- Stephon Marbury apparently did not show up, and his "buddy" (we call BS on that one - everyone knows Marbury speaks directly to Marc Berman, and feeds him his stories) claims Marbury wasn't "invited" to the game. Marbury told the friend Thomas is "playing games with the media." Whatever the case, we're at least secretly hoping a bit that Marbury will come through on his promise to reveal all that dirt he has on Isiah Thomas. That would be the most appropriate way for the Marbury and Thomas regime to come to end - with both going down guns blazing at each other.
- The Knicks loss yesterday guarantees another losing season for them. Sigh. That's 7 in a row since Jimmy Dolan ran Jeff Van Gundy, Latrell Sprewell, Marcus Camby, and David Checketts out of town. If the beat writers want to keep pinning it on Isiah Thomas, they can. But Scott Layden didn't do any better, and sadly, you have to wonder if Kiki Vandeweghe or whoever else comes in is going to be able to do better, either. Not until Jimmy stops messing with the team, and keeps hands off, will anything improve.
- Our boy Randolph Morris finally got some actual playing time yesterday. I guess that column in the News yesterday put the pressure on Isiah to play him some. He got no points (0-3 FG) and a rebound in 9 minutes of play. His shots and moves looked decent, though. And if you are an optimist, keep in mind that Morris dropped a monster 10-11 FGA game on the NC front court of Brandon Wright and Tyler Hainsborough last year at this time, and that well, Wright hasn't shown much either, and he's a 7th pick overall. Point being we know nothing about Morris' ability yet.
- We do know, thanks to our buddy Barnesgasm (who is now sporadically writing amazing game recaps for Posting and Toasting) that Randolph Morris favorite place he's been is not Atlanta, Kentucky, or Italy, but... South Dakota. Wow. I mean... wow?
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The Knicks can't even complete backdoor plays in their personal lives. What does this team do right? lol
I like Isiah, which is why I want him to be fired. Just get it over with so we can all move on. I think Dolan likes watching Zeke twist in the wind, which is why he hasn't fired him yet.
Diallo: They don't have a set play that I would call even "decent". The cuts, the picks, freeing up people for looks... everything is missing. It's the ultimate one on one team.
SML Readers: By the way, I should add that my GF isn't a dumb girl by any means. She was being tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic in her response to my request to do the game notes, as I was too frustrated to do them myself. I just want to make that clear!
With the Knicks current talent level, could they thrive in Princeton system or the triangle? If there was some semblace of offensive cohesion, could the team make the playoffs?
Absolutely. I think this team's failures fall on the coaching more than anything else. The problems start with the rotation, and not utilizing the players in the right places. I won't even point out the absurdity of playing for 46 minutes to beat one of the best team in the NBA (the Hornets), then pulling Nate Robinson (your second best player on the court) to have Wilson Chandler (a guy who hasn't gotten minutes all season long) on the court.
That move wasn't about winning the game, it was about getting back at the media for writing stories asking about playing time for Randolph Morris, Wilson Chandler, and the rest of the kids (hence the Mardy Collins surprise appearance, too).
Still, let's say the Knicks had a tight rotation with a decent offense. Let's say the first team was Randolph, Lee, Balkman, Crawford, Nate Robinson. You have three scoring options, and two guys who don't need the ball. Nate plays tough defense, so he can help key on Crawford's man, since Jamal can't hold anyone. He may be the worst defender this side of Steve Nash.
The bench squad could be keyed by Curry, Q-Rich and Jeffries - two defensive guys on the perimeter, and one offensive go-to guy for 20-25 minutes.
Given the players, though, I don't know what kind of offensive setup the Knicks could run. They just don't have a strong team in terms of passing and executing, or patience... they can move the ball well (they have better than average passers), but they also have guys with bad hands (Lee is great; everyone else in the frontcourt is turnover-heavy) - passing alot with those guys is not a good idea. So the best offense is probably to have the one-on-one guys (Crawford) break down the defense, or to push it up quickly with Nate Robinson and Lee/Balkman. Or to pound in to Curry against the other team's second team.
With five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter - totally out of nowhere - Clyde casually added the following nugget: "...and this is where the Knicks start to fall apart."
And that's the thing: they don't always throw up forty-eight minutes stinkers. More frequently, it's five terrible minutes that come at the worst possible time.