A starting 5 of JO, Curry, Crawford, Renaldo and Mardy "The Strangler" Collins would be sweet. Hand them the 6th seed right now. What would they have to give up to Indy? You know the Pacers front office is under the gun after the GSW trade has created the perception they were fleeced. Malik Rose, David Lee and Jerome James? Don't look now but the Knicks committed salary for next season is around $93 million. With $7.5 of the $93 for the amnestied (non-luxury taxable) contract of Jerome JYD Williams. In another 2/3 seasons, most of the financial mess should be cleaned up with a lot of expiring deals to trade for picks and players. How many GMs can claim to drop $25 million in salary in one offseason? GO ZEKE!
O'Neal's defense and jumpshooting would complement Curry quite well. If O'Neal can schedule his yearly 30-game injury earlier in the season than usual, that frontcourt could do quite a bit of damage in the playoffs. The Knicks would probably have to give up their white rebounding specialist, one of their trigger-happy guards (Jamal Crawford, probably, although Francis wouldn't be surprising) for salary purposes, maybe Frye, and maybe another #1 pick.
Too steep a deal AHB. I wouldn't make it, and I doubt Zeke would either. I'm thinking Lee and maybe a little sweetener with contracts thrown in for laughs and giggles. Crawford and Zeke have a connection. I can't see him ditching his best backcourt scoring weapon.
Jettisoning that softy Frye while he still has some value would be a smart move, but the #1 pick probably is too much. But there needs to be somebody to make up the $18 million JO's owed, and you can't get there with rookie contracts. I don't imagine Bird and Walsh would be thrilled about taking Malik "smaller, fatter Jeff Foster" Rose and Jerome "garbage bag" James just to get JO out of town. A multi-team trade might be more likely (Garnett).
ahb is closer to reality... The allstar ain't comin' cheaply irregardless of where he wants to go. Please don't tell me this is a Sam Smith fantasy again.
I knew there was a method. The secret plan was to spend way too much for way too little talent just so it could all fall off at once. Cleee ver. I've always liked JO, but the Knicks seem like a bad fit for him to me. As TaShawn said elsewhere, bet the Gordon/Nocioni trade for Gasol is looking pretty good right now in Chicago. Maybe they could make the same offer to Indy.
Zeke did worsen the financial situation, but he inherited an overpriced mess of a team from Scott Layden. He had to go deeper into hock to bring in some talent. Now he will be shedding dead weight contracts, and the team has a relatively youthful outlook. When Layden was fired, the Knicks already had a $90 million dollar payroll with a roster that featured these regular rotation players Nazr Mohammed Howard Eisley Shandon Anderson Keith Van Horn Michael Doleac Tim Thomas Stephon Marbury Allan Houston Kurt Thomas Anfernee Hardaway Dikembe Mutombo Charlie Ward Othella Harrington
Would Frye, Lee, Francis (to make the money work) and a 1st rounder get it done? I love Lee, but a guy like O'Neal doesn't come around very often. And how motivated would he be playing for his old pal Zeke? That trade would make the semetry complete. The Knicks would officially become the Pacers, and the Pacers would officially become the Knicks.
J.O. going to NY Knicks is like leaving the Titanic to book passage to the Bermuda Triangle................He ought to try somewhere REAL..........
