Sometimes We DO Know Better

At this point picking on Isiah Thomas has almost lost its appeal. It's like beating on a retarded kid on crutches blindfolded.

But this Steve Francis deal is just BEGGING to be ripped apart.

How in the name of Scott Layden can anyone in their right mind trade a monstorous expiring contract and a small-ish contract for an overpaid perennial malcontent with a propensity to shoot too much and destroy locker room chemistry when they already have the exact same player on the roster?

For the past week this deal has been a tounge-in-cheek joke among NBA writers and analysts, no one actually thought that Isiah could be this stupid. Maybe sarcasm is lost on Thomas and when he heard everyone talking about it he thought, "Hey, Charles Barkley was talking about this deal, it must be a good one. Get the Magic on the phone!"

Or maybe Isiah locks himself in a closet in MSG and doesn't read the newspapers or watch television so he thought that this was the best deal he could come up with. Either way this is a shocking display of incompetence.

Looking at the Knicks right now they will be in the worst financial shape of any team until at least 2010. Their payroll right now is over 123 million. After this season the only contract that expires is Eddy Curry (who they will surely resign). Following the '07-'08 season (with a payroll of just over 125 million) they will finally get out from under Alan Houston's 20 million per year and will see the expiration/team option on a few others. That will bring them down to 65 million if they don't pick up options on Jerome Williams, Channing Frye, and Nate Robinson which add up to just under 11 million. Let's say they retain Frye (2.4 mil) and Robinson (1.2 mil) , now they'll be around 70 million (20 mil over the cap) and 36 million of that will be tied up in Marbury and Francis. In '08-'09 they will owe their backcourt ball hogs 39 million, with higher options for Frye and Robinson rounding their payroll out to around 68 million, that is of course assuming that they only have the seven players that I'm factoring into these numbers on their roster. In short, they're screwed.

Just for perspective the Knicks have 4 of the top 30 players in the league in terms of salary (Houston, Marbury, Rose, and Francis). The Pistons have none and the Spurs have one (Duncan). Kobe Bryant makes less money than both Houston and Marbury, as do Jason Kidd, Jermaine O'Neal, and Tim Duncan. Making less than the 2 mentioned above and Rose are: Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Baron Davis, and Shawn Marion. Round out the foursome with Francis who makes more than Michael Redd, Ray Allen, and Elton Brand.

The only hope the Knicks had for the future was the development of Curry and Frye. Now playing in a lineup with three shot loving ego maniacs the young frontcourt duo will be lucky if they see six shots a game each. The upside is with all the shots being launched from outside they will have plenty of opportunity to hone their offensive rebounding skills.

What really capped this shocker off for me was Isiah's quote, "This is one of those things that seems so crazy that it just might work." (I shit you not he really said that.) Thank God I'm not a Knick fan. If the GM of a team I supported ever used that line of garbage to defend anything I would be forced to go back to watching hockey...(shiver) Yikes.

This just proves my theory that sometimes fans and media people DO know better. For example everyone knew that Chris Paul was a can't miss NBA point guard. Still three teams passed on him, two of which took guards. Marvin Williams and Deron Williams may both be great players but everybody knew that in both the short and long runs Paul will be better. Fans are wrong a lot of the time, but occassionally if something seems way to obvious there is a reason. Other examples: Shawn Bradley, Darko Milicic, Lebron James, Michael Olowokandi, Kent Benson, to name a few. Unfortunately this concept is totally lost on Isiah.

Nothing makes me happier than watching NY fans suffer, but this is sad even for me.

I wish the Yankees would implode like this.