The NBA has long used the Knicks as a boogieman for all of their inflated egos. Indiana and the Jermaine O'Neal tease is the latest example. Jermaine O'Neal suddenly is devaluing faster than "Support Our President" bumper stickers. The reason? Because the Knicks no longer are interested.
For years the very threat that a player could be traded to the -gasp, BIG CITY - Knicks added millions to their value, prestige, and ego. Today, with the Knicks no longer begging for deals, the worm has turned.
Indian has few trading options and all of them suck. Kwame Brown, anybody? And does anyone really believe Indiana is ecstatic about hanging on to O'Neal? Who will pay to watch that tired act play out itself, ...ONE MORE TIME?
The emergence of the Knicks as a once more talented team is an eerie phenomenon for the NBA whose owners long dumped injured expensive contracts here to protect their own profit sheets. Today the Knicks own the NY sports pages in summer! The buzz is back and the eastern conference teams will soon understand why.
The Maloofs should take notice. Isiah may be offering them their last, best chance to trade Artest before he loses all trade value. Truthfully, the Knicks don't need Artest as much as Sacto needs a trading partner.
The Knicks are becoming the most talked about, intriguing, and suspenseful acts in all of sports precisely because Isiah has assembled the potentially most lethal and volatile cast New York has seen in years. Sports fans are fixated because this is the kind of thing that adds real excitement to the game.
Years ago, in a different spoart, fans wondered whether Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and Reggie Jackson could co-exist, so will they wonder if Dolan, Isiah, Marbury, Randolph, Curry, and unnamed others will win it all or self-destruct along the way in spectacular fashion. The electricity is the same.
Players faint of heart will sign in Atlanta, or Orlando, or Memphis. Right now, New York is the inferno and Artest and Fisher want in. Those players escaping to the safer havens of sleepy America may one day regret not joining what may become a legendary team.
Shows like this don't come along often. Grab a front-row seat while it's available.
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Here, dear readers, is the final resting place of all weary Knicks fans. Yes, here is where one comes when the Triangle refuses to have three sides, when biting one's lip from losing to win later is one loss too far,or when said fan simply hits 'rock' bottom. In short, "the ship be" eternally "sinking" here. Welcome aboard, rearrange the deck chairs as you please.
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