Knicks making moves

Even though the Knicks didn't land Lebron, (which was a longshot anyway,) I really really like what Donnie Walsh has done. He's added significant depth in the frontcourt and at point guard, something they desperateky needed. Probably more importantly, all the new pieces have reasonable contracts that can be used in trades, well all except Stoudemaire. But even though I feel they significantly overpaid Stoudemire, given that no team was going to give him that much, I understand Walsh's thinking. He needed to get Amare locked up as soon as possible in order to entice Lebron and that's how much it cost. And hey if Amare can play at an All-Star level and entice impending FA like Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, then it certainly would have been worth it. Yeah I know the Knicks have had terrible luck gving contracts to people with bad knees but you'd think the Knick's legendary bad mojo must end at some point. We've suffered enough...

Besides Amare, we got Felton, Anthony Randolph, Ronnie Turiaf, and the Russian guy Timofy Mozgov. Toney Douglas is a decent PG but he's still learning and from what I've read Felton can really thrive in D'Antoni's system. Randolph if healthy could be the next NBA big man to break out, just like Amare did. The offense of Stoudemire and defense of Randolph could make a very imposing front court. And with the length of Gallirani and Chandler on the court the Knicks could finally be able to compete with the bigger teams, Plus it will be really interesting to see what the young guys - Bill Walker, Azubuike, and Landry Fields - can do. And of course everybody's waiting for Gallo to breakout, which he could do this year.

With all this the picture is even better. Curry's salary comes off the books this year, meaning in 2011 the Knicks will have a good chunk of change to sign a top-tier FA outright, or they could use Curry in a trade. Plus Felton's contract is only 2 years meaning they will have room to sign Chris Paul or Deron Williams. They might even be able to sign one of these elite PGs through a trade using Felton and Randolph and Gallirani and Curry's contract

As far as Mike D'Antoni goes, well I give him one year to prove himself. He finally has the roster he wants including one of his favorite players so now he has to deliver. I really don't think much of him as a coach at this point, he mad seome terrible decisions personnel wise starting with the Knicks' best player and coming down to the tail-end of the season he was starting to look desperate. So we'll see.

So for once I'm optimistic about the Knicks this season. The bad luck has to end at some point.