Do not blame Isiah! It is primarily Layden’s fault, with a little help from Brown.
The following history is lengthy, but I have always felt that the media was unfair to Isiah so I decided to do some homework.
Scott Layden was hired as General Manager on August 11, 1999. He replaced Ed Tapscott who was an interim General Manager. Tapscott’s parting gift was selecting Frederic Weis over Ron Artest in the 1999 draft.
Layden remained General Manager until December 22, 2003 when he was fired and Isiah took over. Layden had received a 7 year $28 million dollar contract. Unbelievable!
The previous season – 1998 – 1999 – was a lockout shortened season. The Knicks record was 27–23, but they went to the finals from the eighth seed, losing to San Antonio, 4 to 1.
The next season, 1999–2000, was Layden’s first. It took awhile for him to do his damage because the Knicks’ record in that season was 50–32. This time they lost to Indiana in the conference finals, 4–2.
The Team Layden Inherited.
The principal players for the Knicks in Layden’s first season, 1999 –2000, were: Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Alan Houston, Marcus Camby, Latrell Sprewell, Kurt Thomas, Charlie Ward, John Wallace, Chris Childs, and Chris Dudley.
Layden’s Trades and Contracts
October, 1999. Layden re-signed Latrell Sprewell to a 5 year, $61.9 million dollar contract.
August, 2000. Layden re-signed Kurt Thomas.
September 2000. Layden traded Patrick Ewing to Seattle and Chris Dudley to Phoenix for Glen Rice, Luc Longley, Travis Knight, Vernon Maxwell, Vladimir Stepania and Lazaro Borrell. The Knicks gave up their first round 2001 pick to Phoenix but got two first round picks – one from the Lakers and the other from Seattle – and two second round picks from Seattle. Maxwell, Stepania and Borrell were waived within a month or two. Rice, Longley and Knight had substantial contracts. The Knicks should have let Patrick’s contract expire or trade him for other expiring contracts. This deal created cap problems going forward.
January, 2001. Layden traded Erick Strickland and one of the 2001 first round picks from the Ewing trade and a second round pick to Vancouver for Othella Harrington.
February, 2001. Layden traded Chris Childs and the other 2001 first round pick from the Ewing trade to Toronto for Muggsy Bogues and Mark Jackson.
As a result of these last two transactions, the Knicks had no first round picks rather than two first round picks in the 2001 draft. The last four first round picks in that draft were Gerald Wallace, Samuel Dalembert, Jamaal Tinsley, and Tony Parker. Gilbert Arenas and Mehmet Okur were second round picks.
July, 2001. Layden re-signed Alan Houston to a 6 year $100.4 million dollar contract. Houston was a free agent with no known suitors willing to go any where near $100 million. This was a ridiculous contract.
July, 2001. Layden signed Clarence Weatherspoon to a five year $27.2 million dollar contract, the full mid-level exception. For Weatherspoon’s talents, this was also a ridiculous contract.
August 2001. Layden traded Glen Rice to Houston and Muggsy Bogues to Dallas for Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson. They both came with minimal talent and expensive long term contracts. These were absurd transactions.
September, 2001. Luc Longley is waived/retired as the result of injury. His guaranteed contract counts against the cap.
October, 2001. Larry Johnson is waived/retired as the result of injury. His guaranteed contract counts against the cap.
December, 2001. Jeff Van Gundy sees the “non-light” and resigns.
June 2002. In connection with the 2002 draft, Layden traded Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and rights to the 7th pick (Nene) to Denver for Antonio McDyess and rights to the 24th pick (Frank Williams). McDyess had been a great player but was coming off a serious injury. The gamble did not pay off.
August, 2002. Layden signed Michael Doleac. Reasonable contract.
July 2003. Layden traded Latrell Sprewell to the Timberwolves and received Keith Van Horn from Philadelphia. Van Horn came with a heavy contract extending beyond Sprewell’s.
October, 2003. Layden signed Dikembe Mutombo to a three year $10 million dollar contract.
Layden’s Draft Picks
Layden presided over four drafts, 2000–2003. There were trades, some complicated, affecting draft position, but the following are the persons drafted in the 1st or 2nd round under Layden:
2000 Draft – Donnell Harvey at 22 and Lavor Postell at 39. On draft day, Layden traded the rights to Harvey to Dallas for Erick Strickland and the rights to Pete Mickeal.
