A Rose By Any Other Name....Is Still Surly and Overpaid

With the team in freefall the Isiah rumour-mill has gotten into full swing and momentarily taken the back pages away from Omar Minaya and the Mets. The latest deal, allegedly in the offing, involves Jalen Rose and Donyell Marshall of the Raptors. The Knicks would be giving up Kurt Thomas and Penny Hardaway. Aside from the fact that Jalen Rose was on the wrong side of the Knicks/Pacers rivalry, is a cancer in the locker room, and has a contract so unsightly you can't help but wonder if Scott Layden was involved, I don't like this deal because we can't give up Kurt Thomas without getting a big body that plays defense.

Marshall, quietly one of the better fantasy ballers around, is obviously the prize out of this deal, and Rose's contract the penalty. However, unless we can replace Kurt Thomas in this deal with Tim Thomas this doesn't make any sense. The Knicks don't need another oversized small forward who hovers around the perimeter, doesn't rebound, and can't guard players his own size. Moreover, this deal makes no financial sense because although Rose's contract is just as bad as Penny's, Rose's lasts for an extra year. This deal only serves to shake things up, but does absolutely nothing to improve the ingredients of this team, and, if anything, worsens them. This is the sort of reckless and vainglorious deal that will keep the Knicks from succeeding on Isiah's watch.

Last night on ESPN's Around the Horn, one of the topics in the Buy or Sell segment was the Knicks. All the commentators were in agreement that Isiah was making a mess of things, and this Rose deal, if consumated, would assuredly doom his tenure in the Garden.