“Do you want to be loved or do you want to win a championship?” Thomas told FSN-Ohio’s Fred McLeod. “I don’t know of any great players that were loved in the locker room who won a championship. Guys I played with might love me now, but they didn’t love me then.”
We found that via Empty The Bench. What we found interesting about was not the actual quote. It is true to a certain extent - you have to fire guys up to get the most out of them, but you don't have be a jerk to do it. You can - Isiah, Larry Bird, and Jordan were all the over-competitive type that demanded maximum effort from all their teammates. But there are other players that get the most out of their teammates without losing their cool - Steve Nash. Tim Duncan.
What we found interesting about the quote was that it was Isiah directly relaying a message to LeBron. Remember what Cleveland Cavs fans fear the most - LeBron's contract expires at end of 08/09 (though he possesses a player option for 09/10). Coincidentally, the Knicks' supposedly f*cked up salary situation looks great at the end of 08/09 - only $41,279,523 committed, with Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, and Malik Rose's (almost $47 million total) contracts all expiring. Obviously it is too early to make guesses on what LeBron will do - he's from Ohio, and clearly wants to play there. But if things aren't going too well for the franchise in a few years, he may want to explore his options. Isiah may be laying down the foundation for a future run at signing the King.
For the record, SML isn't holding out too much hope of seeing LBJ in a Knicks' uniform. If James is coming to the area, we would put our money on him ending up in Brooklyn with his business mentor Hova.
Some more money quotes from Isiah, on the Knicks current slide (via The NY Daily News):
"The thing I know about this team is they've gone through tough tiems and had to climb a long way to get to kind of respectable in this league. And we're not about to lose that in the next 12 games."
"I've never quit in my life. I've never had a team that quit. And we're not quitting. We'll fight to the bitter end."
To be fair, the Knicks didn't quit in their last game against the Magic. They played hard and fought back whenever they fell behind. But there is no doubt they are short on players with the injuries, and time is running out quickly.
The Daily News is also reporting that Steve Francis is unhappy with his playing time. As is the case with Zeke, if he doesn't like you, if you're not one of his players (Francis is considered a Larry Brown pickup), he won't cut you any slack. After looking good the first two games back from his "season-ending" knee injury, Francis has looked terrible since, turning the ball over way too much. So Isiah has since utilized Nate Robinson and rookie Marty Collins at the point, cutting back on Francis' playing time.
That is the right move, in our opinion. Francis spends too much time dribbling, failing to feed the big man (Curry has openly griped with Francis during games about getting him the ball more), and generally is not a good point. Put him on the floor with another point or two (as was the case in those first two games back), and he can produce, since he is not afraid to take it to the basket and draw contact.
Right now, the Knicks can only score from inside, whether it is via Curry or the guards driving. They have no outside game with Q-Rich and Crawford out; Robinson can hit jumpers, but is streaky. Frye is a great shooter from 10-15 range, but has been hesistant all season long about shooting, and too often is shooting from outside his prime area (i.e. 15-20 footers). Jeffries, Balkman, and Lee (when healthy) are not outside shooters - they are finishers.
We would like to see Mardy Collins play more, because he looks like a potentially solid point guard. His passing is on target, and he moves the ball well. Unfortunately he has no jumper yet (he really needs to work on that), but he appears otherwise fundamentally sound, and right now Isiah would rather have that than have Francis' wildness.
Leave a comment
|
