BOSTON – The Knicks’ approach to the free-agent market this season might best be summed up in one word: patience.
And for support of the approach, one need look only at Jimmy Jackson, who landed in Portland for $1.9 million last season. Oh, the Knicks have their targets to run either the $1 or $2 million exceptionat – names such as Michael Curry and Dell Curry of Milwaukee, 6-7 defensive small forward Ruben Patterson, Washington’s veteran Otis Thorpe and banger Ben Wallace, Cleveland’s Cedric Henderson, Toronto’s Reggie Slater or the Clippers’ Eric Piatkowski – but they’d rather wait and see. Someone might slip through the cracks.
“The question for us is not so much position as it is quality,” said Ed Tapscott, the team’s Vice President of Player Personnel. “In my opinion, the thing we should probably do is decide on one or two guys to pursue aggressively [the Curry guys, Thorpe] but after [the initial wave of signings], maybe you end up getting a guy more attractive than you thought because that guy’s looking at playing for short money. So why not New York? So patience is the watchword for us.”
And the Knicks will hope that maybe one of the coveted free agents will slip through the cracks as teams expend cap money. Possible, but not probable. But if a Shandon Anderson of Utah, a Jermaine O’Neal of Portland or a Rodney Rogers from the Clippers is left without a landing pad when the free-agent musical chairs end, the Knicks want to be ready.
Tapscott brought up the point-guard spot, where many insist the Knicks must improve. A sign and trade for Terrell Brandon is always on fans’ minds but it will not come at the expense of Allan Houston.
“People would say I’m nuts if I don’t address the so-called point-guard issue but I will remind you our point guards were just good enough to get us into the Finals,” Tapscott said. “So many times that issue is overstated because our point guards play within a system and that system doesn’t call for them to score. Our point guards have to pass in a system that has [Latrell] Sprewell, Houston, [Patrick] Ewing, [Larry] Johnson.
“So you don’t do anything with point guards unless you can get better. I don’t see that as critical but if you can upgrade, you upgrade but you can say that about the two, three, four and five.”
The Knicks have 10 players under contract, so there are two spots. The brass will huddle to make decisions on some of the personnel here, such as draft pick Frederic Weis (he may return to Europe for a year) and the past two second-rounders, DeMarco Johnson and J.R. Koch. *Teams throughout the NBA are always looking for shooters. Jimmy Oliver is a shooter. So why is Jimmy Oliver always looking for a job with an NBA team?
“An intriguing question. And that’s one of the reasons we brought him in,” insisted Tapscott. “He can make shots and he’s got good NBA size … Shooting covers a multitude of sins.”
To Oliver, the label of shooter is a double-edged sword, a blessing and a curse. Shooters shoot. And do nothing else.
“It really is,” said the 6-5, 30-year-old journeyman who shot .576 (19-of-33) and averaged 12.5 points in his first four games here. “I’ve been labeled as a shooter: ‘Oliver is a shooter so he doesn’t play defense, doesn’t try to play defense.’ That’s a stigma, a label I’ve been trying to break for 10 years now.”
