Knicks Speak With Iverson

What Could Go Wrong?

Howard Beck's, Knicks and D’Antoni Appear to Be Undone by a Rebuilding Plan is a decent read. It unwittingly exposes the prima donna philosophy that Walsh and D'Antoni operate under.

When D'Antoni is being asked by reporters to take responsibility for the meltdown of all hope in the Knicks, Walsh interjects;

“I should take all of the responsibility,” D’Antoni said Monday. “My job is to get them to play well. So far, we haven’t done that. That’s about all I can say. I’m leading the team, and I haven’t led them anywhere so far. So I’ll take my part, definitely.”

Moments later, 20 feet away, came a sharp dissent. Donnie Walsh, the team president, said it was wrong to blame D’Antoni for the Knicks’ sad state.

“That’s unfair,” he said. “I’m happy with Mike. I’m very happy with Mike.”

It was Walsh who, upon being hired last year, called for a wholesale overhaul and began purging the roster of long-term contracts, with an eye toward the 2010 free-agent class. As a consequence, the Knicks have a roster that is designed not to win now, but rather to expire next summer.

Clearly, Walsh also wants the Knicks to be respectable in the present, which they are not. But he said he would not judge D’Antoni until “there’s something to judge him on” — i.e. after the roster has been upgraded. That time has not come yet.

“No, not even close,” he said.

Walsh lives in a a charmed, cloistered reality.

A few years ago, Larry Brown, under similar circumstances, accepted complete responsibility for the poor play of the Knicks and lost his job attempting to fix it.

Desperation moves such as trading for Steve Francis became a rallying cry for Brown's head. Yet today the Knicks are considering signing Allan Iverson and everyone debates this as a serious alternative.

So D'Antoni and Walsh have become MSG's new bubble boy duo. They live in a teflon-coated reality that is called "the plan". The plan is little more than a theory that advocates gutting a roster to bare-bones so that your team can 'sign' free agents or swing exciting deals and so on.

It is the equivalent of a bread-winner convincing their family to save all their money to buy a lot of lotto tickets all at one time. What could go wrong?

Beck like so many other mainstream journalists refer to Walsh's actions as a rebuild but its not.

The only thing Walsh has done is to clumsily and brutally dismember a Knicks roster that was imperfect but far closer to respectability than anything in evidence today. And the next move Walsh makes toward making this roster more competitive will be the first. He has not lifted a finger toward the "rebuild" part of the equation.

In fact, as the Beck article points out, he seems to be operating under the delusion that until he and D'Antoni assemble a roster of shiny Free-agent stars and complementary cast-aways that they should not be judged.

Walsh enjoys the hubris of Wall St executives who continue to mock the plight of the hungry by feasting like kings.

An anthropologist might call this magical thinking, this luxury of charging fans to watch sub-par basketball until all the right pieces are assembled so that the accountability clock can start ticking and counting on the good-will of those fans to just hold their breath.

The NBA has created a system of talent acquisition that is wholly dysfunctional. For the league to expect the wholesale deformation and retardation of a sports franchise just to acquire talent two and three years away then heads must roll in the league offices.

This is institutional malpractice of a public interest institution and fans would be well within their rights to demand a class-action suit against the league.

One Word: Rubio

Alan Hahn of Newsday gets it right. Walsh needs to make up for lost opportunities by making an overwhelming offer to Kahn for the rights to Ricky Rubio.

The expense of the transaction is inconsequential. The Knicks have nothing worth protected and if the deal is one-sided toward Minny, that's fine.

We need at least one player who can offer real hope, display immediate talent, and who can justify watching the Knicks another minute.

Short of Lebron James or Dwayne Wade, Rubio is the one that got away and that is a reversible event. Sure there are details but the need is immediate and urgent and will foil none of the Alice in Wonderland, 2010 fantasies.

In a league where Jordan can be teflon-coated from fouls, where referees can game the game, where Gasol can be traded from Memphis to LA, Rubio can become a Knick.

Whatever it takes for that to happen needs to happen. Enough is enough when it comes to the league's abuse of the Knicks. They have dumped injured players with huge on us, they have financed their fortunes on our luxury tax - it's about time for the league to get off this team's throat.

Worst. Start. Ever.

God only knows when the Knicks will play seven seconds or more of consecutively coherent basketball again.

Winning is almost completely out of the question as these early losses are the easier part of the season.

The Knicks are in free fall after losing to the GS Warriors tonight. There are no bright spots. What glimmers in the dust of mediocrity is fool's gold.

