When Isiah Thomas strolls into the Garden around 10:20 a.m. this morning -- barely 90 minutes before tip-off -- you can't help but wonder if a sense of urgency really exists at all.
As Walt Clyde Frazier might say, now's the time for stressin' and obsessin'!
Now's the time for dark circles under the eyes. Pulling out hair. Burning the candle at both ends. Sleeping in the office with video tape piled up around you.
Now's not the time for giving two days off in between losses and after you threaten lineup changes.
(Sure, it was Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but you're telling me you can't have a 90-minute practice on the 24th? How many of you Fixers had to work on Christmas Eve? It's not uncommon!)
Now's not the time for inviting Roy Jones, Jr. into practice.
(The response to Jones, Jr.'s request to attend practice should have gone something like this: "Mr. Jones, no offense, but we need to focus right now. The guys will meet you after practice. On their own time." And then run the team for three hours so they're too exhausted to want to hang.)
Now's not the time to shuffle the lineup like a deck of cards without making sure every single player knows and understands what his new role will be in the change.
(You don't just keep rolling the dice until you get double-sixes. This ain't Yahtzee man!)
I'm tossing the keys on the table here. Running out of things to blog at this point. Maybe this is a good time for a mailbag.
I'll get back to you on that....
Comments (17)
Now's a good time to start thinking about the draft. I like Michael Beasley if the Knicks land the first pick, Derrick Rose and Donte Green if they get a pick from 2-5.
The draft is really the only way the Knicks can improve, due to having players nobody wants to trade for and no cap flexibility.
The Knicks need to blow it up. Trade Marbury to Miami for expiring contracts and picks. Trade Randolph for for the same. Maybe Kwame Brown's contract and Javaris Crittenton might do it.
Alan – your point is well taken. I know I’ve been feeling like it’s all been said before. And, yes, compared to the problems we’re facing, Isiah’s much vaunted “changes” seem token and perfunctory, at best.
Yet, it is what it is. I think there’s general agreement on the single most important change that should be made. But you can’t fire the owner. Is it all Isiah’s fault? No, he’s also had some bad luck and he was dealt a bad hand. But let’s face it, would he still have a job on ANY other team in the league? I sure doubt it.
So we talk about the rotations, and why Balkman isn’t playing enough and what to do with Marbury if/when he’s back in uniform . . . but it all feels like re-arranging deck chairs on the Titantic. The fact is, I’ve lost all faith in this management “team” to do what needs to be done to turn this team around: To develop the talent Isiah has, admittedly, brought, and build a cohesive team around it. But I also see no hope of changing the management team. When you identify the problem, but don’t believe it’ll be fixed . . . it’s sort’a the definition of “hopeless,” isn’t it?
Anyway, happy new year, Alan . . . this site continues to help make it through yet another bleak, bleak, bleak season at MSG.
We passed on both Marcus Williams and Rajon Rondo to take Mardy Collins.
Isiah's drafting is not as good as it seems.
One must be a total idiot to still be supporting Isiah Thomas.
Gotta be a relative or someone in his payroll. No it's not racial, they have more sense and intellect than that so it's not the skin color.
Knicks defenders I can respect.
However, Isiah defenders are worthless piece of dung at the lowest level
MAK ( gotta feed my family)
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POKER - Zeke vs. Dolan
What's going thru Dolan's head:
"Dang, when is Isiah quitting? He's toughing it out. Neither the fans nor the media can make him quit. The booing and heckling are not enough. Gotta find a way to save my $ 24.0 mil. When they said that Zeke is thick-skinned, I didn't realize that he is that "thick."
What's going thru Zeke's head:
"Man, what do I have to do around here to get fired?" When they said that JDolan is dumb, I didn't realize that he is that dumb.
I wonder how much longer Clyde Frazier can continue to bite his tonque. He does offer criticism on the air but it sounds obligatory and maybe rehearsed (meaning knowing what NOT to say).
A few weeks ago, during one of the many customary blow-outs, his facial expression showed pain, anger, and disdain with the current state of affairs with his beloved Knicks. His criticisms were more pointed that game and I thought that he was gonna lose it. I love Clyde. Don't want to see him lose his job. However, one of these days, he may just lose his cool on the air, go after Zeke, and start to strangle the "Profit" Isiah.
ALL THE HOPE OF THE NEW SEASON HAS BEEN REDUCED TO ONE WORD:
THE LOTTERY....
maybe we can get lucky and get a top three pick and draft rose from memphis or mayo from usc...
WE NEED A POINT GUARD...BADLY
so where are all the isiah supporters?
WE ARE 8-21....
LET ME SEE HOW YOU SPIN THAT INTO A POSTIVE.
ISIAH IS DOING A WONDERFUL JOB....NOT!
The Knicks need more than a PG. Everybody keeps stressing PG this summer. The Knicks need a SF who can shoot and defend (Q ain't cuttin' it and Jefferies/Balkman absolutely refuse to develop anything that resembles a reliable jumpshot) and either a whole new frontcourt or a shotblocker to compliment one of Curry and Zach. If someone can come up with a that gameplan instead of hoping this team tailspins into Rose or Beasley, then I will entertain.
