Cover your ears Knicks fans. Wouldn’t have Monta Ellis or Al Jefferson have looked good in Knickerbocker blue for the next 3-5 years? Unfortunately the New York faithful missed out on a chance to find out, since reports have surfaced that New York’s resident NBA franchise turned down two separate sign-and-trade deals for David Lee involving two of the NBA’s rising young stars. Although the Knicks got back some good value in sending Lee to the Golden State Warriors in the form of Anthony Randolph, Ronnie Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, and others, but having a low post force like Jefferson or one of the league’s best scorers in Ellis may have been considered a consolation prize for failing to get Lebron James to play in the “Big Apple” next season.
Surely the thought around the league are that Don Nelson did a bang up job in the development of Randolph while in Golden State. Despite leading the NBA Summer leagues in scoring last season at 25+ ppg, Nelson saw fit to bring Randolph off the bench most of the regular season despite not having much of any size(or skill) in the front-court all season. He reluctantly gave Randolph some much warrantied PT only after injuries to virtually every big man on the Warriors roster. Although also bitten by the injury bug by playing in only 33 games, when given playing time, he did show flashes of some amazing potential by putting up 11.6 ppg, 6.5 rebs, and 1.6 blocks. All numbers are expected to increase in New York with regular playing time and as Randolph continues to learn the game. Perhaps the best part of snagging Randolph out of Cali is that under his current contract he won’t become a free agent until the Summer of 2013, with New York having the best chance of resigning the future star as he hits his prime years as a pro.
Even though Randolph has a ton of upside, snagging big Al Jefferson from Minnesota, a feat since accomplished by Utah, would have given Gotham City a possible Eastern Conference All Star as early as next season. Although only 25 years old, Jefferson has already established himself os one of the game’s best low post players by nearly averaging a double-double every year since becoming an NBA starter in ‘06-’07 with Boston. He also recovered nicely last season(17.1 ppg, 9.3 rebs, 1.3 blk) from a debilitating ACL injury suffered in ‘09. Playing Jefferson at center and Amare Stoudemire at power forward surely would have given the Knicks one of the more dominating front-lines in all of the league. The only plus side to getting Randolph instead of Al appears to be purely financial, since Jefferson is owed more than $12 million for next season while Randolph is an absolute bargain at only $1.8 mil in ‘10-’11. Surely either Randolph or Jefferson will make Knicks fans all but forget about the uninspiring play(or lack there of) of oft injured Eddy Curry and his whopping $10+ million owed for next season.
Monta Ellis also would have been an intriguing prospect as New York’s newest on court icon. After establishing himself as one of the league’s best scorers with an average of 25.5 ppg last season, Ellis could be a perennial All Star in the making, considering he is still only 24 years of age. Even though he is mired in all of the losing going on in Golden State, Ellis is still one of the players across NBA rosters that are rumored to be on the move this Summer, or at the trade deadline during the season. Knicks fans would have an instant love affair with Ellis as he plays with a reckless abandon and has an air of confidence(or cockiness) that surely would have played out well on the Madison Square Garden hardwood. Playing in coach D’Antoni’s uptempo offensive juggernaut of a system surely would have been a seemless tansition from Don Nelson’s helter skelter offensive philosophy as well. Ellis also would have been a bit more taxing on the books since he is owed $11 million for next season.
In the end, the time was rite for New York to make a deal with Lee, but did they make the right one? Only time will tell as Amare, Randolph and Gallinari gel up front as thoughts of what could have been will for the short term, be in the back of our minds. On the plus side, with their fiscal responsibility in the Lee trade, they now can continue to forge on with their plan of forming their own “Big 3“ superpower for 2011. Let’s just hope that they don’t bring back Isaiah Thomas for a 2nd go around in New York.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
