This would be nice.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/story/455337p-383202c.html


Jalen Rose also is entering the last year of his contract and is a prime candidate to be traded by the deadline. There also is a possibility that the Knicks would look to buy out Rose's contract if Quentin Richardson cannot be traded. Over the summer, the Knicks came close to trading Richardson to Portland for Darius Miles, a player with a history of having a negative impact on team chemistry as well as the won-lost record.

Trade Flip Murray!

If Murray and Delfino are going to play decent minutes, and we're trying to get Amir Johnson some court time and Lindsey Hunter is gonna be part of the regular rotation exactly where would Jalen fit?

It's always nice to have a versatile swingman on the bench, but Jalen isn't what he used to be. Sure, he's probably not as bad as he looked last season but I just don't see where he fits.

How much defense don't you want?

If Murray and Delfino are going to play decent minutes, and we're trying to get Amir Johnson some court time and Lindsey Hunter is gonna be part of the regular rotation exactly where would Jalen fit?

It's always nice to have a versatile swingman on the bench, but Jalen isn't what he used to be. Sure, he's probably not as bad as he looked last season but I just don't see where he fits.


If he would sign for the minimum here I wouldn't care.

But to start, he would be my #2 PG for sure.

It's also about acquiring assets on the cheap IMO, and if that makes someone else expendable in a trade, so be it.

Yeah, i would play him and Delfino together off the bench and let either one handle the point. Flip Murray would come in if Delfino is shooting cold.

How much defense don't you want?

[smilie=Martz]

Jalen Rose is to defense and hustle plays what Ben Wallace is to free throws.

Jalen Rose is the weakest 6ft 9in perimeter defender in the leaugue. Flip will love him[smilie=sad3.gif]

Looks like the Mo Taylor buyout is progressing as well.

http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/brown_sics_legal_pit_bull_on_knicks_knicks_marc_be rman.htm


Veteran power forward Maurice Taylor will fly from his home in Houston to New York today but realizes his stay may be very brief. Taylor said he and his reps have discussed a buyout the past two weeks and it could be done before Monday's training camp.

"I'm hoping to get something done quick," Taylor told The Post. "[The Knicks] don't have any plans for me. They thought a buyout would be good for me too. It's 50-50."

Taylor's expiring contract has $9 million left and is expiring, meaning he's a definite trade pawn at the deadline.

"All I want is a fair shake, and my reps have talked to other teams," Taylor said. "I'm not in their future plans."

"All I want is a fair shake, and my reps have talked to other teams," Taylor said. "I'm not in their future plans."
Does this mean he's in any team's future plans, or is he referring to just the Knicks? If he's not, WTF would he want a buyout?

Definitely just referring to the Knicks there. Poor transition, but then again he's an athlete. I'm not sure what team's plans he would fit into. I don't think he helps a team working for the future or looking to win right now. Best I can see is a Glenn Robinson-type role with the Spurs.

More on Mo, interesting to see him defending LB. I wonder how Steph/Zeke feel about that? Might be another reason why Mo is on the way out.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09282006/sports/knicks/knicks_taylor_seeks_buyout_knicks_marc_berman.htm


KNICKS' TAYLOR SEEKS BUYOUT

By MARC BERMAN

September 28, 2006 -- Maurice Taylor probably wouldn't make the best witness tomorrow for the Knicks in their lame case against Larry Brown violating his $50 million contract last season.

Taylor, hoping to have his contract bought out before training camp opens Monday, told The Post the Knicks' mismatched roster was cause for their 23-59 demise, not the head coach. And Taylor isn't sure Isiah Thomas did enough in the summer to lift the club into the playoffs.

"First and foremost, we're a bad team," said Taylor, who arrived into New York yesterday from his home in Houston. "Let's get that out of the way first. It's not all of a sudden we weren't winning. How did Don Chaney do? How did Lenny Wilkens do? How did Herb Williams do? It's not like we were just bad lately. So I don't look at it as Larry failing miserably.

"The most surprising part is they fired him with so many years left on his contract," Taylor said. "And he's also a Hall of Fame coach."

The Knicks have recorded five consecutive losing seasons, making the playoffs just once in that span. They experienced a 10-game nosedive from 2004-2005 to 2005-2006 - from 33-49 to 23-59. That was far from the league's worst slippage, as Seattle and Houston each shared the league-high with 17-game slides.

With a coaching change and very minor tinkering to the roster, Thomas now says making the playoffs is "realistic." Taylor said he believes that's stretching it.

"Coming from 23 wins to talking about making the playoffs, you have a ways to go," Taylor said. "Maybe Larry could've won more games, but the truth is in the numbers and we had 23 wins."

Thomas said he thinks they won't this season, raving about the roster after Brown's firing. Thomas added a role player in Jared Jeffries and passed on the super-talented UConn point guard Marcus Williams at No. 20 to take an anonymous energy bench guy, Renaldo Balkman. Balkman likely would have been available at 29.

"There were a lot of changes around the league, but we didn't make any to the core of the team," Taylor said. "But we have a lot of young guys left so they're definitely going to get better."

With youngsters Channing Frye and David Lee at power forward, Taylor understands he has no role on the team other than as a valuable trade pawn because of his expiring $9M contract. At this stage, owner James Dolan, footing an embarrassing league-high $130 million payroll, wants to save money, not take on more long-term deals. So the Knicks approached agent David Falk about a buyout and the sides have begun preliminary talks.

"I would play the young guys, too," Taylor said. "They're not trying to spite me. I'm not saying what they're doing is a bad thing. But it's bad for me. I'm a much better player than what you saw in New York."

