The New York Post is reporting that Big D isn't happy with Walsh's failure to land LeBron James, besides not being happy with Walsh's perceived WEAK pitch to LBJ & other top free agents this summer. Rumor has it Dolan sent Thomas out there to recruit for him, instead of relying on Walsh to do so.

Now comes word from ESPN that Walsh is promoting the potential rehiring of Isiah Thomas as Knicks' GM. He says that Thomas is a top candidate for the job ... and people wonder why I've been calling for the firing of Walsh for months now!

Portland Trailblazers former GM/Assistant GM Kevin Pritchard and Tom Penn are still available, highly respected throughout the league and share the same agent as Pringles, so one would imagine they would be tops on the list ... guess not since Walsh seems hung up on his former pupil.

Quick recap after last night's WTF 2010 Draft. 

Chicago is now just 2 million shy of being able to offer 2 max contracts. They still have rookie of the year D-Rose and a decent center in JN.  

Miami is 5 million shy of being able to offer 3 max contracts. Miami drafted pretty well by many peoples' accounts and they still have D-Wade, who has been talking like he's planning on staying.

Not many supporters for the Knicks draft choices, still no bigs to defend the paint, still no true PG to run the offense. New Orleans was reportedly willing to trade their #11 pick for cap relief, while Indiana was willing to trade the 10th pick for a PG. There were also a bunch of teams willing to trade out of the late 1st round. All this is based on info provided by ESPN, so if they're accurate the Knicks are in trouble and did nothing to help themselves.

Now the Knicks could still make trades to land players, Whiteside and Varnado are my preferred players and being 2nd round picks, they won't cost an arm & a leg to acquire. Free agency hasn't been decided yet, though the odds are now against NYC. 

But what if all the top free agents pass on NYC? No LBJ, CB4, Amare, Boozer or JJ? Miami and Chicago (with a little trade here or there) could potentially afford to snatch all but one of them up. What does NYC do then?

Do they spend on Rudy Gay and resign David Lee? Do they forgo waiting another horrible season for next years free agency class and start using up their cap space to acquire draft picks and young prospects? Do they fire Walsh and replace him with the duo fresh out of Portland? The former Blazers' GM/President did solid work there, aside from the mistake of passing on Durant, so do the Knicks hire the pair? 

What about Pringles? Does he get canned for his role in this should the Knicks fail to land LBJ/Bosh? As it stands right now, barring trades, is the draft a bust? What can they do to fix the matter? How much better do Chicago & Miami look to free agents compared to NYC right now? Any shot the Knicks can move Eddy Curry's expiring deal to clear up more cap room? Keep in mind they need 13 million more in order to offer 3 max deals. 

Something else that's been on my mind. After the drafting of Fields, many have said that it signaled the end of Chandler's time here. How many of you believe Fields will replace Chandler & are you cool with that notion?

So Chicago thinks they are the best option for LBJ or D-Wade, Phil Jackson or John Calamari?

Yea those riots they keep having just scream family friendly neighborhood.

Now comes word that LBJ, D-Wade & Joe Just-show-me-the-money will be talking about their future plans? Last I checked the Bulls didn't have the cash for more then one max guy, so if these guys are talking, then the desire to play together is there, for at least two out of the three. That isn't happening in Chi town. 

D-Wade's comments about Chicago having no loyalty doesn't help their case either. As for LBJ ... I don't think Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen's comments "When are you going to win anything in sports? Please!", exactly count as sweet talk.  

Buckets Over Broadway released Walsh's supposed wish list of free agents ... anyone who wanted Joe J. or Amare can kiss that dream good bye!

2010 free agent wish list

I for one am pleased to hear this, I like Amare but I think Bosh is a better PF and Joe J. just doesn't "blow my skirt up gentlemen." I for one think they should include Rudy Gay on their wish list, otherwise I'm cool with the list. 

Guess what movie that quote is from for extra cool points.

After all those fun Know the Prospect pieces, and the Draft Combine, I've closed my sights on 3 potential bigs for our lovable, lowly, Knicks. 

