QUOTE (maufman @ Jul 10 2010, 07:14 PM)
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Anyone know if the Knicks got insurance on Amare's knee? We have no idea what's the long-term effects on microfracture surgery are for an NBA player. Dolan won't go broke if Amare is uninsured, but insurance would at least make him a useful trade chip if his career is cut short. Of course, no insurance will protect you if Amare's knee hampers him just enough to render him a flat-footed, slower version of himself.
Yeah, no insurance, pretty sure that was why he agreed so quickly.
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Over the years, a lot of teams have had great, young cores-- the Mavericks in the mid-90s to the Bulls in the early 00s come to mind. Those two teams didn't work out so well, and I don't recall any other ultra-young teams making the leap. OKC is trying to make it work; whether they do will depend on whether Kevin Durant becomes a franchise player, or tops out as a latter-day Mark Aguirre or World B. Free. The Knicks don't have a potential franchise player like Durant, and unless you think more of 'Melo than I do, they don't figure to get one. They didn't get LeBron, they didn't get lucky in the draft lottery. Nothing wrong with Donnie Walsh's plan-- it just didn't work. Winning in the NBA takes a lot of luck-- look at what Jerry West's tenure in Memphis.
Donnie is at fault for pretty bad drafting in his two years IMO, mostly in 2009. We've been into it in depth on Knickerblogger, but for him to not take a PG at 8 in 2009 was a crime against the city. NY hasn't had a top 20 PG (top 20!) in decades and to not pick one of Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Darren Collison at #8, in favor of Jordan Fucking Hill was a huge mistake. And then to compound that by taking Toney Douglas at #29 (who is promising, but seemingly more of an undersized two) when man among men DeJuan Blair was still out there. Rebounding is the skill that translates best to the pros, Donnie, knee cartilage or no knee cartilage. Picking Hill and Douglas over any of those PGs (Lawson was my choice) and Blair really hurt the team.
Also, not anyone's fault really, but NY just missed on Russell Westbrook and Steph Curry, both of whom I think they would have taken. Gallinari was the best guy on the board in 2008, and I really do think he has All-Star potential (he has supposedly been immersed in Bird tapes all offseason), but I blame Walsh a little for Westbrook jumping up at the last minute. When he was interviewed that night just before the draft, he had the smuggest look on his face and it was clear from the interview that he was certain Westbrook would be a Knick. Ugh.