So a Toronto cab driver, who follows sports like any passionate Canadian, asks a sleepy New York sports writer, "So what does ol' Isiah need to do to make the Knicks better?"
The sports writer, almost instinctively, replies, "Quit."
*
I was tough on Eddy Curry today in my game story. Quite frankly, sometimes I wonder if anyone has been tough enough with him. Not in the nasty way Scott Skiles used to go about it, but more in the motivational way...dangle the carrot, Big Mac, Hershey bar, whatever ...
(OK, see, that...I mean that was Skilesesque-nasty and totally uncalled for. That's not constructive, it's just downright snarky. Fixers, hold me accountable!)
Seriously, Big Cat, I was disappointed when I saw you stroll in at 4:30 for a 6 p.m. game with the likes of Jamal Crawford (at 40 minutes a night, he has the right) and Jerome James (just here because his contract says he has to be) and, of course, Isiah Thomas, who probably would have showed up at 5:30 if the NBA allowed it. Not when everyone knows there was an earlier bus that you should have been on. Or maybe a cab you could have jumped into with some of your teammates who came over two-and-a-half hours before gametime to get their work in.
Let it be said here, right here, Fixers, that Eddy Curry has the tools. Million-dollar tools. But he's carrying them around in a 10-cent toolbox, knowhutimean? Never mind his conditioning or his penchant for choosing video games over game video.
His personality suggests he would prefer his teammates like him and would prefer opponents know him as a nice guy. It might be more complicated to figure out, but Eddy has to learn that sometimes you have to be a total [expletive] when you're 6-11, and nearly 300 pounds. That in dropping a few guards who dare to drive into your paint and body slamming the likes of Reggie Evans every now and then may cost you a fine, but it'll earn you major points in the locker room. And, eventually, around the NBA.
It's not about offense with him. We know he can score, we know he has a soft touch. We know once he's actually in legit shape -- something we saw last season -- he can give you numbers. Should he develop a nice 10-footer off a faceup once in a while, just to throw in a wrinkle? Absolutely. Should he understand the offense better so he can pass quicker out of double-teams and so he knows where to slide on the pick-and-roll? Obviously.
But the regression of his game has nothing to do with X's and O's as much as it is that muscle pounding in his chest. Maybe the money came too fast for him and the game came too easy. Imagine his high school coach telling him to spend more time after practice on his free throws, because teams will have to hack you to stop you.
Now imagine the door closing behind Eddy before the coach could finish the sentance.
Glaring observation: The weaknesses in his pro game are the same he had as an 18-year-old, which speaks volumes about not just the coaching he has/hasn't been exposed to in the NBA, but also about himself. Those big, guaranteed contracts can tend to retard the sense of urgency someone young and hungry is supposed to have.
Check out some of the comments written in Curry's pre-draft profile on NBAdraft.net seven years ago:
The only thing that can stop Eddy Curry from becoming the next dominant force in the NBA is Eddy Curry . . . Must continue to "want it" and develop to ever become the player that Shaq is.
I think this is an interesting debate worth discussing: Zach or Eddy? Who do you keep and why?
Does your decision change if, say, Isiah is not here next season and Patrick Ewing is on the coaching staff?
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On the flight to TO this weekend I read an interesting issue of "Bounce" magazine, which they labled "The White Issue" (nice play on words, fellas) and took on the history of the white player in the street game and the stereotypes, myths and realities that come with the White Man's Burden. Great stuff on street legends like Blackjack Ryan, Chris Avignone and that dude, The Professor.
I have to admit I never could get into the streetball game. It's definitely entertaining, but, like in a WWE kinda way. I can't get into the histrionics and drama. It starts to look like cartoon characters running around with a ball without anyone calling the obvious traveling violation or double-dribble (I know, man, I know...but it's the German side of me, I need structure. I also need a BMW, but that's another conversation).
Bounce doesn't really deal with the NBA game, so there wasn't much on the influential North American white guys in the pro game, like Steve Nash, Jason Williams and....damn, not too many non-Europeans I can come up with (Adam Morrison has let us down, hasn't he?). David Lee is starting to get status, but he's not there yet. Yet.
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Caught Derrick Rose in that terrific Memphis-Tennessee game on Saturday night, after I got into Toronto. Watching Rose, you know the kid's a gamer. In fact, all those kids in that game were gamers, really putting it on the floor. But I watched Rose closely, as I'm sure a lot of folks in Fixer Nation did. What I come up with is this: he's got great vision and is a gutsy shot-maker. However, he's a freshman and if he comes out after this season and the Knicks somehow get him in the lottery, you can't expect Mark Jackson-like impact right out the gate. He'll be 20 years old with plenty left to learn. Too much too soon might not be the best thing for him.
