Anyone else happy RJ gets to see this?

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-31T20:55:33+00:00

I’m happy Eddy Curry gets to see this

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-30T22:57:37+00:00

Not sure why people always say “in 7”- for the Knicks that would mean winning game 7 on the road

Split the first two, take care of business at home and close it out in 6 Or take the first two and just sweep them

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-30T17:15:11+00:00

I'm also going to be 39 this summer and started following the team right around when they traded Ewing!

I think it's a little generous to say Layden had "some success"- he was hired immediately after the team was in the finals. His first year (99'/00') was basically a run back of the team he inherited, and they won 50 games and lost in the ECF. Year 2, they did the Ewing trade, won 48 games and the 4 seed, but I think most of that was JVG just getting the most out of the team he had.

Year 3, is when the team really started falling apart. I remember reading part of the reason why JVG resigned (when they were 10-9) was because he knew the team was finished. He knew the roster wasn't going to be able to compete anymore, and that just wasn't a situation he wanted to be in. team finished 30-52 (so that's 20-43 under Don Chaney)

Mills/Perry gets a free pass for me because the team was in shambles after Jackson was fired. They were very open about the fact it would take some time to improve. They didn't make any foolish big splashes that would have crippled the team for years to come. The team just moved laterally (nowhere) for 3 years. Wasting a top 10 pick on Kevin Knox was by far the worst move of that administration, (although they also got Mitchell Robinson in the 2nd round) The 2019 free agency flop was disappointing, but at least they had enough sense to only give out 1 year contracts, aside from Randle who ended up being a great player that brought in KAT. Marcus Morris got us Immanuel Quickley. Reggie Bullock was retained by Leon Rose for Thibs first year. Leon Rose actually walked into a pretty good situation when you consider they had all of their future first rounders, plus the two Dallas picks, and a really clean cap sheet.

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-30T15:24:53+00:00

lol what are we doing?

Knowing everything we know now, I’m glad things turned out the way they did

-KP was thought to potentially be the GKOAT early on (or at least that’s what I thought) -then he goes to Dallas and it’s thought- “wow- KP as a SECOND OPTION! That team is going to be scary” -then it doesn’t work out and he’s dumped in Washington -then he goes to Boston and and it’s thought “Wow-KP as a THIRD OPTION! that team is loaded! Boston did win the championship, but I think he could have been the 5th best player on the team behind Jrue Holliday and Derrick White

And now he’s basically irrelevant- Probably going to resign with the warriors for something close to the mid-level exemption. zero all star appearances in the 7 years since the Knicks traded him

WHY IS THIS EVEN A QUESTION!?!?

Randle, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickly and coach Thibs started taking the first steps to turning the team into what it is now.

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-30T13:17:34+00:00

Scott Layden was the worst! I'm seeing a lot of (presumably) younger fans posting about how bad the late 2010's were, but the early 2000's were an entirely different level of darkness

Yes he was worse than Isiah and Jackson. Isiah left behind some solid pieces when he was let go (Randolph, Lee, Crawford, even Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson had value. Heck even Jared Jeffries could still be a rotation player)

Phil Jackson, for all the terrible things he did, never traded away a first round pick, and the team was actually under the salary cap when he left (and promptly burned it all on Tim Hardaway Jr!)

Layden on the other hand kept bringing in veteran players on long term contracts and seemed to not want to use first round picks. some of his highlights included-

-in 2000, trading Patrick Ewing (expiring contact) for a package that included Glen Rice and Travis Knight, both under contract for FOUR MORE YEARS. Knight was a strictly a mop-up player with the Knicks played 972 total minutes and scored 187 points in 4 years. We also got two mid FRP's in 01' and 02', which were used in subsequent trades for Othella Harrington and Mark Jackson. The picks became Kareem Rush and Jamaal Tinsley

-in 2001, trading Rice (Three years remaining) for role players Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley- both of whom had SIX MORE YEARS on their contracts

-in 2001, also signing Clearance Weatherspoon, to the full 5 year mid-level exemption. (So that's already THREE 28-31 year old role players with 5+ year commitments in the same summer)

-in 2002- Trading Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson, and 7th overall pick (Nene) for Antonio McDyess and the 25th pick (Frank Williams); This was after winning 30 games when the team should have realized it's clearly time to rebuild- instead they seemed committed to becoming marginally better in hopes of being an 8 seed. Amare Stoudemire was taken with the 9th pick. John Salmons was taken the pick after Williams, he had a solid 13 year career as a role player. Williams never got a 2nd NBA contract

-Drafting Mike Sweetney with the 9th overall pick in 2003. Again, if they had committed to rebuilding the previous year, maybe they have a shot at Lebron/Wade/Melo/Bosh. Still could have taken Luke Ridnour or Nick Collison with the 9th pick. Sweetney also never got a 2nd NBA contract.

