NY Knicks poster from RealGM on the Knicks players

[Admin]

I posted earlier the breakdown of our players by that Knicks fan, and I asked him to give me a write up of the players involved from the Knicks and to maybe alter the deal to make it more fair, here is what he had to say

In reply to:

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OK, first of all, I'd just like to say, I know its pretty obvious that we get the better end of this deal by miles.

The deal I am analyzing is the Spree/Harrington for JT/Naz/Hendu

I wrote a pretty detailed breakdown of the players we are reportedly supposed to get, and someone asked me to do the same for the Knicks we give up. Without further ado:

OTHELLA HARRINGTON:

6'9 PF.....closer to 6'7.5

PROS: Like all the other Georgetown centers before him, Othella is a hard worker. He is relentless in his offseason training, playing against "big brothers" Zo, pat, Deke, etc., working on his post moves and his jumper. His offensive game looks.....well, OFFENSIVE, but it is surprisingly effective. OK offensive rebounder. Good confidence in his game. And now, ladies and gentlemen, here come the cons.

CONS: Terrible rebounder on the defensive glass...I cant undersrtand it. I dont know if he doesnt try as hard or what, but he just cant protect the defensive glass. Isnt much of a defender either....he'll get a fwew blocks here and there, but nobody fears othella harrington. Unfortunately this also holds true on the offensive end: you will never see teams double down on Othella. The respect just isnt there.

SALARY:

02-03 $2,700,000

03-04 $2,925,000

04-05 $3,150,000

Pretty cheap in todays overpaid league....and he is effective.

OVERALL:

Othella is a good bench player, but I dont think he'll ever develop to be more than that.

LATRELL SPREWELL:

6'5 SG/SF.....The man Jeff Van Gundy called "the most influential man in the organization"

PROS: A few years ago, Hawks broadcasters dubbed Grant Long the "Ultimate Team Player". Latrell Sprewell fits that tag perfectly.....forced to play out of position for the last 3 seasons (even though he is clearly the better player between him and Houston), Latrell has never uttered any words of dissent.....he sacrifices his stats on a nightly basis, and what does he get in return? guarding guys 2 to 4 inches taller than he is, often outweighing him by a good 20 lbs, night in and night out. The toughest defensive covers.....and he does a good job. He isnt the all-defensive player he was a few years ago, but he still puts in the effort, and thats more than what you can say about a lot of people.

On offense, he has seemed to stray from the vicious drives and slashes to the basket that made him a fan favorite, opting more for the midrange jumper, which admittedly has vastly improved. Many would argue this is due to a lack of creativity in the knicks playbooks though. He is a streaky 3 point shooter, but he hits them when they count in the clutch. He'd be a good rebounder at the SG postition, at SF he is average....

CONS: While Spree is vocal, he isnt that great of a leader in terms of inspiring his teammates. That role was really filled in by Larry Johnson. The knock has been he doesnt grab control of his teammates in huddles.

While Spree's game has adapted with his age, he is still 32....which means that it probably wont get any better from here on out. He'll give you defense, he'll give you 17-20 a night, but much like that M. Jordan guy in Washington, his ability to take over a game on any given night has decreased....he still has it in him, but you cant count on it night in night out.

If you play him at SF, he is still undersized.....if you play him at SG, well then that leaves Dermarr to fend for himself against the 3's.

SALARY:

02-03 $12,375,000

03-04 $13,500,000

04-05 $14,625,000 (player option)

Hefty amount of money, but I guess its better than paying Hendu 8 mill to do absolutely nothing

OVERALL:

Latrell Sprewell would be a nice veteran presence on this young Hawks team. But not at the expense of Jason Terry.

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[Traceman]

I'd LOVE to have Spree in ADDITION to JT but certainly not INSTEAD of him. Unfortunately, I can't think of a package that we could put together that would get him that doesn't include JT, Reef or Theo.

[Admin]

Neither can I, which is why I hope we dont make this trade. Had they kept Hilario, then I would have said give us Hilario and Spree for JT and Nazr, but thats obviously not possible now. They only have Houston and Dice that I would want that are left over from that team, although I do like Kurt Thomas' game. If you look at his stats he was putting up Reef like numbers in the second half. Still though, even adding him to the deal isnt enough for me because of Sprees age. The only way I would consider it were if Spree had an ending contract so that we could clear cap room for next seasons superstar shopping spree, but than cant happen either.

I like the idea of trading JT if Dickau is ready, if we can sign a good backup PG in FA with our MCE like Hudson or McInnis or Best, and if we can get a SG/SF that can score 20+ and play good defense. Thats asking a lot though.