The Knicks Fix

Imagine if the poor ba*tard got suspended for 8 or 9 games, then he would be out 4 million!

What a waste

Royalties??? Marbury owed $2M??? What are they talking about? That "Movement" isn't about making money, it's about "charity". Starbury said so himself.

Wait, was it really a business opportunity to use a business model that offers low cost/low quality goods at a low price to low income families? A business opportunity where Starbury made (or was supposed to make) millions of dollars but was ridiculously portrayed as charity work.

Wow, shocking.

So someone stole 2 million from him...big deal...

He stole 22 last year and this year from us.

Keeping 2010 alive
with some bulljive

alan, really, no one cares about this.

I believe the full story said Steve and Barry already paid Mr Marbury 6 million dollars and they do not feel they owe him another 2 million dollars.

this news is like 2 3 dayz old

i'm coming out with eve's and larry's

stay tuned for more KnowLedge

Bulljive - good line - lol.

Thats what Steve&Barry get for doing business with that ghetto drug addicted piece of trash.

Marbury is his own charity!

Perhaps they could pay him with Starbury sneakers. That way Stephon could peddle them at Knick games and in the street. It would be a pleasant to see him working for a change -- instead of getting paid for not playing!

The way "Starbury" has been playing recently makes me wonder whether his autographed sneakers be worth more or less than ones he did not sign?

ChuckBury

you can leave for Italy any time now-

Forget Italy you should play in Turkey because you are a Turkey

or play in Greece because your so Greasy

see what you started alan?

off topic:
haven't heard anything from the allan houston comeback story in a minute. whats the deal with this? is anyone really gonna pick this dude up?

Anyone else notice how Marbury's game changed when he started wearing those cheap sneakers? The guy had been injured like... never and all of a sudden he's got bone spurs and other problems with his feet. Just sayin.

I have to say I'm kinda shocked a lot of these players with budget lines wear their own shoes. There's a reason there were multiple types of Air Jordans - the lowest were about the equivalent of the Starbury's, maybe a step up, but Jordan didn't wear those.

I mean, it's great that he made shoes available at that price, and then put his name on the line to promote them. On the other hand, he's made $8mil over two years, compared to just $15mil for Kobe. Considering the talent disparity between the two, and how he further undercut his own value by being a complete baby, the charity of this is questionable.

sergio watch ur tone muthafcka...

"alan, really, no one cares about this."

way to speak for the masses. who died and left you class spokesperson? just cause you sit several sections closer to center court shouldn't mean it makes you a better fan than the next guy or the guy that sits several behind you.

starbury has punked new york, that much is clear by now. but steve and barrys is a company i continue to support and it is my hope that they get another knick wearing their sneakers soon. i will buy as many of those kicks as I have from the starbury line or the big ben line.

wow, gone are the days of trane and the rest of the original cats on this blog. can't relate to half of the perspectives now being offered here on the fix. makes you kind of wonder who are some of these people are, all up in the toilet and seemingly don't know sh..

just bloggin'

I am a drug addicted piece of trash.

@ KD – I appreciate the kind words, and it’s nice to hear from you. But I’ve got to disagree. In general, I think this blog just gets better and better. I’m in way over my head at work to keep up here with any regularity these days. But I still check in from time to time. This is still my first stop when I want to find out what’s happening with the team. And I think there’s a really good core group of guys. Willis, Pete, sec11, Knicks4 and my apologies to a lot more whose names I don’t remember. I’m very impressed with the general level of knowledge/correspondence.

I wish I was as impressed with the Knicks. But I’m not about to pass judgment on Walsh so quickly. He disappointed me at the draft. I was hoping he’d be more aggressive, collect more first-round picks and at least gamble on potential. My theory being, it’s not as though there’s a lot of talent on the current roster worth holding on to. But he took a much more conservative approach. After all my criticism of Isiah, it would be hypocritical to trash Walsh was taking a patient approach to rebuilding. The problem is, we’re going to continue to be one of the worst teams in the league this season. Ugh.

Cheers, guys. Keep up the good work . . .

now u post as me. it's obvious your mother should've swallowed you !!

Good to hear from you Trane - I was wondering if you were still around. Hope you turn up again if work lets up.

From HoopsWorld:

Trade Engine Stalled in Motor City

After being bounced from the Eastern Conference Finals, Detroit Pistons GM Joe Dumars said there were "no sacred cows" on his team. But despite being open to dismantling his veteran squad, Dumars has told Pistons.com that he expects to "go to war … with the 14 guys we have now."

