Does anyone have an update on Tracy McGrady and his balky knees?  It seems to me, on a one year deal for reasonable cash, if he wants to prove his worth to league, he'd be a really solid addition to this roster.  I remember his first game as a Knick - how exciting it was to see him on the court, and the flashes of brilliance he provided (through gritted teeth) over his half a season as a Knick.

I wouldn't be opposed, if he feels physically capable of it, to give him another shot for a full year.  The risk is minimal, the reward substantial.

Plan A is Lebron plus a piece (ideally Bosh)

Plan B is probably Amare/Joe Johnson

With recent developments being what they are, and my Knick fan pessimism in full blossom, I'm trying to mend my wounds with thoughts of a Plan C Roster - that is, what the Knicks could/should do if none of the top level free agents come their way.

With 34 million in cap space, the first move to make is to re-sign David Lee, whom I prefer infinitely to Carlos Boozer.  Ideally, that's a 5 year, $50 million contract.  Probably, you could accommodate 12 million a year.  More than that is overpaying a good but limited player.

let's say he signs for 11 million a year.  That puts us at 23 million left.  The next, most pressing need is a ball distributor.  I'd make a play for Ray Felton.  I'm not sure what the market is going to be for him.  But 3 years, 21 mil seems fair.  That puts us at 16 mil of cap space left.  Let's imagine we sign our three 2nd rounders.  That puts us closer to 15 million and leaves us with the following roster:  Chandler, Gallo, Curry, Walker, Lee, Felton, Rautins, Jordan, Fields.

From there, size is the most pressing need.  The guy I'd want, if he opts out, is Tyson Chandler, whom i'm pretty sure the Knicks could get for around 8 million a year.  Say 3 years, 24 million.

From there, the right course of action is to fill out the roster with one year deals and veterans minimums and reapply ourselves to 2011 free agency as Curry's deal comes off the books.  A core of T. Chandler, Lee, Gallo, W. Chandler, Felton is a supporting cast crying out for a star.  In the mean time, we could win 40-45 games and be a fun, fast-paced watch for 2010-2011.

/pessimism

There's been a lot of chat that Donnie Walsh has been in search of GM.  What about Pritchard?  This guy turned around the Blazers through a combination of savvy trades and drafts, and by all accounts is one of the smartest, most capable prospects out there.  Donnie could bring him on board and make Allan Houston his official assistant GM, since there's all that chatter about Donnie's grooming of Houston.

What do we think?  Possible?  Good idea?

With Mike Brown (finally) getting the axe in Cleveland, a question arises:  Is there a point in bringing him here to be the defensive specialist some have been clamoring for?  Separate from his presence being attractive to LeBron (no reason to think it will or won't), is he the right choice to fill that role?

He certainly has the right pedigree, coming from Popovich's camp.  I tend to think he wouldn't be a bad hire.  Will he settle for an assistant's role or is he holding out for a head-coaching job?

There's some speculation I hadn't heard before regarding Tony Parker possibly heading to the Knicks (likely via a trade).  I'm not sure what assets the Knicks have that would net Parker; I think there are other teams who could offer better packages.  But the speculation got me thinking about whether I think Parker would be a good fit for the Knicks.  My impulse is yes.  He's dynamite in the open floor, and while he definitely falls into the category of a score-first PG, I think he's a pretty good passer, and could function effectively in the D'Antoni system.

Thoughts?

From Berman in the Post:

"I'm not taking a buyout, so that's not happening," Curry told The Post. "Definitely not. They can try to trade me if they wanted to. I hope it doesn't come to that.

"But I would just hope that if it came down to it, especially going into a contract year, that if [coach Mike D'Antoni] knows this wasn't the right place for me, they would make the right decision. Other than that, I'll do everything I can to be ready."

Eddy Curry thinks he's entitled to be waived, without giving up a dollar, so he can go earn another contract?  He finally has value as an expiring contract and he's basically demanding to be waived? 

It's really despicable.  But it's also silly.  There's no team in the league that's going to play a 300 pound, injury prone center more interesting in supersizing than grabbing rebounds.

This just makes me angry.

I was channel surfing and discovered that NBATV is showing Real Madrid vs. Barcelona from the Euroleague right now.  Currently 32-27 RM at the half.  As many of you probably know, the object of many of our pre-draft affections, Ricky Rubio is the PG for Barcelona.  But you can also see such luminary basketballers as Marko Jaric, Jorge Garbajosa and Ante Tomic on Real and Pete Mickael, Juan Carlos Navarro and Fran Vazquez on Barcelona. 

Enjoy.