For the first time in the life of the collective bargaining agreement born out of the 1998-99 lockout, the New York Knicks avoided the luxury tax. Marc Berman of the New York Post reports that the Knicks finished $3 million shy of the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax penalty.
What do the Knicks get for this?
Well, they got to fire the man who helped get the Knicks back to some form of financial solvency in Donnie Walsh. They got to make a trade with the advice of the guy — Isiah Thomas — who got them into payroll hell to begin with, trading way just about every young, disposable contract to do it. And they get to enjoy their luxury tax freedom by going into a lockout where the rules to free agency, trades and pretty much every relationship with the players will completely change.
Good luck with whatever you can do with the $41 million committed to the 2012-13 payroll. Who knows what the salary cap will look like then.
The Knicks have been a constant fixture at the top of team payrolls throughout the last 12 seasons. They periodically paid $25-30 million into the luxury tax pot as their payroll ballooned over $100 million.
After the Knicks reached the NBA Finals in the lockout-shortened 1999 season, they made the Playoffs just three more times during the life of the collective bargaining agreement. That includes a seven year absence that New York ended last year.
In the meantime though, New York took advantage of the opportunity to spend.
Allan Houston received a five-year deal worth approximately $80 million in 2001. He played 229 games the rest of his career, including just 70 in his final two as injuries slowed him down. New York also ignored the health risks in signing Eddy Curry to a six-year deal worth about $56 million in 2005. He suited up for the Knicks just 222 times in five seasons, and just 10 times in the last two years.
Those were bad, but not nearly as bad as some of the horrible trades the team pulled and the horrible draft picks the team made.
That includes the draft picks the Knicks gave up to acquire Curry and such amazing players as Jordan Hill in 2009 and Mike Sweetney in 2004. New York simply did not have draft picks because they traded them all away for bad contracts and empty promises.
New York seems back on track now with Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony in the fold. Of course, now the rules could all change and the fruit of Donnie Walsh’s labor may not be realized (or may have already been completely undermined).
A new collective bargaining agreement just seems to be a new opportunity for New York to mess things up once again.
