MVN - Most Valuable Network

DUHON DEALS

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Thank you, Corey Maggette. Kevin Bradbury, Chris Duhon’s agent, confirmed that Duhon celebrated his July 4th by verbally committing to the New York Knicks. The agreement is a two-year contract for roughly $6.5 million. I thank Maggette because Orlando didn’t want to extend Duhon a formal offer until after they could explore Maggette first. The Bulls former backup point guard chose the Knicks because they courted him on the first day of free agency and extended him an offer immediately.

Duhon, or any other free agent, can’t officially sign anywhere until July 9th. A source close to Donnie Walsh said Duhon’s signing does not mean Stephon Marbury will be demoted or bought out. The plan, until further notice, is to have Duhon compete with Marbury for the starting job.

“You only get so many chances to get your game to the next level and to be able to be a starter,” Bradbury said. “He’s been told he’ll be given every opportunity to win that job.”

I am very pleased this worked out, knock on wood. Anything can happen so I wont be totally convinced until the 9th but this is good news. Duhon should not only win the starting job immediately but I think he’ll thrive in this system because he can pass, play very good defense and shoot the three. Mike D’Antoni’s system will boost his scoring average right away.

I think this was a very smart signing. Great Job Donnie Walsh! Now keep it going. We have a ways to go.

Credit: Marc Berman of the NY Post

Knicks fill Nets?

Disclaimer: This is purely my speculation and a thought that popped into my head. That’s all it is. Don’t ask me for sources or anything else because it’s not coming. I’m going to bring a few options available on the market I find interesting and would like to start an open discussion about. This is the first.
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Through all of this free agent talk I made the previous list of unrestricted free agents I’d be open to. I don’t look at restricted free agents until I see if they are offered qualifying offers from their respective teams. For the most part I don’t mess with RFAs because the other team gets to math any offer made but in reality it’s not the end of the world. There’s a lot worse thing than not signing someone because another team outbid or matched your offer.

That being said, there is a local European talent who has just received a $2.7 million qualifying offer from his team, the New Jersey Nets Nenad Krstic. The 7-foot forward’s status with the nets could be affected by the acquisition of Yi Jianlian.

I’m not saying Donnie Walsh should dump $40 million on Krstic but I’d spend at least $4 million a year for his talents. Krstic is a power forward. That would almost certainly eliminate him from Walsh’s thoughts since Danilo Gallinari will now be playing power forward. The reason for the exception in my eyes this time is Danilo could either play small forward or better yet Krstic could play center for us. I think Krstic would be a MONSTER center in Mike D’Antoni’s system. Our new center needs to be an athletic big man who can run the floor. We can use some of the money left form the exception to Chris Duhon. If the Nets pulled him back maybe we could work a sign-and-trade out with them. How about using a power forward?

Imagine…
PG: Chris Duhon
SG: Jamal Crawford
SF: Renaldo Balkman
PF: Danilo “D-Lo” Gallinari
C: Nenad Krstic

That sounds good to me. I think that would be fun to watch. You guys?

Baby Steps

As tortured Knick fans over the past few years we have been inclined (whether knowingly or not) to kill every move the team makes without even thinking about it.  This is probably why poor Danillo Gallinari was booed on draft day (he had nothing to do with any of the losing!!  Give the guy a shot!!!).  Now I’ve heard some negative reaction to the contract offered to Chris Duhon formally of the Chicago Bulls.  If Duhon signs this apparent 2 year deal the Knicks offered it would be perfect.  So before you kill the signing take a second to think about it…….

1. Who do you want to run the offense for the next two years until the best free agents ever are available in 2010?  I’m not just talking about Lebron there is D-Wade, Bosh, etc etc. all on the market in that one off-season.  I for one do not want to sit through another 2 years of crappy basketball for a chance at a player(s) New York might not acquire.  Duhon would definitely help he will not hurt the team.  Besides the Knicks don’t even have their first round pick next year…….(THANKS ALOT ISIAH!!!!)  They might as well win some games, right?

2. Who do you want to run the offense instead of Duhon?  Nate Robinson? Jamal Crawford? Mardy Collins?Please give me a break.  I would only want those guys running the offense if it was a choice between them or “Star”bury.  I’d much rather have the pass first Duhon. 

