Jamal, you still owe us a blog
Jamal Crawford closed the book on his Knicks career with his Garden return Saturday with the Golden State Warriors. But we had to remind him he still has a responsibility to his career as a Newsday blogger. A farewell blog would be nice.
"I know, man," he said. "I'll do one."
The trade still has him out of sorts. He was traded on Nov. 21 and a week later found himself in New York, at his place in Westchester, packing up stuff to send to California and he has yet to arrive in the Bay Area because the Warriors are on an extended road trip.
But there's also the shock of being among the unwanted in the inevitable salary purge that everyone knew Donnie Walsh would have to undertake to rescue the Knicks from cap hell. Jamal admitted he never expected to be one of the first to be shipped out.
“I didn’t expect to go, period," he said. "That’s the thing that was more discouraging than anything. My name wasn’t ever out there at all. As far as trades go, you heard a lot of people’s names, but my name was never the one you heard. So I was caught off guard, that’s what was more frustrating to me.”
Business is business, so the decision is understood. But the bitterness comes from knowing that after five years of experiencing the worst era in franchise history he won't be around to experience the anticipated revival.
“That’s the most frustrating part," Jamal said. "I was there through the roughest times in franchise history and now that things seem to be changing, I wanted to be there as well. At this point, there’s nothing I can do about it other than move on and try to help the Golden State Warriors.”
And do they need it, judging by how his new team gave up 138 points and treated the pick-and-roll as if it were some newfangled trick play they'd never seen before. Chris Duhon (22 assists) broke a 50-year-old record set by Richie Guerin from the belted-waistband, satin uniform days of Father Knickerbocker. I believe Guerin played in the original Garden and dined with Stanford White.
Perhaps one day Crawford will finally end his dubious career playoff drought with the Warriors -- not this year, of course. Nellie has already conceded that much. But aside from how bad Corey Maggette really is as a feature player and how poorly promising rookie Anthony Randolph is being developed (and somebody needs to pluck Rony Turiaf off that roster), Crawford can look forward to Monta Ellis returning later this season. The two of them should make a prolific backcourt duo in the NellieBall free-for-all.
We Believe! . . . in the chuck-n-duck.
(I think David Lee just dunked again.)
Jamal can always escape the Golden State madness after this season by opting out of his contract, which would leave two years and $19 million on the table. He could certainly make that money back in another contract, plus add perhaps three more years. There are plenty of places where he would fit well and have a great shot at finally popping his playoff ch...I mean, getting his first playoff experience.
“That’s a ways away, honestly," Jamal said of his opt-out decision. "We’ll see what happens. I haven’t been to Oakland yet and I’m sure I’m going to like it there. It’s closer to home, Seattle, for me. Hopefully something can work out long term there."
It wasn't going to work out here, not with Mission 2010 in place.
“They’re trying to position themsevels for 2010, it’s no secret," Jamal said of the Knicks. "My thing was, in 2010, whoever we would get they would need players around those superstar players if you get them.”
Superstars? You mean like that guy in Cleveland you're tight with?
That conjured a laugh.
“Me and LeBron have a good relationship," Jamal said. "I’ve known him since he was in high school. It’s not talked about much."
The King emailed his friend after the trade went down to check in and make sure he was OK. LeBron knew what playing in New York meant to Jamal.
As for his own reaction to it?
“He was surprised,” Jamal said.
Players rarely talk shop with each other, though the topic does come up from time to time when it is unavoidable. Jamal said he and LeBron have never gotten into specifics about New York and the 2010 Cap Space Odyssey, but if and when that day comes Jamal will certainly offer his thoughts.
“I would tell him what comes along with it," he said, "and be as honest as possible with him.”
What comes along with it is a blog on Newsday.com and the opportunity to hang out with Starberman (by then, perhaps he'll be known as LeBerman) every day.
Bonus!
But no way LB goes to Newark though, right?
Another laugh.
“Go ask Jay-Z.”
Get me J-Hova's email and I will, yo.