Then again, you watch Rajon Rondo this season and think....
Comments (30)
Curry is an underachieving fat loser and always has been. I don't really care about him because it all goes back to the guy who brought him in here. Isiah Thomas a is a disgrace to sports and has embarrassed the franchise so much that he is going to make me quit as a fan if he returns next year.
Also, we have no shot at Derrick Rose. We wont even have a top 5 worst record. Unfortunately, that's the story of this pathetic franchise.
Hahn, you're watching the wrong streetball. Leave that And 1 clown stuff alone, turn off ESPN, don't go up to Rucker and ignore the 29 year old grown men playing ball on a middle school court down at West 4th.
Go out to Brooklyn in August, Brownsville to be exact, and watch a game or 5 at the legendary Brownsville Recreation Center. Try Orchard Beach or Hunter College, Baisley Park or 140th and St. Nick. Even "The Garden" in Coney Island. You have to go places where REAL streetball is being played. Not that co-opted, Hot Sauce/Professor/Escalade crap. The only And 1 guys that ever could have played in the L are Raefer, Tim Gittens, Alimoe and Aaron Owens. You need to hit up some of the REAL runs and watch Tim Gittens, James Williams, Junie Sanders, Charles Jones, etc, guys that play REAL basketball with a street mentality.
Do yourself a favor and make it a point to watch the 42 year old phenom, James "Speedy" Williams who got a workout with the Knicks by winning Last Man Standing. He is easily one of the greatest scorers I've ever seen at any level. His problem was he's 5'9, went to Medgar Evers instead of Duke and was immature.
How do you know you're not watching real streetball? When you're being charged for it in an NBA arena.
It has mystified me for quite a while that Curry has not been assigned a hard-nosed specialist on playing center. He does seem to lack heart, but I would love to see how he would respond to a "tough love" mentor who could push the right buttons. That should have been done long before now!
With the right coaching I would take Curry, but aside from that I lean toward Randolph. He needs some solid coaching as well, but the heart is clearly there.
Love the Knicks Fix!!
I'd like to see Oakley on the coaching staff. There would be accountability, which the current team is sorely lacking.
Vegas would be taking odds on who would be the first to receive "the Jeff McInnis slap."
Unfortunately, I'm afraid Curry is what he is, and always will be. The desire to be the best comes from within; either you have it, or you don't.
I'd like to see Oakley on the coaching staff. There would be accountability, which the current team is sorely lacking.
Vegas would be taking odds on who would be the first to receive "the Jeff McInnis slap."
Unfortunately, I'm afraid Curry is what he is, and always will be. The desire to be the best comes from within; either you have it, or you don't.
CURRY IS A LOSER!
its not his abilty
its his desire.
AND THAT IS SOMETHING YOU CAN'T COACH.
heart...either you have it or you don't and curry has no
heart..and he is as soft as a cupcake.
ISIAH SHOULD BE FLOGGED PUBLICALLY FOR TRADING TWO LOTTERY PICKS FOR THIS UNDERACHIEVER.
keep zach and give curry the boot!
Zach Randolph or Eddy Curry?
Why can't we get rid of both of them?
Why? Because they're both losers. Just like the guy who traded for them.
Any chance that cab driver can "accidentally" run over Isiah the next time the Knicks are in Toronto?
Zach or Eddy?
If forced to keep one, I'd keep Zach.
It's as simple as this - both can score, both are big. But you can't teach that will to rebound or that tenacity to throw your weight around. Even if Ewing was around to tutor, he can't teach what we all loved about him - his passion.
At least with Zach, you know you have an 18/10 guy, who will go up and battle for the boards. Sure, he can't play D to save his life, but you CAN teach D. And then you surround him with players that CAN play D to make up for the liability.
All Eddy Curry has shown is that he's too sensitive of a guy to play the "5" in the NBA. Nice guy, means well, but he gets run over...and at that size, he shouldn't. But he does.
Plus, you can't have a 6'11" 300-lb guy in the lineup that doesn't rebound and throw his weight around.
So if I had to keep one (mind you, I want both off the squad), I'd keep Zach.
Desire, passion, a commitment to defense and intensity. Eddy Curry shows none of these. And when they do flash, that's all it is, a flash - it isn't who he is, and you can't teach it.
The Knicks need to be a scrappy, hard nosed team. Eddy Curry isn't a part of that.
Eddy must go.
In light of the last few years, if I'm rebuilding this team? screw talent, screw potential, the TOP priority must be players with HEART...
Which means guys like Lee, Nate, Balkman are the only definite keepers...
Guys like Crawford, Zach, and Q.Rich are maybes ...
and guys like Curry, Marbury, Collins, and Jeffries (like Frye) are on the next thing smokin' outta town.
