The trade deadline came and went and all the blockbusters we were expecting to hear about never came to be. Amare Stoudemire to the Grizzlies?Nope. Vince Carter to the Blazers?Never happened. Antawn Jamison to the Cavs? Shaq to the Cavs? Richard Jefferson to the Cavs? The biggest name that moved this deadline (not counting the Jermaine O’Neal/Shawn Marion swap nor the Brad Miller trade) was Tyson Chandler. Oh wait. That trade got rescinded. The biggest names were Rafer Alston and Larry Hughes. The Orlando Magic panicked after Chris Paul destroyed them on Wednesday night but fortunately didn’t have to give up much to get Skip. I doubt that first-round pick has much of an impact on the Grizz unless they’re able to package that pick along with some other assets in an offseason deal. I don’t think Orlando thinks Rafer will bring them a championship but he’ll probably allow them to get that #3 seed in the East.
As for the Hughes deal, it doesn’t have much of a playoff implication since it’s possible both the Knicks and Bulls will miss the playoffs but I like the deal for New York since they get rid of Jerome James. Finally. I mean the guy only played in four games in the last two seasons. Donnie Walsh has somehow gotten rid of almost all the worthless players Isiah Thomas brought in so that in itself has to be a victory for New York. I think Hughes will actually be pretty decent and Mike D’Antoni will utilize his slashing skills because we all know he’s not much of a shooter. (And for the record, I like the Chris Wilcox deal. Athletic bigs are built for D’Antoni’s system). Tim Thomas will provide some offensive spark for the Bulls but he won’t have much of an impact. But I guess he’s better than a benched Hughes.
You know, I don’t really see any trade winners or losers. There were some cost-cutting moves and some moves to free up roster spots. Like I said, there weren’t any of the blockbusters we’d been hearing about and no superstars were on the move. The biggest surprise was hearing that Shaq was rumored to be going to Cleveland. Good thing it didn’t happen though because I couldn’t see Big Z and O’Neal playing together (nor could I picture Shaq in a Cavs uniform). But the team whose strategy I can’t quite put my finger on is the Kings. I thought they could’ve gotten more for Brad Millerand John Salmons but settled for mediocrity. And they didn’t even get any draft picks. I am looking at their roster and they have long-term contracts tied up in Kevin Martin (who is good), Andres Nocioni (who is okay but I can already picture them trying to trade him soon), Beno Udrih (who they want to get rid of), and Francisco Garcia (who I’m sure they’ll also be looking to trade). Not exactly the makings of a championship nucelus. I do like the trade with TWolves though. Brushing my UNC bias aside, I do like the deal bringing in Rashad McCants because he’s talented and they can see what he can do these next few months then decide what to do with him. Shelden Williams isn’t even the best basketball player in his own house (that distinction goes to Candace Parker) so he was pretty much wasting space. I don’t know what the Kings are doing and they look like they will be doormats for the foreseeable future. I’ll take a stab and say Geoff Petrie will be fired by this time next year. Kings fans, help me out and let me know what your team is doing.
I was terribly disappointed with the trades this year because like I said, there were a lot of superstar names on the block. I expected to see at least a few of these rumored deals come to fruition but the contenders pretty much stood pat. I guess this crappy economy is even affecting the kinds of trades we’re seeing in the NBA. Oh well. Maybe next year things will be more exciting.
Last night, before the Knicks lost to the Blazers, a special presentation was held in the WaMu Theatre where the new President of MSG Sports Scott O’Neil spoke a little bit about breaking into the sports industry. When I signed up for it I thought it would be a pretty interesting thing to go to. The guy does know a thing or two about basketball – he founded HoopsTV.com and also worked as a Senior VP for the NBA. To my surprise, there were actually a good amount of people there (and also a good amount of girls). Unfortunately, most seemed to be college kids who apparently haven’t formulated an intellectual question ever in their lives. The dumbest question of the night was probably: “How do you evaluate salespeople?” Well, how do you think genius? The guy who makes the best spreadsheets? C’mon. The funniest moment of the night though was probably when a lady asked (and I’m paraphrasing) “Does MSG have a 5 or 10-year plan? Surely you guys have a 5 and 10-year plan.” To this, Mr. O’Neil said, “The question was if we had a 5 or 10-year plan………….asked in a somewhat condescending voice.”
………………
Okay so it’s not that funny when you have to read it. But the point is Mr. O’Neil seemed like a straight-shooter and tried to be as honest as he could without jeopardizing the company. He had no problem taking questions from the audience and also had no problems making short quips when asked a stupid question, which I appreciated. But as with all powerful people (and Harvard graduates) he definitely had his arrogant side and it was evident he thought he was better than everyone else in the room. I would have loved to see him give this kind of a presentation in front of his peers instead of a bunch of people who just wanted to be him.
