With yet another forgettable Knicks season mercifully coming to a close, the discussion in NYC is now focused on how to rebuild this once-proud franchise. I’ll save the question of whether Isiah Thomas, who’s so far done little to show that he’s up to the task, for another day because with the sun shining and an evening of downing craft beers at Brewtopia looming, today is a day built for daydreaming.
Which is exactly what the NY Daily News’ Knicks beat writer Frank Isola was doing when he penned today’s piece on the possibility of Clevo’s 7-3 All-Star center Zydrunas Ilgauskas becoming a Knick this off-season.
Since Z’s going to be an unrestricted free agent and he and his wife are going to move to NYC, it’s only natural that Isola speculate on the highly unlikely odds of the Knicks swinging a sign-and-trade deal for Ilgauskas. As has become de rigueur for the Knicks the past several seasons, the main problem — they don’t have any players other teams want — will prevent Isiah Thomas from making the sort of moves, such as acquiring Z, that will make the Knicks better immediately, which is something that most knowledgeable and honest Knicks fans have known isn’t possible all along.
Back in February, following Thomas’s addition of two more back-up power forwards to the NBA’s largest collection of such players, the Knickerblogger suggested that there was nothing that could really be done until 2007. While we can quibble about the timeframe — 2007 seems a bit ambitious to me — the essential fact is that the Knicks must be rebuilt.
As another pointless season of mediocrity winds down, it’s certainly appealing to conjure up scenarios, like Ilgauskas becoming a Knick this off-season, that would put the Knickerbockers on a speedier path to respectability but almost none of these scenarios are viable or realistic.
The only realistic option is accepting that the Knicks are several seasons away from contending for an NBA championship. It may be a bitter pill to swallow but the truth often is.
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on Apr 18th, 2005 at 8:47 am
Contend for a championship? Now that’s ambitious!
I just hope that Isiah can stay the course with rebuilding & not go after any fix it quick schemes like Zydrunas. We’ll know this summer if he picks up any longer term deals or deals Sweetney for Ilgauskas (although Cle has Gooden…)
on Apr 20th, 2005 at 5:32 pm
I hope the Knicks get better. I need a team to cheer for between baseball seasons.