Idiotic Spending Spree Will Doom New York Knicks

It's been a long time since the New York Knicks have been relevant as far as being legitimate contenders in the NBA.

When you are a franchise desperate for success, you do desperate things. The Knicks' recent spending spree is a sign of desperation and will doom them in the future.

I often have written that building a Big Three in the fashion that the Knicks have—through free agency and trades—can only doom a team, especially under the new CBA.

The Knicks signed Amar'e Stoudemire to a $100 million deal and Tyson Chandler to a $58 million contract, and they gave Carmelo Anthony a three-year, $65 million extension after acquiring him from the Denver Nuggets in 2011.

That's enough to cripple a team and prevent them from adding enough capable supporting parts along the way.

General manager Glen Grunwald is in a bad spot, since the Knicks haven't had draft picks lately to build through the draft. He's had to add players in order to compete.

But Grunwald's latest spending spree, in which he committed $37 million to the likes of Jason Kidd, Marcus Camby and Steve Novak, could turn out just as bad in the long run.

The Knicks needed players, and both Camby and Kidd fill needs, but they are a combined 78 years old and are each signed for three years. That's a big risk to take.

While I think the latest three signings make the Knicks better, the question is, how much better?

Are they legitimate championship contenders right now?

It's very difficult to answer that question with a yes.

So now the Knicks have an insane amount of money on the books for the next three years, and that's before matching Houston's offer sheet to point guard Jeremy Lin.

The Knicks will be paying a ton in luxury tax and won't have the opportunity to seriously improve this team for the next three seasons.

As Knicks fans, we've been down this road before—strapped with bad contract after bad contract.

The difference now is that the talent is much better. But is it championship-type talent?

Winning a championship is the ultimate goal, isn't it?

What's clear is the fact that the Knicks have strapped themselves with contracts for the next three years.

What's not clear is whether they are any closer to winning a championship than they were last season.