Jarvis Varnado (projected to go late 1st or early 2nd round)

22 year old Forward/Center

6'9 220 lbs

Pros - Great shot blocker

Cons - Lack of ideal height

Ryan Richards (projected to go in 2nd round or undrafted)

19 year old Forward/Center

6'11 235 lbs

Pros - Very strong and can run the floor

Cons - Low Basketball IQ, which effects his ability to play off the pick&roll 

Hassan Whiteside (projected to go in 1st round, 20-30 range)

20 year old Center

7'0 235 lbs

Pros - Great shot blocker & rebounder

Cons -  Raw offensive game

If the Knicks buy Atlanta (24) &/or Orlando's (29) picks, which is possible since they are both veteran teams with no need for rookies who have issues with the luxury tax, NYK has a shot at drafting any one of these bigs, and they might even have a shot at 7 footer Donatas Motiejunas ... though he kind of plays like Gallo, which would be redundant but hey drafting the best talent available at your pick works sometimes. 

Only one analyst currently has any of these guys going any higher, that would be Whiteside at 7 to Detroit. I have no desire to see the Knicks draft a guard since PG's in this draft are looked at as poorly as bigs were in the last draft.

So who would you like to see the Knicks draft?

I've been an advocate of being patient with coach Mario Brother, which is more then I can say for most people who wanted him fired after the first ten games. Their comes a time however when enough is enough, and I believe tonight's so-called effort was the breaking point. 

As you well know, the Knicks are 17-26, bad enough for 10th place in the East. Only 17 wins 43 games into an 82 game season, with loses to horrible teams like the 76ers, Nets, Warriors, Pistons, Pacers, Bulls & Bucks. 

Now while coach Mario has proven to be an adept coach, building a system around his terrible roster instead of forcing them to run his 8-seconds-or-less offense (which he did last year), his roster decisions have simply been horrendous. 

Jarred Jeffries, who has ZERO chance of being a part of the Knicks future, is averaging 4.4PPG & 4.4RPG on 27.3 MINUTES PER GAME with several games where he played near 40 minutes! I don't know about you but I'd rather take my chances with Jordan Hill in the line-up then JJ ... hell I'll take Zack Randolph back!!!

Chris, I never met a 3 I didn't like, Duhon is averaging 8.5PPG, 6.2APG on 35% shooting from the field, with several games where he hit double digits in shot attempts but failed to register double digits in points or assists ... hell their are games where he failed to register a single point or assist! Despite his obvious lack of skill, talent, BBIQ, or leadership the man still averages a projectile vomit inducing 33.6 minutes per game.

To be fair, he-who-must-not-be-named (Thomas) left a steaming pile of Dino turd in his wake and coach Mario didn't exactly have an NBA roster to work with when he got on the scene. However, why the heck he chooses to play JJ and CD over Hill, Douglas, Nate, ANY WARM BODY is beyond any sane person to comprehend! I get that Nate is a turnover machine and Douglas is not a good passer right now but Chris isn't exactly Jason Kidd!! Plus how does he expect the kid to learn the game if he doesn't play? What with practice? We talkin about PRACTICE! 

Also I get that Jordan Hill is prone to committing silly fouls because he's new to the speed of the game but to even think for one second that JJ is in anyway a better option then Hill puts into question coach Mario's talent evaluation skills, his coaching ability, and his eye sight!!! In the very least Jordan Hill is as BAD as Jared Jeffries and should be playing at Center so David Lee can stop getting slapped around like a little brother every time he goes up against guys 4 inches + taller then he is!

I think I'll name Chris the Foreman because the man can't pass, shoot, or dribble penetrate well but he sure as hell knows how to lay him some bricks!

Also I think I'll change coach D's nickname from Mario to Custer because like General Custer, the damn fool is leading his men straight to hell!

So Britt Robson, over at Inside the NBA, wrote about his thoughts on the state of the Hornets, and a potential fire sale in New Orleans. 

He surmises that if rookie Darren Collison proves himself a competent floor general, that coupled with him making $12.3 million dollars less then CP3, majority owner George Shinn may be forced to make a move to save money in light of serious financial hardships in one of the smallest markets in the country.

So his comments got me thinking ... how in the heck NY can take advantage of the situation and land CP3 with this roster!

Running the numbers, it seems that by moving Eddy Curry ($10.5, 2yrs), Wilson Chandler ($1.2, 2yrs + team options) & Cuttino Mobley ($9.5, 1yr), while taking in Chris Paul ($13.5, 4yr) and Emeka Okafor ($10.7, 6yr) this unlikely scenario actually becomes possible under the cap rules. 

