Here's our feelings right now on the playoffs - regardless of whether or not the Knicks actually make the playoffs, they have given us a playoff-like atmosphere the last couple of weeks.  With every game being very important, the Knicks have made it quite exciting.  It reminds us of the strike-shortened '99 season, the one where the Knicks started off very poorly, then had to turn it up just to make the playoffs.  They managed to sneak in as a #8 seed, then proceeded to beat everyone to make it to the Finals.  

This team is certainly different from that team - for starters, that team was a legit contender that suffered from the shortened season, which is why they were only able to barely sneak in as a #8 seed; this Knicks team is not a real contender.  But they are peaking and playing well, and more importantly they are getting better as the season progresses.

Eddy Curry displayed some nice moves tonight.  More importantly for Knicks fans, and shocking, he displayed some hustle.  In the third period he got back on defense and caught up with a Wizard on a fast break and blocked his layup attempt.  Two-handed block, too... very nice job Eddy.  Worthy of a post-game donut.  He also enacted revenge on a sequence that began with Etan Thomas blowing past him for an easy dunk; while Thomas celebrated his dunk, Curry hustled down the court and beat everyone there for an easy breakaway dunk (assisted by a nice feed from midcourt by Francis).

Eddy Curry has also impressed us with his moves; last season, he main move consisted of using his body size to power in for a basket.  Often it resulted in a charge violation.  This season, particularly lately, he's been utilizing more fakes and pumps and Hakeem-like post moves.  The result: he's getting to the line a lot more than he did his last season in Chicago (5.0 FTA per game) or last season (6.8 FTA per game) - this season he is average 8.1 FTA per game.  All those fakes are resulting in fouls.  

It was a horrible game - both teams seemed unable to hit shots tonight - the Knicks shot 41%, the Wizards 40%.  The Knicks were once again struggling with their free throws, hitting only 57% (16-28), but they made up for it by rebounding well, as always.  Their offensive rebounding was of note, particularly Jared Jeffries, starting in place of the injured Q-Rich (David Lee was also still out).  Jeffries had 9 rebounds, 8 offensive, against his old team.  

But the story of the night was Steve Francis.  The Knicks again started Francis with Marbury, and played the three point guard lineup quite a bit again tonight, using Marty Collins at the same time as Marbury and Francis.  By going small, the Knicks were again able to get to the hoop, attack the passing lanes, and generally be annoying to the Wizards.  And they managed to do it without losing any of their edge in the rebounding category, which is the key for this strategy to be successful.  Renaldo Balkman was again a huge spark, though it's not reflected in his box score as much.  He blocked some shots, helped out on offense, and kept balls alive that ended up resulting in rebounds for the Knicks.  

The Knicks trailed by six, but they cut it down to three, and with 7 seconds left Francis hit a big layup and was fouled.  He missed the free throw that could have tied the game, and maybe that was a blessing; it kept the game from being in Hibachi's hands.  After fouling Blatche, he only made one of two for the Wizards, giving them a 2 point lead.  Francis then took the inbound pass and drove the distance of the court, and shot a three pointer at the buzzer to win.  And put the Knicks into the 8th playoff spot, for now.

Mindbender: "He's a quarter Puerto Rican, sir."
Randolph: "Boriqua.  Moreno."
[Minaya nods]