Dumars did not divulge specifics but indicated that the types of trade offers he had received would have involved the Pistons giving players away. "If there was a deal to be done, I would have pulled the trigger," Dumars said. "The reason we haven't done a deal is there was no good deal to be made. If there was a good deal to be made, we would have done it and we would be moving forward right now."

Dumars has been in close contact with the Pistons this summer, who he said know there is a level of accountability when playing for a perennial championship contender. "I'm happy to sit here and say I've had conversations with all of these guys and no one – not one guy – has tried to shuck responsibility," he said.

Donnie, let's do Zach for Rasheed and a pick. Now.

last post was mine

Whaddup Trane.

Good call about Zach for Sheed and a pick but I dont think the Pistons would pull the trigger. Would be a dream come true for us, we get a scorer whose contract is expiring plus a pick..Surely Walsh has tried to make it happen but i dunno...Dumars is usually pretty open about who has talked to and has never mentioned DW that I know of

Keeping 2010 alive
with some Bulljive

On the Olympics:

I Love This Game

No, NOT the NBA game, the FIBA game. First time in a long time that I watched a game and wanted to grab my ball and head down to the court to see who's around. I hope Stern was paying attention. No bailout calls, no way one player can take 25 shots, no way you can hide if you have no skills, none of the scripted, ridiculous, Professional Wrestling, Michael-Jordan-of-the-night plot lines. Just basketball. How exciting the game becomes when EVERY player matters, when EVERY player has to contribute or the team loses. Of course it was very exciting because of the stakes, but think about it; here were almost all the best players the US has produced, and they had to play hard, selfless ball to win. Star moments instead of stars, this is a democratic style of game where EVERYBODY is in a position to make the big play. The GAME had to be played, not the game as a stage for one or two players to fulfill Nike super-hero fantasies.

Stern better take note, I hope he looks at the substance instead of just the money. Fix our game Mr. Stern. Look at the joy on the faces of your players. When did we last see that? Not vaunting, not I'm-all-that chest pounding, but WE won. On the faces of the pros that have it all - the money, the fame, the status - all of it trumped by the return of that feeling from the beginning: playing with your boys, asphalt and a water fountain, playing hard, and winning with your team.

@ Trane. Thanks for the shoutout.

@ Willis. I thought the Olympics were great basketball too. It exposed our players weaknesses in a sense though because we were horrible at the line and could not make open 3's (other than my boy Carmello who I thought was great). I'm really shocked more NBA teams don't play a zone D especially against teams like the Cavs when Gibson got hurt or Miami. I used to watch Knick games and see our guards get repeatedly beaten and wonder why we didn't go to a zone. Maybe its because we also can't get a rebound but I figured it was at least worth a try. The argument against it is that you would get beaten w/ outside shots because NBA players are too good shooters but I think the Olympics exposed that reasoning. Two things I didn't like was all the complaining and the bumping off the ball. Refs also missed alot of calls or made some curious calls. I think the myth that players from other countries play soft was clearly misguided.

@ KD. Like most blogs its hit or miss with the comments. My understanding is that there is more traffic here now than before and I'm guessing for Alan and Newsday, that's a good thing. In a blog you're going to get a variety of comments and perspective which is also good thing I guess its on Alan though to weed out or call out the posters who offer no b-ball insight.

Life -

I thought it was really interesting how the coaches, players were allowed to protest calls with the refs.

You are spot on when you point out that the international game is just as rugged, maybe more than the NBA game. I think that's what makes it such an interesting team game. The rules aren't skewed towards the offense. Collins pointed it out in the telecast - internationally, you can't just drive into somebody and flail up a shot to go to the line. Often our guys forgot that rule and went in expecting the bailout, created contact, alot of contact, and weren't rewarded for it. Brilliant. I think the dribble drive to the foul is so ingrained in the NBA game now, that players and coaches have essentially conceded the perimeter ball handler as un-defendable. I think the fact that nobody can defend the pick and roll is the same symptom of this skewing of the rules to the Jordan One-on-Five dream sequence.

The NBA should do away with the defensive three seconds rule entirely. There is no reason why a team should not be allowed to play a full zone if they choose to do so. I would have liked better enforcement of a moving screen, but over all, I think this puts the onus back on the offense to actually do something to score. Imagine how much better the games in the NBA would be without the 40 minutes of free throw shooting at the end of every game. How much more exciting it could be without having players stand around watching Gilbert Arenas shoot and blow on his fingers.