Relax Knick fans it’s been a long run of bull shizznat, I know, but we have management we can trust now.  The Walsh/D’Antoni combination has not even had a chance yet.  It takes one step at a time and sometimes that one step is a little baby step aka Chris Duhon.  Just like in the movie “What About Bob” it takes baby steps to get to the goal which is ultimately the NBA Championship.

http://knickscentral.blogspot.com

Mess With The Bull, Get The Horns, Got the Point?

Here’s the world’s worst secret that nearly everyone has already reported. The Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni era needs a leader. Its no secret the Knicks are in the market for a point guard. Today they made an offer to Bulls point guard Chris Duhon.

Duhon’s agent, Kevin Bradbury told the Sporting News, “Chris’ all-around game could blossom under an offensive coach like Mike D’Antoni. No one knows what will happen at this point, and who knows where things will end up, but the Knicks are a team we would hope would be genuinely interested. Chris is only 25, so he has room to grow.”

The Knicks need a point guard who can advance the ball and get it to the scorers on the floor. That’s the Mike D’Antoni, up-tempo system, point guard responsibilities. The current Knick guards are scorers and the Knicks are desperately looking for a point guard who will look to pass first. The best part of Duhon’s game is his defense. Duhon averaged 4.5 assists against 1.4 turnovers and nearly a steal per game in just 25.8 minutes in his four-year career with the Bulls.

Mike D’Antoni is reportedly very high on adding Duhon to his system. When D’Antoni was the Suns’ coach, he tried to acquire Duhon to play as Steve Nash’s’ backup. D’Antoni is assumably getting advise from Mike Krzyzewski. D’Antoni is on Coach K’s staff for USA Basketball. Krzyzewski, of course, knows Duhon from his days at Duke. D’Antoni’s system is known for making guards flourish.

If the Knicks sign Duhon, it will be a sign of a buyout or release for Stephon Marbury. Duhon is a question mark as far as whether he can handle the workload since he’s never been a 35-minute-per-night player.

“He has shown the ability to distribute the ball, but he can also shoot from the perimeter,” Bradbury said. “He hasn’t always been allowed to do that. His defense, of course, everybody knows about. That’s unquestioned.”

Despite the offer, a sign-and-trade with Chicago is a possibility. Bulls GM John Paxson covets David Lee but in order to get him he’d have to be willing to take on some salary from other players thrown in. The Bulls have restricted free agents to worry about so the Bulls might not be willing to take the Knicks’ junk.

The Knicks are expected to offer Duhon a two-year deal worth roughly half of the mid-level exception, totaling around $6 million.

“Our backcourt could be a little thin right now,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We could get some help there, no doubt.”

I have to say I LOVE this move! We SHOULD sign defensive, pass first point guards. D’Antoni’s system will automatically boost anyone’s offensive numbers so I think Duhan would be a great choice. I also love that he’s young. He’s a guy who could be re-signed come 2010 at a respectable price if he works out. Just so everyone knows, July 1 was when NBA teams could begin negotiating with free agents. Teams can’t finally begin signing free agents until July 9. That’s why all of the reports of Barron Davis and other signing contracts are being reported as players ‘agreeing’ or ‘verbally agreed’ with teams and not signing with them yet.

Credit: Sean Deveney of the Sporting News
Credit: Alan Hann of Newsday
Credit: New York Daily News

On a side note, please realize that the Father Knickerbocker writers have full time jobs and can only post when they are home. I am posting now at 4:42 AM because I just got home from work at 4 AM. We don’t get paid for this. We don’t have credentials. We try our best to bring you the news and a place to chat about the Knicks. Please don’t freak out with comments like “There is a rumor that the Knicks signed Chris Duhon to a 2 year deal and nobody on this site even posts an update? Forget this site, I’m never coming back.” Alex and I do our best for you guys. Mike chimes in when he can. We have lives to and believe me it takes a lot of time to write articles all the time. It’s easy to just go to a website and a totally different thing to fill that page up. Thank you for coming to Father Knickerbocker. Please tell your friends about us if you enjoy what we do.

Dan S, I’m very pleased to see you were kidding. You would have been a true loss.