Walsh’s New York Exit: My Thoughts

Where do I begin? How do you say thank you, to average work? If this was a gift, it was the 75 dollar sweater that you only wear once? Yesterday, it was announced that Donnie Walsh will not return to the Knicks GM position for the 2011-2012 season. I don’t know how to feel about it, mainly because we had one winning season in three seasons. Coming in 2008, Walsh and D’Antoni were seen as saviors, but that’s hardly the case at all. In fact, you can argue they hurt the franchise more then helped the franchise.

Am I crazy? We have Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Amar’e Stoudemire! You made the playoffs! You’re in prime position for next season to be a dark horse eastern conference team! Even though we have two of the top 20 players in the league, I still sit and wonder if we could have changed this all around. On twitter, I constantly said that Walsh did a C plus job and here’s some of my thoughts and reflections on the entire Walsh “era”

– Why Hire Mike D’Antoni?

I always wondered this, why did the Knicks hire Mike D’Antoni to coach a 20 win team? A team full of players who didn’t fit his style (including the highest paid player on the team) with the idea of a rebuild was on the way didn’t make sense to me at all. For one, D’Antoni is a all offense, no defense coach that never won anything. He always shorten rotation, which left players fatigued and even injured at times. I’m not going to sit here and tell you who would have been a better replacement in 2008, because I don’t know, but the Knicks should have went towards the defensive side of the basketball, instead of offense AND ticket selling basketball.

The 2008 NBA Draft

When we go back at this, this might be one of the best draft in the past 10-12 years. The Knicks had the 6th pick in the draft. Should we look at the 2008 roster?

• Renaldo Balkman
• Wilson Chandler
• Mardy Collins
• Jamal Crawford
• Eddy Curry
• Jerome James
• Jared Jeffries
• Fred Jones
• David Lee
• Stephon Marbury
• Randolph Morris
• Zach Randolph
• Quentin Richardson
• Nate Robinson
• Malik Rose

The roster the Knicks had would have helped if they had a shooting guard that can slash to the basket or a center who can fill a vital (and somewhat weak) position on the team. The Knicks decided to go with Italian sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari, just because his father played with head coach D’Antoni in Italy. While Gallinari wasn’t a terrible pick, the Knicks passed up Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, Javale McGee and Serge Ibaka. The four players listed would have been better then Gallinari pick wise, yet because his father played with D’Antoni, Gallinari was the pick.

For people who want to argue, Eric Gordon was a star at Indiana who was the best shooting guard in the draft until O.J. Mayo blew up at USC and Kelvin Sampson shook the entire foundation of the team. Gordon went on a slump near the end of his season, but still ended up with 20.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals as a undersized shooting guard with no point guard.
http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/player/indiana/23-eric-gordon/game_stats

The 2009 Trades

Ugh, can we read these trades?

Mardy Collins and Zach Randolph to the Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas.
Jamal Crawford to the Warriors for Al Harrington.
Jerome James, Anthony Roberson and Tim Thomas to the Bulls for Larry Hughes.
Malik Rose to the Thunder for Chris Wilcox.

Here’s the first thing….we swapped Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford, two of the top 60 players in the NBA for Larry Hughes and Al Harrington? Hey, I guess moving them helped the Knicks move the ball faster, but the biggest issue with me: You couldn’t snatch one first round pick? You couldn’t grab a couple second round picks? The trades are null and void because none of these moved helped either team, but for a great GM, I was honestly shocked when Walsh walked out of these negotiations without another 1st round pick for the Knicks down the road.

The 2009 NBA Draft

The 2009 Draft was another position for Walsh to add another good player on the roster. Let’s play the “look at the roster again” game.

• Wilson Chandler
• Mardy Collins
• Jamal Crawford
• Eddy Curry
• Chris Duhon
• Danilo Gallinari
• Jerome James
• Jared Jeffries
• David Lee
• Darko Milicic
• Nate Robinson
• Malik Rose

In a draft full of point guards, the Knicks needed one. With the 8th pick in the draft, the Knicks missed out on the point guard lot of Stephen Curry and Tyreke Evans, but still had Jrue Holiday, Darren Collison and Brandon Jennings all on the board. The Knicks decided to use that 8th pick on Jordan Hill, a power forward. Did I mention David Lee was a 20-10 guy playing power forward on the roster?

I might have been the only one on this, but I wanted Jrue Holiday over any other point guard in that draft. I honestly felt Holiday had the upside to be the best point guard from this draft, he had some offensive skill and he was a whiz on defensive. Not to mention, he was the youngest player in the draft at the time. Holiday’s range was 10-20 by the time draft time came around, but the Knicks should have chosen him.

We could have made the same argument about Brandon Jennings. Jennings went overseas, but he was considered the best point guard in high school and the 2nd overall player in that class. His passing was undeniable, he could slash to the basket with ease AND he had a strong attitude, which was mistaken for a aggressive attitude, comparable to Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson. His cockiness turned off D’Antoni, regardless of if he could play.

As for 2010, the Knicks moved Hill for McGrady, which allowed us to get Amar’e Stoudemire, but it doesn’t change the fact for me. It doesn’t make up the fact the Knicks threw away two seasons, made terrible trades and incorrect draft choices due to the leadership of Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni. I don’t want this to end on a rant, I will say Walsh did make a couple nice moves. Walsh did get the deal done for Carmelo Anthony, and I think that’s what really drained Walsh. A move that involved a borderline top 10 player being pushed around New York and the media was tough for him, and I think it changed him a bit.

While I’m happy as a Knicks fan, I’m sad to see Walsh go, but I’m even sadder to see what he left on the table.