New Orleans, while losing a superstar player in CP3, would save $12.563 mill this season because an insurance company is paying Mobley's contract due to his health condition, and they would save around $43 million dollars over the next 5 years by shedding Okafor's long term deal for Curry's short term one. 

Now here comes the 2010 cap space issue!

New York is currently about $30.315 mill over the $57.7 million dollar cap, that's a payroll of $88.015 million dollars. Thanks to moves by Donnie Walsh, NY will shed $57,753,943 million dollars, or there abouts. That purging of 7 expiring contracts creates about $30,261,593 million dollars in cap room, which is nice but not enough to sign two $20 million dollar a year players, which is what a Lebron James/Dwayne Wade go for these days.

Now if NYK did the deal with NO, then that brings in $24.318 million dollars (2 players) while moving $21.255 million (3 players) over to the Hornets. That means NY just subtracted $3.063 million from their cap room, now totaling $27.198 million dollars. Not enough to sign both Lebron and Bosh but hey NY got CP3 in the deal so a pairing of LBJ & CP3 is even better then a pairing of LBJ & CB4.

Now assuming NY manages this trade with New Orleans, how do they create even more cap room for 2010??? Well with the trade for CP3 a done deal that makes Emeka Okafor the player that must be moved; so with that in mind lets examine the Houston Rockets. 

With the Rockets intent on moving T-Mac's $22.8 million dollar expiring contract, and in serious need of a center with Yao injured, the Knicks and 27 year old Emeka Okafor (who is always healthy) seem like potential trade partners. New York can move Okafor and Larry Hughes ($13.6mill, 1yr), both players that play good defense, which is something Houston head coach Rick Adelman stresses, and Houston can finally be done with T-Mac and his disruptive presence.

Now switching T-Mac's expiring contract for Okafor's long term deal should raise the Knicks cap space from $27.1 million to about $39.2 million dollars. That kind of cap room is more then enough to land LBJ & CB4.  

I know what you all are thinking. This man is crazy!!! Maybe so! But hey crazier things have happened, just examine the list below vvv

Crazy Trades

1. Pau to Lakers for Brown.

2. 2 Lottery picks traded away for Eddy Curry by Thomas

3. 2 Lottery picks traded away for Stephon Marbury by Thomas

4. Kobe Bryant traded on draft night by Charlotte to Lakers

Crazy stuff happens I tell ya!!!

Assuming Jared Jeffries and Chris Duhon don't break out into superstars (when pigs fly!) David Lee and Wilson Chandler are the Knicks most valuable trade chips right?

Portland showed interest in David Lee this past offseason and with Outlaw out for the season, Aldridge battling injuries and Oden always an injury concern, perhaps a trade with Portland for Rudy Fernandez is in order? NY needs a shooting guard, Portland needs front court depth so ... does this sound possible?

Golden State is a mess and dealing with injuries to their front court; I suggested a David Lee & Wilson Chandler for Anthony Randolph and a late first-round pick trade on here before so ... does this sound possible??? 

From the moment Donnie Walsh arrived in New York, his mission statement has been to create cap space and pay a kings' ransom come the 2010 free agency season. Now most people agree that money alone isn't enough to attract a big time free agent, they'll have to at least have some potential stars on the time who the incoming free agents believe can help them win a title.

While the cap space has been cleared for 2010 .... who are the building blocks on this team, those potential stars of tomorrow? 

Before people go ahead and skip the rest of this post to start bashing Walsh and caps locking their chant of fire D'Antoni! Lets be real here a second. The task that Walsh and coach D'Less (as some like to label him) were given was near impossible to begin with. Not only did they have to rebuild this team into an enticing future contender, in order to attract free agents, but they had to clean up Isiah Thomas huge mess, and at the same time make the playoffs! 

Are you kidding me! 

Thomas's mess is so huge that no GM/Coach should be expected to come in here and be competitive &/or attract high profile free agents while they clean up the toxic waste that Thomas left behind. That's too much to ask of even guys like Pat Riley! 

Let's recap Thomas' career highlights before we delve into the weaknesses of the current regime. In his first year with the team, 2004, Isiah Thomas pulled the trigger on what shall always be remembered as the worst move of his (co-called) career, if not the worst move in Knicks' history. On January 5th, 2004, Thomas traded for Stephon Marbury, giving up not only New York's 2004 first-round pick, but their 2010 first-round pick as well.