2001 Draft – Michael Wright at 39 and Eric Chenowith at 43. As already noted, Layden had given up the two first round picks obtained in the Ewing trade in subsequent trades with Vancouver and Toronto.
2002 Draft – Frank Williams at 24 and M. Vujanic at 36. In the trade for McDyess, the Knicks gave up the 7th pick to Denver, for Denver’s 24th pick. The Knicks picked Nene for Denver. The Knicks got Frank Williams at 24. Vujanic is supposedly a good player, but he has stayed in Europe. The three players taken immediately after Nene at 7 were Chris Wilcox, Amare Stoudemire, and Caron Butler. Carlos Boozer was taken in the second round and was thus available to the Knicks at 24.
2003 Draft – Michael Sweetney at 9, Maciej Lampe at 30, and Slavko Vranes at 39. Among the players taken after Sweetney were Mickeal Pietrus, David West, Boris Diaw, Carlos DelFino, Travis Outlaw, Leandro Barbosa, and Josh Howard.
With the exception of Sweetney, not a one of Layden’s picks ever made a dent in the NBA and the grossly overweight Sweetney is hardly a success.
The Team Isiah Inherited.
Isiah took over from Layden on December 22, 2003. The principal players inherited were: Alan Houston, Kurt Thomas, Keith Van Horn, Othella Harrington, Charlie Ward, Clarence Weatherspoon, Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, Dikembe Mutombo, and Michael Doleac. McDyess was on the roster but not active and still recovering from his second serious injury.
Houston, Van Horn, Anderson and Eisley all had significant long term contracts. And Houston had bad knees.
Isiah did not have much. I believe that at this time, however, the Knicks had their draft picks going forward from the 2004 draft onward. In retrospect, it is easy to say that the Knicks should have rebuilt through the draft. But they did not have much to offer in trades and without something to trade for a pick, you can only draft one first rounder at a time. The Knicks were well over the cap for at least a couple of years so free agent signings would have to wait. Houston’s contract and his injury made him un-tradeable. Anderson and Eisley had long term contracts wholly beyond their basketball capacities. Van Horn had a huge contract and had continually regressed in performance. Kurt Thomas was the only Knick with any value to other teams. Building up through the draft was legitimately not appealing.
Dolan appeared to be willing to spend money and no one expected New York fans to embrace a slow rebuilding process. When Isiah arrived a significant part of the Isiah/Dolan plan appears to have been to “buy” competitiveness by spending money despite extending and increasing the already over the cap status. Good players generally have good contracts. For over the cap teams, trading for good players required at least reasonably matching expiring contracts. As long as Dolan was willing to spend, this plan was not unreasonable. Of course, it would help to spend wisely.
Isiah’s Trades and Contracts.
December, 2003. Isiah traded Clarence Weatherspoon to Houston for Moochie Norris and John Amaechi. Weatherspoon had two years and $12 million dollars plus remaining on his contract. Moochie Norris had three years and $12 million dollars plus remaining on his contract. Amaechi did not have a substantial contract and was subsequently waived. This was pretty much a wash, but the Knicks spent more money than the Rockets and Weatherspoon would be off the cap before Norris.
January 2004. Isiah traded McDyess, Eisley, Ward, Maciej Lampe, the rights to Milos Vujanic – who has yet to leave Europe – cash, a 2004 first round pick and a future first round pick for Stephon Marbury, Anfernee Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski. Hardaway and Marbury, particularly, brought large long term contracts with them. Isiah gave up non-players – McDyess is only now getting back to some of his old form – and future picks for one star and two big contracts.
Phoenix later traded the two first round draft choices to Utah. The 2004 choice was number 16. Utah drafted Kirk Snyder. The “future” choice has not yet come into play because it is protected until 2010. It was top 24 protected for this draft, 2007; it is top 23 protected for 2008; top 22 protected for 2009; and unprotected for 2010. This could come back to haunt the Knicks.
February, 2004. Isiah sent Van Horn to Milwaukee and Doleac and a 2005 2nd round pick to Atlanta – the better of the two the Knicks then had – for Tim Thomas from Milwaukee and Nazr Mohammed from Atlanta. I believe Van Horn’s contract was more onerous than Thomas’s and that Mohammed’s contract was not particularly bad.
