Knicks summer wish list

An open letter to Scott Layden and James Dolan:

Please DON'T pull the usual Knicks nonsense and DON'T sign Elden
Campbell, Derrick Coleman, Andrew DeClercq, Tyrone Hill, Robert
Horry, Shawn Kemp, or Scott Williams. With the exception of DeClercq,
who was never good enough in the first place, these are not the big
men you are looking for. These are all guys whose best days are far
behind them. They'll chew up salary, demand minutes, and play
mediocre to poor as their skills gradually decrease through the years.
Forget it. We've seen it. Thanks to you, for our years of
witnessing Felton Spencer, Travis Knight, Michael Doleac, Eric
Chenowith, and the like, we understand it's not size but SKILLED size.
Furthermore, Van Gundy already quit two years ago -- there's no
reason to continue his preposterous, job-saving habit of hiring aging
(or aged) veterans so he didn't have to deal with teaching rookies and
young players and taking the blame for their poor skills. These free
agents I mentioned will keep the Knicks mired in season-long garbage
time for years. Skip it. They're not going to take you to the
Finals. Hell, they're not going to take you to the playoffs.

Here's some interesting ideas for what we Knicks fans might
realistically hope for, (and NO, Olowokandi, Nesterovic, Brand,
Claxton, and any of the others are NOT very realistic hopes) given
what the Knicks have to offer:

Kenny Anderson. Sign him for $3M for one or two seasons, buy out
Charlie Ward for $2M and let him start. Your'e still paying less than
the $6M you'll do if you do nothing and keep Ward. We all saw what
happened to the Celtics last year when Anderson left. He could be a
great point guard for Williams to back up (buy out Eisley already, if
that's possible. Cut your losses with the point guard who would
rather brick than pass. Pay him heaps of money but less than we're
paying him for salary, and let him sign for the veterans' minimum for
another team). BUT, it only makes sense if Anderson is available in
late August or early September and is humbled and willing to accept a
smaller salary than the $9M he was making in recent years but he will
not make this year. Otherwise, let him go to someone who will pay him
$5 mil or more a year. Not worth it for major money, but a steal if
everyone writes him off.

Pat Burke. This guy's actually pretty good. He's a big man with good
skills, and undervalued. He's not going to change the team around and
lead it in any category, but he's a solid role player. Get him for $1
mil a year and he'll be a good one to play the Travis Knight role much
better than Travis Knight (or Doleac) ever did for a quarter of the
cost. Again, if someone wants to pay him up the wazoo, let him go.
But if he'll work for a mil a year for a few years, grab him. He's
been playing in Greece for drachma for years. If the Magic don't want
to re-sign him (and they probably will), make him a Knick second-unit
player.

Jake Voshkul. He'll probably go back to the Suns. No, he's not
great, but he's also big improvement on Doleac. At $1 mil a year it'd
be good things and not bad. Please don't make me watch Travis Knight
playing meaningful minutes again.

Loren Woods. Young big man with lots of upside. Need I say much more
about what the Knicks desperately need? He's got a couple more years
experience in the league than this year's draft picks, who probably
aren't ready for meaningful contributions until 2005 at the earliest.

Think long term, folks. The Knicks aren't going anywhere next year.
As much as we all love Sprewell, he's going to be older and slower and
taking more bad jumpers and less basket drives than last year even.
No one wants him in a trade. Forget about it. Last call for that was
Sprewell for Robinson and Johnson to the Bucks last year -- we almost
got away with murder but Layden was too chickenshit to pull the
trigger. Next summer, we'll be sitting right where we are now --
aging, deterioriating guards and no money to offer free agents, and
enough games won by veterans over garbage teams and hung-over New
York-vacationing visiting teams to prevent a good lottery pick. But
don't hang heads and sigh. Life's not over. Let's prepare as best as
we can for 2008, when all the remaining contract millstones (Eisley,
Anderson, Houston, Sprewell) dragging the franchise down will be gone,
and the win-now plan will be over after the undeniable reality of
years of not making the playoffs in the _eastern_ _conference_. Start
assembling the team now, so when 2008 comes along in five seasons and
we'll finally have some free agent money to offer people, there will
already be a solid supporting cast in place. Trying to win now,
failing, and leaving behind a detritus of bad, old players and
contracts that go to the moon will only ensure that this once proud
franchise will be continuously and repeatedly damned to the mediocrity
it's been experiencing for the last three seasons.