How could the Knicks trade Kurt Thomas to the Suns for Quentin Richardson and a first round draft pick??? It hasn't gone down yet but supposedly will once Q's health has been sorted out.
That must go down as one of the absurd trades enginnered by Isiah Thomas. Not as bad as Nazr Mohammed for Malik Rose, but what was the purpose for the trade ? The Knicks get back a guy that is intent on chucking up as many 3's as possible.
I was amazed when I read this because the Knicks will have the 3 of the highest volume/lowest percentage shooters in the game - Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson. Somehow, I fail to see how this team will gel together offensively and defensively. Q won't be able to get the same numbers on a Nash-less team.
I can fully picture this: future coach of the Knick pulling his hair out and going into cardiac arrest after the Knicks go 1 for 20 in the first quarter.
The deal is excellent for the Suns because they get a low post presence who can play center (Thomas), freeing Amare from the dirty work and giving them more of a traditional line up with Marion moving to the 3. And their draft pick wouldn't have been that good anyway at number 21.
I'm not saying that the trade was totally lopsided in terms of talent, I just fail to see why they wanted Quentin with their current lineup. Due to this trade, the Knicks continue to spiral downwards, beset by ever increasing contracts and a lineup that just can't work.
a dj ho production
6 comments:
You know what? I don't think it's that bad a trade for either team... and it's not that great a trade either. The Suns' success this season was mainly based on being able to get out and run as soon as they get the ball, so I'm curious about the effect Kurt Thomas has on that - he's a good player but he's hardly a fast breaking type of guy. Then again, it's easier getting a good swingman than it is a big man in free agency, so I'm sure the Suns will think of something.
Richardson was at best a fourth option on the Suns - Amare, Marion & Nash would all be more viable options, and I would probably argue that even JJ gets a lot more ball in the offense than Richardson. He basically just stood around and shot 3s, but that's not necessarily because it's the only thing he can do - that was probably the role that he was given. His main strength apparently is actually posting up and utilising his quickness on the block - there's not much chance of him doing that with Amare around, and maybe he'll get to do that more on the Knicks, since they have no one who can post up other than Sweetney & Maurice Taylor (neither of them play regularly).
He'll generally play SF on the Knicks probably (and be the backup two guard), and even though he didn't play well last season, he's probably still better than Tim Thomas (I'm guessing they think Trevor Ariza isn't ready yet). Knicks had a glut of undersized forwards anyway; at this time, Malik Rose & Maurice Taylor aren't going to be much worse than Thomas.
And one more thing - even though his contract is longer, it's not that much longer (two years I think) and Richardson is a lot younger than Thomas, so it's a pretty sound bet for the future. I think it potentially can be at least an even trade if Richardson stops launching threes all the time and gets back to going to the ring. Furthermore, it's not like the Knicks have gone anywhere the last few seasons with Thomas around - he was actually a below average NBA player last season (I think his PER was 14 point something; average is 15).
But I agree with you - I want to see how many shots Richardson and Crawford take combined. Watching those two hog the ball should be interesting just for the reaction of the other Knicks players.
What I really hope the Knicks do is get a decent centre in the draft (Channing Frye?) and give major minutes to Sweetney at the four. Their lineup will then look like:
Marbury
Crawford
Richardson
Sweetney
Frye
Bench: Ariza, Taylor, Rose, Hardaway, Tim Thomas, Jerome Williams.
I'm not a fan of Crawford actually, but I'm a huge fan of Sweetney and I think that if he got more minutes, he would be a good PF in the league. That team isn't going to win the East, but it should make the playoffs - that bench looks pretty deep if everyone plays well. They probably need a backup PG (but Marbury plays so many minutes that that shouldn't matter too much) and a good backup centre (and they're pretty hard to find).
(I'm ignoring Allan Houston because at this stage, it seems likely that he'll get cut after the new CBA comes into being. If he's still with the Knicks, then he's another guy on the bench. Shit, that's a deep bench, albeit consisting entirely of overpaid players.)
By the way, FYI - Kurt Thomas' Player Efficiency Rating for 2004-05 was 14.45; Q-Rich's 13.9.
So they were both mediocre NBA players. By comparison, Sweetney's on 16.7, Rose's on 12.4, and Taylor's on... 9.7??? Shit, he's that bad...; JJ was on 15.5, Nash was on 22.5 & Jim Jackson was on... 10.8???
Pretty surprising how bad Jim Jackson was, in particular. Anyway - www.knickerblogger.net/stats
Like I said on Scott's page, I have a feeling the suns are after Francisco Garcia
I don't think Garcia ill be around when Phoenix pick Bosco. I also have my doubts about the merits of the trade. Thomas is a half court type player, and unless Phoenix changes their style of play, Thomas will struggle to adapt and fit in with the run and gun.
I actually haven't seen Channing Frye play recently - I saw him one time at Sutherland playing against the Sydney Kings a few years ago, and he played very well, but that doesn't mean much for the NBA (and Matt Nielsen dropped something like 53 in that game!)
I think that there's a decent chance that Frye will be a bust, but I also think there's a good chance that the Knicks will draft him, just because they need a centre right now. For their sake, I hope they don't do what the Raptors did last year, and draft a big man of limited potential (and recently, big men who stay all four years at college, with the noticeable exception of Duncan, usually don't do very well in the league, especially when drafted in late lottery).
My initial impression was that the deal was a good one for the Knicks, and an okay one for the Suns; while thinking about it changes my viewpoints a little bit, I still think the Knicks have done well if Richardson stops launching so many threes. He's a bull in the lane against shooting guards (not necessarily against small forwards), but that's not much use when he's standing around launching 3s!
I certainly hope the Knicks made a good trade, because they have no salary cap for the next few seasons at least. If they can get a decent centre, they might be onto something.
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