this year. Well, unless the Nets get Dwight Howard of course. I have a feeling that a lot can go right this year, assuming we’re getting the same energy and accountability from the guys. 53-29 seems possible to me, and (unlike Miami) we aren’t one injury away from devastation.

Assuming this team can stay healthy for the most part, 53 wins is much closer to the floor than ceiling.

Remember the talk about how deep the team was post MDA, pre Lin injuries. The Knicks just removed their four worst rotation players, some of the worst full-time rotational players in the NBA, and replaced them with two high quality, high impact reserves at positions of need.

Even if we assume that all things stay constant from last year (which will seem absurd by January), Melo, JR and Amar’e playing awful, it’s a low to mid 50 win team.

The fact that you’re likely to get Lin, JR and Novak for, say, 80 percent of the year rather than 30 percent of the year ,bumps the Knicks pythag up to the projected 50-53 win area, all things staying constant.

Ted Nelson:
Re: JR Smith. Yes, he isnthat much of a head case. Have you guys watched him play? Guy shoots every time he’s even near the ball, but first he dribbles around for 15 seconds.

Seriously, though, I would guess it’s partially that he’s a headcase and maybe partially that it’s just assumed he’ll re-sign and he wants to re-sign.

I don’t know if they’ll pay the luxury tax this time, but Dolan didn’t mind tens of millions a year on it during the Isiah years. So he might.

You simply haven’t watched enough of him play or read this board when we’ve talked about him…

He is superb in an off-ball, catch and shoot role. He couldn’t play that much last year because of the pg situation.

nicos:
I’m okay with the deal but I’m not sure Camby’s that big an upgrade over Jeffries- far better rebounder, for sure but equally bad on offense (better passer but not as mobile a screener, both terrible finishers) and on defense, while Camby will block more shots, Jeffries is probably a better defender at this point. He is better but I’m not sure if he’s going to make a huge difference.

Camby is better on offense because of his ability to get the ball over the top of the defense and the superior o-rebound rate. He is a great high-low passer.

Outside of that he will basically just hang around the perimeter and wait for shots to go up. The Knicks screen game with Tyson and Amar’e, given the pg situation, Jeffries skills aren’t as necessary as they were…. But we could still give him vet min because Camby is going to miss a bunch of games.