Now go write your blog!
* * *
The conversation couldn't end without the requisite Stephon Marbury question. Jamal was adamant in his defense of Marbury, his former backcourt partner, whom he admittedly hasn't always seen eye-to-eye with both on the court and off of it. But Jamal insists that during the preseason and even most of the first month of the regular season, Marbury's presence was never a distraction with the players. He also added, "He was good to me" over the past month and regularly offered encouragement during practices and games.
Of course things blew up after Jamal left, when Steph turned down the opportunity to play in Milwaukee and then allegedly refused to play in Detroit. (Note the use of "allegedly" here for journalistic integrity).
“I was surprised when I first heard it," Jamal said. "Maybe he has his reasons, I don’t know exactly what happened. It’s two people saying two different things.”
Jamal said he knew Stephon wanted to play, which is why his decision not to was such a surprise.
The end result won't be. Crawford is gone. Zach Randolph is gone. Stephon appears the next to be gone after Monday's meeting with Donnie Walsh, which is expected to eventually result in a mutual parting of ways.
“With a new regime, we didn’t know who was going to be there," Jamal said. "We didn’t know what was going to happen. We knew one way or another, something would have to give.”
* * *
Regarding Jamal's blog, I appreciate all of the input on who Fixer Nation would like to see take over Jamal's spot. Interestingly enough, a player has stepped forward to offer his services. We're currently trying to work out the details to make it happen. Stay tuned . . .
* * *
Fixers, were you expecting another blog on the Marbury situation? There will be plenty there to keep us busy over the next 48 hours.
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Comments (26)
Alan,
I'm interested in the Mike Conley situation. Since his name is out there in trade rumors, any idea if they Knicks are interested? Would David Lee get it done, or are those Lee-won't-sign-with-Memphis rumors true?
Of course, maybe Conley's is Sebastian Telfair 2.0 and we shouldn't bother.
From Last Thread:
Pete: "Obviously there is no filter for stupidity, like comparing Marbury to corrupt CEO's (defining irrelevant comment), mindlessly criticizing an articulate poster or defending Marbury period. That garbage is up to the reader to skip."
I thought comparing Marbury, the team's PG, to a team president was actually quite clever. We shall have to agree to disagree.
What a game last night. Again we are beating the teams we should beat, something we couldn't do last year, and losing badly to the teams that are better than us, which we were very good at last year. We don't have a player that can lead us through those games against good defensive teams. Here comes the Duhon cheering squad again. The guy is good against bad defensive PGs, and he'll help us win those games. When we play teams that play D, Duhon won't get it done. Great game by him last night though. David Lee should buy this guy a car because he is going to help get him a fat contract somewhere.
From a report by Chris Sheridan at ESPN.com
Walsh did shed some light on why he decided to suspend Marbury this time, but not a week earlier when Marbury allegedly refused to play in Milwaukee.
"I can only tell you the way it was presented to me, the one in Milwaukee was more like a suggestion: 'Hey, I can get you some minutes tonight, you get an opportunity to play, it might be good for you,' and Steph said maybe you should keep going in the same direction you're going in," said Walsh. "My understanding of this conversation was that Mike was far more definite: 'I want you to play tonight,' and Stephon said he wasn't going to play. That's the way I took it. . . . And I believe Mike.
[LIVES’ COMMENT: The lawyer, Walsh, admits that there was no breach of contract the first time. So the great chess move, referred to in an earlier blog post, was for D’Antoni to rephrase the “suggestion” so that it was not quite an “order” but a strong demonstration that the Knicks wanted Marbury to abide by his contract by playing. To make it really slick, D’Antoni decided to tell Marbury that a starting position was available if he performed and performed well. Being clairvoyant, the Knicks knew he would say no, unless directly ordered, which I guess is why they didn’t even have a uniform in his locker for the Detroit game. Or maybe they were not clairvoyant and they just mucked their gambit up because Walsh said, "That's why I did what I did. I'm kind of shocked if his uniform wasn't there. If he wanted to play, he'd say I want to play, give me my uniform.”
