Aj Mast / AP

Knicks team president Donnie Walsh is doing everything he can do to make sure New York is prepared for a megastar free-agent class of 2010.

OPINION

By Sean Deveney

updated 7:39 p.m. ET Aug. 15, 2009

Sean Deveney

The Knicks have not yet landed any of the free agents they pursued. First there was the chase of Jason Kidd, but that was more whimsy than reality — Kidd was never really considering New York. Then there was Grant Hill, who can still play a little, but not enough to make much of an impact in New York. Lately it has been stalled talks with Ramon Sessions, who wants more than the Knicks will impart, and a desperate foray into the bargain bin, with looks at Jason Williams, Jamaal Tinsley and Jerry Stackhouse.

On the home front, the Knicks are not likely to agree to anything substantial with their own two free agents, David Lee and Nate Robinson. They did manage to acquire big man Darko Milicic. Don those party hats, people.

The Knicks were 32-50 last year, 14th in the East. That sounds about right for this year’s collection, too.

But team president Donnie Walsh entered this summer with a clear idea of what he wanted to accomplish. He wanted to be set up to get through the winter of 2009-10 without screwing up his prospects for the summer of 2010. If that means one-year qualifying offers for Lee and Robinson, so be it. If it means a test drive on Tinsley, no problem. If it means this year’s team will crumble like last year’s team, then, oh well.

Walsh’s challenge when he took over the Knicks was to dump the toxic assets on his payroll and give the team a fighting chance to rebuild, something no New York honcho has had the stomach for in decades. You can’t rebuild by taking other teams’ Zach Randolphs and Stephon Marburys.

Walsh wisely pointed his cap-cutting efforts at next offseason, which only makes sense because LeBron James and friends are going to be free agents. But there have been problems with the plan. First, it remains highly unlikely that James will leave Cleveland. Second, the shaky world economy figures to further shrink the NBA’s salary cap, leaving Walsh with a lot less cash than he thought he had to spend.

But in no way does that make the Knick plan faulty. Even without James, the Knicks are going to have a free-agent smorgasbord on which to feast. Rarely does a class with this much depth at the top, and throughout, come along. Some of the big names might sign extensions between now and next summer, but there still will be more headliners available than usual — and more quality role players.

Though the Knicks’ cap space figures to shrink if the salary cap comes in at about $52 million next season, as expected, that’s not such a huge problem for New York. The cap is shrinking for everyone, after all. The first-year salary for a max player will be about $15 million. The Knicks have about $26 million committed to six players next year, which means they would have about $26 million in cap space. That’s enough for a max guy and $11 million, to boot. It’s not a bad situation.

The only team that can match that amount of space is the Nets. Other teams will have cap space, but again, the projected drop in the salary cap figure will limit them. The Heat and Timberwolves will have enough cap room to make max-contract offers. The Thunder will be close. The Bulls will need to dump Tyrus Thomas to get near a max number. As far as teams able to make top offers, that’s about it.

The Knicks are certainly counting on combining cap space and a big-market vibe to lure free agents. Back in 2000, the Bulls found that doesn’t always work, when they were spurned by Tracy McGrady and wound up with, ahem, Ron Mercer.

The Bulls example is the ultimate fear for Knicks fans, a worst-case scenario, especially because the team — like the Bulls at the time — will struggle next year and will have a mostly vacant roster. But they will have cap space available, and they will have options. It’s been a long time since the Knicks had those things, and no matter how bad a summer it seems to have been for New York, Walsh has done well to protect them.

Next summer's shopping list
Next summer isn’t only about the All-Star names like Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki and Carlos Boozer. Those who worry about whom the Knicks can get beyond one of the max players are overlooking the depth of the upcoming free-agent class. Here’s how the non-star part of the class stacks up by position:

PG: Rajon Rondo*; Raymond Felton; Rafer Alston; Kyle Lowry*; Jordan Farmar*.

SG: Ronnie Brewer*; Randy Foye*; Thabo Sefolosha*; Roger Mason; Carlos Delfino*.

SF: Rudy Gay*; Travis Outlaw; Josh Childress*; Mike Miller; Quentin Richardson.

PF: Udonis Haslem; Luis Scola*; Hakim Warrick; Tyrus Thomas*; Drew Gooden.

C: Brendan Haywood; Jermaine O’Neal; Brad Miller; Zydrunas Ilgauskas; Marcus Camby.

*restricted free agent

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