I don't want to get back into this argument, but because of Isiah, the Knicks are on the hook for $17 million this year for Jalen Rose.

$9.7 million for Maurice Taylor.

$15 million this year, $16.4 million next year, and $17.1 million the following year for Steve Francis.

$6.5M, $7.1M and $7.6M for Malik Rose over the next three years.

$5.4M, $5.8M, $6.2M and $6.8M for Jerome James over the next four years.

Every one of those moves was absolutely horrible. Yes, he inherited a mess, especially regarding the salary cap, but he hasn't done anything to make it better. This year, Shandon Anderson and Allan Houston count for $29.2M against the cap, take them out of the equation and the Knicks' payroll is still $110M. $53.7 million of that is going to Francis, Rose, Rose, Taylor and James.

Not to mention the buyout of Larry Brown, whom Isiah brought in. He doesn't get a free ride because Brown quit on the team, he's the one that hired him, and waited until after the season to fire him.

Houston and Anderson come off the books after this season, but the Knicks still have $86M and $86M committed for the next two seasons. They won't have any kind of cap space until 2010/2011.

Billy King, on the other hand, has the Sixers cap number down to $62M next year, and $32M in 08-09 with all the Sixers' key players signed.

So to answer all of your criteria: Have the Knicks improved from last year to this year? Yes. Will they continue to improve? That's debatable, they won't have the money or chips to land any big names. They're stuck with Chicago's first round pick, which figures to be in the 20s. If they're going to continue to improve, it's going to be with a roster very similar to the one they have on the floor right now. I don't see any reason to think this roster will ever contend. Are they in better shape than when he took over? Yes, on the floor they are. Financially, they are not.

Is he the worst GM in the game? My vote is yes. The Knicks should be contending for a title with the amount of money he's spent since he took over, the reason they aren't is that he's spent it on the wrong people.

I absolutely agree with this post. Is Isiah perfect? No, Jerome James was stupidity, as was Jalen Rose, Tim Thomas and Jared Jefferies is off to a shaky start. However, everyone needs to stop pretending that Zeke inherited the 1996 Bulls.

Howard Eisley was our starting PG, Shandon Anderson was getting big minutes. They couldn't score or defend anyone. This started with the ridiculous trade of the best player in franchise history for a washed up Glen Rice, then instead of taking Artest or any kind of useful player, we select the soft French center who never sets foot in MSG. Then Houston is signed to absurd max extension, which of course he doesn't finish and we are still paying for. Sprewell is given away because he blew off Dolan's media trading.

Camby is a throw in a trade for Antonio McDyess(fresh off micro fracture surgery), for the same offense. McDyess promptly gets hurt again. Finally Zeke is brought in and manages to acquire someone who can play and isn't perpetually hurt in Marbury. He brings in Larry Brown, supposed winner and builder of teams and harnesser of talent. What does he do, decide he'd rather be the GM, berates players privately, berates players in the press, particularly his star PG, who ignores 1/2 of season of his coach dogging him weekly in the papers and tries to execute the offense to the best of his ability, until he finally just blows his top and start firing back.

Then LB starts calling around the league initiating trades for other PG, basically forcing the GM into acquiring a PG less capable than the one he has already. Said acquired PG has bum knee and misses a ton of time and is turnover machine when he's on the floor. All while continuing to kill the cap.

And yet we sit here with them with a legit to make the playoffs. Jerry West and Red Auerbach in the same front office couldn't completely fix this team in 3 years, it will take an 5-7 years to completely fix the Knicks, blame Checketts and Layden, Brown, and Dolan. BTW, McHale is the worse GM in the NBA, he has a Hall of Fame big man on his team and will miss the playoffs, that takes absolute talent to in the NBA.

I liked your post, but Brian points out some of the things you've missed. Isiah has brought a lot of useless free agents in under his regime. In addition to the people on Brian's list, I'd like to point out that the Wizards brought in DeShawn Stevenson (1 year, $1m) to replace Jared Jeffries (5 years, $30m)... in the words of Bill Simmons, that's 9/10 the player at 1/10 the price. Ouch.

