FanPost

There are plenty of fish in the sea.

I know, I know, I know. If you want to Homer-Simpson-facepalm me for mentioning That Guy, go right ahead. Anyone who isn’t sick of hearing about him at this point must be some sort of masochist, or his agent.

But, I have to vent a little, as I lost my appetite while trying to eat lunch today over the “news” that a certain whiny baby is losing patience with our New York Knicks, and that we had better get a third team involved ASAP or he’ll… do something. Probably something Very Upsetting, like agree to a sign-and-trade with the Timberwolves or convert to Sufism and move to a remote Asian mountain range to write poetry in total solitude (my money’s on the latter, but who really gives a shit).

Why does it even matter? I think even the most optimistic Knicks fan can agree that this team is a work in progress. This summer’s roster shuffling has been amazing, about as good as we could have hoped for after the previous That Guy took his talents to some oceanfront strip mall of a town South Beach. Pretty much everyone on this site expects to see some playoff basketball in the Garden next spring, and that’s going to be epically sweet. At the same time, nobody is delusional enough to believe that our roster as currently constructed is going to be getting past teams like Miami, Orlando, Boston, the Lakers etc. to claim the ultimate prize anytime soon. And at the end of the day, that’s what everyone wants, right? That’s why it’s so tempting to lust after the latest shiny object who we think might put us over the top (regardless of the fact that, by many advanced metrics, That Guy will barely be an improvement over Danilo Gallinari, who aside from being much cheaper is already a New York Knickerbocker and a pretty damn awesome one at that).

And so we are in an awkward position. It’s September, and there is literally nothing else to do but speculate, rumor-monger and play daydream GM while waiting to actually, finally, see some basketball played. We’re excited about the team, but we crave more firepower. We want more All-Star caliber players, but it pains us to think of letting go of The Cock (obligatory pause). If everyone could just be patient, perhaps in a year we could really have it all, but now That Guy seems to be of the mindset that our Knicks need to shove every young, talented, inexpensive player on our roster out the door as soon as possible for the privilege of (over)paying him $22mm/year so that he, Amar’e and the Knicks City Dancers can try in vain to outgun Miami for the next five years. And that, my friends, is Lame.

Because That Guy? Is not the only one out there who might be a good fit on this squad; not the only player we could add to make this team a contender. And if Donnie Walsh has shown us anything, it’s that the man can be a deal-making ninja, getting spurned by the original That Guy 1.0 and five minutes later casually robbing the Golden State Warriors to the tune of some solid rotation players and potential all-stars for a player who was not sticking around anyway. Clearly, the man knows his Plan Bs. And you have to assume he has an ace or two up his sleeve in the event that That Guy decides it’s more important to get paid right now, regardless of his destination.

So what do you think it is? Let’s assume for the time being that That Guy is 100% off the table. He’s off in a cave doing his poetry thing.

Let’s also set a few other conditions:

  • No faded, past their prime ring-chasing vets (unless you can make a reallllly good case).
  • Nobody who uses Leon Rose or "World Wide Wes" as their mouth-pieces to demand they get whatever they want, when they want it.
  • No trading Gallo or Randolph.

With that being said, I present for your consideration, my personal Plan B:

At the deadline, trade Eddy Curry, Wilson Chandler, and Ronny Turiaf to Philadelphia 76ers for Andre Iguoudala and Andres Nocioni.

We get: an All-Star caliber SG who is young (26), a phenomenal athlete, one of the NBA’s best in transition, an elite defender and passer at his position, and a very good slashing scorer who would benefit immensely for playing for Mike D’Antoni on a team where he could be option 2 or 3 rather than asked to put the team on his back every single night. At $12/mm per year he isn’t cheap, but at that price he is a much better value than That Guy would be at $22mm/per. We also get Andres Nocioni, whose contract expires in 2012.

We lose: a versatile SF who is pretty good at many things but not truly great at any one thing, and who is an RFA next summer. We also lose a PF/C with a ton of heart, a hard-nosed defensive style and an all around great attitude. We also lose Eddy Curry, if you can consider that a loss.

They get: An inexpensive, young SF more suited to play next to Evan Turner. They also get some much needed depth at the center position and dump a boatload of salary, which they will need to pay Elton Brand’s exorbitant salary for the next ten million years.

They lose: An All-Star caliber SG who is now more or less redundant, thanks to the much cheaper stud SG they just drafted. Also, Andres Nocioni.

The result?

The Knicks would be even more athletic and dangerous in transition, if you can believe that. Our defense would be much improved with an elite defender like Iggy dogging the opposition’s best wing. We would fill our biggest hole at SG with a player whose game complements Gallinari’s, Felton’s and Stoudemire’s very, very well. And, with Nocioni’s contract coming off the books in 2012 we would still have a fair amount of cap space to play with going forward.

Roster:

Felton/Douglas

Iguoudala/Azubuike/Mason Jr./Walker

Gallinari/Randolph/Azubuike/Nocioni/Fields

Stoudemire/Randolph

Randolph/Mozgov/Stoudemire (perhaps not in that order)

That’s two surefire All-Stars (Amar’e, Iggy), two potential ones (Gallo, Randolph), and many very good rotation players (Felton, Douglas, Azubuike, Nocioni I guess and Mozgov, hopefully). I’d go into battle with that team any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

So, am I insane? Can you do better? Just remember, That Guy can be a Knick within the next year for a reasonable price, if he wants. The path is clear. If he doesn’t want to take it, then fuck him. There are other delicious fish in the sea.