Knicks do the impossible...

When Donnie Walsh took over basketball operations for the franchise formally known as the New York Knicks he knew the task at hand. He knew how far this franchise had fallen and he knew how heavily the deck of cards was stacked against him. But decades in the game, the ability to evaluate talent, his personal relationships and some luck have now almost completely gotten the Knicks out of the dark cave they have been trapped in since the beginning of the decade. We know the first guy on their list is LeBron James. There are also three other All-NBA level players in Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudamire, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash who will also be available in 2010. The Knicks should have enough cap room to add two or perhaps three of these outstanding talents.

There are some questions that must be asked.
First, who do you want to keep around from this current team? I'd say Al Harrington, whose contract is up after next season would be a guy the Knicks would want to stay but at a reduced rate to be part of the turnaround. I also feel like Chris Duhon, David Lee and Nate Robinson would also want to be here when the Knicks reload and be role players on a team that will need those pieces to put around which ever stars are brought in.

Secondly, should the playoffs be a goal for the Knicks this season?
We know D'Antoni has to say he is still thinking playoffs but is that realistic?
Can they mesh these new pieces that quickly during the season with minimal practice time into a consistently competitive team that will challege for a seven or eight seed? At first thought I said no, but the more I thought about it the more it seems like it could happen and here is why: Familiarity. All three of the new Knicks have experience either with Walsh, D'Antoni or the current New York style of play that D'Antoni brought from Phoenix. Cutino Mobley is a pro's pro who will immediately fill the starting role at the shooting guard position. Where Jamal Crawford was a streak shooter and took many questionable shots Mobley much more efficient and is an upgrade defensively. Tim Thomas has his most productive season under D'Antoni which followed a less than stellar first stint with the Knicks. His skill set will fit what the Knicks do on the perimeter. If he chooses to play any defense it will be a welcomed bonus. Al Harrington, who Donnie Walsh drafted with the Pacers is a perfect fit for the current New York style of play. A 6'9" forward that can get to the rim but more importantly can stretch the defense with his three point shooting range and play solid defense. These three players should fit in well, the question that can only be answered on the court is how quickly will it happen?

Third, are the Knicks done making moves? With the stench of the Stephon Marbury situation still in the air will the Knicks now go the distance and drive him out of town once and for all? This latest episode in Milwaukee after the trades which left the Knicks with 8 active players and Marbury refusing to take the cour should signal it is time to officially cut ties. Yes, the team said it was going in another direction and I respect D'Antoni for his stance on this but I must get on marbury yet again for not getting it. When you make $20 million per season from your home town team that has been on a steady dismise partly because of your lack of performance and attitude the least you could do is help out the guys who are giving there all and take the court one night. After all Marbury is reportedly in the "best shape of his career". It would have been a good idea to showcase that hope someone would be dumb enough to trade for you and your contract, no? Maybe that just has to much depth for Marbury.

Tomorrow night is when the fun really begins. LeBron comes to town with his Cavs and the Garden will be buzzing. I can only wonder what will be going on in LeBron's head when he comes out for warm-ups tomorrow night to the cheers of the New York fans. You can bet that Cavs organization wants to get tomorrow night over with in New York as soon possible...

Memorable Election Evening...

I think Obama likes the Celtics.
On a night that our generation will forever remember as an opportunity for change there was a terrific basketball game in Houston. I must pat myself on the back for the way I structured my evening. The Coach worked late in the office and picked up some dinner in Union Square on the way home. I was expecting quite a scene when I got off the subway at about 6:45pm but it was quietly erie on the south tip of Union Square Park. Was everyone scrambling to vote? Was the park not an option for a potential celebration/rally for Obama? I was a bit thrown off. Either way I grabbed some eats and walked my ten minutes home. Dinner, election coverage and Celtics @ Rockets, just the Tuesday evening I was looking for.

