Actually, the Knicks would have made sense if Isiah Thomas hadn't screwed things up yet again. A package with Jalen Rose's expiring contract as the centerpiece would have been enticing to the Sixers, as it would have cleared nearly $17M off their cap for 2007-8. Problems with Iverson and Marbury fighting to the death over the ball? No problem, turn the trade into Rose and Marbury for Iverson and Webber. I believe that works under the 15% rule, or at the very least, is close enough that a minor contract could be thrown in. The Sixers would have been overjoyed to get rid of those two contracts and lop off a huge amount of their cap for the offseason. Throw in a first round pick, and the Sixers would have done that in a heartbeat. Remember, their first priority is cap relief. Talent is their second.
A Knicks starting five of Curry, Frye, Lee, Richardson and Iverson would NOT be bad. It would be a damn sight better than the crap they're trotting out now. Iverson, of course, is a ballhog. We know that. The Knicks, however, actually have guys who play to his strengths: Lee, Frye and Renaldo Balkman are good defenders who don't need the ball, and work their butts off for rebounds. Jared Jefferies, if he could get healthy, would be another one along those lines. Eddy Curry's a good low post scorer (with no other discernable skills). Richardson has found his outside stroke once again. That's a group that complements Iverson fairly well.
The bench would be shortened: Crawford, Webber (when healthy), Balkman and Jefferies (when healthy) would be the only guys to play. Steve Francis would be there only to back up Iverson, which means he'd play about 8 min. per game.
Only problem: Thomas, who's been waiting for a fire sale exactly like this since he took over as GM, finally gave up and bought out Rose's contract before the season.
The word is carter is a FA after the season and may go anyway. Carter would put people in the seats in Philly, and they think AI playing with Kidd would be good.
