Leaving the Station After 30+ Years

It looks like Dolan has had enough of losing.

The Zach Randolph trade signals a return to the Knicks rebuild with a vengeance. Zach is a very nice pick-up. While the NY Press salivates over bringing the Knicks down, Marbury's reaction as a player is indicative that the pieces are coming together.

“It’s finally happening. God’s plan is working.”

I don't know about God's interest in the Knicks but what Isiah engineered, much to the chagrin of bidder Larry Bird, is the acquisition of a top-five NBA PF.

While most fans prayed for Garnett or Rasheed, Isiah upped the ante. In Randolph the Knicks get a younger, more hungry version of that archetypal player. The fact that he's no angel is no big deal. This Knicks incarnation is going to rock. With Randolph and Curry as twin towers under the boards, there will be few questions as to who owns the paint. While neither has been historically impressive on 'D', one cannot help but think that having tag team giants down low will create a multiplier effect on those defensive stats.

I don't think reports are accurate that Dickau and Jones are throw-aways. I think another multi-player deal is in the works that will bring in the final pieces of what may become an eastern conference steam-roller. Dickau, in fact, may become a significant bench contributor over the course of the season.

Isiah has plenty of pieces to play with and Dolan seems to be giving the green light to bulk up. It's starting to feel like a NY team is in the process of shifting gears. There's a rumble happening here, not a prayer circle.

Again, one might expect Kobe, Artest, or Rashard Lewis to be the next target (and Lewis will need little convincing that the Knicks can win). However, it would not surprise me if someone like Marvin Webster gets snapped up by Isiah. Again, a younger prototype of a Garnett-like player. Webster's name has been mentioned frequently in potential trade talks. Other possibilities might include Luke Walton or Rudy Gay in keeping with the unexpected.

As for the seeming glut of players, I'm expecting Jerome James to get a buy out and potentially see Quentin consider retirement if the bad back doesn't recover sufficiently. Just guessing.

Spot Shooter: Allan Houston!?

The Newsday blog is taking this seriously.

Did you happen to see the report in the Daily News regarding Allan Houston's comeback? There have been rumblings of this over the past season, especially each time he showed up at Knicks practicing looking as if he could take the court. It does give the Knicks an interesting option - shooters are always welcome - but it would create even more of a logjam in the backcourt.

- What would you do with Crawford?

- Steve Francis would be buried even deeper down the bench

Perhaps Isiah has a plan to open up some roster spots by dealing players for a pick (He doesn't own a second-round choice). I still don't know if the Knicks buy out Francis. All of the indications I got from people who know what Isiah is thinking say Isiah has no plans to buy out the contract.

Choices, choices

It looks quite possible that Acie Law will be there at twenty-three. If Isiah claims he knew that would happen and that's why he passed on Marcus Williams last year, we'll know the man is on a whole 'nother wavelength when it comes to the draft.

Desmond Conner's Sleeper Draft picks

The Courant's Conner has a couple of unknowns listed first in point guards here and then as an afterthought here.

Wild Card

Jared Jordan, 6-2, 216, Marist: The senior who hails from Hartford was an honorable mention AP All-American from a tiny Division I school, and he knows how to run a team. Surely there will be a question of the level of competition he faced, but a guy named Avery Johnson, who coached the Mavericks to the 2006 NBA Finals and quarterbacked the Spurs to the NBA title in 1999, led the nation in assists for two consecutive seasons and went undrafted out of little ol' Southern University. Jordan became the first player to lead the nation back-to-back years since Johnson. Jordan had 286 dimes - 8.7 a game - as a senior.

...and...

9. Robert Earl Johnson, 6-7, Clinton (SC) Junior College: Who is Robert Earl Johnson? Could go through the night without hearing his name called.

Who is Robert Earl Johnson?

The Ron Artest of the WNBA

Who'da thunk it?

UConn's Diana Taurasi was suspended for two games for inappropriate behavior toward the officials. Just call her Ron-rasi.

The Almost Rans

Isn't it curious that the teams that go deepest into the playoffs expect to be active in the draft and trade market and those that aren't talk about standing still?

It has been apparent for over a year and probably much longer that Garnett wants nothing to do with the Knicks. And it appears he has reconsidered his unwillingness to play in Boston. If he winds up in Boston, the Knicks will be in an unenviable position of watching a Danny Ainge team roar by them next year.

And what's with Phoenix and Dallas becoming the teams that big name stars suddenly check off as favored destinations? Winning is everything. Now that Dolan has tightened the purse-strings, NY will have to win with over-hyped youth, cast-aways, and lady luck. Unless we have a fortuitous summer, the Knicks may be stuck in medicrity for yet another year.

I think Dave Checketts had it right. Spend the money. This is New York, not Peoria and the bottom line is that you can't afford to lose in the Big Apple. If another mediocre year ensues, somebody will need to approach the commissioner to advocate for the sale of the Knicks away from the Dolan cable empire. It just may be bad chemistry.

And, having watched Bruce Bowen and others, rough it out during the playoffs one has to wonder why the Knicks are still running the show as if it were a charm school. Trading for a couple of enforcers on the court looks like best practice if you expect to win. Much as I love the sixties and early seventies Knicks, new times require new thinking.

