NBA Insider with Ken Berger

As promised, answers to questions, if not your prayers. For those who emailed, I am omitting your last name and email addresses to protect your privacy. For those who posted, nice work on short notice.

When we do these in the future, let’s limit the questions to the comments section of the blog. This allows me to avoid checking my work email, and also keeps all of your questions together in one place so I don’t miss anybody.

Here goes …

Dear Mr. Berger,

Alec

Alec,

You make an excellent point about how the Knicks have always brought together fans who oppose each other in baseball, football and hockey and united us. It’s one of the reasons why there’s no place like New York and the Garden for a basketball fans when the Knicks are good.

We’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting … to no avail. Just read Alan’s story in today’s paper in which he spoke with Charles Oakley. All you need to know is this quote from Oak: “I don’t see no leaders. Just bad karma.” Bad karma and no class, as in how about saluting one of your all-time greats by showing him on the scoreboard? Petty.

Anyway, I am not going to urge anyone to stop going to games. First of all, most of you who go probably have already bought your tickets. Secondly, you’ll be adding yourselves to the list of losers if you deprive yourselves of your rights as sports fans to go root for your team – good or bad, cheer or chant. Keep going to the games and express yourselves. It’s the only way for you to be heard.

XXX

You guys (media) need to stop campaigning to get Isiah fired. You wonder why players and coaches alike don’t trust you and start giving you one word answers in interviews. You guys like to use the power of persuasion. You figure if you write enough articles and alternatives that it will happen. First it’s Jerry Colangelo or Kiki, now its Donnie Walsh. You guys have it in for him and will do anything to get him fired. How are the Nets doing over there? You guys don’t write much about their poor start. I hear nothing about Lawrence Frank or Rod Thorn being under the gun. Why? Is it because they are white or they are the JV team in the area. They are a better team than the Knicks and yet they suck. Vince Carter missed games but so has Zach Randolph so don’t go there.

Why don’t you write a story about the alternatives that the Knicks had before Isiah. Write a story about what the alternatives would have been had he not added to the salary cap. Would it have been much different? Would Tim Duncan have signed with them and left the Spurs if they had cap space. Would Kobe have came and played with God knows who 2 summers ago?? Be intelligent write real articles.
-- Kareem

Kareem,

Nice hook shot back in the day, but you have me lumped in with the wrong people. I have never written that Isiah should be fired. I don’t think he should be fired – not now, it’s too early in the season for all that mess. Tell me this: How does this situation get better if Isiah is gone, Marbury is allowed to stand victorious in the test of wills with his coach, and his teammates are stuck with him and not the coach they deep down want to play for? How will it get better to hamstring the organization’s ability to make any meaningful trades between now and February by dumping Isiah, promoting Herb Williams, and giving Glen Grunwald the interim GM title? Do you think anyone will be lining up to be traded to a team where they don’t know who the coach or GM will be six months from now?

You and I are on the same page, Kareem. You just don’t realize it. If the Nets weren’t such a non-entity to my readership, I would be ripping them a lot harder than I rip the Knicks. Frankly, they deserve it more for the reasons you bring up. The only reason I wrote about Donnie Walsh’s interest in the Knicks job was that it’s news, and my job at the end of the day is to deliver information to you. So I picked up the phone, called someone who would know how Donnie feels about this, and reported what he said. That’s my job.

I may not be intelligent, but I try to keep it real in the articles …

XXX
Marbury's family member passed away that is why he left early too.

Very Truly Yours,

Jordan

Jordan,

Thanks for pointing this out. It allows me to share how this situation went down because it’s something I feel badly about.

I have always made a rule never to criticize an athlete for failing to speak to the media. Although deep down I feel it is the pro athlete’s responsibility to communicate with the fans who pay his salary, I also realize that fans don’t care about the plight of the sports writer. They care about information on their teams, and athletes who blow off interviews are doing fans a disservice. But again, fans don’t care about this, so I usually leave it alone.

