Isiah Wishes Knicks' Core Of Randolph, Lee, Crawford Had More Time Together

[RealGM Wiretap]

With Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford, David Lee and Trevor Ariza all playing important roles in the NBA Playoffs, Isiah Thomas is left to wonder what would had happen if his core with the New York Knicks had more time together.

“We had all those players while they were young,” Thomas said Thursday on Spike Lee’s SiriusXM NBA Radio show. “I can’t remember a time where the Knicks have had two All-Stars and a Sixth Man of the Year and they were all under the age of 29. I just wish we would have had the luxury of having a little bit more time to more or less let the tree grow and let it bear a little bit more fruit.” 

Thomas served as general manager of the Knicks from 2003 until 2008.

“It was a very young group. And we all want more time,” said Thomas. “And sometimes time is not the luxury that you have at your fingertips. But I wish that we could have kept that group together just a little bit longer as we’ve seen that they’ve grown into exceptional players and All-Stars in the league.” 

Via Ian Begley/ESPN

[BillyGM]

Toronto had TMac Vc, Camby, Billups haha

[Golden Angel]

Yeah, but who plays d tho?

[RandomRaptorfan]

They wouldn't thrive in that toxic environment.

[armchairgm]

Ariza was a Knick from 04-06. Lee was a Knick from 05-10. Randolph was a Knick for 07-08 and 11 games of 08-09. Crawford was a Knick for 04-08 also playing 11 games in 08-09. Ignoring the fact that Ariza never played with Randolph lets see why these guys would have needed a long, long time to grow.

Lee and Randolph are both natural 4's. When you get desperate you can play Lee as a 5. Lee doesn't protect the rim. If you read Grantland and any of Kirk Goldsberry you would know that David Lee plays some of the worst interior defense in the NBA. Randolph gets love for being part of the grind-it-out Grizzlies, but other than doing a lot of shoving, his 'defense' is pretty ineffective. Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, and Mike Conley are the reason he looks competent on defense.
The links talking about David Lee's defense:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/court ... lden-gate/

http://www.sloansportsconference.com/wp ... %20NBA.pdf

Ariza played for the Knicks in 04-05 and 05-06. In his 116 games played across 2 NBA seasons, he went 4 for 16 from behind the arc. For 2 seasons he averaged a 3 point attempt once every 7 games and a 3 point make once every 29 games. In fact, Ariza didn't start attempting at least two 3's a game until the 08-09 season when he played for the Lakers (he only made 31.9%). He didn't break the league average 3 point percentage of 36% until the 12-13 season with a "whopping" 36.4%.

Jamal Crawford has never been a great defender. He has never been a good defender. His one amazing (and it is amazing) skill has always been scoring.

Put this all together and we have 3 players who don't play defense. An all offense shooting guard and two power forwards who can't protect the rim. Add to that a 3 & D wing who makes a 3 pointer once every 29 games (don't forget about the great Eddy Curry!) and we need to start planning that championship parade now!

All these guys have unique skill sets that make them valuable for their current teams, but those puzzle pieces do not fit together. Isiah can point to the fact that they all turned into good pro's, but the truth is they never would have worked on the same team.

[PerfectJab]

Whenever I see these type of quotes from former GM's I think that they are trying to justify their failures by self promoting what they could have accomplished. To negate something as critical as time is just silly.

[kenwood3333]

What about the guys he signed big $ contract for and are no longer in the league?

[br7knicks]

just because they are successful in their current environment does not mean they would have gelled all on one team.


aside from ariza, none of those guys play defense.