However, what's satisfied me about Isiah is that he can draft. That's all I really care about. He shut a lot of people up after the Balkman pick, one which I didn't hate but many others despised. Looks like he'll be the glue guy for a few years at minimum, while everyone taken after him has not really impressed at any point this season. Under the Layden administration, we were selecting Frederic Weis over Ron Artest. That one still hurts-- it marks the first time in my young life (I was 13 at the time) that I ever screamed at the television. At least we know that won't be happening again.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'm gonna address some of Brian's points, since he makes some good arguments:

The salary cap situation Isiah inherited forced a strategic decision to be made: One, make no moves to improve the team for three years, until Houston and Anderson's big contracts run out (end of this season). For comparison: the Charlotte Bobcats have the lowest salary cap #, at $40,337,445. They don't have a single "star" contract - that's just mid-level vets like Brevin Knight, and players on their rookie contract. Gerald Wallace is the highest paid, at $5.5 million. If the Knicks had taken that approach (no Marbury, Curry, Richardson, etc), they would still be over the cap (40 million + 29 million for Houston/Anderson = busted). So they would have a team with no talent(other than some rookies), no stars, and no cap room until this summer. And even then, what would they be able to do with that cap room? Let's see if Charlotte is a contender next season or the next....

Or Isiah could ignore the cap, since they wouldn't be able to get under it for three years minimum, and use it to acquire talent. So yeah, he took on Malik Rose's contract (too long), but he also got the Knicks 2 #1 picks. Not lottery picks, but Isiah has proven even in the late 1st round of weak drafts he can find talent (David Lee, Balkman). He might be able to do it again this year in the late round of a very deep draft.

The Jalen Rose trade (and Mo Taylor) were about acquiring chips to trade in the future. Both were acquired at the trading deadline, with the hopes of using their expiring contracts this season at the deadline in a trade.

At the time of those deals it made sense, because a) the cap was busted for 06-07 anyway (Houston/Anderson again), and b) the only way you can bring in high price talent in this league if you can't sign free agents is via trading big contracts.

The future isn't as bleak as you paint it. The Knicks can't make any moves next season, yes. That's okay, they'll add a rookie, and the young players and Curry will continue to develop hopefully. Remember, they are all under 30. So 07-08 will hopefully be more growth, and maybe a winning season (42-44 wins).

Then in 08-09, Marbury, Francis and Malik Rose's contracts all expire, making them great trade bait midseason. Or they can let them expire, and go forth with only $41 million committed to 09-10.

Which moves would I like to take back? Jerome James. Larry Brown (and Steve Francis). The Malik Rose trade depends on how those picks work out - one is Mardy Collins. If he turns out to be a decent point, then it makes the deal worth it.

Curry, Marbury, Crawford, Richardson and Jeffries are all gambles that may pay off, or not. But the only way Isiah could make the team he inherited better was by rolling the dice with these gambles. He wouldn't have been able to sign free agents. And don't argue that he could have done nothing and drafted rookies and improved the team - what rookies could he have drafted in 05 that would be better right now than Curry, or Marbury, or Crawford? Or even Richardson when he's healthy? Much less all four....

Its a decent case you make but I think you might be missing the lone argument you could make in Isiah's defense. Yes, Isiah Thomas inherited a complete disaster of a basketball team (no talent, way over the salary cap etc.) His response to the situation, it would appear, was wholly irresponsible. Rather than ride out the storm, dumping what remaining talent he had and picking up top tier draft picks (which, last time I checked, helped the Knicks forge their last great team. See Ewing, Patrick), he tried to rebuild the team on the fly. His words. You can not rebuild a team on the fly. Take your lumps. Suck for 3 years. Pick up cap space and top draft picks. What is the fucking harm? Its a common misconception that New York wants all of its teams to win now. The only team that New Yorkers want to win now are the New York Yankees. On this point, you might have an argument worth making for Isiah. I'm sure that Dolan's instructions were to put a winning product on the floor as soon as possible. It just doesn't work like that. Look at the Chicago Bulls. Look at the Dallas Mavericks. These teams took their lumps and built their teams with good draft picks and free agent signings (when they finally had the money to spend). Perhaps Thomas was just following Dolan's orders. Dolan is a fat fucking slob of a human being, so it wouldn't surprise me. He wouldn't know a basketball team from an AA meeting. That said, you can't support what Isiah has done to this team. They're years away from getting a big name free agent and as presently constructed, they will never be better than mediocre in a horrid conference. Is Zeke the worst GM in basketball? No, but he's a really bad one. I shutter to think that the Knicks could have Bryan Colangelo running their team right now. The situation is sad and eventually the knick Kool Aid you're drinking will lose its effect