Mindbender: "Then we took some of Ruben Sierra's stuff..."
Ran-dolph [snickers]: "Ha.  Why Ruben?!?  Are you kidding me?"
Mindbender: "Back in '87 we thought he was going to be great.  We erred."
Ran-dolph: "F*ck it.  I guess that explains the injuries."
Minaya: "Yeah, maybe we should have taken some of Lou Gehrig's DNA, I guessss."
Mindbender: "Not if you want him to live past 35.   We took some of Ted Williams' stuff, so this kid would have a batting eye and vision like no other."
Ran-dolph: "Not a Latino!"
Mindbender: "Ted Williams' mom was Mexican, sir.  He's a Latino."
Ran-dolph: "Word?"
Minaya: "Vive La Raza."
Mindbender: "Continuing along, we throw in some of legendary salsa singer Hector Lavoe's DNA, so the kid would be able to move his hips like nobody's business."
Minaya: "That explains his interest in music. Hips don't lie."
Mindbender: "So, this experiment resulted in the birth of Jose Reyes."
Minaya: "The man who would be the greatest Latino shortstop ever."
Mindbender: "Indeed."
Mindbender: "But, now we just got word from our scientists down in D.R. that the Jose Reyes we have playing shortstop wasn't the only result of the experiment. Apparently he has a twin brother."
Minaya and Randolph: "A twin brother!?"
Mindbender: "Yes."
Minaya: "Bring him to us."
Mindbender: "He'll be here in three days."

[Three days later, at spring training]
Minaya: "Mindbender, tell me about the new Jose Reyes."
MIndbender: "Not good sir.  Apparently the scientist dumped him twenty miles away after his birth."
Minaya: "Why?!?"
Mindbender: "You'll see sir. Ah, here he is."
[New Jose Reyes enters scene]

Jose:  "Hola.  Me nombre es Jose Reyes."
Minaya: "Hmm.  He seems a little chubby."
Mindbender: "Our scientists explain it like this... he's genetic waste."
Minaya: "Wha?"
Jose: "Hola. Me nombre es Jose Reyes."
Mindbender: "He's got none of the good Jose Reyes DNA, only the leftover stuff."
Jose: "Hola. Me nombre es Jose Reyes."
Minaya: "Is he fast?"
Mindbender: "No. He's slower than the digestive system of a sarlacc."
Minaya: "A what?"
Mindbender: "You know... that thing from Return of the Jedi that Jabba the Hut throws people into.  Its called a sarlacc."
Minaya: "That's a stupid joke.  That deserves a gil.  Come here."
[Minaya then grabs a roll of fat on the back of Mindbender's neck, and pulls hard on it, sort of like an Indian rugburn on your neck]

Jose: "¡No sé lo sobre el que estamos gritando!"
Minaya: "Well, can he hit?"
Mindbender: "He hits like a panda in... um, he hits poorly, sir. Basically, whatever stuff real Jose Reyes is good at, he sucks at.  It's like if real Reyes is Big Daddy Drew, then this Reyes is Monday Morning Punter"
Jose: "¡Ruidos fuertes!"
Minaya: "Sh*t.  Is there anything he can do?"
Mindbender: "He's pretty good at C++, Visual Basic, general computer programming."
Jose [shaving his tongue]: "Amo... la alfombra.  Amo... el escritorio."
Minaya: "Cursesssss!  Let's stick him on the team as a third-string catcher.  We can keep him around for spare parts.  That way when Jose rips his hamstring, we have a cheap replacement.  No more having to go searching in Le Souk."

Please note that SML in no way endorses the cloning of humans for the purpose of organ harvesting.  Humans should not be used as spare parts.   Except for Chinese prisoners, of course.

For one, we would be impartial and therefore able to offer solid opinions not hopeful wishes.  Plus the Knicks have tons of blogs that write about them.  Check out the lowpost (a great website, btw... lots of love for them) list of basketball blogs.  Look at how many Knicks bloggers there are.  For the record, our favorite Knicks blogger was yournyk, who is now located at postingandtoasting. 

The Nets, on the other hand, are underrepresented.  In fact, the only Nets blog we have ever stumbled upon is the beautiful Becky's site.  We think it's a Nets blog, anyway.  For the record, we've sent a lot of traffic over to her site recently (due to this deadon post), so we expect some love back!  Link me, sugar.

Anyway, yes, one Nets blogger.  So there is a need.  SML also watches a lot of Nets games, sometimes because he loves basketball, sometimes it's because he gambles on the game. 