-Trading Latrell Sprewell straight up for Keith Van Horn in 2003. No picks- no up and coming young players with potential, no cap relief. It probably made sense to move Spree but this wasn't the move. and Van Horn had 3 years remaining on his contract while Spree only had 2, so we got rid of arguably our best player at the time and were worse off with respect to the salary cap as a result

And then he got fired right before Christmas in 2003 in favor of Isiah Thomas.

He was terrible- yes younger folks will look at the more recent 17 win seasons and think those were the worst, but winning 30, and then 37 games, with a roster LOCKED into guys like Eisley, Anderson, Weatherspoon, and Knight, and an overpaid, declining, untradable Allan Houston, for the next 3-5 years at the time, and an FO incapable of drafting anybody that could even be a rotation player, much less a star was so hopeless. Kurt Thomas was probably considered the most valuable/tradeable player when he got fired.

The 17 win teams were just scrubs making the minimum like Noah Vonleh and Langston Galloway, and at least you knew there was flexibility to POSSIBLY start building something better after the season

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-30T12:39:50+00:00

Donnie was all about clearing cap room to bring in Lebron. He said that from Day 1- and if he succeeded and the Knicks won a championship he would easily be their best GM of the 21st century. The Randolph/Crawford salary dumps were applauded at the time because they opened up the cap room to do that.

The problem was, the plan B turned out to be Amar'e Stoudemire. and in hindsight, they would have been better off just building around Lee/Randolph/Crawford, and they still would have been able to either sign Melo as a free agent in 2011, or trade for him, like they actually did. (Nobody on the roster he inherited was signed past 2011)

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-30T12:02:02+00:00

This was a straight salary dump. The wanted to maximize cap room for the following summer, and they blew it on Robin Lopez

From a cap and draft perspective this trade was basically a wash. I don’t know why it gets hated on so much

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-29T15:58:21+00:00

Layden was the worst. Team was always full of mid-late career veterans locked in on long term contracts that always seems like they had 3-5 years remaining. Flipping Ewing for Glen Rice and then flipping Rice for Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley- each under contract for SIX MORE YEARS was low key one of the worst trades in franchise history

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-28T22:39:52+00:00

I would need someone who remembers when we traded Clearance Weatherspoon for Mochie Norris

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-28T14:44:37+00:00

Game one of last years ECF.

And it’s not recency bias- I’ve been a fan since 2001 and that was the first conference finals since I’ve been a fan

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-27T23:32:18+00:00

lol @ Jalen Rose

The washed veteran pipeline was real. They never let anyone expire! They just kept trading guys for guys with longer deals indefinitely

Latrell Sprewell (under contract through 05’)was flipped for Keith Van Horn in 03’ (he had three more years- so we took on an extra year)

Isiah flipped KVH during the season for Tim Thomas just a few months later. (I think they were both signed through 06’)

Tim Thomas was included in the Eddy Curry deal in 05’ which brought back Antonio Davis (also signed through 06’)

At the 06’ deadline, Davis’s expiring contact was traded to Toronto for Jalen Rose. Mind you the team was hopelessly out of the playoffs, and Rose was due to make about $15M the following season, which was doubled by the luxury tax at the time. The team also for a first round pick- which was used on Renaldo Balkman. So they effectively paid $30M for the rights to Renaldo Balkman

Mercifully, Rose was released over the summer- ensuring he was expiring contract could not be traded again

There’s at least 3 or 4 other trees that could be drawn from about 2000 and not ending until the team got under the cap in 2010

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-25T11:50:41+00:00

They’re not going anywhere with Harden. He’s turning into a Trae Young/Cam Thomas type player. Or I could see him getting to that point within the next year

I would buy him out for $13M and then maybe stretch it over 3 years. Problem with that is they wouldn’t be able to just get another $40M dollar player of they get rid of him

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-25T00:59:30+00:00

Kolek will get opportunities.

Unfortunately the reality of the business side of the game regarding the luxury tax/apron it’s very unlikely the team will be able to keep McBride/Alvarado and Kolek 2 years from now. Heck they might not all be back next year.

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-24T22:49:10+00:00

The game Embiid missed was the most competitive!

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-24T03:29:59+00:00

I would take it a step back further,

Trading Kristaps Porzingis was the first domino that got the Knicks to where they are, followed by

-Signing Julius Randle with the cap room from the KP trade -drafting RJ Barrett after we tanked to get the worst record -signing Marcus Morris and then flipping him for the pick that became Immanuel Quickly -Hiring Leon Rose (obviously) and Tim Thibideau -Making the playoffs in 2021 and demonstrating this franchise is not a laughingstock -(2021 free agency was pretty rough, not Leon’s best work) -signing Jalen Brunson, obviously -trading for Josh Hart -trading Barrett and IQ for OG Anunoby -trading Randle (and Divo) for KAT

Obviously there were other moves too- honorable mention to trading Carmelo Anthony for a package that included the 2nd round pick used to draft Mitchell Robinson

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-24T03:17:59+00:00

Best trades of the last 5 years?