In the end, I didn’t really learn anything new about getting into the sports industry. Most of the hour was used on answering stupid questions and the rest was basically another rich guy telling us that we have to seize the day and learn from our failures, stuff I could get from my parents. It was a nice experience nonetheless but I wish those college kids who attended a lot of luck in their pursuit of becoming thet next Scott O’Neil because they’ll certainly need it.
Saturday night gave us our first Barbara Walters performances (20/20) of the year as Dwight Howard and David Lee did even better with both going for 30 and 20. Howard had a monstrous 32 points, 21 rebounds, and 4 blocks in a win against the Pacers. Not to be outdone, Lee had 37 points, 21 rebounds, and 3 steals against the Warriors. You’d expect these kinds of games from Howard every now and then but Lee? That was surprising to see. He started the season a bit inconsistently, but since Zach Randolph was traded, he’s had a double-double in every game (5 straight). With Lee due for a big contract extension, I wonder if Donnie Walsh sees him in the Knicks’ (and LeBron’s) future.
It was no secret that the New York Knicks planned to base their entire operation on creating enough cap space to sign LeBron James in 2010. And now the plan is finally in action. In two separate deals, the Knicks parted ways with Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, and Mardy Collins, creating enough space in two years to put themselves in position to sign LeBron. While this is all good and fine for New York, they still have plenty of work to do to entice King James to leave his home state.
In the team’s current state, Eddy Curry, Jared Jeffries, Danilo Gallinari, and Wilson Chandler will be on the team if LeBron comes (assuming all team and player options are exercised which they will be. And also David Lee. If he re-signs he’ll be making at least $10 million a year.) Those guys don’t exactly scream title contenders. Furthermore, those players minus Curry all play the same position as LeBron so pretty much it’ll be pointless to have all of them still on the roster. It’s tough to imagine any of those guys going anywhere considering Curry and Jeffries have terrible contracts no one wants (combined $18 million in 2010-2011) and Chandler and Gallinari are young, cheap (combined $5.5 million in 2010-2011), and full of potential. As much as New York would help LeBron in his domination of the world, he still needs to win championships for that to happen so Donnie Walsh needs to work hard to build a roster that will do that. If I were Walsh, I’d try packing either Gallinari or Chandler with Curry (Memphis????) and try to get a first-round pick in return (this could wait until next year). You might be thinking why give up on one of the young guys in order to get rid of Curry who’d only have one year left on his deal. Well, the summer of 2010 is absolutely loaded with superstars like D-Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, and Joe Johnson. Some members of the 2005 draft class will also be unrestricted free agents. In my estimation, signing LBJ is a guarantee if the Knicks can sign any one of those guys as well. But I wonder what “superstar” would want to sign with a team just to be LeBron’s sidekick. I am sure those guys realize they’ll win multiple championships with LeBron but as professional athletes, their pride would want them to believe they can win championships without the help of the best basketball player in the world.
In any event, the Knicks have at least put themselves in position to sign LeBron and maybe Donnie Walsh has a master plan in how he wants to construct the pieces to surround around James. As a New Yorker, I’ll be hoping this happens so I’ll be able to watch the best basketball player (and so, the best team) in the world for years to come.
Of course after I even entertain the thought of the Knicks making the playoffs (let alone the Finals), they lose a heartbreaker to the underachieving Mavericks in overtime. So much for that learning how to close out games thing.
The Lakers finally lost a game, falling to the Pistons. I thought they had a legitimate shot at winning 70 games but I’m beginning to waver on that a bit. I mean, Kwame Brown got a double-double on them (10 points/10 rebounds).
Ironically enough, the Pistons’ trade partner, the Denver Nuggets took down the other Finals contestant as they beat the Celtics in Boston on Friday.
The inconsistent Rockets had a terrible loss against the Spurs on Friday, followed by a nice win against the equally inconsistent Hornets. Tough to get a read on any of these teams.
The Atlanta Hawks are reverting to last year’s form, falling to the lowly Nets not once, but twice in a home and home series.
Don’t look now but the LeBron-led Cavaliers are 8-2. Is this their year?
