New York Knicks: Transactions, News, Notes

We all know that this monstrous, misbegotten roster won't survive the season but for the time being one must muddle through and attempt to weigh the value of adding Jared Jeffries, Renaldo Balkman, and Mardy Collins to this putrid mix.

The signing of Jeffries renders the question of Balkman's ability to play in the NBA largely irrelevent as Balkman now figures to slot in somewhere behind Quentin Richardson, Channing Frye, Jared Jeffries, Jalen Rose, and David Lee in the race for minutes as a big guard, small forward, or undersized power forward. What uses Isiah might envision for Mardy Collins remain mysterious as at least two of Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Jamal Crawford, and Nate Robinson already figure to be complaining about minutes, touches, and respect on a daily basis.

As one who once witnessed Isiah Thomas choose to play Ron Mercer at point guard and not to have Ron Artest guard Paul Pierce throughout the 4th quarter of a play-off game, I concede that any combination of mis-matched parts could see the court simulataneously and that it is a fool's errand to attempt to decipher Isiah's decision-making process as either general manager or coach.

Furthermore, until the roster is next re-configured (+/- ten days from Halloween is my guess), those qualities that first Balkman, then Jeffries are touted to inject into the Knickerbockers' state of being: defense, hustle, and not shooting figure to come at the expense of the two remaining Knicks (Rose and Lee) who demonstrated the ability to score efficiently in the midst of dysfunction last year. The third Knick to demonstrate this quality last year, Jackie Butler, was allowed to sign with a franchise that knows what it's doing for less than 1/4 the money paid to Jeffries.

We'll speak of this again once half the roster has been jettisoned in the service of Isiah Thomas's next attempt at instant gratification.