Al Harrington and Jamal Crawford trade analysis

It has been reported that the Warriors and Knicks have reached a deal in principle that will send the disgruntled Warriors forward Al Harrington to New York in exchange for guard Jamal Crawford.

This deal could not be any better for Al Harrington. He goes from the up-tempo pickup style offense of Don Nelson to the slightly more structured "Run-N-Gun" offense of Mike D'Antoni. Al Harrington will bring a new level of versatility to the Knicks. It is no secret that the Knicks want to trade Zach Randolph, Stephon Marbury, and Eddy Curry. There is serious interest in Zach Randolph by the Clippers and little to no interest in Marbury and Curry. In the mean time, having Harrington and Randolph up front in a speedy offense is D'Antoni's dream come true. Harrington's deadly three point shot will spread the floor and stretch defenses. Harrington does shoot an abysmal 39.2% from the field, but that number could go a bit higher if he starts to play with more passion than he did with the Warriors. Playing in New York will likely be a motivating factor.

Harrington has had 0 blocks this season which shows his lack of defensive effort, but did have a bit above a steal a game in this young season. Watching Harrington's play and body language this season made it clear that he did not want to be a part of the Warriors anymore, and this trade could not have come any sooner. The Knicks will be an excellent fit for him, and sets the Knicks up for the Lebron sweepstakes in 2010 (more on Lebron in a bit). Harrington has a year on his contract after this season so it could be used as another incentive to attract Lebron by having a jumpshooter at the 4 who will lessen congestion in the lane, and if it doesn't work out, Donnie Walsh can always tell Lebron that Harrington's $9.2 million comes off the books in the summer of 2011 and they can look for another wingman.

The problem for the Knicks in this trade will be how D'Antoni shares minutes in the front court. They have already benched Curry, and have no intentions of playing him. They have Zach Randolph, and young prospects, David Lee and Wilson Chandler. With 4 big men fighting for minutes one of them has to go. To be more competitive in the Lebron sweepstakes they need to get rid of Randolph. The Knicks are not looking at this season to make an impact in the league, they are looking to 2010, and getting rid of Zach Randolph's $14.6 million will go a long way in getting Lebron. Trading Randolph might not be as hard as it sounds. It has been reported while this post was being written that Donnie Walsh is ready to give up Randolph to the Clippers, and is just waiting on confirmation from the Clippers. This news should not be a surprise considering the Clippers have been looking to find a replacement for Elton Brand. Randolph's stock is very high at the moment due to his average of 20.5ppg and 12.5 rebs. If all goes as planned and they strike a deal with the Clippers who are willing to give $14.6 million in expiring salaries in exchange for Zach Randolph, the Knicks will be in the position they want to be in. Things are finally looking up in New York.

For the Warriors, Jamal Crawford is immediate help. When Monta Ellis comes back and can be put alongside Jamal Crawford, the Warriors could have a lineup with Biedrins at the 5, Stephen Jackson at the 4, Maggette at the 3, and Crawford and Ellis in the back court with Morrow, Azubuike, and the surprising DeMarcus Nelson backing them up. In the front, they would have a solid young core of Turiaf, Brandon Wright, and Anthony Randolph coming off the bench. Not exactly a dream team, but neither was the 2006 team that upset the #1 Mavericks. Point being, Don Nelson can get it done with a crew that you least expect. Crawford is a player who can hit big shots and create for himself. Both of those talents are very valuable attributes in the perimeter offense of Don Nelson. Crawford brings 19.4ppg and 4.4 assists to the Warriors, and will have no trouble making the transition from D'Antoni's offense to Nelson's offense due to their similarities.

All in all, this was a great trade for both teams. The Warriors have a team that will be able to compete in the West for that 7th and 8th spot in the playoffs, and the Knicks have a chance to make the playoffs while making dramatic moves to cut salary in order to go after Lebron. No one is talking championship for either of these teams, but in the NBA and professional sports in general, we all know that a team is only a few moves away from being contenders, and that is what we could be seeing right now.

Izzy

Waive Marbury!

Now that Obama is president we can get back to talking about basketball.

The Knicks have once again stated that they have no intention to waive or trade Stephon Marbury. I would like to know why. Here is a guy who is tied with Allen Iverson with the second highest salary in the NBA at $21,937,500. Here is a guy who is sitting on the sideline in street clothes with coach Mike D'Antoni having no intentions of changing that any time soon. Here is a guy who averaged 13.9ppg and 4.7 assts when he suited up last year.