After the tumult of last week, I made an exception to the rule. I felt that Marbury should have been there to face the music on hometown soil just like his coach had to do. So I ripped him for displaying lack of leadership because he ran out of the practice facility as soon as reporters were allowed in.

No one told the media that Marbury bolted because he had a death in the family. Most people who were at practice that day, including the team’s P.R. people who are supposed to supply the media with information so our reporting can be accurate, didn’t know about the death until the next morning. At that point, it was too late to do anything about my unfortunate decision to criticize Marbury without knowing all the facts.

Marbury deserves criticism for plenty of stuff, including the lack of leadership he showed by abandoning his teammates and the coach who has gone out of his way to support him. But he didn’t deserve to be ripped for leaving as soon as practice ended to be with his grieving mother, who it turns out has lost eight siblings in the last five years.

So after Marbury spoke at shootaround Tuesday, I pulled him aside and apologized. I told him I didn’t know the facts and that I was owning up to my mistake. To his credit, he accepted it and we moved on. That doesn’t change the fact that I think he’s the wrong point guard for this team and he – not Isiah – should go. But that’s my opinion based on facts, and I am entitled to my opinion. Anyway, there’s the whole story.

XXX
Ken,

In 1999 when I left New York for the Sacramento region the Knicks were ugly and the Kings were on the rise. The tables have turned worse for both franchises. Your idea for reviving the Shareef, Thomas deal along with Artest and Bibby is worth talking about. Petrie needs to clean house and build the future around Garcia and Martin starting today. The Knicks need to do the same with one twist. Take Bibby, Artest and Shareef at no cost plus keep Marbury. Bibby is a punk and this town will throw a parade to the airport when he leaves.

Change the name of the Knicks in to the "NY Rehab Center for the Insane". Check Isaiah in with Dolan along with the rest of the head cases. Convince Mr.. Bill Bradley to give up politics and return basketball to the pride and joy it once was. Red Holtzman must be rolling over in his grave.

Jeff

Love your points, Jeff. A three-team deal between the Knicks, Cavs, and Kings makes perfect sense. But Marbury has to be included in the deal. His value to the Kings is simply the fact that he will give them a $21 million contract that comes off the books in two years, allowing them to pursue a major free agent. I worked out the rough outline of a deal that would send Marbury to the Kings and David Lee to the Cavs, who would also get Bibby from the Kings. Sac would get a signed-and-traded Anderson Varejao, but someone would have to throw in some first-round picks and cash to make up for the headache of either living with Marbury for a year-and-a-half or buying him out. The Knicks would get Ron Artest, and would have to take back the bad contracts of Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Kenny Thomas. They’d immediately buy out Thomas, but might actually be able to use Shareef as a big man off the bench. Not to get too complicated, but since Varejao would be a base-year compensation guy after signing a new deal in the $7 million-per-year range, Larry Hughes probably would have to be included in the deal as well to make the math work. But all the elements are in place for a trade that would make sense to all three teams.

XXX
FYI: There will be bagels on Wed, 11/21 and Friday 11/23.

thanks...kim

Oops, sorry. I accidentally included an email from the Newsday office, informing the staff when bagels will be served. Just another way to mock the reporters who don’t work in the office and thus don’t get any bagels … We move on …
XXX

I’m the guy you were talking about, I guess, when you said something like, “You don’t care what kind of person is on the Knicks, you just want them to be able to score, rebound, play defense, etc” Er, wrong.
And I’m also the guy who read your column when you guaranteed that the Anuchka Brown sex harassment case would never go to trial.
You’re Newsday’s answer to Mitch Lawrence and Peter Vecsey?
-- Robert

Thanks for paying such close attention, Robert. Please learn how to spell the plaintiff’s name. But allow me to remind you that anyone with half a brain was saying – and is still saying, for obvious reasons – that the Garden should have settled the case. They are paying the price on a daily basis for not doing so. It was a huge mistake. So I can’t accept blame for saying that should have happened. Clearly, it should have. And I won’t comment about my competitors publicly.
XXX