This is a team that needs a gifted GM. Walsh and D'Antoni have combined as a toxic duo who are incapable of evaluating talent. The proof is on the floor and with unlimited cap space coming their combined poor judgment is disconcerting.

David Lee deserves better. The rest deserve to be shown the door.

Knicks Beat Hornets - 44 to Go

Again, Larry Hughes is the story and a good one.

I was hoping Hughes would have a great season and it is something vital for the Knicks to contend this season. If the last two games become a sustainable, season long campaign for Hughes then one critical piece of the puzzle will be solved.

The next critical piece is getting Eddie Curry back on the floor and productive.

The other good thing happening is that this team is beginning to make sense in terms of playing time and roles. Harrington is playing very well with off the bench minutes AND he's playing smart basketball.

When the Knicks are driving to the basket good things are happenin'.

Knicks lose to 76ers

Another comeback that fell short.

The most important thing that happened in this game was that Hughes was reinserted into the lineup and paid big dividends. I was afraid D'an was going to give Hughes the Marbury treatment all year. Now we need to get eCurry on the floor.

Milicic looked bad. And our defense was non-existent most of the time. Not good.

Knicks Lose to Bobcats in Double OT

This gamne was so horrifyingly bad that I've been at a loss for words to write about it.

Before the season began D'Antoni lectured the media that the Knicks would have to play beyond expectations in order to make the playoffs.

What we've been witness to in the first two games is a team in utter chaos and certainly far from coming in with any expectation to play beyond their capabilities. Hahn reporting Duhon's commentary;

“We’re not that good. We can’t come in here and joke around and take the game lightly."

Inspirational stuff, eh? In other words, playing over our heads is not happening, we aren't good enough to beat a lousy team.

Thank god we didn't sign any PGs this off season.

It is true that the Knicks went down by 21 points or so and "came back" to tie. But the giddy excitement of eventuall taking a two point lead made them forget how to shoot, dribble, and just look like they weren't lost.

The game was a farce and if this is what major market teams have to do to hope to acquire talent then this league and the game is in serious trouble. There is no excuse for forcing this kind of vacant incompetence on fans who expect more.

Knicks Lose Ugly to Heat

After a reasonablt played first quarter and a poorly played but not disastrous second quarter, the Knicks experienced a total meltdown in the third and never recovered.

Chandler and Lee played well, Darko had spot minutes that shone and Gallo hit a lot of threes when the game was out of reach.

Good Lord we need anyone who knows how to shoot.

On the positive side Knicks are 0-1 but Cavs are 0-2.

Only 45 wins left to go.

Will Lebron Become a Celtic?

The Cavs lost to the Celtics last night and the Celtics looked like a Juggernaut.

And this is after the Knicks softened the Celtics up in pre-season. It doesn't look good for Cleveland this year to win much of anything. And that's why the stars seem to be aligning for the Cavaliers to trade Lebron in February.

By doing so the Cavaliers will be in a much stronger bargaining position than this coming summer when the free agents come available. After all, if they trade LeBron for some talent they can lock up with the advantages of having the rights to that player.

We'll make a bold prediction here that Lebron James will be packaged with Mo Williams in exchange for Rajon Rondo, Big Baby, Ray Allen, and a couple of Boston's future #1 picks come February.

Rondo isn't in the long-term Boston plans and Big Baby has been problematic. Ray Allen will assure the Cavs make the playoffs with no more or less success than LeBron will have.

LeBron will join a winning organization that's loaded for bear and Cleveland will receive two young players who in Rajon and Big Baby who they can build around, they'll have cap space galore with Allen, Z, and Shaq coming off the books.

Just thinking aloud.

Observations on the Knicks Win over the Nets

Last night, the Knicks pine brothers beat the Nets - just barely.

If last night was any indication of things to come, this is going to be less of a surprise season and far more of a shocking and wacky one.

The back court showed what they are capable of doing. Duhon showing he can score, Nate showing energy, and Douglas showing some offense. On the flip side, they showed a propensity for poor passing, turnovers. over-dribbling,and poor judgment as well.

Milicic and Nate continue to click nicely and Darko adds a lot to the defensive presence. Lee had an off night and Landry came back down to earth.

The second quarter showed what the Knicks can do to any team in the league and, that is, crush them with a rain of three pointers. The third and fourth quarters, showed how bad the Knicks can play when they deviate from SSOL.


This bi-polar Knick profile is likely to play out all year long for better or worse. Let's just not pretend we're surprised.