Okay, I agree with your argument here. Yes, Isiah built it on the fly. Yes, Dolan deserves the blame, especially if he choose that path. But I disagree that taking your lumps is always the best way to rebuild a team.

You pick the examples where it worked: the Mavs, the Bulls. But there are far more examples of situations where it didn't work: The Hawks, perpetual lotto team. The Clippers, one good year aside. The Sonic, another perpetual lotto team despite TWO supremely talented players (Allen and Lewis). The Bucks, heading for the lotto again after taking their lumps and getting a #1 just two years ago (Bogut).

Also, building on the fly can be done - see the Suns, the Pistons, and the Nets for recent examples. The Suns were built around good trades, one young player picked up in the draft at #8 (Amare), and one gamble free agent signing - Steve Nash. He wasn't a top free agent at the time - there were questions about his back, and whether he was really good or just a product of playing with Dirk and crew. That is why Dallas let him go in favor of Jason Terry.

Detroit rebuilt with no draft pick or major free agent signings. Ben Wallace came via the Grant Hill trade. Prince was taken #23. Rip came via the Stackhouse trade. Only Billups was a free agent signing, and again, not the top free agent at the time; he was a huge gamble, too.

Rolling the dice. Curry, Marbury, Richardson, Crawford - all of these were gambles on players with talent. Not unlike Nash or Billups. Will they payoff? We'll see in the next 12 months how the Knicks go. If they improve, if they get to the 45-47 win level next season... then they will be in position to make moves (with Marbury, Francis, and Rose coming off the books) to build a true contender.

And Isiah should at least be given a chance to either definitively fail or succeed. To this point he has not definitively failed. Would I rather have Colangelo? Yeah. Or Thorn. Isiah isn't the best, nor the worst.

Despite the crap you read in the media (and sorry, but what I read in the media and blogs isn't ever positive about the Knicks, only pure negative ranging from Larry Brown's buddies in the media to just anti-Zeke, anti-Dolan factions) Isiah does have a plan, and the Knicks do have potential. Whether or not they pan out, I think it's rather presumptious to say that you would rather have lottery picks in the past two crappy drafts, plus Frye, and nothing else on the team (no Curry, no Marbury, etc), just to have $20 million in cap money starting this offseason. What then? You sign Vince Carter? So now you have Carter (for max money the next 4-5 seasons), Frye, and whatever rookie you took last season (Alridge?). There is no guarantee that is any better than Curry, Crawford, Marbury, Richardson, Frye, Lee, et al next season. Or in the long run.

Bottom line: I'm not saying that taking lumps wouldn't have worked. Just saying that it isn't guaranteed to work everytime, otherwise the Hawks would have won a playoff series by now, right? What I'm saying is this - Isiah rolled the dice, and tried to rebuild the team on the fly despite huge inherited defiencies (terrible roster, no cap flexibility); he acquired talent at the cost of future cap flexibility. He didn't give away any players we miss, nor did he give away any draft picks of true value (yeah, the #2 last year and the switch with the Bulls, which might be about a 7 pick difference - I think Curry is worth that based on what we've seen so far). We still have all our future picks from '08 on, right? We still have cap flexibility in '09, right? And we have talent now. Good enough to win the division? Probably not. No koolaid here. But the future isn't that bleak, nor is the present.

If they make the playoffs this year, only one year removed from the Brown fiasco, and only three years removed from Layden, that is something positive. That's all I have been saying. Not that the Knicks are championship material, not that Isiah is a genius. Just that he has the Knicks moving forward, and as a fan I just want to see them moving forward, and making the playoffs. From there I'll raise my expectations, to "build me a division-winning contender", then to "build me a title contender".

