Left Charlotte in the biggest snow storm in three years. Came to Orlando to meet a tornado watch that lasted through the night.
I'm wondering if locusts are waiting for me when I touch down in New York on Sunday.
As much as I tried to make a case for Eddy Curry on the all-star team, I guess I'm not surprised. In fact, in a recent post I made reference to the Isiah Factor working against Curry. If you watched as the reserves were announced on TNT last night, you heard Magic Johnson, Isiah's friend, even admit that the coaches might have been less inclined to vote for Curry because of Thomas.
The Knicks losing record is one thing. But the Knicks reputation was the clincher. And, as Magic said, the snub was "the coaches saying to Isiah, 'Hey, that was my boy that you fired last year."'
Once again, it's all Larry Brown's fault. Thanks for the built-in excuse, Magic.
When this season ends -- the Knicks need three wins to match Brown's total of 23 last season, so they're almost assured of achieving that -- I hope no one is blinded by this notion that Thomas should be judged on this season vs. last season. "Evident progress" should include his entire body of work as the franchise's leader, not just it's coach.
Ask yourself this, even you who claim this criticism is all racially-motivated (as accurate as Emeka Okafor from the foul line): If Thomas had been running the Yankees or Mets the past four years, would he even still have a job right now? Ask Brian Cashman about media criticism and pressure. Ask Omar Minaya about the racial bias in the media.
I think it shows how far the Knicks franchise has fallen in New York. There is not nearly enough outrage about how much the bar has been lowered. When 50 wins was once the water mark, 30 wins would suggest "evident progress."
Comments (11)
If Thomas had been running the Yankees or Mets the past four years, would he even still have a job right now? Ask Brian Cashman about media criticism and pressure. Ask Omar Minaya about the racial bias in the media.
I asked myself and decided it's really not a fair comparison in light of salary cap. Brian Cashman's club has spent up wards of $600 million dollars the past three season alone with no titles and he actually was granted more control of the team. Now I like Cashman, but let's face it he's playing with a juiced deck. With Isiah's unquestionable ability to draft, if he had the ability to just keep spending the Knicks would be a good team right now, maybe he'd make some bad moves and they still wouldn't win it all, but they would be in it.
Really, the All Star game is a joke anyway. It's all based on reputation and obviously no one cares what the result will be. Anyways, I do think the NBA needs to expand its rosters for the All Star game.
Curry should not be an All Star though because he's not a complete player, something I believe All Stars need, or at least should be. His defense and rebounding is so awful and sometimes you wonder if we're actually a better team when Curry is not playing. I saw a pretty good Knicks team the game Curry did miss. Curry better become an improved defender or the Knicks will be in big trouble.
Let me tell you how far the Knicks have fallen. A once perenial playoff team, now says that if we win 35 games, it's a success. Also, if our 1st round pick that belongs to the Bulls doesn't turn out to be Oden or Durant, then all the better.
Knicks will continue to be a laughingstock as long as Isiah and Dolan are here.
I agree with you. If NJ was better and NY was almost out of playoff contention, people would be more upset. This is not significant progress in my eyes.
....Its been about 30 years since i've heard so many KNICK games on radio. Im dying with every loss and turnover and I promised to never get attatched to any sport in my adulthood like I was as a kid. Now look at me...but I can't remember the last time except Bernard King i'd seen one Knick triple teamed (Curry vs PHX) maybe they know its difficult to pass accurately out of for him now. I don't even remember Patrick triple teamed ...its something to build on , or maybe i'm trippin A.H.
...About the race thing...David Lee is the most fantastic piece to the KNICK future along with CURRY , FRYE and QRICH . Zeke drafted D.LEE. I do think Van Horn for Tim Thomas was a unravelling beginning because at that time I thought KVH was set to prove to Steph that both matured to win from early youngin NJN daze. Doleac ???
T.Thomas was/ is the laziest most talented player I've ever seen as a KNICK. David Lee is the complete opposite in heart, and drive and Isiah knows he needs that bridge of energy between starting lineup and bench. ISIAH has kinda invented a 'closer' Mariano Rivera role in Crawford as a finisher if they continue to believe that 'starting ' is irrelevant in winning the damn game...ouch.
Maybe i'm trippin because I'm realizin Ben Gordon is a MR4Q from the Skiles headbandless head ...but Crawford is a MR4Q as well...
Absolutely wrong. This post is wrong. Why?
Because of Scott Layden, that's why. The mess that was Knicks when Isiah got here was sooooo bad. So absolutely egregious, that any other team in the league would have taken 5 years to rebuild it.
This franchise was in position to become the Atlanta Hawks. Sure, we're a bigger market, but we were so far above the cap because of Shandon Anderson, Houston, Weatherspoon etc., that free agency was not an option for us. Draft balls? Isiah HAD 0 PICKS TO WORK WITH WHEN HE CAME ON! He traded for all of his picks.
Now its time for results, fine, but last year was utterly wasted becuase Larry Brown consistently tried to undermine his nucleus so the rebuilding could start all over again. Newsflash- the Knicks are under .500 because they started the season without any confidence (Channing Frye), a backcourt of Marbury and Francis (Brown's trade), Marbury's utter lack of confidance after the number Brown did to him, and Curry's lack of growth last year. They started the season 2-7 at home I think. But since the brawl, its a different team. IF they play that way the whole year, they'd be around .500 right now if not with a winning record. Give Thomas time. I still think the Knicks will make the playoffs this year, becasue Francis will end up being very valuable allowing Marbury to rest his knees.
While I believe you're accurate in your assessment of New York's attitude towards the Knicks, I think it's foolhardy to ignore the reason behind this. First and foremost, it is NOT Isiah's fault!
The current state of the Knicks is, in my opinion, way ahead of schedule as a result of having one of the best, if not THE best, talent evaluators in the league right now in Isiah. The Scott Layden era of Knicks basketball reached levels of ineptitude matched only by megalomania of his boss, Jim Dolan. The quagmire that was the Knicks upon his dismissal was atrocious. If you compare, on paper, the personnel and financial outlook of the roster when Isiah arrived to today's you'd notice a VAST improvement. The fact that people want to see "microwaved" results is the reason that Isiah doesn't get the credit he deserves. The signing of Jerome James aside, Isiah has done wonderful things for this organization and by extension, this city.
I want you guys too look at the nytimes.com article about why the old Celtics (Bird, McHale, and Ainge) are getting a pass for being pretty bad GM's. Their teams suck or are mediocre and their players get in trouble, or if you do have a talented big guy, you don't do anything to really help. They are teflon it seems. White teflon.....
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