In fact, I say lose one of Curry/Randolph (your choice) get Dalembert on this team and trade Q-Rich and Balkman for a well rounded SF and this teams (with a headcoach that uses....you know...a playbook) and that team is formidable.
Steph/Nate
Crawford/Jones/Chandler
Pietrus or Artest/Jefferies
Curry or Randolph/Lee
Dalembert/Morris/James
i have a mailbag question for ya:
Is it actually possible for stern to take the knicks away from the dolans? not will he do it (no, he wont) but could he do it?
Alan, coming to catch 5 Knicks games in January all the way from Australia. Sadly ordered the tickets in the off season when they had us all believing again...
anyways, might see you at the games!
Heres a NEW take: KEEP Isiah...make the bastard suffer coaching the worse record in the league. Have him "earn" his paycheck as the Knicks sink deeper and deeper and into the lottery. This way his reputation will sink even further and make him accountable for what he has created. Firing him would be too easy and exactly what he wants! His arrogance and misled confidence in himself to be able to manipulate others to his liking will be squashed when he has to stick around perhaps the worse season in KNICK HISTORY...now that will always stick with his legacy...he couldn't hate anything more than that! Hopefully, the Dolans are on to that.
For God sakes, FIRE ISIAH!
Yes, the Knicks need way more than just a PG, but a PG is near the top of the list. My list, for what it's worth, and without sarcasm:
1. A general manager who knows both talent and what he wants his team to look like (Isiah is neither);
2. A coach who is on the same page as the GM, who can teach both team defense and unselfish offense, and who can keep a clear head in a game (and not forget who is rotting on the bench and hasn't played in 30 minutes, or at all);
3. A center who can play both ways; doesn't have to be an offensive monster;
4. A point guard;
5. A genuine outside scoring threat at either the 2 or 3 spot;
6. A solid NBA-caliber starter at the other of the 2 or 3 spots.
Of the current Knicks, only Randolph is a bona fide starter. I love Lee, Rose, Nate and Balkman, but they aren't starter material in this league. Coming off the bench, they're fine. Curry might have been a viable idea at the time, but Isiah failed to build the right supporting cast around him (not sure he ever could have centered a championship squad, in any event). If he wanted Curry as his main threat, Randolph was exactly the wrong player to go and get.
Happy New Year, fellow Knicks fans.
Nick-I like that trade to the Lakers, I wonder if Phil would take the challenege of coaching Zach.
Curry and Mailk to Dallas for Dampier and Devin Harris would be a sucker move. But I'd take it.
I'm glad most are focusing on the lottery now. That is where we are headed and it's the true rebuilding tool. I would send Q and Steph to Miami for J-Will, Ricky and Blount. Buy out Davis and Williams and let Blounts contract expire in two years. That way we beat miami to the bottom of the division.
Alan, did any players contact Marbury while he was away?
@LATRELL - The poker scenario...there's a blog in there, I think. We've got to keep the laughter going in here.
@Tizzle - Be sure to come down to press row and shout me out. Hope you picked 5 good opponents. But at least you get to hang in NYC. Safe travels!
I'll put up a Mailbag blog where you can post all your questions (don't post them here, they might get lost).
Happy New Year.
Isiah is an absolute joke and he and Dolan have made the Knicks not only the laughinstock in the NBA, but the laughingstock in the league.
Isiah comes so late for a game, inviting a boxer to practice, giving players time off despite the horrific record, feuds with Marbury and Richardson, Curry and Rdnolph being angry for being benched, going against the team's wishes to bench Marbury, losing a ton of games, losing a lawsuit costing his employer millions and bringing shame to MSG, firing coaches, getting rid of players...
It's amazing how Isiah still has a job. Just amazing.
* Zeke is just begging to get fired now and pocket the $ 24.0 mil. to Barbados;
* JDolan is just hoping and praying that Isiah would be a man enough to quit, walk-away, and "to live happily ever after."
It's a poker game at this point between the 2 idiots.
* Prospero Año Felicidad. Be Safe. *
I just don't see any new GM/Coach/Trade/Draft pick coming in to help this team. They will be starting over completely from scratch, and we are then talking another 3 to 5 years just to make the playoffs. The Boston deals over the summer will just give us Knick fans false hopes that the same will happen to us...more Kobe rumors until the next training Camp.
Over the past 25 years, I have seen such gross mismanagement and wasting of money on Knick players that it has been only my blind loyalty to the teams I watched in the 70's that keep me going. We forget the many Personnel mistakes of the Ewing Era because they at least made the playoffs. Or how horrible Scott Layden was.
The Season Ticket money is in the bank for the Dolans this year..This summer and next year is the year that the Fans can make a difference by not supporting this debacle. I attended 2 games this year and I hate to say that I'm done. No amount of discussion will change their course. Time to blow the dust off of some good books and pay attention to the year the Celtics are having. Friends, I would be very wary to be seduced by the Next snake oil salesman to run the Knicks. Forget the Lottery. Unless Kobe, LeBron or Wade come to town in the next 18 months, this Franchise is dead.