PERFORMER OF THE WEEKEND
DIRK NOWITZKI
44 MINS 39 PTS 15 REBS 4 ASTS 1 STL 1 BLK 0 TOS 13-27 FG 12-12 FT 1-1 3PT +13 +/-
Dirk owned the Knicks in overtime.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEKEND
ANTHONY MORROW
42 MINS 37 PTS 11 REBS 1 AST 0 STLS 0 BLKS 2 TOS 15-20 FG 3-3 FT 4-5 3PT +24 +/-
This showing by the undrafted rookie out of Georgia Tech could possibly be the rookie performance of the year. Where did he come from?
I was at the Knicks game on Friday night when they played the Oklahoma City Thunder. My friend Quan was able to get some club-level seats and they were awesome. So thanks again Quan for the tickets. We were a little held up so we got there towards the end of the first quarter and the Knicks were already up by 17. And I was pretty impressed by this because the Knicks????? Up by 17????? It is just incomprehensible. (Or at least it was. Mike D’Antoni really is doing some amazing things with this team. He’s the leading Coach of the Year candidate in my book and I really don’t see how it could be anyone else.) The Knicks are clearly a superior team to the Thunder but I thought it would be a classic case of the better team playing down to the competition, but that wasn’t the case…at least for a half. After the crowd (and both teams) were treated to an amazing performance by a young girl singing a song from Dream Girls (Nate Robinson was going crazy…waving his towel throughout the whole song and I can’t blame him…the girl’s life is pretty set), the Knicks reverted to the team they’ve been for the last seven years. They almost blew a 30-point lead as the Thunder cut the lead to seven points. The MSG crowd was starting to boo but they turned into cheers (or sighs of relief actually) as they eventually won by 10.
Thanks for putting away the Thunder, Eddie.
Even though the Knicks almost blew a 30-point lead, I was still impressed and now I’m certain things are different in New York. First off, they HAD a 30-point lead. Sure it was only the Thunder but it’s a team they’re SUPPOSED to blow out and they did for a little while. Additionally, the Knicks were bending but did not break. As Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were chipping away at the lead, it seemed as if the Knicks were destined for a loss of epic proportions, even for them. And if that happened, there would’ve been a riot in the Garden. I legitimately would’ve been scared for my life. Fortunately, Jamal Crawford and Eddie Winslow…I mean Zach Randolph made sure I lived to see another day (thanks, guys) and led New York to victory. They’re beginning to learn how to close out games and Friday night’s experience will be worth something to them as the season goes on. And on top of all of this, the Knicks are winning at home, their only loss being a bad one to the Bucks.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Finally, though everyone makes fun of the Knicks and how bad they’ve been the last few years and what a dramatic change it’s been in New York, when you put that all aside and just remember that Isiah Thomas has no role with the team anymore, I don’t think you can be too surprised with the change. Without even getting into his personnel moves (which any casual fan could tell you were atrocious), it’s no secret the former Pistons Bad Boy is a terrible head coach who should never get another coaching gig at any level. The Knicks always had talent but Thomas negated all of that while he was coaching. Now they have a legitimate coach running the team, and look what he’s doing with all the talent. I always thought coaching was a bit overrated in the NBA, but I guess when you have the worst coach in professional sports, it can uhh…have a big impact. But Knicks fans, you can forget all of that now as Mike D’Antoni looks to take this team to the playoffs for the first time since 2004. As I was leaving the game, my boy Jeff (who I pleasantly bumped into as he was sitting in the row behind me) gave me this prediction: in a repeat of the 1998-1999 season, the New York Knicks will get to the playoffs as the #8 seed and stun the basketball world, taking down team by team, eventually reaching………and WINNING the Finals. I kind of laughed it off when he was telling me this, but with the way things are going in New York, maybe it’s not as farfetched as we all think. The NBA, after all, is where amazing happens.
It was a lazy Sunday in the NBA with only two games on the schedule, none of which really was cause for any excitement.
I was able to catch some of the Knicks/Bucks game and the Bucks pretty much owned on defense. The Knicks shot a horrid 37% and 36 of their 81 field goal attempts were 3-pointers. Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva were killing them on the inside, especially in the first half and Ramon Sessions did his best Jason Kidd impersonation, 2 assists and 3 rebounds shy of a triple double. Even Luc Ricard Mbah a Moute got in on the action with 11 points and 10 rebounds, numbers I thought he wouldn’t even have in the D-League.
David Lee, Jamal Crawford, and Chris Duhon combined for 10 points. And sixth-man Wilson Chandler was 3-13 from the field and had 7 points. Not really the kind of production you’re looking for from 4 of your top 6 guys.
I was actually shocked the Knicks were only down by 4 at the half. They were getting outplayed pretty badly.
Michael Redd sprained his ankle. Hopefully it’s not too serious.