Oh, and we always get Vince Carter in our fantasy basketball league - half the league hates him because he's a p*ssy, and the other half realizes that he has limited trade value.  So I always end up being the one who finally pulls the trigger and picks Carter.

And that is the problem we have watching Nets games - Vince Carter.  We love Carter, but he overshadows the rest of the team.  We watched tonight's game against the Rockets, in the hopes of being able to write our first Nets blog entry.  The Nets got blown out in the 1st quarter, trailing 31-18.  Just like the Knicks, I thought.  

Then they started their comeback, sparked by their bench, specifically Bostjan Nachbar.  Still Knicks-like.  Then the Rockets got a good run going in the third, scoring at will so much that Nets coach Lawrence Frank at one point decided to foul Chuck Hayes on purpose because he's a 61.5% FT shooter.  Um, when your strategy is to try to hold the other team to 61.5% shooting you are in deep sh*t.  Needless to say, the Rockets cruised to an easy victory.

There were interesting matchups in this game: Vince Carter vs. T-Mac.  Mutumbo vs. Cliff Robinson, the two oldest players in the NBA.  The former of these matchups illustrates why we don't know if we can really blog about the Nets.

Vince Carter.  At the 5:33 mark in the 2nd quarter, he got frustrated after passing to a wide-open Kidd, who missed a three, and then McGrady dropped a three on the other side.  We got excited, because we thought we might get to see one of those games, where Carter has vintage Air Carter moments.  Like earlier this season, when he exploded in the second half of the game against the Utah Jazz.  When he is motivated, he can drop threes from anywhere, and attack the basket, draw fouls, and get double and tripled teamed, opening easy shots for teammates.  It doesn't happen often enough, but when it does it's fun to watch. 

Unfortunately, that's all I thought about during this game. I always do during Nets games.  Is he going to step up and go blow for blow with T-Mac?  Is tonight one of those nights when something motivates him?  Or is he going to go quietly into the night? 

That's the deal with the Nets.  Their fate, as always, rests primarily in the hands of Vince Carter.  Nothing else really matters - Jason Kidd had a decent, though subpar, game.  Doesn't matter.  Nachbar was great of the bench.  Don't matter.  The Nets couldn't stop a team of paraplegic midgets from scoring tonight.  Doesn't matter. 

Deadspin never responded to our offer for doing Vermont; it could be that they are waiting for Vermont to officially make the tournament, or it could be that there are other volunteers for Vermont.  We specifically picked Vermont because we figured there would be less competition, and because we know some good stuff about Vermont, having spent a weekend up there not too long ago.  But while the no response is alarming, we aren’t going to let good material go to waste.  Here is SML’s four tidbits on the Vermont Catamounts:

Passing Bad Czechs: Senior starting center Martin Klimes hails from Prague (backpacker traveling through Europe heaven) and represented his native Czech Republic at the World University Games in 2005.  He averages 0.6 assists per game in 23.8 minutes per game, meaning he is last in the team in assists per minute.  SML checked with their top notch translators, and confirmed that “Martin Klimes” is Czech for “Yinka Dare”.

It’s Latino for El Verde Montañas:  The signs in Burlington (where SML spent the weekend a few weeks back) all refer to the University of Vermont as “UVM”, which struck me as odd since the postal abbreviation for Vermont is “VT”.  Turns out UVM is short for “Universitas Viridis Montis”.  After checking with those SML translators, we confirmed that it is Latin for “University of the Green Mountain”.  Vermont is, by the way, the 2nd whitest state in the country, with 95.9% white (non Hispanic); 1.1% of the population is Latino.  That rate tripled the weekend I stayed in Burlington.

You come and go, you come and go: The team colors for the Catamounts are red, gold and green.  Just like my dreams.

