“I’ve seen the Garden in some of its best moments, and I truly believe that this team is on the verge of experiencing that again.” Allen Houston returns to the New York Knicks, two years after retiring with a bad knee. Well, ok. Houston was always pretty one-dimensional as a player — he’s a shooter, and not much else (I’d rather have Sprewell back, to be honest.) But when he’s on, he’s on, and the (2-0!) Knicks will need someone to spread the floor from outside in any case, with both Curry and Randolph clogging up the paint. Houston’s no silver bullet for this squad, and he might not make the roster anyway, but let’s hope it works out. “‘If he’s the Allan Houston we know, we haven’t seen him in a while, but if he’s that good a player, we want good players,’ said Thomas.” Update: Scratch that…aborted at the launchpad. “With the season opening less than two weeks away, I think it is best for the team to move on without me.” Sigh…not what you’d call a feel-good story.
Category: Knicks
Oden Days | Zach to the Future?
As expected, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant went 1 and 2 respectively at last night’s 2007 NBA Draft. Bigger news on the local scene, however, was the Knicks acquiring Portland’s talented, troubled PF Zach Randolph in exchange for sophomore SF Channing Frye (a good player, but he slumped considerably last year) and veteran “superstar” PG Steve Francis (a wildly overpaid underachiever with an awful, bloated contract — I can’t believe Portland took him, frankly.) All in all, I’m pretty happy with this trade. Randolph’s clearly a bit of a loon, and a cluttered Randolph-Curry frontcourt makes about as much sense as the Marbury-Francis backcourt — it’s a fantasy team line-up with no sense for team chemistry. How are Marbury, Crawford, or Robinson going to drive into the paint with both Curry and Randolph drawing double-teams in the low post, and no real shooters to spread the floor? Still, losing Francis was addition by subtraction, and, while’s Randolph’s contract is also pretty hefty ($61 million over 4 years) at the very least, Randolph is still young. (The move was definitely better than the Celtics’ obvious panic-trade for Ray Allen. I love Jesus Shuttlesworth, but shooting guards over 30 — particularly those who just had two ankle surgeries — age in dog years, and he, like Pierce, has a tendency to disappear sometimes.)
Isiah Hearts Kobe.
Spurred by Kobe Bryant’s recent on-again, off-again trade demands (predicted by Ray Allen several years early), Knicks GM and coach Isiah Thomas starts dreaming of a major shake-up in the Knickerbocker lineup. Oof, I really hope Bryant doesn’t end up in New York (not that it’s very likely anyway.) Despite his immense talent, he is easily my least favorite player in the league, and I’d have a hard time rooting for my Knicks with him jacking up shots all the time for the orange-and-blue.
“This is not about fairness.”
“That is asinine. It’s no way to run a sport.” Salon‘s King Kaufman (among others) has some harsh words for David Stern and the NBA concerning the recent 1-game suspensions meted out against Phoenix as a result of Robert Horry’s body-check of Steve Nash. I’m inclined to agree. Why is San Antonio being rewarded for Horry’s cheap shot? And, let’s not forget, the same thing happened to the Knicks ten years ago when PJ Brown started a fight with Charlie Ward in the 1997 playoffs, and it was idiotic back then too. Will the league never learn?
As for the Knickerbockers…
Well, it was another lousy season…as has been the case since, oh, about 2000 now. In the end, this year’s 33-49 Knicks only garnered ten more wins than last year’s dismal Larry Brown experiment. And, worse, they never lived up to the glimmers of promise at the midterm, going 4-15 after Dolan’s woeful decision to extend Isiah’s contract for two years. True, much of that freefall can be attributed to injuries — Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, and David Lee all went down for a stretch there. And, I will concede, this team does play hard for Isiah, as they never did for Larry Brown. But, even before the IR filled up, the Knicks were terrible on the defensive end. I can’t tell you how many games I watched this year where New York would be down by double digits in the first half thanks to lackadaisical D, make a gritty run in the fourth, and lose by a bucket. (And, for all of Eddy Curry’s improvement this year, the big fella still hasn’t learned to box out.) As opposed to last year’s obvious failure, I guess you could say these Knicks were comfortably mediocre. But, frankly, that’s not good enough. If we’re ever going to be a playoff contender again, we need to play both ends of the floor. And I’m not sure I see that happening with these players…or this coach.
