That is NYC through and through though. The Nets fell for the same trap as well. The Russian told whoever was making those moves to get competitive immediately no matter the cost and it is going to cost that franchise a decade.
Dolan is incompetent, but I have always looked at the situation as a no-win for him. He doesn't try to sign Amar'e that off-season? They would have eaten him alive in the media at the time. Summer of all those free agents and the knicks not get one name? That would have been devastating to him and the knicks organization as a whole. In fact, I still hold till this very day that if Amar'e did not sign with the Knicks it would have been a very tough sell to get Melo over here.
Amar'e was a bad individual signing and I think everyone with basketbal sense pretty much knew that at the time, but it was a necessary evil to try to get someone over here to pair up with him. In that regard it "worked", it got a future hall of famer to commit to the knicks before Amar'e knees shattered. It got the fans to STFU for a little while, got an unusually hot season from J.R. Smith and got the knicks to the second round. It has been all downhill from there.
We have talked about this before, the biggest mistake was resigning Melo. Also, I try not to bring up old wounds, but who was right at the end of the day? Melo/Marbury or D'Antoni? It is easy to look in hindsight, but I didn't want D'Antoni out of here. I wanted him to stay on the knicks because I knew with the state of this franchise? He was easily the best pick to hold onto while the league was shifting...if ANYONE in the NBA can adapt on offense it is HIM. The guy turned Jeremy Lin into a decent NBA player for the short stint here, handed over PG duties to James Harden and the guy is likely going to win MVP this year as a result. Yes, Harden almost won MVP a few years ago, but NOBODY saw this shyt coming with him like THIS. James Harden? A PG and have that many turnovers? Only D'Antoni can pull shyt like that off. He turned Steve Nash into a Hall of Famer.