One Mans Plan to Fix the Knicks pt. 1

I always wanted to do one of these exercises; playing imaginery GM for the 2008 Knicks. I am starting with the current roster and guaranteed salary amounts over the next couple years with large players shown for each year.

Current roster 2008 payroll- $91M (Marbury- $21.9m, Randolph- $14.7m, Curry- $9.7m, Richardson- $8.8m, Crawford- $8.6m, Rose- $7.6m)

Current roster 2009 payroll- $58M (Randolph- $16m, Curry- $10.5m, Richardson- $9.4m, Crawford- $9.4m)

Current roster 2010 payroll- $28M (Randolph- $17.3m, Curry- $11.3m, Crawford- $10.8m)

As the Knicks are currently constructed they will finally have plenty of cap room in 2010 when key free agents Joe Johnson, Lebron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Tracy McGrady, Dwyane Wade, Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudamire, Manu Ginobili, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer can be some type of free agent. Now of course many of the above players will re-sign or not exercise options to become free agents, but still that is a lot of talent. However, knowing the Knicks they cannot/will not wait another two years of mediocrity or worse for this. Especially once D'Antoni was brought on. So here is 2008 Knicks depth chart as I see considering D'Antoni's playing style/preferences (number in parenthesis in my rudimentary rating of 1-10 of how they fit in with D'Antoni's style):

starting line-up: Marbury (4), Crawford (7), Richardson (8), Randolph (6), Curry (4)
key reserves: Jeffries (7), Robinson (7), Lee (8), Balkman (7), Chandler (6)
dead weight: Rose (3), James (0), Collins (3)

A couple comments on the above- I think Randolph can fit in well in the high post, similar to Stoudamire but with less explosiveness. I think Jeffries can be a Boris Diaw type who would be an effective 4 in a smallball line-up. Chandler is an effective shooter and could be a poor mans Richardson with some experience.

You have the #6 pick in the upcoming draft and the following expiring contracts: Marbury $21.9m, Rose $7.6m. I would guess the following players have some trade value to right team/system: Crawford (contract, scoring), Randolph (low post scoring), Curry (low post scoring), Robinson (young talent), Lee (young talent), Balkman (young talent).

In part 2 I will come up with some scenarios of trades, free agents, draft suggestion to improve the team for next year.