Debate in the Paint: Knicks Spent Summer on the Sideline

Every Tuesday this offseason, two of our NBA experts will go at it with a Debate in the Paint. This week, the topic is which team did the least this summer to improve.

If the New York Knicks want to get their fans excited about the 2009-10 season, they better be planning some good halftime shows. Or maybe free beer at every home game. Or prizes to those who boo the loudest.

When the only additions to the roster are Darko Milicic and two rookies who will take a few years to develop, you need a creative marketing department.

It's hard to imagine a high-profile team doing less.

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Even an innovative coach like Mike D'Antoni can pull only so many rabbits out of his hat. It's tough to sell a below-average product that didn't improve, or didn't even pretend to improve. At least some of the NBA's bad teams jump up and down all summer and act like they've improved, even when they haven't.

Sitting on your hands doesn't exactly generate enthusiasm.

The New York Knicks spent the summer still preaching patience, believing that all the suffering of the past few years will be worth it when they hit the jackpot in the free agent market of 2010.

They still believe that some combination of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer and Paul Pierce will be playing in New York the following season.

For now, they were content to return the team that won just 36 games last season, making sure they didn't give out any contracts that would cut into their salary cap space for next summer when they hope to sign two maximum salaried stars.

To the defense of Knicks management, they made an effort to get veterans like Jason Kidd, Grant Hill and Andre Miller, but their salary cap limitations made them look like a fighter with one arm tied behind his back.

They really didn't have a chance. They still are expected to re-sign restricted free agents David Lee and Nate Robinson to one-year contracts, fortunate that no other team made them offers they wouldn't match.

They still have nice players like Al Harrington and Chris Duhon, and promising Wilson Chandler, but they also are saddled with center Eddie Curry and his $11 million contract. If Curry can rebound from an awful year, the Knicks might trade him to free up even more salary cap space for the summer.

They will have less than $30 million in salary commitments after this season, finally shedding all those wasteful contracts they signed a few years ago when they desperately tried to improve with bad players under previous management.

They will have a roster filled now with guys playing for their next contracts, which is usually a good thing. It certainly can't hurt their defense, which was woeful last season. Milicic will be trying to salvage his NBA career to avoid going back to Europe to play. Curry also will be getting a final chance to prove his worth.

For a team that normally likes to take a pro-active approach, a team with almost unlimited resources, it was different sitting on the sideline while others improved. The Knicks were content to wait, which might be good for their long-range future, but it didn't help for this season.