Insert your Puerto Rican stereotype joke here:  One of head coach Mike Longeran’s three assistant coaches is Gabe Rodriguez from the Boogie Down.  Aside from apparently accounting for 1.1% of Vermont's total population, Mr. Rodriguez is well connected.  His brother played on last year’s Sweet 16 surprise Wichita State Shockers, and Gabe’s cousin (one of many) Oliver Antiqua is the head coach of St. Raymond’s High.  St. Raymond is one of the top high school basketball programs in NYC, and fertile recruiting ground.  The NYC talent, they will be coming soon…

Bonus: What the hell is a Catamount?: Another name for the mountain lion also known as the puma or cougar, depending on your location.  It lacks the vocalization power of larger cats, so it doesn’t roar so much as purr loudly.

Transcript of an upcoming episode of NBC's "Deal or No Deal?" starring TV's Howie Mandel, featuring special guest Isiah Thomas!

Howie: Alright, we're back from commercials. Weren't those great? I have Geico, and let me tell you, it sure makes ME feel like a caveman.

Audience: [Sustained, riotous laughter; applause]

Howie: So, Isaiah.

Zeke: That's Isiah.

Howie: That's what I said.

Zeke: No it isn't. You said Isaiah. (pause) I'm not some ancient prophet, savvy? I'm the GM of the New York Knicks.

Howie: OK, Isiah. See those ladies up there with the dresses and the suitcases? There's only two left. One of them contains $5, and the other contains $1.23. You're in a tough bind. Hold on, my space-phone is ringing. I'm fairly sure it's the producer, since it's not actually a real phone. Hold on. [He answers]. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I understand. What? Speak louder. OK. I get it. Also, make sure they hold on to one of those tuna sandwiches in the green room for me, will you, I'm fuckingbaked. [He hangs up]. Isiah, the producers, are offering you $275 million. Deal or No Deal?

Zeke: Let me get this straight. I can pick one of those suitcases, which means I'll be walking out of here with barely enough money for a pack of gum, or I can take $275 million.

Howie: Right.

Zeke: God, that's tough. I need to think.

Howie: Feel free to ask your friends for help.

Zeke: I don't need their help. I need to make this decision on my own. It's too important to trust to somebody else. Plus, I don't have any friends. 

Howie: Isai.... I mean Isiah, the mere fact that you're even thinking this over tells me that you need assistance.

Zeke: It's a difficult choice, Howie. I could have $275 million, or I could have four or five packs of Juicy Fruit. But that gum has so muchpotential, you know? What if that gum turns out to be the best gum in the history of gum?

Howie: It'll still begum, right?

Zeke: You shut your mouth, Mandel. If I ever see you again, we're gonna have problems.

Howie: Whatever, Isaiah...

Zeke: ISIAH!

Howie: Look, you son of a bitch, Deal or No Deal? Just answer the question so we can move on. I am so fucking hungry. And it's not my fault your parents misspelled your name. 

Zeke: I can't decide!

Howie: You must!

Zeke: I CAN'T DO IT!

Howie: $250 MILLION, MAN? WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?

Zeke: FINE! I'll do it... I'll do it... [he takes a huge breath] No deal, Mandel. I gotta take one of them suitcases.

Howie: Well, this is the dumbest thing that's ever happened on this show, which puts it in the running for the dumbest thing to ever happen anywhere.

Zeke: You can't have any of my Juicy Fruit when I buy it. Now you'll never know how good gum can be.

Howie: Coming up next, The Black Donnellys: "It's like if the Sopranos were shitty, and written by Paul Haggis!"

Zeke: That's redundant.

Howie: Get the hell out of my studio.

Zeke: No.

The End

N.B. I've never actually seen this show, have no idea if it actually works like this, and don't really wish to. If I've made factual errors, feel free to e-mail me at vice_president@whitehouse.gov. Thank you.

Um, okay.  Maybe.  And maybe they draw fouls (the Knicks are in the top three in Free Throws Attempted as a team) because they have players that draw fouls.  Like Eddy Curry.  In fact, later on in that article Lawrence points out that "the Sonics' strategy against Eddy Curry was to foul him and make him score his points at the line."  Yeah, sounds like that might lead Curry to getting calls from the referees. 