March, 2004. Isiah signed Vin Baker to a minimum contract. He was re-signed in August. He did very little and cost very little.
March, 2004. Isiah re-signed Kurt Thomas. He received a 4 year $30.9 million dollar contract extension through the 2008-2009 season.
August, 2004. In a sign and trade, the Knicks got Jamal Crawford and his 7 year $55.4 million dollar contract and Jerome Williams and his substantial long term contract, from Chicago for Othella Harrington, Dikembe Mutombo, Cezary Trybanski, and Frank Williams.
So far Isiah has spent a lot of Dolan’s money and extended the period within which and the amount by which the Knicks will be over the cap going forward, but he has not given up any player likely to help currently or in a rebuilding process. Crawford and Marbury are players. Thomas, despite his shortcomings, was an improvement over Van Horn.
November, 2004. The Knicks waived Shandon Anderson, eating the balance of his contract.
February 2005. Isiah traded Moochie Norris, Vin Baker and a 2006 second round pick to Houston for Maurice Taylor and his sizable contract. Isiah had signed Baker for minimum money after the Celtics had given up on him. Taylor was an improvement, but not much and he was very expensive.
February, 2005. Isiah also traded Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer to San Antonio for Malik Rose, another player with a substantial long term contract. He still has two more years left at over $7 million each year. Brewer had signed a one year free agent contract in August of 2004. The Knicks received two first round picks from the Spurs, one for 2005 and one for 2006. The 2005 first round pick was originally Phoenix’s. The 2006 pick was the Spurs’ pick. At this point, Isiah appears to continue to view currently expensive contracts as future valuable assets when the contracts are about to expire. He is also picking up draft choices.
February, 2005. Isiah signed Jackie Butler.
June, 2005. Isiah acquired Quentin Richardson, the draft rights to Nate Robinson and some cash from Phoenix for Kurt Thomas and the draft rights to Dijon Thompson, who was a second round Knicks pick at 54. The then current salaries of Thomas and Richardson were comparable, but Richardson’s contract extended two years longer than Thomas’s. Richardson’s contract extends three more years, with a player option for the final year – $8.1 million next season, $8.8 million the year after, and $9.3 million in the last year.
July, 2005. Larry Brown is hired as coach of the Knicks.
August, 2005. After the Knicks invoked the NBA amnesty provision with respect to his remaining contract, Jerome Williams retired.
August, 2005. Isiah signed Jerome James to a five year full mid-level contract of $29 million plus. This plainly has not worked. I do not expect James to show up in shape for the coming season.
October, 2005. The Knicks acquired Curry and Antonio Davis, for Sweetney, Tim Thomas and Jermaine Jackson. Curry was a restricted free agent and the deal was a sign and trade. Curry’s current contract runs through 2010-2011 at about $10 million a year. Curry has a player option for each of the last two years. Chicago also received the Knicks 2nd round picks for 2007 and 2009, their first round pick for 2006, and the right to switch the 2007 first round picks. The 2006 first round pick was Tyrus Thomas at number 3. The 2007 pick to Chicago will be the 9th pick and the Chicago pick to the Knicks will be the 23rd pick. Curry was very expensive. But Isiah could not reasonably have expected a 23-59 season under Larry Brown and two years of lottery eligible play.
October, 2005. Alan Houston retired due to chronic bad knees. He had two years left on his contract that would continue to count against the Knicks’ cap through the 2006-2007 season. That last year contract amount was over $20 million. This, of course, was Layden’s contract.
February 3, 2006. The Knicks traded Antonio Davis and his expiring contract to Toronto for Jalen Rose and his very substantial contract, a 2006 first round pick and some cash. I have no idea why this was done. I recall reading that Brown agreed and/or affirmatively wanted him. Perhaps he was acquired for the asset value of his ridiculous contract when it was about to expire. It expired at the end of the 2006-2007season when it was worth $16.9 million. To the extent that using his expiring contract as a trade asset was ever part of a plan, it was abandoned after the Brown fiasco and Jalen Rose was bought out. The transaction did produce a 2006 first round draft choice and that choice was used to select Renaldo Balkman..
February 22, 2006. The Knicks obtained Steve Francis from Orlando for Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza. Hardaway had an expiring contract. Ariza, an Isiah favorite, was called delusional by Brown. Francis came with a huge contract. He has $16.4 million due this coming season and $17.1 million due for 2008-2009. This trade made no sense. My impression is that this was all Brown’s doing, not Isiah’s.