In this same vein, I think our players can't shoot because there is little strategic reason for them to do so. Why work for wide open shots when you can get a potential three point play every time you isolate a ball handler? If you need a shooter, there's some guy whose job that is. Kobe's job is to execute high-degree of difficulty gymnastics routines made possible by the three step layup rule, in order to sell tickets and jerseys and sneakers. There is no reason at all that Kobe Bryant or any of these other supremely talented players could not become dead-on shooters. Hell, they could probably do it shooting with their off hands. But that's boring, and Nike and Stern prefer to tweak the script so we are guaranteed AMAZING each and every night in each and every game in each and every franchise.

Which brings us to the trapezoid lane. Imagine Shaquille or Alonzo Mourning having had to play with that lane. Plus a fair shake for the defender in the rules and officiating. If Shaq and Zo had to start their post moves the extra couple feet away from the basket, had to dribble more than once, had to go around a defender instead of through him, their legends would never have been made. (I'm not advocating a rule change, just s'posing). I firmly believe that the game was changed to accommodate their limited offensive games, and the NBA is worse off for it. Here you had these hugely hyped players that had no skills in the post when they entered the league. It wouldn't do to have them "underperform" until they learned a drop step, the fantasy must be protected, so we'll just let them charge over whatever poor slob gets in their way: Fantastic!

Its like McCain talking about the Iraq-Pakistan border and Iran training Al Qaeda - why quibble? The Media has repeated the tired old saw that he's a foreign policy expert (Like Condi, the "Russia" expert who presided over Georgia's ridiculous invasion of Ossettia) for so long that if they pointed out his obvious ignorance and lack of judgement, they would prove to everyone what lazy, corporate hacks they are. So McCain remains a foreign policy expert, Condi is still "brilliant," and the NBA is fan-a-glam-tastic Baby, Yeah!

congrats to tha U.S of A!!!! but the international game has TOOOO many inconsistencies with the refereeing for my liking. they are waaaay too influenced by the fans in the crowds. and never give technical fouls to keep everyone in order. the spaniards play w/ heart though but they just are effective b/c the US still isn't accustomed to that style of play for 4 qtrs. garbajosa was a monster on that pick N roll followed by a hundred mark jackson tear drops from EVERYWHERE inside the lane. he even made several ones from the free throw line that didnt even hit the rim which i was saying how many of these shitz he gonna keep making. well....too bad he's goin back to europe next yr.

and how bout' that fernandez FACIAL on dwight...ohmiigaaad!!!!

The NBA is all about marketing. I'm ok with that. I enjoy the highlight slam dunk as much as the next guy. I'm a big pro wrestling fan and used to like Rollergames so I also understand the phenomenon of putting on a show with little substance behind it. I don't even mind the three steps or the consistent carrying that most people feel are ruining the game. What I do hate, is the star treatment and inconsistent calling in the NBA. It smacks of corruption to the point that I stopped watching the finals for a few years because you knew the outcome without watching the game. The Kings-Lakers game 6 was a disgrace and I actually believe that Ralph Nader was right that there should have been an investigation into it. MLB has its strike zones for star pitchers but I can't think of another sport with such obvious preferences for star players that affects the outcome of games. The NBA game also lacks allot of basic fundamentals but I guess that was your point.

I actually think Shaq would do well in a league that played a more international style. If you want to look at the college game he dominated and if Shaq had some help at LSU probably could have won an NCAA title. He was an agile big man who could run out on the break and his team had good ball movement so even zones weren't able to completely stop him. He was also great defensive player which often gets overlooked.

I wouldn't completely blame Shaq and Zo for the slow down back to the basket game the East became either. Ewing and the Knicks transformed the game by slowing down the pace of the game through tough physical defense and pounding the ball down low to Ewing who held it, made a move or kicked it out to shooters. It was more exciting than Shaq dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, knock a guy over and dunk but that was just the natural progression from the Knicks style. Both led to games being in the 70's, 80's and low 90's.

@ Prowler: its a shame Navarro played in Memphis. If he had been on a real NBA team, who knows how good he could have been.

