It's Official: There's Too Much Money in New York
Jared Jeffries is now a member of the New York Knicks. You may now commence pitying him.
Last week Jeffries signed an offer sheet, to the tune of $30 million over five years, with the struggling Knicks. While Jeffries is a young, versatile, team-oriented player, the move still leaves many people scratching their heads ("I thought the Knicks were going to stop adding salary...").
By adding Jeffries to the mix, New York's payroll is now almost $140 million, by far the most in the league. Bang for your buck? Hardly. The Knicks won just 23 games later year.
Let's not forget the luxury tax penalty either. With the luxury tax threshold around $60M, the Knicks will be paying an additional $80M to the league. That brings payroll expenses to about $220M for this season. Comparatively, the NBA Champion Miami Heat will pay their players about $62M this season. That's it.
Money isn't the only issue. Finding playing time for each guy on the roster will be a headache unto itself. With the addition of Jeffries, what happens to rookie draft pick Renaldo Balkman? What happens to veteran Quentin Richardson? Shouldn't Jeffries take minutes away from Malik Rose?
Perhaps it will be good thing if Jeffries gets the minutes instead of these guys, but the fact remains: the Knicks will be paying a lot of money to players that won't even be playing that much, if at all. How much longer will the Knicks put fresh paint on the Titanic?