Some things that crossed my mind last night before the 8:30pm tip-off:
A) What audience is WWOR TV Channel 9 catering too with their election coverage?
And who would choose that station last night over CBS, NBC or ABC?

B) Is the lead producer on the NBA TV pregame show attempting to create the worst pregame show in the history of sports? Ahmad Rashad, Chris Webber and Gary Payton is like nothing I have ever seen in a studio. Webber who did quite well on Inside the NBA last season as a guest analyst is not in a position to be at his best with these two along side him. I loved Payton as a player, but on TV he is unwatchable. Rashad froze last night like a scared college freshman reading off of a teleprompter for the first time and Webber still had Al Jefferson on the Celtics in his pregame analysis. Both Webber and Payton both said they don't see the Celtics getting back to the finals as last season was an example of the stars aligning perfectly. Then two minutes later they go into saying this could be an NBA Finals preview!!! Are you guys serious?!?! Make a point, back it up with a strong opinion and or fact and then stick with it, please!!!

C) Right before Tip-Off while I was sipping on some of the best freshly squeezed OJ I have ever had, something wonderful hit me; When this game is over we are going to have a new President, and he will most likely be African American and a Democrat. WOW!!! That is all that kept popping into my head, then the game started.

The Rockets came out smoking in the first few moments, they were more than UP for this game. There was no way the Celtics were going to roll over and let Houston dictate this game, as the champs were coming off of a 16 point loss in Indiana on Saturday. The Green settled in and started to play very smart and very tough team ball. The rock was popping from the inside out as Yao Ming was helping heavily off of Kendrick Perkins all night. Guess what everyone? Kendrick Perkins is no longer someone you can leave completely open. Perk finished at the rim and was fouled, then knocked down a pair of 15 foot jumpers that were silky smooth. On the night Perk had 15 points on 7-8 from the floor and 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots including one right back into the grill of Yao. Before you knew Yao picked up his third foul and the Celtics had taken a major part of Houston's offense and defense out of the game at once. The Celtics build a 16 point lead in the second, but this is the NBA. The Rockets thanks to some sloppy Boston posessions, and the scrappy play of Luis Scola and Aaron Brooks erased the deficit and at the half it was a 5 point Celtic lead.

The second half was exciting, it felt like a playoff game in Houston. McGrady got it going as he was catching and shooting over Ray and Tony Allen at different points. But come the 4th quarter it was time for RAY. He poured in 11 in the 4th, 29 for the game before fouling out in the final minutes. With Ron Artest (3-16 shooting) so worried about covering Pierce it was Tracy McGrady and at times Brent Barry who could not stay with RAY for many of his points last night. By the time Rick Adelman made the switch it was to late. Even when Artest was on RAY he was getting 3 screens to get open. When Houston hedged or doubled it opened up another Celtic to create the play and on more than one occasion the ball found its way back into RAY's hands anyway. Watching a veteran team play a good defense like that is wonderful to watch. KG finished with 14 and 11, but more importantly nailed the dagger with under a minute to go with a 17 footer from the left baseline. Great to get the first road win of the season against a quality team like the Rockets.

Wednesday night has a full slate of games:
THE CHAMPS are in Oklahoma City tonight to educate the THUNDER.
AI makes his Pistons debut north of the boarder against the Raptors.
Larry Brown returns to NYC as the Bobcats will hopefully drill the Knicks.
The winless Spurs travel north to take on AL JEFF and the T-Wolves.
The KING hosts D Rose and the Baby Bulls and for you night hawks out there
the Clips try their luck again as they "visit" the scorching Lakers.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Sunday THUNDER...Monday BLOCKBUSTER!