August, 2006. Isiah signed Jared Jefferies to a five year full mid level contract for approximately $30 million. He has been a disappointment, but there is still some hope. Isiah has apparently given up on James, but from the minutes he continued to give Jefferies during last season, he has not given up on him.
September, 2006. The Knicks waived Maurice Taylor eating, I assume, most if not all of the balance of his contract. He was due $9.75 million last season. He is now off the cap.
October, 2006. The Knicks waived Jalen Rose eating all but about $1.5 million of his $16.9 million contract balance.
October, 2006. The Knicks signed Kelvin Cato. He is not signed for next year.
March, 2007. The Knicks signed Randolph Morris.
As the result of the “departures” of Alan Houston, Jalen Rose, Jerome Williams, Shandon Anderson, and Maurice Taylor, the Knicks committed salaries for the 2007-2008 season are just over $87 million and essentially the same for the 2008-2009 season. Marbury, Francis and Malik Rose – to the combined tune of about $50 million dollars – come off the cap after the 2008-2009 season. As matters now stand, the currently committed contract amount for the 2009-2010 season is about $41 million and for the 2010-2011 season about $28 million.
There is talk of a Francis buy-out. He has $16,440,000 coming to him for 2007-2008 and $17,180,000 for 2008-2009. I do not see a buy out unless Francis is confident of a substantial contract from another team and he is willing to take a deep discount. Francis can play when he wants to and some times he wants to when he is featured. If Marbury is injured, Francis would be valuable. Rose is due over $7 million this year and over $7.6 million next year. The current Knick roster, without a 2007draft choice, is at 15. Kelvin Cato would seem the most likely departure.
Isiah’s Draft Picks.
2004 Draft– Trevor Ariza at 43 in the second round. A very good pick at that spot. Ariza is and will continue to be an NBA contributor. I think he would still be a Knick if it were not for Brown.
2005 Draft – Channing Frye at 8, Nate Robinson at 21 and David Lee at 30. Frye and Lee, particularly, are very solid. Robinson has promise, has flashes of brilliance and is a fan favorite, but he needs to grow up and focus. Jarett Jack was picked right after Nate and Monta Ellis was taken in the second round.
2006 Draft – Renaldo Balkman at 20 and Mardy Collins at 29. Both are good. If they learn to shoot jump shots, they can be very good. Rajon Rondo and Marcus Williams were taken in the first round after Balkman. Craig Smith, Paul Millsap and Daniel Gibson were taken in the second round.
All of Isiah’s picks are and will continue to be NBA contributors.
The Isiah Knicks were very expensive and they certainly have limitations. His draft picks have been excellent. His free agent signings, namely James and Jefferies, are disappointments. But the team is much better than what he inherited from Layden and it now has an increasingly bright future. I do not think Isiah had too many alternatives when he started.
Larry Brown seemed like a good idea at the time, but he was a disaster. In the aftermath, there appears to have been an abandonment of any plans to continue to use expiring contracts as trade assets. No more Steve Francis type transactions. This appears to follow from the buy-outs of Jalen Rose and Maurice Taylor, each of whom had only one year left on his contract. There was very little value from them but a very substantial expense. But that is just Dolan’s money.
I am an Isiah fan. I am also a Dolan fan. Dolan has spent heavily in an attempt to bring New York good basketball. Marbury, Crawford, Curry, Frye, Lee, Richardson (hopefully healthy and without back pain), Balkman, Collins, Robinson and, Jefferies (maybe) will provide entertaining and competitive basketball. I do not know much about Randolph Morris. Only Rose, Cato (who has no contract), Marbury, and Francis are over 27. The nucleus is young.
The Knicks are not getting Kobe, they’re not getting KG, and they’re not getting Jermaine. I don’t think they’re getting Artest, but that is not impossible and would be interesting. I like Sean Williams, Wilson Chandler, and Daequan Cook as possible draft picks. Each is risky and they all have significant upsides. The Knicks do not need a “shooter” as much as they need several of their players to develop a shot. Jefferies, Collins, Balkman, Curry and Lee do not have much beyond five feet from the basket. Frye does not have much of a “handle.” I hope their summers have been busy.
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