So Corporate’s official public position is that an “order” is not required, just something more definite than a “suggestion;” something that demonstrated the Knicks wanted him to perform his contract. More significantly, D’Antoni’s second request was seen as the move needed to take the matter out of D’Antoni’s hands and put it into management’s hands, with management seemingly in a better negotiating position. Lawyers!!! I am LMAO]
Let’s go to the linotype:
[LIVES’ COMMENT: Good thing the Knicks are no longer subjected to reading about the famous point guard liar who wears all those nice suits, isn’t it fellas? So, let’s check out what D’Antoni said about his conversation with Marbury which led to the suspension and fine. Surely, D’Antoni is in the strong position and he would be clear and honest about what was said that got Marbury fined.]
Again from Chris Sheridan:
At practice Friday in Greenburgh, N.Y., D'Antoni shed little light on exactly what transpired during his conversation with Marbury prior to the Knicks' loss to the Pistons, although D'Antoni acknowledged offering Marbury the chance to be the team's starting two-guard.
"That might have come up somewhere," D'Antoni said. "I'm not going to get into the details of 'he said, I said, that said.' You know the premise of the story, and you'll just have to kind of pick it up. Like I said, it's a regrettable situation for everybody, and we'll work it out hopefully this weekend and then move on."
"I don't need to say exactly what happened. My intention was for him to play, he didn't, and so that's where we are and that's how we'll go forward."
[LIVES’ COMMENT: Some of you guys gotta be laughing or crying with me. With the Milwaukee incident D’Antoni was so free to talk about what was said. And now he doesn’t want to tell you what was said. He wants you to figure it out from his version of the premise of the story. D’Antoni says it was his “intent” that Marbury play. Did he and Walsh think up that strategy together. Just say something that sounds like you intend for him to play and he will be in breach of his contract. LMAOOO]
So this is how it looks to me. The Knicks were anticipating that at some point Marbury would screw up enough or get embarrassed enough that they could part ways for way less than $21 million. AS AH said, they decided to be patient and wait Marbury out. But a funny thing happened on the way to the buyouy/kickout – a massive trade that left the team short handed and in need of Marbury to perform services under his contact although they had already agreed that he was to be bought out and they did not want him to perform for them anymore. When he rejected the “suggestion” the he do the Knicks a favor and play, those Grandmasters at MSG thought they saw an opening to stick it to Marbury, to help him do what they knew he would eventually do – screw up. So they phrase the “offer” not quite like a demand but definitively enough to argue that D’Antoni intended for him to play. Marbury doesn’t bite, plus they forgot to put his uniform in the locker. LMAAAAOOOOOOO. Now it is in management’s hands and they hope that Marbury will now feel the pressure and offer to give up a little more than 1 Million dollars. But all Marbs needs to do is say “Hell No.”
Sending Marbury home is practically meaningless when they were going to sit him and pay him anyway. Why not take all his money, since that is his goal, and go home? Paying Marbury to work from home is essentially the same as paying him to sit on the bench.
Another option is for Marbury to give up $1.4 million and let the Knicks appear to save face by not challenging the breach of contract claim. In return for not appealing, the Knicks would waive him and let him sign with another team.
Walsh now says he is ready to settle if Marbs position is not ridiculous but he could not define ridiculous because he was eating turkey and shooting the breeze all weekend. Yeah, like he hasn’t been thinking about “ridiculous” since he got here. Anyway, I wonder if when he pays Marbury “all his money” he would consider the long wait to take care of this matter was “ridiculous.”
I really look forward to hear what the settlement is tomorrow and whether Marbs was rattled enough to cave in.
this is a free country.
no one SHOULD TELL US what to skip and not to skip. WE'll do it on OUR own volition.
free speech should be promoted here however, theres no place for cussed words and personal attacs here.