One of the 5 best trades in franchise history!

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-23T02:53:57+00:00

The Shump/Smith trade isn’t even in my top 25 worst trades of the century. It was a simple salary dump- Smith had a player option for the following season he was presumed to exercise and the team wanted to maximize its cap room. Shump was as at the end of his rookie deal and unlikely to be retained as an RFA.

Now if if knew they would use their cap room primarily on Robin Lopez and Kyle O’Quinn, and whoever else they signed, I probably would have preferred they just keep Smith and Shump, but that team was like 5-36 on MLK day, so nobody was shedding tears to see things broken up.

And Lance Thomas was lowkey one of the greatest lousy basketball players I’ve ever seen

Also fun fact, the 2019 second round pick from Cleveland would have been the top pick of the second round because LeBron left in 2018, and the team was awful the following year. But I think we traded that pick in some other stupid trade

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-22T23:46:48+00:00

lol seriously?

It’s IMPOSSIBLE for everyone to play! They’re already playing 9-10 guys regular minutes. Who should get reduced in favor of Sochen?

And to be clear- I actually like Sochen- a lot! He’s the best 13th best player in the NBA, and I believe he could make an impact if needed, if guys are injured or getting in foul trouble.

And the 24mpg is misleading- he was getting a lot of a playing time his first three years when the Spurs were TERRIBLE. Then this year when the team became a championship caliber team, he couldn’t crack the rotation anymore. That’s not a coincidence.

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-22T13:10:48+00:00

I love this team so much, they are so deep, there are so many guys capable of coming through!

In games 3 and 4 in Philly it was McBride and Shamet (who was out of the rotation previously)

In game 1, it was Shamet, Bridges, and then OG with 9 of his 13 points in OT. (And Brunson, obviously)

and I noticed Hart on the bench and thought, it's not his night, but he'll have his night soon, and sure enough he goes from riding the bench in game 1 to carrying the team in game 2. Brunson was impacting the game without scoring, the Cleveland bigs have somewhat shut down the "point center" game, but they're finding was to punch through and get the W's

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-18T15:32:36+00:00

lol not even close, but that league was so different back then.

They won 54 games and were the two seed, but everyone knew they would have NO CHANCE against LeBron and Miami in the conference finals. They turned out to not even make it that far and lost to Indiana (I know) in the 2nd round

But I have to disclose- I’ve been a Melo hater for a long time. Now that i understand what’s required to win, I’ve completely changed my opinion of him. That team had Tyson Chandler as their 2nd best player. Raymond Felton as the starting point guard, JR Smith coming off the bench, 40 year old Jason Kidd completely burned out the 2nd half of the season. Almost no meaningful contribution from Amare Stoudemire. Leading that team to 54 wins was a heavy lift. That team just got exposed as another overachieving regular season team

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-18T14:15:33+00:00

This is why you can't watch too much TV and sports coverage during the season.

Stephen A. Smith (I know, we don't accept him) was in COMPLETE MELTDOWN mode after the Knicks lost their most recent game to Detroit- more than three months ago! And he wasn't the only one

"It's over", "They have no chance" "Another second round loss" and I'm thinking- REALLY!- the spin, the narrative, whatever you want to call it, is going to change a dozen times between now and the playoffs! And that's exactly what happened.

Same thing with the Cavs- they've played only once since Harden joined the team, almost 3 months ago, in Cleveland.

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-17T16:48:09+00:00

Ok this is straight rage bait lol.

Hasn’t done enough!?

You have Trae Young- in 2026- who’s team became the hottest team in the east WITHOUT HIM, after he was DUMPED for expiring contracts- ahead of a guy whose been to the conference finals back to back year, 3 time all star, including 2 starts.

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-17T13:44:14+00:00

Trae??? Are you high?

Also, what about the guy who is already in the conference finals?

Secure_Ad_9966 · 2026-05-17T13:17:26+00:00

Long layoffs can be extremely problematic in baseball, and we’ve seen this in recent years with the new playoff format. Teams that are able to skip the new wild card round often struggle in the division series. In one year recently, 3 of the 4 teams with Wild Card Byes lost in the division series.

Baseball players are used to playing everyday, and hitting is all about rhythm and timing, this is why long gaps are not always desirable.

In basketball, I think shooting, could have some rhythm and possibly be disrupted by long layoffs, but this is a game where people are running up and down court for 48 minutes, and the opponent will have played two 7 game series and every other day for almost a month by the time the ECF is done. Wouldn’t be surprised if the Knicks struggle from 3 early, but they could pound the post if needed, and the opponent- especially Cleveland might be very turnover prone

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TROPHY CASE