by Stop Mike Lupica on January 4 at 1:40PM
Tracy McGrady might still be on the shelve with a strained knee tendon (for at least another week, making me glad that guy in my fantasy league turned down my "Andre Iguodala straight up for T-Mac" offer a few weeks back), but he's found time to launch a "Stand Up For Darfur" project.
He got the help of the NBA, and 11 other players, in the hopes of raising money to help the cause.
Among his goals? Building schools:
What was his motivation to get involved? From his website:
**************
David Berri, from "Wages of Wins" fame, penned a post entitled "Sort of Defending Isiah Thomas". His argument is that scoring is overvalued in the NBA - it impacts salaries (higher scoring = higher salary), without offensive efficiency being added to the mix.
He notes that Marbury is historically an inefficient scorer with lots of turnovers (of course, he's said the same about Iverson in the past). Berri notes that Isiah Thomas, as a player, was very similar (low offensive efficiency, high turnovers), and that he considers himself the reason the Pistons won two championships (note: Isiah is the not the sole reason, but he was the best player on the team), and so Berri reasons Isiah has built a team in his image.
A couple of points: One, Berri notes that Curry is an offensive efficient player (the only one in the Knicks' starting lineup). I've argued that numerous times (even today over at Depressed Fan).
He adds the usual stuff - that Lee and Balkman (and Randolph Morris, in limited time) are the most productive Knicks, in terms of win shares and stuff. I'm sure Wilson Chandler will soon make the list, too, adding to the generally accepted belief that Isiah Thomas is a great drafter, and horrible trader/free agent gatherer (hard to argue, really).
Marbury, Richardson, and Randolph are about average. Everyone else (Crawford, Curry) is below average.
I liked the post, because it goes into trying to tie why Isiah has assembled the team he has. However, even if most of these guys reminded Isiah of himself in terms of playing style, they lack one very key thing Isiah had: Self-motivation.
Isiah Thomas willed himself to be the best he could be. He had to, to escape the streets, to make it to the NBA. I've stood next to Isiah (in the courtroom) - he's barely 6'1. If he had slipped up even a bit at any point, there would have been dozens of people ready to take his place - in high school, in college at Indiana, in the NBA. Instead he always kept himself focused, kept himself working to get better. He was self-motivated, period.
Can you say that about Eddy Curry? Of course not. And you can't say that about a lot of the current Knicks, at this point in their careers... Marbury is losing interest in basketball, in the NBA. He's stated as much several times. Who knows what motivates Crawford, but it ain't happening. Only Zach Randolph seems to want to improve his game (working on his outside touch, for example).
They might play like Isiah in style, but they don't have his desire or effort. Which is sad, because the one thing you can control is effort.
**************
Speaking of Balkman and Lee, Shoals posted this item about the talks between the Kings and the Knicks regarding a possible Artest trade. Apparently the Knicks are offering either crap (Jeffries), or Balkman instead of Lee (the Kings' main target).
I'm really confused here. One, I know I sound like a Lee-hater (I'm not, honestly... I'm impressed that he's developed an interior move or two, and very few players in the NBA have as good hands as he does - he catches every single interior pass in his direction, even the errant ones, down low), but I would think that the Knicks would be kinda stupid for making a big fuss about keeping Lee over Balkman, especially given that Balkman's extension is one year further away than Lee's. And the Kings are equally stupid for demanding Lee in place of Balkman (unless they are hoping to appeal to their white fans or something). Honestly, haven't both teams realized that Balkman and Lee are pretty much the same player, but with the caveat that Lee is a better rebounder, and Balkman is a better defender?
I guess it must be thewhite fans intangibles Lee brings to the game, huh?...
************
Also from The Fanhouse, but this time from Tom Ziller (an odd bit of role reversal - Shoals is writing about the Kings, using the SacBee, where as Ziller is writing about "Free David Lee"!): Isiah should free David Lee, meaning trade him to the Kings for Artest.
He points out, quite correctly, that the Knicks are desperately in need of a SF, and that not only is Artest far better defensively than Jeffries and Richardson, but... he's significantly better offensively, too.
Which is absolutely true. But here's my take on this deal - the Knicks are out of it right now, pretty much. They are currently 8-22. Unless they went 33-19 or better down the stretch... they can't even finish .500. And that's what it should take to make the playoffs. So really, this team is looking at the lottery again. Possibly a top-5 pick. Maybe it's time to take all the cards off the table, fold this hand, and just wait until next season.