Assuming Kobe Becomes a Knick

I can't help but wonder if Marbs, Kobe, Curry, and remainders could go Tripadelic while in their prime years matching or surpassing Riley's Jax's feat with Shaq and Kobe in LA.

Could happen.

Update: I was trying to avoid using the triplet phrase that's copyrighted by Pat Riley (I think). This blog has the lowest priority of a few that I'm responsible for so I'm usually doing it last and tired. My apologies. The sentence came out reading as though Riley had something to do with LA's three titles in a row when all I wanted to pun upon was the copyright.

Is the NBA salary cap hurting local charity?

When I read NY Post articles like this one, STEPHON: I'D BE OK WITH KOBE by Marc Berman, I can't help but wonder if the salary cap as an instrument of fiscal policy is worth it.

When I see players like Marbury, love him or hate him on the court, opening his heart and wallet to aid vital community organizations - one has to wonder if satisfying the appetite of owners for quick profit isn't hurting the league more than helping it.

If the big salary players become local philanthropies, this generates a goodwill fan base that the organization would spend far more to buy. Yet, in the NBA, teams in big cities with big needs are punished for compensating players appropriately. Let's face it, NY has far greater charity needs than say, Memphis.

Secondly, when NBA teams used to bid for college talent, the ante went up. The kid making big bucks was given the attention the club thought he deserved and even a Memphis suddenly created a buzz. Now the buzz is that the team that sucks gets rewarded for losing.

Maybe the good old days really were better.

From Berman's piece:

June 17, 2007 -- Stephon Marbury opened his wallet to New York City policemen, firemen and teachers yesterday and opened his arms to Kobe Bryant becoming a Knick.

In an appearance yesterday in Marbury's hometown Coney Island, he announced a series of $1 million donations then addressed the brewing Bryant saga, saying the NBA would benefit greatly if Isiah Thomas secured the Lakers' star.

Yesterday, Bryant met with Lakers owner Jerry Buss in Barcelona, Spain, with the L.A. Times reporting Bryant restated his trade demands. The report said Buss warned Bryant a trade would be a long-term process.

"Hey, I'm not opposed to it," Marbury said with a laugh. "I want to be clear-cut. I'm not opposed to it."

Presiding over opening ceremonies at the annual Stephon Marbury Basketball Classic at Surfside Gardens, the Knicks point guard said he believes the NBA could use a jolt after the Spurs swept to their fourth title in nine years in the lowest-rated NBA Finals.

"New York would be dynamite for [Kobe]," Marbury said. "This would be someplace where basketball would become the biggest and highest of the high for the NBA. It will help the game in a tremendous way because that would give New York that solidification . . . where you look at the Knicks as, oh, man, that's the team again. There's still a search for that team that people want to follow."

The Kobe Watch - The Rain in Spain...

Kobe wants out and it makes sense. LA is going nowhere and Buss is sounding like Chip Stern preaching "patience". Kobe is not a young man anymore tho he is still a franchise. But Kobe knows full well that his star-status is melting faster than the arctic icecaps. It ain't the same without Shaq and it ain't the same being treated like a lecherous villain. Kobe's LA days are in the rear view mirror whether he stays or not.

The papers say Chicago or New York. And they structure some pretty compelling Chicago trades to consider. Chicago could destroy the chemistry of their team by trading Gordon, Deng, and others. But I have to ask if that's what Kobe is really looking for - playoffs in Chicago.

Kobe may be looking for the thing Sprewell found in NY and would find nowhere else - personal salvation. NY needs Kobe and Kobe needs NY. It's not about sneakers, it's about the Big Apple and it's about evening the score with Shaq. Shaq won with Miami - that's got to sting. And sitting out the playoffs for months... That can't be sitting well either.

Chad Ford, in full Chad Ford Knicks-hater gallop, pooh-poohs what the Knicks can offer LA for Kobe but destiny may be guiding this transaction. If Shaq could hand pick his destination, it would be profoundly insulting of LA to deny Kobe that same courtesy. The choice is up to Kobe and no one else.

And if that's not true then the disconnect between Kobe and the LA management is cancerous.

Laughable LA Trade Rumors

Over the past few days, there have been Jermaine O'Neal trade rumors to pacify Kobe who wants out.

First, a report that Odom and Bynum are too much to give up for O'Neal! Then the laffer of the lot that Kwame Brown had to be part of the deal!

Oh, wait, there's one more punch line; Denver refused a Camby for Kwame deal straight up! No shit, Sherlock.

Is Scott Layden running the Lakers these days?

Kwame Brown trades - hmmm - no way I suggest trading Jerome James for Kwame Brown uh, uh.

Odom is kind of a sad story though. Talented guy who always landed in the wrong place at the wrong time. If LA is rebuilding it is hard to imagine Odom hanging around much longer either. LA is melting down.

Walton may bail out.

Jackson might just call it a career as well. Will he want to hang around developing a winner. It could take a decade or more. Highly unlikely, IMO.