Some teams utilize that thinking, and alot of teams just foul Curry because he's too big to stop when he gets the ball that close to the basket.  Which is why Curry is #5 in FTAs by a player this season.  Other Knicks on that list?  Stephon Marbury (#26) and Jamal Crawford (#41), both whom draw fouls because they attack the paint alot.  So does Steve Francis, who, since his, um, surprising recovery from a season-ending knee injury, has gone to the line 26 times in the last three games (about 8.7 per game average).  And even Q-Rich gets to the line, when he's playing the 2, and posting up smaller guards.

Here are some interesting stats, courtesy of 82games:  56% of the Knicks attempts this year have been jumpers.  36% have been "close", 5% dunks, and 3% tips.  Compare that to the rest of the league to understand what it means.  The only other team even close to the Knicks in that category is the Magic (58% jumpers); no other team is below 60%.  In fact, most teams average around 64-66%, with some even higher (highest: The Mavs at 72%, one reason SML feels strongly that they can't win a championship - they rely too much on outside shots).

The Knicks get to the basket, so they should be drawing fouls.  I don't think its fair to call them "gift" calls.  

Some more stats for ya: Eddy Curry is top-10 in dunks; unlike most of the other top-10 dunkers - Howard, Shaq, Marion, Anthony, and Iggy - he is not in the top-10 in alley-oop dunks.  Conclusion: the other players are aided by enormous vertical leap skills, obviously, but also by guards that can get them the ball in a way to take advantage of their abilities near the rim.  Andre Miller, Iverson and the Diaw/Nash tandem are all among the leaders in alley-oop assists.  Among the Knicks only Crawford makes the top-10, with 18 alley-oops on the year (as opposed to 81 by Miller, ranked #1).  Curry makes his dunks by using his size around the basket, as oppose to rising above everyone else.  Personally, we don't have a preference over here at SML, though it is more fun to see Melo sky for an alley-oop.  A bucket is a bucket.

But it goes to a large point: Curry is top-5 in the NBA in FG%.  Here's your top players: Chandler, David Lee, Biedrins, Howard, then Amare Stoudemire tied with Eddy Curry.  The top three are all tip-in, follow-up dunk masters; they aren't post-up players.  Howard, Amare and Curry are.  Howard and Amare are superior athletics. Curry isn't in their class.  However, Curry is a monster in his own way - he hits a high % of shots, especially from close range.  He draws fouls (as do Howard and Amare).  Yet Curry is often criticized for being a bad passer.  Depressedfan has written to me about this several times.

First off, Howard averages 1.7 apg, Amare 1.0, and Curry 0.8.  Small differences.  Of the three, Amare's is the "true" lowest one, because Amare has talented players all around him who can score, from all over.  He isn't necessarily the highest percent shot, especially if he's doubled.  He should get an assist per game just passing to Marion, not to mention passing out to Raja for an open three on occasion.  But it doesn't matter, as his team is one of the best in the league.  Howard and Curry are both passing (when passing) to inferior teammates who aren't as likely to hit a field goal at the clip that Curry hits them, nor that are all that great at finishing passes anyway.  SML sees no reason why Curry should ever pass the ball, unless he's triple-teamed; he is the Knicks best scoring option, and should have the rock delivered his way as much as possible until either the other team shows it can stop him without fouling or until he gets exhausted (a.k.a. the second quarter)....  

Um, wow.  That's a really good deal for the Jets, who really need a power running back.  And considering that their number one choice, Michael Turner, would have cost a first and third round pick, plus more money than whatever they will end up paying Jones... wow.   Jones rushed for 1,200 yards last year, and is a solid workhorse, who will be spelled occasionally by change of pace tailback Leon Washington. 

What this really means, if you are a Jets fan, is two things: One, your GM just took care of a pressing need, and did a decent job.  Two, your GM is not paying an arm and a leg to get things done; dropping 25 picks in the 2nd round to get a 1,000 yard rusher is a really good deal.  The Jets seem to have some really good management in their franchise, from the GM down to the coaching....

