NBA draft discussion thread

[SomethingClever]

As others have mentioned, Z-Bo's douchebaggery often obscures the fact that he is absolutely filthy at basketball.

NY came out +++ talent in this deal. But as the Blazers themselves proved time and time again in the past decade or so, just throwing a bunch of talented guys together with no regard for chemistry or character won't get it done.

[Green Kool Aid]

Here's the Knicks nine man rotation...36 wins maybe?

Steph/ Mardy
Crawford/ Nate
Balkman/ Jefferies
Lee/ Randolph
Curry/ Randolph

[Moozh]

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I'd be shocked if they couldn't get more for Zach. And while I agree he has to go, it is still ok to hang on if you can't get value. But some of these GM's are so clueless it's hard for me to believe that just cause they did a deal "it was all they could get". Too many other teams need a guy like Zach, baggage and all.

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If you look at the Blazers' salary situation, this trade gives them a bunch of cap space before they have to sign Roy, Aldridge, & Oden to bigger contracts. So the trade (assuming nothing else is in the works) was for Frye + a big free agent two years down the road.

Kevin Pritchard all but said in an interview though that there's another trade coming after the NY trade clears, so it may be moot.

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As a Portland fan I was very confused by the trade, but I really felt there was more going on than we knew. From oregonlive.com

So I just got out of the press conference with Kevin Pritchard, Nate McMillan and Tom Penn, and there's more news on trades. I'll post the audio in a second, but I wanted to give a few updates before I do that, so here goes:

-- The Zach Randolph, Fred Jones and Dan Dickau to New York for Channing Frye and Steve Francis has been confirmed. But it also includes the Blazers 53rd pick Demetris Nichols. Nichols goes to New York in exchange for a future second round pick.

-- But the big news is that there's still another trade waiting to be completed. The thing is that it can't be done until a certain number of days after the New York trade has been completed. So there will be another trade and it will in some way involve a small forward.

I think this is going to be a very interesting trade and I would love to hear some speculation of what it might be. I honestly have no clue, but my hopes are high. In Pritchard we Trust.

[KLJ]

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Here's the Knicks nine man rotation...36 wins maybe?

Steph/ Mardy
Crawford/ Nate
Balkman/ Jefferies
Lee/ Randolph
Curry/ Randolph

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uh, randolph will start

[Cortz]

randolph is definitaly starting u didnt even name the players who r gonna play

Center - Eddy Curry
PF- Zach Randolph
SF- Quentin Richardson
SG - Jamal Crawford
PG - Stephon Marbury

6th Man PF/SF- David Lee
then
Nate robinson (PG/sg)
mardy collins (pg)
Renaldo Balkman ( sg/sf)
Jared Jefferies (sf/pf)
Randolph Morris (pf/c)
Malik Rose (Pf/C)
Dan Dickau (pg)
Fred Jones (sg)
plus the rookie chandler too i duno how he is though i havent really seen him play from what i heard though hes gonna be good

wow this team is NASTY.

I GUARENTEE a playoff berth woohooo the knicks are back!!!

[DesertCat]

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I GUARENTEE a playoff berth woohooo the knicks are back!!!

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Doesn't that only require, like 38 wins in the CBA, er Eastern Conference?

[Shadowrun]

if you were the knicks coach wouldnt you want david lee starting over Q-Dog?

[aces_dad]

Al,

He wasn't as disliked as that article would make it sound; the media will report the incident with his brother, a gun and a nightclub but we didn't really hear about the wild late night parties.

This is a great scorer, who has consistently faced hiqh quality PF's like Brand and produced. I felt Portland could have gotten more pure player value elsewhere, but it seems the desire to trade him to the East and shed salary was a key consideration.

Moo,

I also agree it seems like Portland has more moves planned. The management has spoken well of Jack, and yet Jack has still been mentioned in trade deals, due to the promise Rodriguez showed. I've gotten the sense these two PG's are in the plan for the next several years picture.

One point of the article I really agreed with was that the goal should be becoming a top 4 team in the West, with the key guys, rather than pick up costly veterans only to push for bottom of West playoff teams. If this takes 3 years, fine, let Roy, Aldridge and Oden grow and play together, they will still be young and the West powers like SA will be declining.

[JuntMonkey]

How come Isiah doesn't turn the Knicks into thugs again like his Pistons and the 90's Knicks? Teams were literally afraid to play in the Garden because Oakley, Ewing, Starks, Smith, Mason, etc. would knock you on your ass. We have the guys for it now down low, so let's get dirty.

[NicksDad1970]

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knicks fans were utterly convinced this trade puts them in the playoffs - i don't know basketball well so i can't answer one way or another - but it seems like isiah has acquired yet another player of the same type he already has? any thoughts on whether he's thinking of flipping either curry or randolph elsewhere?

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Can he flip Randolph or does he have to keep him for a period of time?

Isn't making the playoffs in the east like 38-44?

I dunno tho they did get rid of Stevie Franchise.