The 2004 pick ended up being the 16th selection in the draft, exactly one spot ahead of where Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks was selected and four spots ahead of where Orlando's Jameer Nelson was drafted. While the draft order for 2010 is yet to be determined, all indications are that 6'4 star caliber point guard John Wall will be the #1 pick in what is expected to be a loaded draft! For those of you who keep complaining that the Knicks play no D, John Wall is an excellent shot blocker at the 1.

In 2005 Thomas chose to draft Channing Frye out of Arizona with the 8th pick, two picks ahead of Andrew Bynum. For those of you who complain that the Knicks have no center and lack height, that's why. Also of note is that Indiana's stat foward Danny Granger was taken with the 17th pick, a whopping 9 picks after Frye!

That season Thomas swapped picks with the Chicago Bulls in the Eddy Curry deal, this after Curry was found to have a heart condition that he refused to let the Bulls medical staff examine closely. That pick that he gave away ended up being the 2nd pick in the 2006 Draft. LaMarcus Aldridge of the Portland Trailblazers was taken with the pick but Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay could also have been drafted. With the 20th pick in the draft Thomas selected Renaldo Balkman, one pick ahead of Boston's Rajon Rondo. With the 29th pick Thomas selected Mardy Collins, eighteen spots ahead of Utah's Paul Millsap.

During Thomas' last draft with the New York, he swapped picks with Chicago again. The Bulls ended up having the 9th pick in the draft. With the 23th pick Thomas selected Wilson Chandler, one pick ahead of Portland's Rudy Fernandez and three picks ahead of Houston's Aaron Brooks.

On top of his failings in the draft, Thomas bloated the Knicks payroll to $130,000,000 dollars annually, with ugly contracts to Marbury, Curry, James, Jeffries, Randolph, etc. That much money was being payed for a team that never won more then 39 games in a single season. 

Based on the above evidence, the reason why this team had zero building blocks when Walsh arrived was because of Thomas' complete incompetence when it came to drafting, trading for, or signing talented players, not to mention his horrible coaching. 

So before you start burning images of Walsh/D'Antoni in effigy and spouting anything remotely close to praise for Thomas stop, because that man deserves none. Much of what is wrong with the Knicks is still Thomas' fault, though I agree with those who blame the owner for hiring and keeping the lousy guy. 

Now that we have established that Walsh and D'Antoni deserve a little slack because of the fowl state the franchise was in when they arrived, lets start picking their game plan apart to see why it does or doesn't work. 

First the good; so far so good with the Gallo selection, he has proven himself to be a potential match-up problem for teams, ala versatile foward Hedo. Douglas is showing lots of potential to be a capable PG for the team, the trade for Larry Hughes seems to have given New York a veteran ball distributer, who plays pretty good defense and is only 30 years old. 

While I don't like the straight up trade of Crawford for Harrington, Al does create more miss matches then Crawford could, plus they both score about the same. Al can take most front court players off the dribble and has long range, while Crawford wasn't strong enough to handle the bigger shooting guards in the league. The trade of Darko for Quentin was great, simply because Quentin was horrible and the Knicks need size and shot blocking down low.

While D'Antoni's defense coaching skills leave something to be desired, he has shown he is a brilliant offense coach, leading this terrible squad last year to high marks offensively, and getting more out of low draft picks David Lee, Nate Robinson and Wilson Chandler then anyone thought possible.

Now the bad; Despite all of D'Antoni's perceived brilliance in the offensive game, he has made decisions that just baffle the mind. Why in the world does he play Jarred Jeffries, at all, when he has no post moves, no jump shot, no ball handling skills to break defenders down, barely plays any defense and can't block shots? The man can't even handle a pass and D'Antoni complains that Darko has no offensive game. WHAT?!!

David Lee is undersized at the 4 and it shows as he can't stop opposing forwards from picking him apart down low. He has virtually no post moves, can't play defense and does not have a reliable jump shot with no 3 point range. Given the potential shown by draft picks Gallo and Douglas, I give a lot of credit to the talent scouts that Walsh is using and therefore have high hopes that Hill can play as well as Douglas and Gallo have.

If these three recent draft picks are to be the building blocks that New York has been lacking during the dark ages (2004-2007) when why in the heck is Hill not being given any playing time? D'Antoni's excuse for this has been that Hill has a lot to learn on the defensive end. Like David Lee is an all-defensive team selection? If Hill is lacking in defensive knowledge how is he supposed to learn keeping the bench seats warm?