But, this being sports, hope springs eternal. So…any of y’all other teams want to give up a solid defender for Steve Francis’s contract? Anyone? Anyone? We’ll throw in Jerome James while we’re at it…
Isiah’s Midterm Grade: C+.
At the halfway point and in their first-game after the All-Star Break, the Knicks knocked out their 24th win of the season against Orlando last night, 100-94, thus eclipsing last year’s woeful 23-59 full-season record under Larry Brown. I haven’t been posting about them much, but thanks to the magic of TiVo I’ve watched a lot of games this year, and there are definitely causes for hope among the Knicks nation, even if there’s not much chance of a serious playoff run, or even a playoff spot, this year. No, I haven’t climbed aboard the Isiah bandwagon, and I think we’d be better if he was gone from the Garden next year. But, in the emergence of Eddy Curry as a semi-consistent offensive force in the post, and the solid play of the second-years — most notably rookie/sophomore game MVP David Lee, who leads the league in shooting percentage and is a prime candidate for six-man of the year, the Knicks have a foundation to build on for the first time in a good long while. Let’s just hope Isiah doesn’t make any more panic trades that lock us in with overpriced underperformers — see Steve Francis, Jerome James, Jalen Rose, Penny Hardaway, Antonio McDyess, Vin Baker, Glenn Rice, Luc Longley, Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, all since Patrick left in 2000 — for the next 4-6 years.
Small Brawl | Denver has the Answer.
As you probably heard, a recent Knicks-Nuggets game turned into a melee, with ten ejections, seven suspensions (including, most notably, Denver’s Carmelo Anthony for 15 games — the Knicks only lost their scrubs, with the possible exception of instigator Nate Robinson for ten), and another cloud of controversy surrounding coach Isiah Thomas. (Please, fire him already.) To be honest, I have yet to see a quality video of the fracas, but it sounds like yet another embarrassment for my lowly Knickerbockers, who’ve been in freefall for years now, ever since Ewing and Van Gundy left town. In happier news for the other team involved, the Denver Nuggets trade for Allan Iverson, giving up Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first-rounders in the process. Great trade for Denver — they’re an injury prone team, but with the Answer, ‘Melo, K-Mart, Camby, and Nene, they have to be considered a serious finals contender, even with notorious choker George Karl at the helm.
1-0. (1-2.)
Up 19 with 9 minutes to go against a Memphis team playing without Pau Gasol, the Knicks needed all of three overtimes last night to eke out a win 118-117. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2006-2007 New York Knickerbockers. Ah well, at least we’re over .500 for the first time since January 2005 (the Wilkins era), and we definitely would’ve lost this game last year. David Lee, Q-Rich, and even Eddy Curry looked good; Francis, Frye, and Crawford less so. Update: Sigh…Back to reality. That didn’t last long.
Blue and Orange (and Red), ’06-’07.
With Larry sated and Rose wilted, I suppose the Knicks are as ready as they can be for the 2006-2007 NBA season, which starts tonight on TNT (although the Knicks don’t play until Wednesday.) Hopefully, it won’t get too ugly for New York too early. (Also, before embarking on basketball’s future, a moment to honor its past: R.I.P. Red Auerbach 1917-2006.)
Faaantastic.
“Experts Warn: NBA Season May Begin Sometime In Next Three To Six Weeks.” Yes, it’s true. In fact, our first look at Isiah’s up-tempo tweaks to the Knicks will occur tonight, in a pre-season game against the aging New Jersey Nets. (Yes, I’ll probably watch it, even though the Knickerbockers will no doubt once again be terrible all season. In fact, with that in mind, this may just be the year I finally break down and order the League Pass.)