The Knicks Fix

I was nodding along with Isiah Thomas’ media address today like a devoted member of an evangelical’s flock as he spoke about the importance of team, the lessons he learned from Pat Riley and other things.

Here’s a sample:

“One of the main problems in America has been [that] we’ve individualized the sport to the extent that we really only cover it from an individualistic standpoint, which, consequently, confuses our younger players and confuses some players in the league about what does it really mean to be a teammate and what does it really mean to play as one and win as a unit,” he said. “Where, overseas, they don’t have that problem because they don’t individualize their players like we do here.”

Can I get an Amen?

I’m absolutely with Isiah on this one, though it is a well-worn lament in sports since, well, since ESPN’s arrival. I guess that’s what always made Princeton such a fun team to root for in the NCAAs. We didn’t know any of their names and they could back-door the big schools into a first-round upset. Gonzaga and Valparaiso had that charm until, again, ESPN turned them into a cliché. And then newspapers demanded access and started interviewing the players’ parents and high school coaches.

It’s funny how we love these committed, no-names-on-the-back teams until we analyze them into whatever the negative opposite of obscurity is.

It’s one thing if Thomas was trying to do this in Sacramento with a team of players you’d only know because you’re a basketball junkie. Put together a lunch-pail group in that town and see five players a night hit double figures in scoring but rarely have anyone over 25 and you have a nice story. Admirable, we’d say. The way it oughta be. Why can’t the Knicks play that way?

But do it in New York with players such as Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis – once load-carrying scorers and Exhibits A and B of the individually prolific modern NBA player – and you will be met with cynicism. No way it’ll work, we say. Not with this roster. Why even bother?

I believe Thomas has the right message, but I’m only skeptical of the cast he’s trying to do it with. It’s one thing to do it with players who have been accustomed to playing within a team-oriented system or have dealt with playing a role instead of dictating the offense. But some guys just aren’t made that way.

So you have to wonder: how long will the players listen to it? How long before Marbury has heard enough boos and read enough about how he is not longer a great scorer in this league and decides it’s time for him to go back to being Starbury? (We’ve heard that before). How long before Francis realizes that 10 points and 5 assists per game isn’t going to attract interest from another team looking to trade for him?

The challenge isn’t selling the team-first concept. The challenge is keeping the sale going even when the returns aren’t good.

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I also enjoyed Isiah telling the tale of that 1988 Eastern Conference Final, when the Celtics walked off the court at the Silverdome with over a minute left in the clinching game for the Pistons. Thomas said he was at halfcourt while Adrian Dantley was on the foul line and noticed several Celtics starters heading his way. His initial reaction was that a fight was about to break out. But, instead, the tired Boston stars were headed for the locker room, to avoid the wild celebration that was about to take place at their expense. They probably didn’t feel like witnessing their own funeral, either.

And as they walked by, they offered congratulations to Thomas and the Pistons. I’ll never forget the image of Kevin McHale, who was a warrior in that series, stopping by Isiah and offering his hand. “Beat those Lakers!” I remember reading his lips saying as Thomas returned the hearty handshake.

What a moment of sportsmanship and respect. I also loved that, even in defeat, McHale still had some fire in him to want to see the Pistons take out the rival Lakers.

Thomas said that series, and the following year when the Pistons knocked off the Lakers to win their first championship, was somewhat bittersweet. And he used a reference – the Larry Holmes-Muhammad Ali fight – to explain it.

“I couldn’t understand my feelings with the Lakers and the Celtics until I heard Larry Holmes talk about having to hit Ali and to punch him,” Thomas said. “And this is the guy who taught him. He was his sparring partner and everything else. And how he had to do what he had to do. But every punch that he threw was painful for him to throw it. And that’s kind of the whole Lakers, Celtics, Pistons thing. As fierce of competitors as we were with each other, we really were extremely close.”

That era, to me, still remains the best years the NBA ever had.

* * *

As I wrap this up, I’m watching an electrical storm in the distance while seated on a quiet Delta Airlines flight to Miami. Sometimes nature can put things into perspective. My perspective is that our pilot chose the right flight plan this evening.

I’m done like Kenyon Martin’s season. But hopefully not his career.