Another Lost Year.

“‘We weren’t too good the last two years,’ D’Antoni said. ‘Obviously we’ll try to get better at it this summer. We’ll try to shore up some defensive stuff.'” Ladies and gentlemen, your 29-53 New York Knickerbockers. (When it’s mid-April, and the best news going is next year’s salary cap number, that’s not a good sign for your basketball club.)

So, yeah, for the ninth year in a row — going back to their original sin of trading Ewing for crap (Luc Longley, Glen Rice), which soon multiplied into more crap (Howard Eisley, Shandon Anderson) — the Knicks have stunk up the joint. The T-Mac Hail Mary failed (although nowhere near as badly as the sad, lingering saga of Eddy Curry), and our one decent player — David Lee — is resigned to improving his game elsewhere.

So, yeah, not much joy in Mudville. We’re going on almost a full decade of embarrassing basketball at this point. Still, there’s always next year, and the promise of a King…

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.

Blockbuster!

Ok, let me apologize again to Isiah Thomas. While I’m a bit concerned about all the draft picks locked up here (to say nothing of losing Macej Lampe and Milos Vujanic, two possible big-time players in the not-so-distant future), the Marbury/Penny for McDyess/Ward/Eisley trade today has to go down as another impressive move by our new GM. Starbury has been a bit of a hit-or-miss head case on his first three teams, but it’s been his dream to play for his hometown Knicks, so hopefully he’ll make the most of it. Penny ain’t what he used to be, but I’d expect him to score points in bunches off the bench every fifth game or so. As for what we gave up, it’s kinda sad that the McDyess experiment never amounted to much…but it already seems clear that it’s going to take at least the rest of the year for him to play to form again. Charlie Ward had a good decade with the Knicks, but he’s been trade bait for so long that I doubt he’s surprised. And the sheer fact that Isaiah found a taker for Howard Eisley and his glutted contract is amazing to me. So all in all, a great trade here for New York, even if we may get burned in the long-run by all the disappearing draft picks and projects. Update: Aldridge weighs in.

So Long, Big Fella.

The Knicks honor their 15-year man in the pivot as Patrick Ewing’s 33 is retired tonight at the Garden. Despite the diatribes by Jordan-jocking naysayers like David Halberstam, Ewing was truly one of the greats, along with Hakeem the best center of his generation. If Johnny Starks hadn’t stunk up Game 7 in ’94 or if David Stern hadn’t gotten suspension-happy in ’97 after PJ Brown (of the Heat) attacked Charlie Ward, we wouldn’t even be hearing all this no-title nonsense every time Pat’s name comes up. Ah well…I just wish Ewing could’ve finished his career in NY. However bad he looked in those last two seasons in Seattle and Orlando, he could’ve brought more to the Garden every night than Glen Rice and Luc Longley ever did…and we wouldn’t be saddled now with overpaid, underachieving players like Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley. At any rate, so long, big fella. It’s your night. Update: Thanks to some triple-double heroics by Spree, the Knicks won in double OT on Ewing’s night. Other than the somewhat tacky gift of a 2003 Humvee, a nice night all around.