Why is Marbury still on the roster? Why won't Dolan admit Isaiah Thomas' mistake and concede that the best way to go with all of this is to part ways. Every NBA fan, and even sports fan, knows that Stephon Marbury is the worst contract in sports. There is a reason for that. HE IS NOT PLAYING. Even when he was, he wasn't producing anywhere near his salary. The Knicks made a similar mistake with Alan Houston, but didn't learn. The funny thing about this whole thing is that the Knicks are the one franchise who laughs at the luxury tax. They are a franchise that will exceed the salary cap every year. They are due to pay $80 million in salary tax this year, and won't even think twice about it. Why do they care about holding onto Marbury? If they waive him, they have to incur his whole salary, but as I mentioned before, they don't care. It has become a child's game now. The Knicks are saying, "If you don't play for us, you don't play for anyone." Marbury is sitting on the sideline laughing and collecting his enormous paycheck.

Marbury won't accept a buyout of his contract. That is obvious. Would you? If you were the 2nd highest paid person in your profession, would you take significantly less so you could go work for another company for significantly less money? You can't blame Marbury. The only people you can blame are the Knick's front office officials. As fans, we just want to see players play. He is clearly good enough to be on a roster. With that said, at this point, as fans, we just need this whole thing to be cleared up. Fast.

Izzy

Tim Duncan made his vote public. If you are curious, here is who he voted for.

Off season to-do list: Knicks

Nowadays there are few people outside of Spike Lee with the courage to admit they are Knicks fans. Forrest, happens to be one of the true New York faithful left that I know. He is on top of all things Knicks and what I would consider a pretty good NBA historian. He has interesting thoughts about the Knicks, and the NBA (but we won't get into those), anytime you talk to him about it, including ideas such as keeping Isaiah Thomas in a front office position because he is one of the best talent evaluators in the NBA, Nate Robinson as one of the most athletic players in the league, and Danilo Gallinari being a good draft pick. While he doesn't defend those positions in this piece, he does give us a pretty good look into the present situation for the Knicks and the optimistic future outlook for the team.

Let’s be honest. Despite the recent hiring of proven winners in the coaching spot as well as in the front office, this is a franchise in shambles. The Knicks have not been a playoff team since 2001, and no, no one should count the 2003-2004 team which had a losing record and was swept out of the playoffs by the Nets in humiliating fashion as a “playoff team”. As if the on-court troubles weren’t enough, recent estimates say that the Knicks lost over 187 million dollars under Isaiah Thomas, which would easily have been enough money to lock up Allan Houston and Antonio McDeyess through 2012 with max deals.

Any discussion of what the Knicks need to do to get back to being an elite team has to begin with the summer of 2010. Lebron James has indicated that he might be leaning towards signing with the Brooklyn Nets instead of the Knicks. Regardless, this class could potentially include Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Rip Hamilton, Amare Stoudemire, Manu Ginobili, and Carlos Boozer. One can already see that the Knicks are looking forward to that summer, signing Chris Duhon to a two year deal so he could come off the books in 2010 where the Magic were offering him three.

So, keeping that in mind, let’s go through the Knicks roster and determine each player’s value as a combination of their talent, fit in D’Antoni’s system, and their contract.

Stephon Marbury’s career is done. We already knew from his stints with Minnesota, New Jersey, and Phoenix that he was not the type of player who was able to carry his team to victories on a consistent basis, but at least he was putting up All-Star caliber numbers. His numbers have declined each year with the Knicks to the point where he is now averaging just 13 points and 5 assists per game. Respectable numbers, but not good enough considering that during the 2008-2009 season he will be the second highest paid player in the league. Throw in his off the court antics, and Marbury’s impact on the team is solidly negative. However, it is essential that the Knicks do not trade Stephon. They will probably receive plenty of enticing offers given the $21 million that his contract will bring off a team’s payroll after next season, but the biggest problem with recent Knick’s personnel moves has been trading away such expiring contracts and tying themselves up with overpaid, mediocre players.

Another failed experiment is Eddy Curry. Curry refuses to get in shape, attempt to play defense, or pull down rebounds (Even in his best season, he was a 7 footer crashing the boards at a pathetic 1 rebound per 5 minutes rate). He can’t shoot, dribble, or run the break, so D’Antoni can’t have much use for him. The Knicks should just hope that they can somehow get rid of Curry for a player of less value but with a better contract. Another intriguing option might be to just cut him. Curry is terrible, but it is almost guaranteed that another team will at least sign him to the veteran minimum, meaning that the Knicks could reduce the amount that his contract is counting against the cap.