Ken:

I read your articles all the time. The problem as I see it is not "just" Isiah (do not get me wrong, you get Francis then trade him, you get Rose then do a buyout instead of trading his expiring contract, you get Jerome James who played 10 good games, you get Jeffries who cannot shoot, you get a point guard Marbury, that is a 2 in a 1 body, you get Crawford who plays worse D then Marbury if that is possible, and you get Curry who at his size, rebounds like Earl Boykins- so yes, he needs to be fired) but Jimmy Dolan will not hire anyone who has complete control of the roster- as you stated Colangelo, head of USA Basketball, and former Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe.

Dolan probably told Isiah not to trade Rose's expiring contract but to buy him out. Therefore, Dolan needs to realize that his basketball input is as bad as George Bush making a decision for the country by praying to Jesus. All jokes aside, until Dolan lets go and allows a basketball mind to do their thing- maybe Jerry West, etc., it will not make a difference if Isiah is there or not.

Great job on your articles.

Very Truly Yours,

Jordan

Thanks again, Jordan. Excellent points.
XXX

Ken: Please explain a couple of things to me:

In your columns, you repeatedly insist that Stephon Marbury is tradable. How can that be possible? What team in the NBA wants an underperforming player who's owed $42 million over the next two years? Whose actions since the end of last season have portrayed him as a mental basket case? Who, in his career, has alienated teammates on four teams and driven coaches to near suicide?

Ken, please read the other beat reporters covering the Knicks. To a man, they have quoted sources around the league who have said that this man is untradable.

The second thing: Why do you keep assigning Isiah Thomas any kind of competence as a coach and team president? When he has never showed any such competence up to this point in his career? As president of the Knicks, he has drafted players who would be marginal performers on other teams, and has assembled a team of scorers who have no idea how to play a team concept. As a coach, his record speaks for itself.

Ken, you and the Dolans have got to stop listening to Isiah's con job. Please wake up. DAVE

Dave,

At least two thirds of all NBA trades are made for contract reasons as opposed to talent reasons. Bad trades are made all the time. Bad players with bad contracts are traded all the time. It’s all about timing. Marbury’s contract for $21 million next season is an expiring contract, and at that amount of money it will be one of the most sought-after assets in the NBA. When you can wipe $21 million off your cap, a team in reasonably good cap position to begin with can use that to make a run at a major free agent. We’ve been over this: the summer of 2009 and 2010 will be two of the biggest free-agent summers in NBA history. It’s a shame that the Knicks won’t be able to take advantage of Marbury’s expiring contract to go after free agents themselves. At their current pace, they will never be close enough to being under the cap to get the same benefit out of Marbury’s expiring contract that a team that’s been responsible with its cap will. So why not maximize that asset now – or, if they can live with him long enough, at the trade deadline – so they can at least get a decent player back?

As far as debating Isiah: I can’t argue with your point about his record as a coach. I think he’s done a decent job in the draft with lower-level picks; the Knicks have traded away all their high picks, so we haven’t seen what he can do with first-rounders, but in the past (Marcus Camby, Damon Stoudamire), he hasn’t embarrassed himself. My whole point is that I think it’s too early in the season to take a team that most unbiased observers predicted had enough talent to make the playoffs and blow up the locker room by firing the coach. Your points on Isiah’s mastery over Dolan is well taken, but I think I’ve been fair to him.
XXX

Posted by david | November 21, 2007 15:19
Ken, love your column, and thanks for all the good Knicks coverage. My question . . . .It is clear that the Knicks have decided that Marbury is the main problem with the franchise. Do you think that they will trade him this season? And if so, what kind of a deal do you think they could make?

