Coveting Crawford

http://www.cavsnews.com/

This article supports the notion that other team (namely The Cavs) want Jamal on their roster. Now like I said in a previous Thread any deal made by The Cavs must get the approval of LBJ, so it's safe to say he is in favor of this one.

My question to you my fellow Knick Nerds is, would you pull the trigger on a deal for Larry Hughes and Jamal Crawford if you are the Knicks?

I would only if we were going to make another move to solidify our defense ie. a move for Ron Artest. We would have to also at some point acquire a D first, playmaking PG. But if we had a chance to get Ron then I'd consider the move because then you're talking about two All NBA defenders on the Knicks! Maybe get Garcia (Metro would be proud of me!) and now we start to resmble a real NBA team. This is actually not a farfetched trade Proposition, the only obstacle is our GM takes so much pride in the players he endorses that he may not trade away his new pet player! I would also want a pick due to Larry's contract being a little bit longer than Jamal's.

Mardy (for now)
Hughes
Artest
Zbo
Curry

Lee
Garcia (possibly)
Nate (assuming he's not apart of the Artest Deal)

Not a title contender by no means, but will compete. Send Eddy to Minn for Ratlif, or to Philly for Dalembrant and now were getting somewhere! Bring Back Van Gundy! Hire Oak and Ewing as assistants! Ok so I'm getting way ahead myself but I think you get my point! We need a defensive mentality back in NY

u make good points but larry hughes contract is terrible and i doubt we could get artest without trading nate

I would definitely NOT do the trade.That would be yet another trade that makes our team worse, and the other team better.I honestly believe that if the Cavs got Jamal Crawford, they'd win a championship, or at least get to the finals again.Crawford has no defense, but when you got a 30ppg player like Lebron on your side, it doesn't make much a difference.Plus, Jamal would get so many open shots off of Lebron's double teams.Look at how the Cavs lineup would look like, if the Knicks were dumb enough to pull the trigger.
PG-Daniel Gibson(good shooter)
SG-Jamal Crawford(good shooter)
SF-Lebron James(great shooter)
PF-Drew Gooden(good rebounder and defender)
C-Zydrunas Ilgauskas(good rebounder and scorer;has defense)
Look at how pathetic our lineup would look like
PG-Stephon Marbury(if he stays a Knick,good passer and scorer)
SG-Larry Hughes(inconsitent shooter,injury prone)
SF-Quentin Richardson(good defender, inconsistent shooter)
PF-Zach Randolph(good rebounder and scores in several ways, but not a team player)
C-Eddy Curry(good low post threat;no defense or rebounds, however)
If we are going to trade anyone, it should be Eddy Curry.He is the biggest liabilty on our team, because he's a starter that has no defense,rebounds,consistancy on offense,passing ability,conditioning and even though he's been knocking them down as of late, he has no free throws.Plus,Jamal Crawford makes less money than Hughes.

I forgot about Larry's injury woes. But just think about it, we were able to pair him a long with Artest another former NBA defensive player of the year, we have two good players on both sides of the ball. I know Larry is inconsitent in his shooting, but so is Jamal, and you wouldn't have to rely on Larry the same way. Plus Larry does play a lot more under control than Jamal. Now I want to make this clear, I am not saying Larry Hughes is the savior of the frachise all by himself. Like I said before other peices would need to be in place for to work. We would need a defending PG, SF, and Shot blocker, and I would only make that deal after I got atleast one of the three first, but he certainly fits the mold of what the Knicks need, a player who can score and defend. But if not Larry Hughes a player with his attributes, and again, I would also demand a draft pick for taking on his contract which will be a early first rounder this year.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=990~3179~687&teams=16~16~18&te=&cash=

A trade that would work. Ratlif has one year left on his contract! But if I'm Minn I'm thinking if the front court of Zach and Eddy didn't work, then why would AL Jefferson be any better? But if we caught Mchale on a good day, then this could be a step in getting us back to respectability

It still wouldn't work out. Look at Larry Hughes' fg% this season.He shoots 31% from 3, and just 34.9% from the field.You could put Hughes next to Michael Jordan himself, and it still wouldn't work.Hughes is too injury prone,makes too much money, and he can't even shoot anymore.We saw the damage Quentin Richardson was doing, when he had that slump for 35 of the first 41 games this season.We'd end up in the same situation, just at the shooting guard position, instead of the small forward.Also, Artest is not a reliable person to have as your leader.He is always getting technical fouls, suspended,injured, or in jail.He would make a good role player for our team, cause of his D, or maybe even part of a duo or trio, but you can't make him the face of the franchise.By the way, Jamal Crawford is Allen Iverson compared to Hughes.Hughes' shooting is disasterous.As inconsistent as Crawford is, has never shot 34% for a season in his career.

I think Crawford has done a nice job for us this season, but i'm with the rest of you guys if the right trade presented itself i'd gladly ship him. But Crawford for Hughes straight up isn't the right trade. And i can understand the argument about pairing him with Artest, but before i trade for Hughes i want to have Artest on the roster, not just the idea of him on the roster.


And hey i'm all for defense but the old Knicks had good old Patrick Ewing to fall back on to score us big buckets. Who would we have? and please don't respond Randolph.

Also love it or hate it Marbury won't play another game in a Knicks uniform. So don't pencil him into your lineups.

All that said if you could get Cleveland to get desperate and throw in a first round pick or take a bad contract off our hands i'd be off for it. Something like:

Crawford
Rose

for
Hughes
Shannon Brown (expiring contract)
pick

I would only trade for Hughes, if they are willing to take Jeffries,Jerome James, or Curry, and give us 2 first round draft picks draft picks for 2008 and 2009,and if they give us Drew Gooden.If they aren't willing to give us that, then I say keep Crawford.People are acting like if Crawford has no value.Whether you like Jamal or not, he's one of the top scorers in the league(19.8 ppg ranks 26th), and is one of the best shooting guards in the league. If we trade Crawford, I'm sure we could get better offers than Larry Hughes.Come on, defense or not,Crawford is still better than the 20 games per year, 34% shooting,Larry Hughes, both salary wise and talent wise.And I don't care what expiring contracts we get, I am not willing to make our team even more sh*tty than it is, and let the Cavaliers get 1 step closer to winning a championship.Let's take a look at Hughes' stats and Crawford's stats, for those of you that still might think trading for Hughes is smart.
Hughes salary:12 million per year Jamal Crawford:8.7 million per year
Hughes Crawford
FG% 34.9% 41%
3pt%31% 33.5%
PPG 9.8 19.8
Assists 2.3 4.7
Games played this season
Larry Hughes:29 Jamal Crawford:42

larry hughes for jared jeffries and jerome james or eddy curry is the only thing id want. Jamal is a better player and alot more healthier. Why get someone who is only guna play half a season? we dont need anotha hefty contract on our roster

Exactly,Larry Hughes will be to us like Steve Francis was to us the entire time he was in New York.We will have a guy who will always be injured, and when he finally gets to play, he will be inconsitent.