Zach Randolph is not such a clear-cut case. Although he is due to make much more than he is worth ($14.5 million next season, over 17 million in 2010-2011), he is obviously an extremely talented player. I don’t care how bad the team was, anyone who can average 23 and 10 in the Western Conference can play. There are some character and work ethic issues, but there are plenty of instances of players who ended up being successful after the media and their fan bases had written them off as selfish head cases that would never really “get it” (see Stephen Jackson and Paul Pierce). Randolph is also a mobile big man with handle who has decent outside range, which could work out well if D’Antoni does in fact try to implement his run and gun offense with the Knicks. While Quentin Richardson is another player who has underachieved in a Knick uniform, he has had success under D’Antoni before. So it might be wise, knowing that he is a player who thrives in a fast paced offense, to withhold judgment on Q until his contract, which is $10 million coming off the books in 2010, expires.

Jamal Crawford is another player who, given his shooting prowess and his excellent ability to handle the ball (only 2.4 turnovers in 40 minutes per game last season, and a devastating crossover), could shine for D’Antoni. He is also the only player on the Knicks not in his rookie contract that one could make the case is making about the amount of money he deserves. Jamal has been one of the few bright spots on this team for the last few years.

Malik Rose is an expiring contract that could potentially be used as a trade chip at some point this season. Jerome James and Jared Jeffries are both bad players who the Knicks are just going to have to let ride the bench until their contracts are up.

The rest of this roster is made up of pretty talented young players who could potentially make a great set of role players when the Knicks start contending for the playoffs. Nate Robinson, David Lee, and Renaldo Balkman have all proven that they can play at a high level off the bench. Wilson Chandler and Mardy Collins could fall into this category if given a few more opportunities over the next couple of years.

Now no one is suggesting the Knicks just stand pat and do nothing until Lebron comes along and saves the franchise. There are a few holes that could be filled to at least make this team competitive in the Eastern conference this coming year.

There are rumors that Monta Ellis has expressed interest in playing for the Knicks, and that the Warriors are open to losing Ellis in a sign and trade. Monta is one of the most talented young guards in the NBA. He had flashes this season where commentators were describing him as the next Dwyane Wade, which means that if you listen to John Hollinger, the Knicks could bank on getting the greatest finals performance in the history of the league if they could get their hands on Ellis. Honestly, if the Knicks could acquire Ellis one could make the argument that they could get out of Lebron mode and try to build around Ellis, Crawford, and Randolph. But this just seems like a fantasy. The Knicks simply could not give the Warriors comparable value for Ellis. On top of this, after losing Baron Davis, I can’t see Chris Mullin dealing Ellis unless he is getting truly amazing value for him. The only things the Knicks have to offer are a couple of young players and Marbury and Rose’s expiring contracts, which would put the Warriors solidly into rebuilding mode, a place they don’t want to be. Moreover, the Knicks just signed Chris Duhon, so it seems they might have already made their decision on a point guard for this upcoming year.

The Knicks need a true center, badly. One option would be trying to pry Nenad Krstic from the Nets. The Nets have given Krstic a qualifying offer, which means they have the right to match any contract another team offers him. This is irrelevant to the Knicks, because after signing Chris Duhon they could not offer Krstic a deal the Nets would not match anyway. However, Krstic is reportedly looking to force a sign and trade. The Knicks could potentially try to make a run at Krstic, as long as they don’t give up the expiring contracts of Marbury or Rose.

Other needs for the Knicks include shooters, for D’Antoni’s system, and defense, for a team that was 29^th in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions. Good shooters that are available this offseason include Ben Gordon, Brent Barry, Juan Dixon, DerMarr Johnson, and Bostjan Nachbar. Good defenders include Mickael Peitrus, Carl Landry, Matt Barnes, and Devean George. The problem with all these players is that the Knicks just don’t have the cap room after the Duhon signing to make a reasonable offer and would have to negotiate sign and trades which would most likely hamper them financially in the long term.

Thomas left the Knicks in a state where they are not going to be serious contenders even for home court advantage in the playoffs for the next couple of years. The best course for this team is to be patient, let their young talent develop, and not reinforce the same problems they have had over the last decade by mortgaging their future just on the hopes that they can grab a seventh or eight seed in the East.

Picture Sources: thegarden.com (first), theonion.com (second), nydailynews.com (third), sportsillustrated.cnn.com (fourth), nydailynews.com (fifth), rotorob.com (sixth), nba.com (seventh), hoopsvibe.com (eighth)

intro by Izzy