David,

Thanks for reading the column and the blog, and more importantly, for posting your question here. Since there are no useful point guards available, I think the deal they should pursue is the one referenced above for Artest. He would be an instant difference-maker who could provide the two things they need desperately: perimeter shooting and defense. Not to mention a ruthless drive to win, and even more importantly, an unwillingness to accept losing.
XXX

Posted by Jc In Palm Harbor, FL | November 21, 2007 15:57
I just want to get your opinion on this. After next year when Marbury, Francis, and Rose contracts are off the books and with a young core of Curry, Randolph, Robinson, Lee, and Balkman among others the future isn't so ugly. They set themselves up to being under the cap for the first time in almost a century and with Wade and maybe Lebron being available and the new messiah. What do you think? The worst thing for them to do would be to trade marbury for another bad contract. Keep the 21 million off the books. We as Knick fans have seen some crappy teams with high payrolls I could take another year or 2 to know the future is better. Jc


JC,

Thanks for checking in from the Sunshine State. Are you a transplanted LIer? Anyway, the only problem with your argument – which would’ve been a fine plan, by the way, for the reasons you cite – is the fact that the Knicks abandoned that approach when they traded for Zach Randolph. They added his monstrous salary that goes out several years, which was a departure from the stated objecting to gradually get under the cap in time to go after some of the free agents you mention. Hey, maybe they can adopt your plan in another decade or so.
XXX

Posted by EdL | November 21, 2007 16:03
As I look at this team, it occurs to me that even their good players - David Lee, possibly Balkman (based on his starting stint late last year), possibly Randolph (giving him the benefit of the doubt that his pout in the second half against the Warriors was just a one-off) - are not great. It is this settling for second best all the time that has run the franchise down so badly. The fact that they also pay top dollar for it just makes it worse.

EdL,

Well put. Not much I can add to that. Other than the fact that when you are immensely capped-out, as the Knicks have been forever, the only way to get better is to a) pay the piper and accept losing for several years while you get under the cap and build through the draft until you have room for a big free agent, or b) trade for players other teams don’t want, like Marbury, Curry, and Randolph. They have chosen the latter.
XXX

Posted by Bob | November 21, 2007 16:15
Why in the world would the Knicks even consider taking back terrible contracts in order to get Marbury off the books now. If they did that then Isiah is the biggest idiot in the game. Is it my imagination or is Eddie Curry heavier than last year. Why won't he
even try to play defense? Doesn't he realize that he would be more effective if he weighed 25 pounds 30 okay 50 pounds less?

Bob,

No team in the league has the financial ability to burn money like the Knicks do, so if they have to burn a little more to save themselves from their current situation by taking back some bad money to get Artest, so be it. As for Curry, I honestly don’t know if he’s heavier. He’s definitely more lethargic and less assertive than he was last year, and I think you make a good point that he’d be a more effective player if he were in better condition. Now you go tell him that.
XXX

Posted by NYKat | November 21, 2007 16:35
While other beat writers absolve Marbury of blame and focus their wrath on Isiah, I think you've pinpointed the main problem. I loved your article on Thomas not trusting Marbury. His comments about nothing good coming out of Isiah's decision making are unbelievable considering the lengths Zeke has gone to defend him. The kid is a disaster and he destroys everything he touches with his selfishness. Isiah is a fool to keep riding with him. it will lead to his professional demise.


NYKat,

Thanks for noticing. I have nothing against Marbury personally, because I don’t know him personally. But I can see that from a basketball standpoint, he is the problem. That is why Isiah benched him. It was well-deserved.
XXX

Posted by ronron | November 21, 2007 16:50
wake up folks, stop trying to run the knicks as if you all could do better, you can , why not stop hating and give them some time to jell, I'm not saying they are the best any one can put on the court , but there is worst out there, stop blaming steph & zeke for the problems of the knicks, they might contribute to them, but trust me were better with them than without them

If this is the Ron Ron who currently resides in Sacramento, we need you. Come home quick.