And yes, I know... I've said before that the Knicks should trade Lee, for Artest in fact. I'm okay with that, but there is no reason to make that trade now - Artest is out for at least two or three more weeks. Minimum. If we wait until next season, we'll know what hole we plugged with our draft pick (probably point guard, since it is the year of the point). We'll have more flexibility, with Marbury's expiring contract suddenly very tradeable (hello Cavs!). And Lee's rookie contract isn't up until next season, which makes next season the best time to trade him. I'm just saying, holding tight right now is a good idea, that's all.
Even though Ron Artest believes he can save the Knicks (and truth be told, I think he could single-handedly propel the Knicks into an above .500 team for the rest of the season).
By the way, I'm going to be a little b*tch, and infer that Tom Ziller doesn't like this particular Knick fan right here, since he mentioned he liked several Knick fans, and linked to pretty much ever other Knick site except for SML. Ouch. And here I've only had nice things to say about one of the hardest working men in the basketball blog game....
***********
Okay, last item of business: My football picks for the first playoff weekend. I will be going for perfection this playoff season, so here goes (in order of most confident down):
1. Seahawks, -3 vs. Washington. Too easy - I don't care how hot the Skins have been (actually, I do care - that's the only reason this line is as small as it is), the Hawks are a legit contender. More importantly, the Skins have been playing for their season for the past 4 weeks. They are an exhausted team, up against a well-rested team. It's really that simply.
2. TB -2.5 vs. NYG. Home field won't be much of an advantage here, but... we all know Eli Manning is good for one good, followed by two bad ones. Let's assume last week was the good performance. Exactly.
3. Steelers +2 vs. Jaguars. I know, the Jags beat the Steelers a couple of weeks ago. You know what... that wasn't the playoffs. And yes, the Steelers are banged up, missing Willie Parker, etc.
Jacksonville is not going up to cold Pittsburgh (where it has been freezing the past week), and winning on that crap field, in front of those fans. So thank you everybody, for giving the Steelers two points. Take them!
4. Tennessee +9.5 at SD. It's always stupid to take exhausted road teams in the first round of the playoffs, against rested teams. But SD isn't much of a home advantage, and the Chargers have a long history of blowing early playoff games in January. And the 9.5 point spread is too enticing. I'll roll the dice on the Titans, because I can see the Titans at least coming back and making this close....
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He got the help of the NBA, and 11 other players, in the hopes of raising money to help the cause.
Among his goals? Building schools:
"It sounds devastating," McGrady told about 400
students at the assembly. "But to actually hear it and see it and listen
to some of the stories was definitely an eye opener and a humbling experience.
My goal is to build 12 schools over there. I'm getting 11 other NBA players to
help me with this. But you guys are the first to know about this. I want to
challenge you guys to come up with some ways to help these kids get an
education and better themselves. They want books and they want to be educated.
It's up to us to really help these guys out. "
What was his motivation to get involved? From his website:
"I
wanted to see what was happening there. Why were so many dying? What is the
genocide all about? Who were the faces behind the statistics? I didn’t want to stand
by and watch it all on CNN. I needed to see it for
myself."
**************
David Berri, from "Wages of Wins" fame, penned a post entitled "Sort of Defending Isiah Thomas". His argument is that scoring is overvalued in the NBA - it impacts salaries (higher scoring = higher salary), without offensive efficiency being added to the mix.
He notes that Marbury is historically an inefficient scorer with lots of turnovers (of course, he's said the same about Iverson in the past). Berri notes that Isiah Thomas, as a player, was very similar (low offensive efficiency, high turnovers), and that he considers himself the reason the Pistons won two championships (note: Isiah is the not the sole reason, but he was the best player on the team), and so Berri reasons Isiah has built a team in his image.
A couple of points: One, Berri notes that Curry is an offensive efficient player (the only one in the Knicks' starting lineup). I've argued that numerous times (even today over at Depressed Fan).
He adds the usual stuff - that Lee and Balkman (and Randolph Morris, in limited time) are the most productive Knicks, in terms of win shares and stuff. I'm sure Wilson Chandler will soon make the list, too, adding to the generally accepted belief that Isiah Thomas is a great drafter, and horrible trader/free agent gatherer (hard to argue, really).
Marbury, Richardson, and Randolph are about average. Everyone else (Crawford, Curry) is below average.
I liked the post, because it goes into trying to tie why Isiah has assembled the team he has. However, even if most of these guys reminded Isiah of himself in terms of playing style, they lack one very key thing Isiah had: Self-motivation.
Isiah Thomas willed himself to be the best he could be. He had to, to escape the streets, to make it to the NBA. I've stood next to Isiah (in the courtroom) - he's barely 6'1. If he had slipped up even a bit at any point, there would have been dozens of people ready to take his place - in high school, in college at Indiana, in the NBA. Instead he always kept himself focused, kept himself working to get better. He was self-motivated, period.