I will go on record as saying Chris Duhon is definitely NOT the answer at point guard for the Knicks. I am still wondering why they signed him. The inactive Stephon Marbury is a billion times better than him, even with his head tattoo. His teammates must really not like him.
Good to see the Oklahoma City Thunder get their first win in thefranchise’s history tonight, especially at home.
PATHETIC STAT LINE OF THE NIGHT
Jamal Crawford gave him a run for his money, but Randy Foye wins tonight:
30 MINS 2 PTS 6 ASTS 3 REBS 0 STLS 0 BLKS 5 TOS 0-10 FG 0-3 3-PT 2-2 FT -1 +/-
IMPRESSIVE STATE LINE OF THE NIGHT
A couple guys had some nice nights including Al Jefferson (24 PTS/13 REBS), Quentin Richardson (28 PTS/9 REBS), and Andrew Bogut had a +20 +/- but it looks like the Thunder’s bench carried them to victory tonight. Rusell Westbrook was +7 and Chris Wilcox, Desmond Mason, and Joe Smith all had a +12 while the starters were all negative. So good job to the Thunder’s bench for winning the game for the team.
Note: The Bucks’ starting lineup all had insane +/-’s but you gotta hand it to the bench of Oklahoma City for picking up the slack for the starters.
Amazing how many of these videos you can find on Youtube.
Ah yes. The New York Knicks. The laughing stock of the NBA for the past several years. And rightfully so. From all the bad personnel moves (Isiah Thomas, Jerome James, Jared Jeffries, Stephon Marbury, Renaldo Balkman, Vin Baker, trading Patrick Ewing, Steve Francis, Eddy Curry, etc, etc, etc) to the Anucha Browne Sanders saga, it’s been joke after joke with this team. A once proud franchise, the Knicks have devolved into a punchline for David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. They’re worse than SNL. And they don’t have the young players like the Grizzlies or the Timberwolves to look forward to, except for first-round pick Danilo Gallinari. But enough about how bad they are. That’s been well-documented. Donnie Walsh took over for the worst GM in sports history and immediately made a splash by hiring former Phoenix Suns head coach, Mike D’Antoni. He used his first-round pick somewhat controversially on the aforementioned Gallinari and I might be in the minority by saying this, but Gallinari will be a solid player in the NBA. He possesses all the tools necessary to be a dynamic offensive player. But he needs to stay healthy and he’s not doing a good job with that right now. There is nothing that will anger Knicks fans more than if he misses the first three months of the season with his bad back. Regardless, with Walsh, D’Antoni and Gallinari, New York City has something to look forward to on the hardwood in the coming years.
Hopefully Mike D’Antoni can bring the same fire to the Knicks players.
Face of the Franchise: Mike D’Antoni. There is not one player on the roster I can point to and say he is the best player on the team. Nor can I pick a player who defines the Knicks. The most discernible basketball figure in New York is without question head coach Mike D’Antoni. This high profile hire brings his run ‘n gun offense to Gotham and all eyes will be on him. He’ll be counted on to bring enough respect back to this team so that the members of the hyped free agent class of 2010 will want to sign in New York, most notably LeBron James.
Send Him Away: Zach Randolph. It would be great if the Knicks could blow up their entire roster but no one wants anyone on the team so I gotta go with the guy who makes the most money with the most guaranteed years left on his contract. He is a 20/10 guy but that’s a wasted 20/10 on this team. I am shocked and a bit disappointed Donnie Walsh did not pull the trigger in sending him to Memphis. But it will be interesting to see how he fits in D’Antoni’s style of play.
Impact Newcomer: Mike D’Antoni. See Face of the Franchise.
X-Factor: Chris Duhon. The Knicks signed Duhon to run the offense. I personally don’t think he is the right fit for them and I don’t believe he is an NBA-level starter. I’d rather have Stephon Marbury at the point even with his weird antics (though it’s only a matter of time before he’s gone). It’ll be up to Duhon to prove myself and other doubters wrong.
Danilo Gallinari thinking he’s playing in the Rucker League. Listen to how excited Walt “Clyde” Frazier is to see that move. Yeah.
Forecast: Low Lottery. This may be wishful thinking given the state of the team but for some reason I believe they will come together under their new head coach. D’Antoni will get them to work hard and put forth the effort that Knicks fans expect to see. The question is how long it will take for them to gel. The shorter it takes, the more the playoffs can be a reality (that’s right, playoffs. There is a ton of talent on this team). The longer it takes, well, welcome to NYC Ricky Rubio.
Posted by david im 
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
