The Knicks had a chance last week to unload Zach Randolph and his expensive contract.  The offer (from the Clippers) was rejected.  I’ve talked to many fans who see it as a missed opportunity.  Why wouldn’t Donnie Walsh jump at the chance to clear some salary cap room and begin his quest to rebuild the Knicks in earnest?  There is only one reason I could come up with and that reason is Eddy Curry.

Mike D’antoni’s trademark basketball is fast paced and high scoring.  Fans love it and Donnie Walsh hopes D’antoni brought both his winning ways and his spectacular style to New York.  It is a very particular brand of ball relying on turnovers and a team capable of running the court at top speed.  Eddy Curry can’t do either of these things.  In order for a team to create turnovers they must play defense and let’s just say that Mr. Curry is lacking in that department.  How many times have you been watching a Knicks game and thought to yourself, “Why is such a big dude so soft?”  Eddy Curry makes Yao look like a thug on the court.  He also can’t run the floor.  He lumbers the floor… which just won’t cut the mustard in D’antoni’s offensive sandwich. 

Until the Knicks get rid of Eddy Curry they’re stuck with Randolph and his $48 million contract.  He can run the floor on the fastbreak and, since he’s a big man, that makes him a valuable commodity on the Knick’s roster for the time being.  Randolph’s contract is a burden that Walsh would love to get rid of but wins are the number 1 priority and he can drop a double double consistently.  I’m sure Walsh and D’antoni had a strategy pow-wow resulting in the Clipper’s offer ally-ooped into a trash can.  Maybe it was an old school metal trash can with a picture of Patrick Ewing on it.  If it makes the Curry fans feel better I don’t think Ewing would fit into a D’antoni offense either.  Then again if the Knicks had a Patrick Ewing I don’t think wins would be as few and far between as they have been recently.