Donnie Walsh Denies Looking Ahead

Posted Nov 06, 2009 2:15PM By Matt Watson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Knicks

With the Cavaliers in town to play the Knicks, speculation about LeBron James leaving Cleveland for the Big Apple has been shifted into overdrive. But Donnie Walsh wants you to know that he cares about the Knicks' present just as much as the future.

"No matter what you say, there's a feeling that you're just looking to next summer, and that hasn't been true at all," he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I know where it's coming from, but there's very little you can do about it. I'm talking to you now and saying I'm not even thinking about that right now. I don't care if I say that to 100 people, they'll say, 'He's waiting for next year.' "

Instead of telling that to 100 people, perhaps he could merely reinforce that message to the 14 in the Knicks' locker room -- because according to some close to the team, even the players are starting to think that this season doesn't matter.

From Frank Isola of the New York Daily News:

According to one player, there is a sense among many Knicks that this season doesn't mean anything to the organization since management has made it clear that it will look to add an impact player next summer. In order to do that, most of the players with expiring contracts will not be re-signed. Harrington, David Lee, Nate Robinson, Darko Milicic and Hughes are in the last year of their respective deals

[...] A few players have said that they have been so soured by their experience in New York that if James were to solicit their advice about playing for the Knicks, they would not give him a favorable scouting report.

If Walsh is so adamant that he's not ignoring the present, then why did he leave Lee and Robinson, two up-and-coming players critical to the small amount of success the Knicks have had in recent years, dangling in the wind this summer? Both players hoped to secure long-term deals, but Walsh opted for short, one-year deals that wouldn't eat up any precious salary cap space next summer.

With Ramon Sessions available this past summer for a song, why pass on the chance to finally give Mike D'Antoni a legitimate starting point guard? Same reason; any long-term deal, even bargains that could improve the team in the short and long term, were simply not an option.

No matter what Walsh wants people to believe, he has put all of his eggs in next year's basket. That's as clear as day, but what's confusing is why Walsh wants people to believe otherwise. Since Walsh took over, fans have largely given the Knicks a free pass, ignoring today's atrocious play in belief that things will magically get better in 2010. Walsh should enjoy it while it lasts, and perhaps ask Omar Minaya what life is like when New York fans actually hold a front office accountable.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-06-2009 @ 3:30PM

imcloood said...

Stupid. His deals over the summer were no doubt looking forward to the 2010 free agents. Everyone knows this and it is obvious and the smart thing to do. What Walsh is saying is that, right now, they are focused on this season. During the offseason he was making moves or not making moves for the teams long term future. But the offseason is over, and Walsh, D'Antoni and the team are focused on what they can control, the here and now. Just because Walsh was being patient and prudent with Lee and Nate, and not signing Sessions, doesn't mean that he isn't purely focused on the 2009-10 season, right now.

11-06-2009 @ 4:07PM

richcantwell109 said...

Once again I will remind my fellow Knick fans that Donnie Walsh was the man who orignally hired Isaiah Thomas to coach at Indiana and recommended him to Jim Dolan! He is also the man who brought into Indiana Artest, Jackson, and Tinsley! 'nuff said?

11-06-2009 @ 11:05PM

Giles said...

Walsh didn`t feel pressed to sign Lee and Robinson and others early because he felt it was clear no one else would offer tham as much as the Knicks did. And no one did. Meanwhile, they were not on the books, so he had maximum flexibility to sign someone else. He tried to sign Grant Hill and others. Couldn`t get them. A pretty clear indication free agents may not want to sign with the Knicks next summer, either. Walsh knows that. You sign the best you can get, not the best you could wish for. The New York press don`t care. They are selling false hopes, and when they are not realized, they will blame Knicks` management for the false hope THEY created. The Knicks have three decent small guards. They could stand to have another decent wing guard to alternate with Hughes, so they don`t have to play Chandler out of position there. And maybe Hughes starting for the moment will change the floor balance, and help Milicic get more time, and help him play better, further eroding the four forward starting line up in favor of a more conventional line up, though the one point and four forward line up off the bench could still be very useful as a change of pace line up for the Knicks. The Knicks have rarely been a good team, the two championships in the early `70s were the exception, not the rule, and it is NOT going to be easy to build a good team with this economic depression cutting the budget. Especially for an already over priced team like the Knicks had before D`Antonni and Walsh arrived. And trying to add yet more overpriced has beens, the standard Knick resort, would just make things worse. They need to scout the universities and develop quality young talents. Older guys like Curry generally have more injuries like Curry. It is very simple to resign starters, let reserves go, on mediocre teams, and fill in thru the draft. None of the Knicks would start probably on a championship team. But the priority has to be rookies good enough to eventually start. I don`t blame Knicks fans wanting Ming, Chris, LeBron, Dwayne, etc. I blame the national and local press pretending the Knicks have much of a prayer of signing any of them, much less two or three. Can`t happen this year at all, not likely to happen in the summer, either.