Of course, this trade likely occured because Travis Henry, another 1,200 yard rusher (with the Titans last season) who was just cut, signed today with the Broncos for 5 years, $12 million dollars.  Look for Jones to request a similar deal.

Q.

Serbia and Montenegro.

Q.

No, it's one country, it's just called Serbia and Montenegro. It's kind of like if North and South Dakota were one state, you might call it North and South Dakota.

Q.

No, I'm aware that it's not actually one state. Let me think of a better example. You know pork and beans.

Q.

It doesn't matter if you don't eat pork, it's just an example. You call it pork and beans, but it's still just one food, right? You wouldn't consider it two separate foods.

If you'd rather move on, that's fine. I'm just trying to help you understand.

Q.

Oh, that? I slipped on a patch of ice.

Q.

Yes, the patch of ice was on a snowboarding slope.

Q. 

I never said it wasn't.

Q.

Lying by omission is hardly lying.  

Q.

No it isn't.

Q.

No it isn't.

Q.

Nuh-uh.

Q

No, you're ugly. 

Both teams were on fire from beyond the arc, each hitting at least 10 threes, and both combined hit 21 out of 42 attempts.

Q-Rich dropped 30 tonight, doing the inside-outside thing he does - hitting 5-9 from deep and 7-9 at the stripe.  In fact, the Knicks dominated the FTs tonight (28-42 versus 6-15 for GS), and the rebounds (45-38 advantage despite another David Lee-less night).

When Jamal Crawford went down, it seemed like a bad break for the Knicks.  But we think it will turn out to be a slight blessing for the Knicks.  Here are the reasons why: one, Q-Rich gets back into the starting lineup.  Q-Rich struggled a lot earlier in the season, mostly due to the sporadic minutes he was getting - some nights as much as 42 minutes, other nights as low as 25.  The result was that the more productive Crawford supplanted Q-Rich in the lineup at the 2; eventually Richardson got back in the lineup at the 3, but was not as productive.

Now he's back at the 2, and that's a good thing for the Knicks.  Richardson is a better defender than Crawford; he's also a substantially better rebounder.  More importantly, Q-Rich doesn't hold on to the ball as much as Crawford does; Richardson either scores via a spot-up jumper, or by posting smaller guards.  The downside is that Crawford is a better ballhandler (which the Knicks need), and is adept at creating shots for teammates.  Not to mention that when Crawford gets hot, he can score like few in the league (McGrady, Carter, Gordon).

But Crawford, like Gordon, is better suited to coming off the bench as a sixth man, playing 20-25 minutes of offense.  Or, if starting, to start at the point.  Crawford is really a more expensive version of Ben Gordon. 

Another benefits of the Crawford injury is that Marty Collins is getting some playing time, a chance for growth.  He looked great at the end of the 4th quarter tonight, coming up with a great steal and then full court drive that helped win the game for the Knicks.  The rookie is still very green, and turns the ball over a little too much, but the more he plays now the better he'll be next season, when he will be backing up Marbury (since Isiah has lost faith in Nate Robinson, and Steve Francis will be out of town by then, most likely brought out).

Speaking of Franchise, here's a key comment in today's Daily News article about Francis' amazing recovery: "The trade, which the organization still blames Larry Brown for making, never made sense."  I've said it before, and often received snickers, but... Isiah is not to blame for the Francis trade.  It was Larry Brown who supposedly pushed for Francis, in an effort to push aside Marbury.  We've argued that this is the worst trade that has taken place over the past three years, and it seemed to be the final straw in the Brown era.  Owner James Dolan got pretty frustrated that Brown pushed to bring Francis and his three years left at $14 million per, and that upon acquiring Francis Brown let the media rip Isiah to shrewds for the trade.  But we'll get into this in some detail in a future post.