Can you say that about Eddy Curry? Of course not. And you can't say that about a lot of the current Knicks, at this point in their careers... Marbury is losing interest in basketball, in the NBA. He's stated as much several times. Who knows what motivates Crawford, but it ain't happening. Only Zach Randolph seems to want to improve his game (working on his outside touch, for example).
They might play like Isiah in style, but they don't have his desire or effort. Which is sad, because the one thing you can control is effort.
**************
Speaking of Balkman and Lee, Shoals posted this item about the talks between the Kings and the Knicks regarding a possible Artest trade. Apparently the Knicks are offering either crap (Jeffries), or Balkman instead of Lee (the Kings' main target).
I'm really confused here. One, I know I sound like a Lee-hater (I'm not, honestly... I'm impressed that he's developed an interior move or two, and very few players in the NBA have as good hands as he does - he catches every single interior pass in his direction, even the errant ones, down low), but I would think that the Knicks would be kinda stupid for making a big fuss about keeping Lee over Balkman, especially given that Balkman's extension is one year further away than Lee's. And the Kings are equally stupid for demanding Lee in place of Balkman (unless they are hoping to appeal to their white fans or something). Honestly, haven't both teams realized that Balkman and Lee are pretty much the same player, but with the caveat that Lee is a better rebounder, and Balkman is a better defender?
I guess it must be the
************
Also from The Fanhouse, but this time from Tom Ziller (an odd bit of role reversal - Shoals is writing about the Kings, using the SacBee, where as Ziller is writing about "Free David Lee"!): Isiah should free David Lee, meaning trade him to the Kings for Artest.
He points out, quite correctly, that the Knicks are desperately in need of a SF, and that not only is Artest far better defensively than Jeffries and Richardson, but... he's significantly better offensively, too.
Which is absolutely true. But here's my take on this deal - the Knicks are out of it right now, pretty much. They are currently 8-22. Unless they went 33-19 or better down the stretch... they can't even finish .500. And that's what it should take to make the playoffs. So really, this team is looking at the lottery again. Possibly a top-5 pick. Maybe it's time to take all the cards off the table, fold this hand, and just wait until next season.
And yes, I know... I've said before that the Knicks should trade Lee, for Artest in fact. I'm okay with that, but there is no reason to make that trade now - Artest is out for at least two or three more weeks. Minimum. If we wait until next season, we'll know what hole we plugged with our draft pick (probably point guard, since it is the year of the point). We'll have more flexibility, with Marbury's expiring contract suddenly very tradeable (hello Cavs!). And Lee's rookie contract isn't up until next season, which makes next season the best time to trade him. I'm just saying, holding tight right now is a good idea, that's all.
Even though Ron Artest believes he can save the Knicks (and truth be told, I think he could single-handedly propel the Knicks into an above .500 team for the rest of the season).
By the way, I'm going to be a little b*tch, and infer that Tom Ziller doesn't like this particular Knick fan right here, since he mentioned he liked several Knick fans, and linked to pretty much ever other Knick site except for SML. Ouch. And here I've only had nice things to say about one of the hardest working men in the basketball blog game....
***********
Okay, last item of business: My football picks for the first playoff weekend. I will be going for perfection this playoff season, so here goes (in order of most confident down):
1. Seahawks, -3 vs. Washington. Too easy - I don't care how hot the Skins have been (actually, I do care - that's the only reason this line is as small as it is), the Hawks are a legit contender. More importantly, the Skins have been playing for their season for the past 4 weeks. They are an exhausted team, up against a well-rested team. It's really that simply.
2. TB -2.5 vs. NYG. Home field won't be much of an advantage here, but... we all know Eli Manning is good for one good, followed by two bad ones. Let's assume last week was the good performance. Exactly.
3. Steelers +2 vs. Jaguars. I know, the Jags beat the Steelers a couple of weeks ago. You know what... that wasn't the playoffs. And yes, the Steelers are banged up, missing Willie Parker, etc.
Jacksonville is not going up to cold Pittsburgh (where it has been freezing the past week), and winning on that crap field, in front of those fans. So thank you everybody, for giving the Steelers two points. Take them!
4. Tennessee +9.5 at SD. It's always stupid to take exhausted road teams in the first round of the playoffs, against rested teams. But SD isn't much of a home advantage, and the Chargers have a long history of blowing early playoff games in January. And the 9.5 point spread is too enticing. I'll roll the dice on the Titans, because I can see the Titans at least coming back and making this close....
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