Fantastic post. This is kind of a response to the previous Knicks post also but, for what it's worth, trading for Francis was LB's shitbrained idea.

Anyway, I'm with you that Isiah has a worse rep than he deserves. He's made a few shit moves, but his keystone deals have put NY back on the basketball map. He got Marbury, Curry, and Crawford for virtually nothing.

That logic bugs the shit out of me. Either Brown was pissed because he didn't have control over personnel, or he did have control and he made Isiah get Francis. You can't have it both ways.

Saying moves aren't Isiah's fault while he is the GM is the ultimate cop out. If that's the case then I'm sure there's a scout out there somewhere who deserves the credit for Lee and Balkman, but you still attribute the good moves to Isiah.

If it happened while he was GM, he is responsible, good or bad. Otherwise you're just making excuses for him.

Fair enough. I do my best not to be biased, but it's hard to avoid. You may be right, but I think LB could be an exception to the "GM has the final word" logic. The man is a soul-eating monster.

"The man is a soul-eating monster."

Still laughing about that one. I always saw him as more of a soul-less bastard. That being said, I still wouldn't complain if he was coaching the Sixers next year.

One point everyone is neglecting on this do nothing an let the team be built via the draft is that that Dolan wasn't going to put up with 10,000 a night attendance in MSG. The league wouldn't want it either.

At least the Marbury deal had to be done so that people would bother to get out there homes, they needed at least a gate attraction. This much like what the Mets did by signing Pedro Martinez. The Francis deal was forced on Isiah by Dolan to try to placate Brown.

Its painful obvious that this wasn't a trade that Isiah believed in, look before Crawford got hurt, Francis was getting zero minutes for Isiah the coach, even when healthy, that tells you what you need to know about that. Isiah cames as close to criticizing a player publicly has he has all season when Stevie missed that practice after X-Mas. This is not a player that Zeke really believed in.

That's absolutely right, Doc. Fans may have been okay with rebuilding from scratch, but they wouldn't have attended the games while they were rebuilding.

Along those lines, you also need to remember that the Nets were, for perhaps the first time ever, a relevant threat to the Knicks fanbase. They were playing well, had stars in their prime (Kidd, Carter), and making the move to Brooklyn. This is a big factor, too. Dolan must have felt that he needed Isiah to keep the Knicks in the news, keep them relevant. Hence the rebuilding on the fly plan. Hence the Brown deal.

Isiah's excellent drafting acumen has been well documented for years, with two different organizations: Stoudamire, Camby, McGrady, Ariza (2nd round), Frye, Lee, Balkman... Obviously, he has a keen eye for young talent. No one is saying that as a GM he bears zero responsibility for the Francis and Jalen Rose trades, but by everyone's admission, Larry Brown and his desire for vets was the main catalyst for those two deals. Both deals, which went against Zeke's obvious intent of giving the youngsters playing time, were made to apease the championship coach. Isiah Thomas is a middle of the pack level GM. Certainly not great, but just as certainly not terrible, he's average. People act as if managing the draft isn't part of a GM's job description. If we generally agree that he's done a good job with the draft, even if you think he's earned an F otherwise, how does that make him the worst GM in the league? I see people killing him for acquiring Jerome James' contract, ignoring the fact that just about every other 7 foot stiff in the league makes the same type of money. I see people bashing him for obtaining Malik Rose, ignoring the fact that one of the picks he got in that deal (the Nazir Mohammed trade) became David Lee. We traded a sack of dirty towels for Marbury and a pack of gum for Crawford. Hold a microscope to what's going on in Boston, or Portland, or Indiana, or Minnesota or Philadelphia or Atlanta, and then tell me again why Zeke's the worst GM in the league. People who promote that garbage clearly have a hidden agenda or else are incapable of independently forming their own opinions and just use the nearest sportswriter's.

and Lupica is a schmuck to give the Knicks organization (Dolan or Isiah)any credibility...

ha