In this pressure packed city, only the toughest of the tough have a chance, Curry's softness is a liability that we can no longer afford to have.
Eddy must go.
In light of the last few years, if I'm rebuilding this team? screw talent, screw potential, the TOP priority must be players with HEART...
Which means guys like Lee, Nate, Balkman are the only definite keepers...
Guys like Crawford, Zach, and Q.Rich are maybes ...
and guys like Curry, Marbury, Collins, and Jeffries (like Frye) are on the next thing smokin' outta town.
In this pressure packed city, only the toughest of the tough have a chance, Curry's softness is a liability that we can no longer afford to have.
Alan - good point on Rose, especially with the Knicks' player development track record. So many players regress or stagnate here - even a gifted rookie will need a new environment/coaching staff.
Curry seems like Zach in that they honestly don't seem to understand the importance of either defense or winning. (I remember Zach being surprised that he was booed in Portland!) I'd like to see both of them shipped out (in an ideal world). You're not winning anything with Zach Randolph as a centerpiece of your team. I can't think of a player whose statistics are more misleading in terms of their actual negative impact on a team. 20 and 10 everyone says - the Blazers were popping champagne corks to see that 20 and 10 waddle out of town, and adding it here has set the Knicks back from last season.
Watch Zach on the boards - he gets a ton of defensive boards by leaving his man on the perimeter or blowing off his rotations, giving up open shots to secure rebounding position. I don't see a teammate with a big heart, but a selfish dude making sure he pads his stats, regardless of wins or losses, so that he gets paid. That isn't the sort of guy that you build a winning attitude around.
Hey,Don't forget white studs like Joel Przybilla,Nick Collison and Chris Mihm. Alway's fun to watch them.Hee Hee Hee.
Wouldn't mind seeing Mike Miller in the Blue and Orange.
And finally,a happy 50th B-DAY To my favorite geek player Kurt Rambis.
Eddie Curry is the easy selection to go. He can't play any defense and is starting to resemble Jerome James and is going into his final year of his contract. Zach could survive with a defensive guy near him. But, Curry is a staple of what has gone wrong in Zeke's time in Gothem. Two guys could change the Knicks are Eric Gordon or Derrek Rose. I like Roy Hibbert if Ewing could teach him how to ball. I would trade to move up or acquire another first round pick via trade. But who is pulling the trigger on the trades after the season?
But, you get a guy like Josh Smith and Ron Artest - could make the Knicks look a little different next year. Mixed that with D. Rose or O.J Mayo at the point.
that photo is from the game against denver very early in the season. remember how hopeful we were?
btw, get rid of them both.
alan, there is nothing to debate here.
as many holes as there are in zbo's game, there is NOTHING to like about marshmellow curry's game. the guy redefines soft. he doesn't react to the ball at all on defense or on the boards. and his "strength" that you refer to, his soft touch; what good is a soft touch if the ball doesn't go in? on top of all of this, he is a dreadful free throw shooter, can't pass, doesn't work hard to improve, doesn't play with passion, and he will never be in good physical condition, it is obviously not in his nature.
curry is destined to be one of the great enigmas of his generation. time to give up on him and cut you losses.
as for zbo, the guy is a player. he has never been surrounded by leadership, and he is unlikely to find that here in my. tell me that guy wouldn't kick some ass in detroit? will he ever be a defensive force? of course not, but i'll take his 20/10 if i have a team with top to bottom leadership that i can plug him into, a team where he won't be allowed to act selfish or lazy.
in the meanwhile, you can't just trade everybody, you have to take on relatively equal contracts. no point dumping the guys who can actually walk and bounce a ball at the same time, which is not something you can say about every knick.
ZBO vs. Curry comes down to which assumptions are correct.
Is ZBO capable of being a team player? If he is, you surround him with the right cast and coaching staff, you got a 20-10 that means something. The right cast includes a real pt. guard, defensive center... The right coach...suffice to say we don't have it now. From what you media guys wrote, ZBO came in with the right attitude and played like it, at least early on.
Curry has a better body and more offensive skills then ZBO but shakier confidence. Many people assume you can't coach intensity but I'm not sure that's true. Of course I'm not sure it ain't but sports psychology has gotten better and better. You'd hope we'd have the kind of GM who would know, at least, how to find the right guy to work on this issue. Needless to say, our current GM hasn't shown any ability that way. Player wise, you'd want the same kind of supporting cast (for what it's worth, I'd guess that defensive hight intensity PF's are easier to find than Centers. As a side note, you can't judge DLEE's defensive play till you have him play for a coach and on a team that knows what defense is.
Curry vs. ZBO, who has the better head on his shoulders? Which type of issue would you prefer working on, keeping an impulsive person cool long enough to assemble the supporting cast or teaching intensity.? I'll trade whichever one of them I can get more for but I'm not giving them both away.