Back to the Crawford injury; after a terrible first half against the Celtics, the Knicks have played pretty solidly the last six quarters.  Curry, Marbury and Richardson seem ready and willing to take over the offense, and when David Lee gets back (hopefully for the next game), the Knicks will have their reliable spark plug off the bench back. 

The next game is at Atlanta, a team that plays strongly to the Knicks weaknesses.  I fully expect the Knicks to lose, but we'll see....

Super Mario, as he is nicknamed, is a 22 year-old and ranked #11 in the ATP, just behind #10 David Nalbandian ("The Armenian from Argentina").  He has a mild case of the virus, and is expected to fully recover.

And since we have nothing else to add, you know what this means: it time to play Super Mario vs. Super Mono:

                                          VS.    

Nickname:                       "Super Mario"                            "The Kissing Disease"

Friends with:                      Luigi, Toad                                Herpes, Hepatis

Weaknesses:          Walking mushrooms, Koopa Troopers               None

Can Be Caught By:    Surprise piranha plant attacks              Kissing, sharing toothbrushes.

Physical appearance:   Short, round, moustachioed               Swollen glands, jaundice-like

Created by:                       Nintendo                                        Evil nerdy vengeful scientist

Catchphrase:                    "Mamma-mia!"                                 "Walk now, mo-fo!"

# of people who have it:      193 million                                   5 billion (thanks to your mom)

Can enlarge:              ...if consuming a special 'shroom.                ...your liver and spleen.

If super-powered:            ...can shoot fireballs!                             ...can cause meningitis.

It can break:                    ...bricks with its fist.                               ...up a relationship.

Q: What's the difference between mono and herpes?

A:  You get mono by snatching a kiss.

First off, FreeDarko has this post on Kevin Garnett, Kevin McHale, and the T-Wolves.  Some great points made, including that Kevin Garnett needs to stop "passive-aggressively" asking for a trade (see the various quotes in the media cited in that post).  I agreed with this totally: Kevin Garnett has a huge say, possibly more than any other player in the league (though LBJ probably does, too), in how his team is managed and what moves they make.  Therefore Kevin Garnett needs to man up, and say "Yeah, I'm happy here, I enjoy having a huge say in the decision-making", or he needs to say "I want out".  No having it both ways, KG. 

The other problem is the general manager, Kevin McHale.  I did my ranking of the East Conference GMs last week, from bottom to top.  If I did the same thing for the West, or for the NBA in general, I think Kevin McHale would be at the bottom of the list.  In fact I'm sure.  Worse than Ainge, King, Thomas, Baylor, et al.  His litany of recent mistakes is long and well-documented, but here are some of the biggest ones:

-The Joe Smith debacle.  That cost the franchise its 2001, 2002, 2003,2004, and 2005 number one draft choice.  Hard to build a team when you can't even pick in the draft.  Its not fair to blame McHale for an organization decision that backfired like that, but as the chief executive of personel, it is his responsibility to not have allowed the franchise to get into a situation like that.

-Trading Sam Cassell, and a #1, for Marko Jaric.  You know, when people criticize Isiah for whatever trade (Marbury, Francis, Curry), just remind them what a truly horrible trade looks like.

And why did he trade his sixth overall pick for the seventh pick in the last draft?  To save some money?  Don't think so - more likely he picked the wrong player.

Anyway, McHale aside, here's the deal with KG.  He wants to win, we all know that.  But he wants to win his way.  If he wanted Allen Iverson, who was available earlier this season, on his team, he would have AI on his team. Simple as that.  No one in Minnesota is saying "no" to KG, in any shape or form.  Even if it would have cost the T-Wolves rookie Randy Foye, they would have done it if KG told them to. 

Therefore we can infer that Kevin Garnett didn't want AI on his team. He wants a sidekick; AI is nobody's sidekick - he is a star equal to KG.  KG wants a true sidekick, someone that will help him win but won't take away his top dog status.  It's not even an ego thing, it is more like "this is my team, and I want to keep that way, I don't want to completely change what we are doing.  I just want to tweak it"....