I started my Monday post actually talking about the T-Wolves and the Thunder, yes, you read that correctly, but then the Iverson for Billups and McDyess deal was announced and my head is all over the place about it. The first thing I did after hearing it was send out a quick email to some of my basketball people to get their initial reactions. I got some interesting responses. Some think AI is done, some think he was lucky to be bailed out of the sinking ship in Denver, some had no feel. I then checked the players contract situations, which is the most telling part of the deal. Iverson's contract comes off of the books after this season. Denver needed to get something in return for him and not let him walk for free. Detroit wanted to get out from under the length and dollars of Billups contract (on the books thru 2011, $11 million this season, $12 million in 2010, $13 million in 2011) as well as McDyess' contract which runs thru the end of NEXT season ($6.8 million). Combine that with Rasheed Wallace coming off the books which will free 13.6 million and the Pistons just created $31 million in salary space for next season if they let Iverson walk. $31 million for Joe Dumars to work with along with Richard Hamilton, Tayshawn Prince, Jason Maxiell, Rodney Stuckey, Aaron Afflalo and Amir Johnson. Well done, if they can land the necessary free agent pieces, but at least they are in the game and still in a position to compete in the East this season, though the style of play will surely change a bit with Iverson on the floor.

From the Denver side of things it is too early to tell what lays ahead in mile high. They obviously did not want to let Iverson walk for nothing at the end of the season. In turn they get back two battle tested veteran players that will be great both on and off the court in Denver (there is a rumor that McDyess may not report, but I have not heard anything concrete on that front) Chauncy Billups could be the presence that makes Carmelo Anthony a better player. This is clearly the time Melo must step up and put this team on his back and keep them in contention. In a pre-season conversation with one basketball guru we talked about Coach Karl being the first coach to go this season. Someone is gonna have to take the fall in Denver and Karl seems much more likely than Melo. Billups, Melo, Kenyon Martin, Nene, JR Smith and Linas Kleiza make up a telented group that should be able to challenge for the post season, key word is should.


Last night in Oklahoma City the T-Wolves met the Thunder, yes, THE THUNDER!!! With what was supposed to a basketball game last night at the Garden (Amazing how easy it is to use the Marbury situation as an excuse not to bring it in game three of the season AT HOME, terrible!) and a big football weekend the Thunder's home victory warrants some attention. I have to be honest, I did not watch a large portion of this game. But what I can you about it is this: The Oklahoma City crowd loves their young team and there was is some serious yong talent on the court between these two teams.

As many of you could probably guess I love Al Jefferson. Besides the fact he was a Celtic, his back to the basket collection of moves is like no one else in the league and it takes us back to a day when guys actually went to work on the block instead of settling for fade away jumpers. What intrigues me about the T-Wolves was their decision to grab Kevin Love on draft night and pair him upfront with Jefferson. A lot of the so called experts have been saying Love is not talented enough to be a real player in this league. I emphatically disagree. He has very high basketball IQ, terrific footwork, is a great passer, has the ability to post up and face up and a work ethic which was obvious by his ability to change his body this summer (Love lost 20 pounds in an attempt to become quicker and more versatile while maintaining his strength) That pair with Mike Miller, Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes, Rashaad MacCants, Corey Brewer and Craig Smith makes this a fun team to watch that will grow together over time into a potential contender.

The THUNDER, I just love saying it, THE THUNDER are gonna be a blast this year. KD is serious. A legit scorer whose ceiling is insanely high. Durant teamed with a young floor general like Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green aka, Mr. Rock Solid, present a promising young trio that are going to bring it to some team this season in their building. Chris Wilcox, Nick Collison, Earl Watson and Desmond Mason are all guys that have the ability to play at a high level. A big stat to keep an eye in is Durant's field goal percentage, it must get up to the mid-40's this season, as the challenge is going to be making him an efficient scorer.

While it is a shame Seattle no longer has a team, I think some excitment around the THUNDER will be great for the league.

Something tells me that Tuesday is going to be a huge NBA day. A Celtics-Rockets, Mavericks-Spurs doubleheader, Iverson and Billups being traded for each other and the possibility of the Marbury drama taking yet another turn in New York make the coach quite excited!

Enjoy your evening.