Of course, until we have someone who can build an NBA team not a fantasy team it won't really matter.
It is astonishing that Zeke from Pistons with one of best defenses in history of the game does such lousy job at defensive end.
His assistant is Herb, also good defender in his playing days and playing for Ewing's Knicks....
Truer words have never been spoken. Curry has all the talent but lacks the passion, he doesn't take his man's basket personally.
Didn't you talk with N8 in the beginning of the season? Couldn't you try talking to Curry or give your article to someone on the team?
@Jeff: You know I probably owe some apologies to the true streetball game that is played on the asphalt and not on that And-1Tour. I was associating the two in the same category and that was incorrect. I've been by Rucker a few times years back to catch some runs (spectator only...I accept my status!) but it's been a while. My reference to streetball in the blog was mainly regarding And-1 and that stuff. But I can't go for the showmanship-stuff, regardless. The Knicks, however, do play streetball. Just look at their very basic one-on-one based offense. Pin-downs, pop-outs and clear-outs. Picks with no rolls. Alley-oops. Might as well put chains on those Garden rims.
If only it could be that after they lose, some other team can get next.
Alan: "If only it could be that after they lose, some other team can get next."
lol!!
Here's my thing.
To rebuild...which is what obviously needs to be done, you start a the center position, then move to pt guard, then sm forward. For a center, please look at Hasheem Thabeet at UConn. An EXCELLENT defensive 7'3 center.
Here's my feeling...bring in Kiki to run the team, Herb to coach (no interim label), and he'll bring Patrick back to work with the big men. Look at what Patrick has done with guys like Yao and Dwight Howard.
What do you guys think???
Alan, the Knicks definitely play streetball. But they are just as inept at that as they are playing NBA ball and wouldn't make the playoffs at Pro-City.
As much as I love streetball (the real stuff) I don't understand the infatuation some fans have with watching Crawford, Randolph and Robinson chuck to their heart's content. There's a time and a place. It's one thing to go wild when a guy does something crazy on the asphalt on an 85 degree day in a game that really only means bragging rights and a trophy. It's completely different when a guy getting paid 8 million a year on a 17-39 team does a behind the back crossover, down by 20 and the crowd goes nuts. It's shameful to watch the Knicks dumb down the game.
FWIW, the old Knicks from the championship era up through the Houston/Sprewell era used to hold their own in the street/gym game. I grew up watching The King (and his brother Albert) on the blacktop. Even guys like LJ who didn't ball, still came to support. They seemed to have a greater connection with the city game.
Alan, nice spot last night on 1050.
I think you're right on with your Curry analysis.
That lack of desire that was there with him in high school that has been a part of his career in the NBA is something I don't think he'll ever change. He peaked last season, as sad as it is. Wasted talent. Saddest thing in life, just like Chazz says...
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Here is the link to it.
http://www.centsports.com/?opcode=26266
Just imagine how Mark Jackson would be as coach. Zeke gives them a smile when they do bad and a pat on the back. Mark would be up in their grill if they miss a layup. Nate Robinson would fear Jackson like Michae Jackson feared his father. We need a coach with gusto and Mark is the man.
AR - I could see giving Jackson a shot.
If there is a housecleaning (please let there be a housecleaning), I don't thing trying to hire established "name" guys (or retreads, if you feel more harsh) is the way to go. A real rebuilding requires tough times and patience, and someone looking to maintain a legacy might be inclined to go for the home run, like Isiah has. I like the idea of finding new blood and letting him grow on the job - like the Raptors, with a first-time GM and a pretty new coach.
One thing the raptors did to help clean up the Babcock debacle was to hire Wayne Embry as an interim GM and consultant. It was clear that there was no GM role for him (at his age he didn't want it anyhow) to avoid the Larry Brown style conflicts if interest - just a respected NBA lifer to help recruit the new GM and manage the transition. The group that run the Raptors are like Dolan in that they have extremely deep pockets, but little knowledge or ability when it comes to running an NBA operation, so having a guy around to give advice was obviously helpful. They got Colangelo and we got...
Jackson looks like a natural - firey competitor who got a great career out of limited athletic ability, and a city guy as well. Pair him with a sharp young GM and Dolan's cash, give them a few years to shed contracts and acquire picks, and the Knicks' future starts to look a whole lot better.
I'm guessing Jackson wouldn't feel the need to offer lectures on the meaning of being a New Yorker
Once Isiah gets fired it will be one of the greatest moments in recent team history, which is all you need to know about how far the franchise has fallen.
Looks like Kiki will get the jon, which I would approve of, though I would prefer Coleneglo. Bringing in Ewing to the coaching staff must be done to score points with the fanbase.