From what we've seen, Hill has a good mid-range jumper, can rebound, at least showed shot blocking skills in college and hustles as much as Lee. So why play the much smaller Lee when you might have a better option in Hill? David Lee cannot be the PF of the future for New York for no other reason then Lee and his agent are asking for at least $10 mill a year, which is more money they any Knick is worth right now. Harrington is good for New York off the bench, he regularly takes opposing big men off the dribble, being much faster then most, and attacks the rim well with teams having to respect his 3 point range.

Gallo is proving himself to be a very good Small Forward, with the potential to be as effective as Hedo in the future, at the very least. Why then is D'Antoni not running the offense through Gallo? It's not like New York has a better option, with Gallo's skill/height combo creating miss matches that no other Knick can create. Why just leave him parked at the 3 point line all game long? Questionable coaching right there from Mike.

Lets face it, the Knicks have no other option at the 2 besides Larry Hughes. Nate Robinson is the Knicks best scorer and a true slashing shooting guard in skill/play style but his 5'9 frame is way to small for that position. Tony Douglas has ideal height for PG at 6'1 but is also far to small for the 2 spot. Duhon can't shoot, can't slash, can't play and is to small for the 2, so that just leaves the 6'5 Hughes as their only option so why does he not get more playing time?

Larry Hughes is their best option at the PG position, but if he plays the 1 then shooting guard is left vacant, so that leave Douglas as the starting 1 with Nate's great scoring ability as a nice boost off the bench at that position, though his Allen Iverson style of play does leave the rest of the team out of sync. Duhon is, in a word, horrible and should never take playing time away from Douglas, Hughes, or Nate. He routinely does not see the open man, unless he runs the pick and roll which he never runs enough, and he completely misses the open man in the fast break. He often pulls up for 3 pointers three or four feet beyond the arc, pulls up for three pointers off the fast break and seems unwilling to slash into the paint.  

Time for the ugly; New York's inability to move up during last years draft, knowing full well they do not have a pick in the first round of the up coming draft, is inexcusable. Wilson Chandler has proven himself to be a bad player. He has no 3 pointer, lacks a good jump shot, has no effective post moves, doesn't have the size or strength for PF, the height for Center, the shooting touch for SG, and he doesn't defend all that well. Gallo is a better option at the small forward spot so he's no good there ... why didn't they trade him for that 4th pick from the Wizards again? 

All they had to do was take an ugly contract from the Wiz, and give them Chandler and they could have drafted Curry, Rubio, whoever they wanted and still would have been able to draft Hill at 8! This plan to conserve cap space for a 2010 draft class that may or may not happen depending on the state of the cap space, when/if guys leave their current team and IF they even want to come play for a bad Knicks, is as dumb a strategy as I've ever heard because their are far to many if''s involved, while moving up to the 4th pick in the draft, while keeping the 8th, was a given. 

The play time Jeffries & Duhon are receiving is inexcusable, since neither player is any good. If D'Antoni is choosing to play them then he is a fool and I don't believe he is, so that means that Walsh is directing D'Antoni to play Jeffries, Duhon, Curry, etc., heavy minutes to drum up their trade value. That is insane since Jeffries and Duhon have no trade value to drum up and Curry's contract is far to large for his skill set.

Given everything I've said, and I known I just drowned you all in text but bare with me for the deluge is about to end. I think they should start Darko at the 5 for defense, Hill at the 4, Gallo 3, Hughes 2 and Douglas at the 1, with David Lee, Al Harrington, Nate Robinson and Eddy Curry playing heavy minutes off the bench.

Yea I know you all like Lee but he's too small, Hill is a better option at the 4. Yea I know you all hate Curry but he actually can score effectively in the low post, the only Knick who can in fact, and there is a snow balls chance in hell of trading him so might as well play him. 

Now I know you all want D'Antoni and Walsh to be fired, today in fact, but that won't change anything since this ship sank to the bottom of the ocean thanks to Thomas back in the early part of the decade and no one is bringing it back unless the Knicks have a good 2010 off season. So lets give them their chance and if the 2010 free agent experiment is a bust you can start chanting Fire Walsh, Fire D'Antonit to your hearts content, In fact I'll join you.