I'm not blaming Shaq for slowing down the game, I don't care how many points are scored, the winning strategy coupled with execution wins the game. What I'm saying is that the game was called differently for Shaq and Zo because they were the "stars". I love post play. Bernard King, Kevin McHale, Dantley, Aguirre, Ewing, Hakeem, Duncan, etc.... I would love to see LeBron in the post. But Shaq and Zo were terrible post players and basically the refs had to swallow their whistles to keep them from fouling out on offensive fouls. I think this is the star treatment, and the problem extends beyond individual games. I think that as the league tinkered with the rules, they actually made it harder to call the game, and this creates the grey area. The officiating of post play never really recovered to pre-Shaq norms. Announcers always talk about how the offensive foul is the hardest foul to call in the game. But that's only because the NBA has tinkered with it to the point that the defensive player has almost no right to even the space he is standing on. That's why we have the epidemic of flopping for the purpose of drawing charges. Its way out of wack. And the star calls have been permitted for so long, the game has been injured to the point where you can have real manipulation like you mention.

If you get a chance, check out footage of Wilt and Russel and those cats, and note how they had to avoid trampling the defender. Never seemed to slow them down. I like Shaq and Zo, because they are defenders and shot blockers, and Zo worked hard on his game to the point where he became competent in the post. Shaq never really did - to this day, if he catches the ball in the post with both of his feet outside of the paint, he's shooting 25%. And you are right, young Shaq was a terror with his speed. Just had no technique.

right on WILLIS!!!

thank you not only for your excellent analysis of why the FIBA product is superior entertainment to the NBA game, but also for your brilliant segway into the criminally negligent media coverage of the regressive and failed cold war policies of bush and mccain, and the equally outrageous obfuscation of the true story of the Georgian aggression against Ossettia (with the encouragement of America, which needs a never-ending bogeyman to perpetuate the largest arms dealership economy this world has ever seen).

so for a blog thread that began with a subect that i described as "no one cares about this" (@KNICK-D... and what's with the crap you're giving me about me having an attitude because i sit in a decent seat at the garden? knock the chip off your shoulder dude, you're coming across as having an inferiority complex), this has ended up being a very compelling read, much thanks to WILLIS and KNICK-4.

welcome back TRANE!!

welcome back

The Cupcake robbed the Knicks for $21 million last season.

Cry me a river if the Cupcake doesn't get $2 million from a couple of guys who should have been dealing stolen Chinese nylon imports out of the back of a rusty van with fancy hubcaps in the Bronx.

@ Willis, I will tell you this, I'm really impressed with todays young bigs like Howard, Bosh, Yao Ming, Stoudamire, etc. I think the days of the slow strictly back to the basket centers like Shaq and Mourning are coming to an end. I think IT may actually have been right about that. Guys like Curry, if they want to make it in this league and be sucessful (although I'm not sure Curry cares that much) are going to have to adjust their games. They have to be able to play the pick n roll, have a decent jump shot, play D, and be able to pass out of a double team. The league finally does seem to be cracking down on the offensive foul from guys like Curry and Shaq.

@sec 11: Bush and McCain don't do Cold war policies. The premise of the cold war was an aggressive foreign policy including undermining current world leaders through the funding of coups and the overthrow of communist dictatorships without firing a shot. Bush and McCain aren't smart enough for that. They just go to war and call anyone including the media who object to their policies unpatriotic. To bring it back to basketball, it reminds me of people on this blog who say, don't question Walsh despite the many many failed regimes and lack of accountablity on those regimes we saw during Dolan's reign as owner. If we don't point out some of Walsh's "curious" moves aren't we just as responsible when the team stinks.

@KNICK-D

you are correct on both points. the first being that the war criminals bush/mccain are not classic cold warriors, rather, they are shoot-first-question-the-patriotism-of-their-opposition-second war mongerers, and yes, it is always fair to question the actions of authority, especially when that authority is empowered by a proven incompetent like james dolan.

it was a beautiful game today, wasn't it?

Life - I completely agree again - those young guys are doing great things down there. But I do think there will always be a place for post play. You begin close to the basket, you wear your opponent down, you have control over the whole procedure and end up with a high percentage shot. As long as the center is fast enough to get back on defense, he will have a place in the game. I believe the 4's and 3's should use the post as well. Unfortunately, like the mid range jumper, there are not enough guys practicing the craft. I think as the centers become more and more willowy, the post player could become even more important. Just like Scola took Bosh and Prince straight into the post and abused them in the Argentina game, those light cats should get their asses whupped down there. I say should, but it will only happen if players care to learn the craft. LeBron's a perfect example - back in the 80's, a guy like that would live in the post and be absolutely unstoppable. LeBron could be like Barkley from Lovetron - its a shame he leaves all that money just laying on the table.