The Knicks: Fucked?

As a sports loving male in his 20's, one of my favorite things to do used to be (is?) rebuilding my favorite sports teams via video game. The Mets with Brandon Webb and Francisco Liriano in their rotation? Sure. The Rams with Mario Williams at DE? Perfect. Of course, when you do this, you tend to keep those players that you love, that you WANT to see succeed. David Wright didn't go anywhere. Neither did Jose Reyes, or Ryan Church. Steven Jackson, Richie Incognito and OJ Agotwe? Not playing home games outside of Missouri.

Whats my point? Well, I'm a Knick fan. Always have been. Nothing was ever funnier to me than when Chris Rock said that Jermaine Jackson (R.I.P. Michael) was so greasy, he was glistening, "like Patrick Ewing in the fourth quarter. Somebody throw some sand on that nigga!!!!"

Lets run through an exercise here. Who from the Knicks would I keep, if I were playing a video game, i.e. Who do I want Donnie Walsh to keep in rebuilding the team (other than whoever LeBron tells him to)? And, I'm thinking long term (i.e. 2010), since we all know we're not going anywhere next year, and everyone knows that 2010 is when the real rebuilding (James, Wade, Bosh, Nowitzki, Stoudamire, etc...) begins.

Current Knick Players:

Wilson Chandler, Joe Crawford, Eddy Curry, Chris Duhon, Danilo Gallinari, Al Harrington, Larry Hughes, Chris Hunter, Jared Jeffries, David Lee, Cutino Mobley, Quentin Richardson, Nate Robinson, Mouhamed Sene, Chris Wilcox, Jordan Hill

Get rid of Isiah's ongoing mistakes:
Now, we all know that Donnie is going to have to force that fat fuck Eddy Curry to retire (punch him in the heart a few times?), because there's no way he's retiring and Isiah apparently gave him a contract through 2015 that is only payable in cheez doodles. Jared Jeffries could be usable for Washington, or maybe Toronto, both of whom need someone, anyone, who can play D. Additionally, both of their contracts run through 2011, so they need to go.

Allow some contracts to expire.
One of Isiah's mistakes (to be fair, this started with not letting Ewing's contract expire) was always trading expiring contracts for longer ones. That is fine if you're Cleveland and you NEED to win this year and you're close, but the Knicks? Really? Big expiring contracts next year are Harrington, Hughes, Duhon and Q-Rich.

Flotsam and Jetsam.
Joe Crawford? Chris Hunter? Mouhamed Sene and Chris Wilcox? I thought Cuttino Mobley was retired?

Restricted Free Agents.
Everyone knows that David Lee and Nate Robinson are restricted free agents this season. Now, the best course of action is to either trade them for picks or let them sign a one-year tender and then resign or leave after another year of evaluation, but that's neither here nor there. Do I want them on the team? As much as I love Nate Dogg, I don't think he's a starter. And he will demand starter's minutes and money. So he's gone. And David Lee is a great rebounder...and that's about it. Again, not a starter on a championship team unless he's playing next to Duncan or Shaq in his prime. So they're probably gone for the overall good of the team.

What we're left with.

Danillo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Jordan Hill

Yeah, that's it. Sad? And I would love to see any of those traded for Ricky Rubio. Or Steve Nash. Or whoever can bring us LeBron.

Sad.