Pat or Peaceman? who cares? its probably peacman loggin on to another IP address like a
mcdonalds, library or starbucks and postin as a new or another blogger who pretend to admire peacemens work. ya, we've witnessed that many times
DID PEACEMN REALLY CURSED OUT OUR HOST ALAN HAHN? CAN SOMEONE PLEASE REPOST THAT.
so we can the poster's true colors. be a man and repost it.
ANONYMOUS SHOULD ALSO POST HIS NAME OR BLOG HANDLE. ANON POST SHOULD BE DELETED IMMEDATELY.
22 ASSISTS FOR DUHON.
22 ASSISTS EXEMPLIFIES BEIN A TEAM PLAYER. WHAT ELSE CAN ONE REALLY SAY.
CONGRATS!
last nights' game was more like streetball or an AllStar game
im peace.
im not peacemen
the guys like peaceman who boast about being different person by having a different ip simply go to sites like proxytopsite.com and change their ip. beware of the guy who agrees with a post he just put up or says that wasnt me. it probably was him and he is using a proxy.
THE MSM BE COMING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN (BROKE-KNICK MOUNTAIN)
TO SEE THAT KNICKS’ MANAGEMENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS FIASCO TOO.
Frank Isola:The Knicks are not blameless here. D'Antoni complicated matters by publicly embarrassing Marbury, only to later offer him the chance to play. And team president Donnie Walsh failed to anticipate the media firestorm and to address it in a timely matter.
Peter Vescey You'd think over the last four seasons, Donnie Walsh would have learned something as Bird's boss. The New York Knicks' president could not be handling the Stephon Marbury mess any clumsier had Isiah Thomas mapped its coordinates - maybe I'm on to something.
Mike LupicaAnd if the Knicks really put themselves through all this with Marbury to beat him out of a few dollars, then they deserve every bad headline they have gotten since Mike D'Antoni humiliated Marbury by having him in uniform and then not playing him on Opening Night against the Heat.
Chris Sheridan, ESPNL'affaire du Marbury has been a monumental headache for Walsh and D'Antoni as the first few months of their joint tenure have unfolded. It appears Walsh did not understand or was not adequately told the degree of mutual disdain that remained between D'Antoni and Marbury from their brief time together in Phoenix, and Walsh said he was unaware on opening night that D'Antoni did not plan to put Marbury into the game. Marbury has been inactive for every game since -- except for the night in Milwaukee when he dressed to allow the Knicks to meet the NBA requirement of having a minimum of eight players available, even though he didn't play.
William Rhoden – NYTThis is immensely entertaining but also amateurish: a tantalizing battle of wills, between whom I’m not sure. Marbury and James Dolan? Marbury and D’Antoni? Marbury and the franchise?. . .Relax. Watch the sideshow. And wonder: Didn’t New York used to have a professional basketball team?
Flip Bondy – NY Daily News The Knicks should move to Oakland for two years, operate in full dysfunction and relative anonymity, then return east in 2010 with some free-agent studs.
Nigga please. When one guy, Marbury, has problems with EVERY coach, the problem is Marbury.
That was some game. Not only the personal and franchise records, I haven't see so much rim shaking coming from the Knicks since
I don't know when. I don't expect the Knicks to dominate every night but if they can play with that kind of energy the they will be in good shape.
THE RANT II
"D'Anphony's wife, after Thanksgiving Dinner, offered him some nookie, but something was very fishy, so he declined to eat"
Newsday, who is also owned by Cablevision is so unbiased when it comes to The Rant of the Week; keep up the great boss-butt-kissing guys!
Welcome Tommy, you'll fit right in with the rest of the knick beat writers!
always liked Crawford a lot and rooted for him to become a more consistent and efficient scorer and better defender, but that was not in the cards. I don't think he really "gets it" despite comments in his blog.
The way I see it, the Knicks needed to get rid of Crawford (or turn him into a bench player) and Randolph (also not a very efficient scorer and weak defender). So that's two down. That leaves getting rid of Curry (always out of shape, can't defend, block shots or play defense) and James (total waste) and replacing them with some kind of serviceable players and all the demons from the Isiah era will be exorcised.