Blakely Blog...


No Mo-town for Mo Taylor?

The NBA unemployment line just got a little bit longer, and "the new guy" - Detroit native and former University of Michigan star Maurice Taylor - should be pretty close to the front of the group.

When the New York Knicks cut him and his $9.75 million salary loose yesterday, I got a handful of emails wondering if the Pistons will pursue him.

Folks, the only time you'll see Mo Taylor around these parts is when he's back home in the summer, and when he rolls into The Palace on another team's roster.

It's not that Detroit doesn't like what he does on the court (offensively, at least). And it's not like the Pistons aren't loving the fact that a player with his skills and his experience who is still fairly young (he'll be 30 at the end of October) will, in all likelihood, be playing for the veteran's minimum this season.

However, a Mo Taylor return would soon result in Mo coming down with Darko-itis -- a surly attitude after not getting as many minutes as expected. Symptoms include: pouty bottom lip; uncontrollable finger-pointing and an occasional traffic infraction.

Mo is in a contract year, and that means (to him and most free-agents-to-be, at least) he has to be somewhere that'll give him a chance to play big minutes.

He would play some in Detroit, but you know Rasheed and Dice are going to get the bulk of the minutes at power forward, and Mo at the 3 spot is a defensive disaster waiting to happen in real life or on XBox (try it out, and you'll see what I mean).

Mo is going to have plenty of teams to choose from, but I believe his best bet - if they're interested - would be the Los Angeles Lakers.

He would be a solid No. 2 or 3 scorer on that roster, with the ability to really cause opponents problems in the Lakers' Triangle offense because of his mid-range shooting ability. It would take some of the pressure off Lamar Odom, who was clearly not ready to be Kobe's sidekick last season.

Plus, Mo would be on a team that's going to be in the hunt for one of the last playoff spots out West which means he could have a Bonzi Wells-like breakout in the playoffs and ... oh yeah, I guess that didn't work out too well for B-Wells, did it?

At any rate, a strong season with a solid playoff performance might be just enough to get someone to offer Mo their mid-level exception next summer.

Of course, he can take the, 'score-a-bunch, lose-a-bunch' route and hook on with Atlanta, which will probably at least inquire about whether he's interested in taking the Hawks money, assuming they ever figure out who should writing the checks!

Regardless of what Mo does, one thing is very clear: he won't be out of work long.

But if you're hoping the Pistons will be that team, sorry, but I really don't see it happening.

I remember laughing my ass off about this gem at the time, despite it being fucking Hoopsworld:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_11895.shtml

Maurice Evans vs. a Can of Diet Coke...

Oops, I meant Maurice Taylor.

(Fuck, I typed Evans initially -- must've been Freudian.)

Mo Taylor with the kings

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061004/SPORTS03/610040382/1051


Sacramento: The Kings signed veteran forward Maurice Taylor, who spent the past 1 1/2 years with the New York Knicks, averaging 6.3 points and 3.4 rebounds last season. Kings coach Eric Musselman expects to use Taylor, a former star at Michigan, as a backup center (wuh?) behind Brad Miller.

The way this league is going someone's gonna try Moochie Norris at center before the year is over.

Well, he is close to 7' with the fro.

http://www.clutchfans.net/images/profiles/Moochie_Norris.jpg

that is a very flattering pic.

They play similar style defense.

http://www.valdosta.edu/europeancouncil/students/Spain/bull%20fighter.jpg

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/story/458504p-385834c.html


NOT SO ROSY: Jalen Rose looks like the odd man out in the Knicks' rotation to everyone but Rose and Thomas. Despite the fact that Rose holds an expiring contract and Thomas has a history of trading players in the last year of their deals, Thomas predicted that Rose will finish the season as a Knick.

More on Jalen

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/story/458881p-386108c.html


With the arrival of free agent small forward Jared Jeffries and rookie forward Renaldo Balkman, Thomas may look to trade either Jalen Rose or Quentin Richardson. Thomas also sees second-year power forwards Channing Frye and David Lee as important pieces to the team, which leaves Malik Rose, whom the Knicks tried to deal last year, as potential trade bait.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/printedition/ny-spknix064920594oct06,0,3045896.story?coll=ny-sports-print


Still, with an expiring contract in 33-year-old Jalen Rose, who is set to make $16,901,500 this season, and an unusual depth of competition in the backcourt, where either Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson will wind up as wasted assets on the bench, the Knicks appear to need to trim more fat than merely the Maurice Taylor buyout.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10162006/sports/knicks/rose_guardin_knicks_marc_berman.htm


It is becoming increasingly clear Rose is not in Thomas' plans for his 10-man rotation, unless camp standout Quentin Richardson is traded.

Another possibility, if Rose becomes disgruntled, is the team reaching a buyout on the $16.9 million left on his expiring contract. However, Rose's pact is a pawn at the trade deadline, even though Thomas said he won't trade Rose because the club is no longer in adding-to-the-payroll mode.


Will Rose be laughing and joking after a series of DNPs? He's got a huge ego, and was insulted at questions in Charleston about possibly not playing.

Rose did not dress in Friday's preseason opener, with a team official saying Thomas was saving him for a Philly start. "I'm an elder statesman on this team," Rose said. "My role on this team is to be a solid contributor, fit in and win games. Do whatever Isiah asks me to do. It's not up to Jalen to say it's preseason, I need 40 minutes."

so NY is no longer in "adding to payroll mode" i see. If that is the case, it will take a while to weed out the crappy contracts. They should just buy out all those bloated contracts and start fresh with their core.