Anyone else out there just skip past Lives' posts?
Not because he asks us to...
but because they're too long and boring to invest time into reading?
Wordy bastad'
either NATE or AVID LEE should be the next blogger. even tho avid might not be around for too long either..
notice i left out the D in david...just like his game...no D.
YEAH BRO.
I SKIP ALL OF LIVES' WAR & PEACE NOVEL.
LOTS OF WORDS BUT NOT MUCH SUBSTANCE. LOL
BRO, I MADE MY POINT IN 1 OR 2 SENTENCES NOT WITH A BOOK REPORT.
PEACE & BLESSINGS TO ALL
@ Jackie J & The Truth
You guys have the rest of your lives to be idiots,
so why not take the day off?
@ TYRONE W.
Alone? You are in in bad company. That's ok.
Everyone is gifted. You just didn't open the package.
You seem to have descended from the chimpanzee later than others. I'd like to give you a going-away present.....First, you do your part.
Does anyone else think it's strange that David Lee just had a career game and people are posting about his trade value?
Yeah, I know how the game works, but let's focus on incredible performances by Lee and Duhon with some celebration!
@ Peaceman
Google and check out Don Rickles. If you don't know him he's an "insult comedian."
check out this utube link of him roasting Pres Ronald Reagan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ALHiadIsKo
I don't know what your real job is - but you definitely have the touch.
I don't believe in plagiarism or that anything one finds on the web is 'free' - so I won't repeat your comments -- altho I've emailed them to a few close friends.
Pat
For those who are confused - altho the names of Pat and Peaceman share a consonant and vowel, we are not one and the same. I'd love to connect to him but I won't give up my contact info and don't expect him to do so either.
Marbury 4 Marion
Maybe Miami will take the 3 million dollar hit...lets do it
"I'd love to connect to him but I won't give up my contact info and don't expect him to do so either."
Uhm get a room? Seriously what is happening with this blog . . .
About Marbury... I do think there's something to Dolan being behind this. As in, "don't play him and don't pay his full contract." I'm not trying to absolve D'Antoni and Walsh, but the whole thing is just too strange.
Fixers, were you expecting another blog on the Marbury situation? There will be plenty there to keep us busy over the next 48 hours.
--------
Yes. What time on Monday is Marbury meeting with Walsh?
Peter Vecsey's article today stated:
In any event, all you need to know about the state of Stephon and the Knicks is Plaxico Burress had a better week.
D'Antoni's testimony on camera following both episodes was unambiguous. He'd asked, not ordered, Marbury to break a sweat. Surprising no one, Hooked on Stephonics re-confirmed his legendary selfishness by leaving his under-manned team in the lurch. But that ask-order technicality, it says here, will recoup the money he was docked when his case goes to arbitration.
Peter Vecsey's article today stated:
"In any event, all you need to know about the state of Stephon and the Knicks is Plaxico Burress had a better week."
That's a dumb statement to begin with! Why quote it here? I admit that I am increasingly concerned about the mess over Marbury, but the refusal of the "Post" etc. to acknowledge improvement in the Knicks is absurd! There is a bandwagon forming to bash the whole organization. Even as I worry about the resolution with Stephon, I still feel better overall about our team. Further, Plaxico is in deep trouble on multiple levels. It's a bad comparison.
I'd want Q-Rich or D-Lee to take over the blogging for Jamal.
They are both literate and candid, with incite.
There is a bandwagon forming to bash the whole organization.
"by pverne"
Agreed. It's called " The Blazers, Nets, Lakers, Jazz, Suns,
Rockets, Raptors, Sixers, Hornets, Spurs, ..ect....."
Good article on Jerome James. So he isn't hurt, he is just a waste of space waiting until the post-season? Why would he be on the post-season roster?
ESPN and the Post are reporting that Marbury called out his coaches and teamates. The more things change the more they stay the same.