The Association

How is AI Still a Free Agent? The Knicks Should Sign Him!

By Craig Kwasniewski

How the hell is Allen Iverson still a free agent? Literally one year ago he was the second leading scorer on the offensive-minded Denver Nuggets. He was still on every opponent's "Big Ticket" package, the NBA's version of hockey... a player waaayyy more entertaining in person than on TV. Yet today he sits by the phone during the official dog days of the NBA calendar waiting... waiting... waiting for a chance to show the NBA world that last year was an aberration and not the decline of a superstar.

How is A.I. still a free agent? Maybe I'm a little biased because I ALWAYS looked forward to seeing him play in LA. The guy's a freak! The energy, the skill to go right at the hole with reckless abandon, the high runners, the smooth jumpers... the energy! A dude his size should never have dominated the NBA offensively like he had for the past 13 years.

How is A.I. still a free agent? Sure, watching opponents play the Lakers, I always got an opponent's A game. They know they're playing in the number 2 television market with all the celebs sitting courtside against one of the league's marquee teams. So I never saw those moments where A.I. broke off offensive plays or when he"relaxed" on defense or any of the famous battles with his head coaches. For lack of a better word, I was just happy to be there.

So when I heard that the Clippers were interested in bringing Iverson in as a free agent, needless to say I was intrigued.  Why the hell not?  The Clippers have spent two years destroying what's left of the NBA's most loyal fans and at this point anything is a good thing.  (Seriously, why 10,000 people continue to buy season tickets to a franchise that's ALWAYS terrible with ZERO hope in the future is beyond me.  Their marketing is terrible yet they still have a very strong and very vocal group of loyal fans that the Mike Dunleavy era is slowly destroying.)  So why not bring in one of the most entertaining shows in the NBA?  I guarantee a back court of B.D. and A.I. would match the previously legendary (in Clippers lore anyway) 1994 team with Mark Jackson and Dominique Wilkins and the high flying 2002 squad.  Isn't professional sports part result and part entertainment?  But in a very Mike Dunleavy-type of move, the Clippers passed on A.I. and instead traded for Mark Madsen.  Have fun with that!

Here's my point... the Knicks should sign Iverson.  The Knicks have spent the past two years clearing roster and salary for the Big Free Agent Class of 2010.  But for the time being they're stuck with D-League talent playing Mike D'Antoni's Seven Seconds or Less style.  So they'll score a ton of points but lose 75% of the time.  Sure it might be entertaining in the sense that scoring is entertainment, but New York is also a star crossed city and I seriously doubt people in this economy want to continue to pay big bucks to see Mardy Collins drop a 20-spot on Charlotte.

The Knicks should offer A.I. a one-year contract at the mid level exemption.  They get a superstar in the twilight of his career without risking the big picture.  A.I. would/should jump at a second chance to prove his doubters wrong on a nightly basis (always a GREAT motivation) in front of the MSG faithful.  You're telling me Knicks fans wouldn't love seeing AI go at it?  He's PERFECT for New York, a guy who wears his heart in his sleeve, who gives his all on the floor, a comeback story who can drop 20-30 points in a style that hides his defense problems.  Maybe D'Antoni is worried that A.I. is more Starbury than Nash... which is a HUGE concern.  But maybe, juuuuust maybe A.I. also realizes that he's down to  his last chance to prove he's willing to compromise. 

With very little to risk (wins or losses in New York aren't a factor as Utah has their first round pick in 2010), the Knicks should sign Iverson and give their fans something to look forward to... at least until LeBron turns them down in 2010.

 

The Suns Remind Me of the 95-96 Knicks

By Craig Kwasniewski

Tell me if this sounds familiar:  a veteran-laden team that was a championship contender for 4 straight seasons, replace their iconic head coach with a completely different philosophy who loses the support of the veterans, gets fired and is replaced by the only assistant holdover from the previous regime.

Back in 1996, Don Nelson replaced Pat Riley, tried to change the slug-it-out-for-48-minutes style into Nellie-ball. Halfway through the season, the veterans realized they couldn't win with Nellie's uptempo style and revolted. Out goes Nelson and in comes Jeff Van Gundy, who brings back the old style with instant success as the Knicks over the eventual 72-win Bulls on national tv. Eventually the Knicks would bow out to the Bulls in the second round in a very competitive five game series. Three seasons later the Knicks are in the 1999 Finals and Van Gundy becomes a Knicks legend.

The same scenario exists in Phoenix. The roster, or more importantly the two best players in Nash and Stat thrive in the up tempo Seven Seconds or Less style. Under Terry Porter, like the Knicks with Nellie, they didn't have the roster to fit his style and became shockingly very average despite having 4 All-Stars, 2 MVP's and 2 first ballot Hall of Famers. Maybe Alvin Gentry can have a similar resurgence as Van Gundy or maybe not, but this change needed to happen. And like the Knicks-Bulls series in 1996 maybe the Suns have one more strong effort against the Spurs this postseason.  The Suns have far too much talent to be sitting outside of the playoff picture and Nash and Shaq don't deserve to end their careers outside looking in.  So props to the Suns front office for correcting their mistake on the fly.

Now it's up to Sarver to keep Stat for two more years.

61 Is Impressive but Remember the Double Nickel!

By Craig Kwasniewski 

Kobe Bryant's 61-point outburst at MSG surpasses Michael Jordan's infamous double nickel from 1995. Not to take anything away from Kobe's feat but Jordan's 55 will always have a place in my heart and was more impressive.   Don't get me wrong, the Lakers literally just found out that their best shot at beating the Celtics and Cavs for an NBA title is gone for the season (8-12 week recovery for a torn knee on a 7-foot frame is VERY optimistic... he's done for the year) so Kobe needed to make a statement: it's still my team and the Lakers are still the favorites in 08-09!  And no better place to make a statement but in basketball mecca, Madison Square Garden.  So a big tip of the hat for a very impressive and very needed 61 (in ONLY 37 minutes!!!) from the reigning MVP.

However, the '95 Knicks were waaaaaayyyy better defensively, the '95 Bulls weren't as good as the '09 Lakers and needed every point out of MJ that night, double-nickel is one of the greatest nicknames ever, the game-winning hoop was by Bill Wennington off a pass from MJ... oh and by the by it was Jordan's fifth game back from a 18-month retirement... simply ridiculous!!!  Anyway, here's a good review from Jordan's 55 back in March, 1995:

 

D'Antoni Deserves Some Run for Coach of the Year

by Craig Kwasniewski

They say it's hard to change a franchise mired for years from the culture of losing to winning but Mike D'Antoni has done just that in NYC in literally weeks. He's taken the same roster that Isiah Thomas failed miserably with and not only got them to play hard but they're very competitive. And simply for changing attitudes and returning hope to MSG D'Antoni deserves MAJOR run at coach of the year. (Also because the award is never given to consistent winners like Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich and especially Jerry Sloan because the media embraces the rags to riches or the we-never-expected-this stories... which completely diminishes the award, but I digress...) Give it to D'Antoni for simply re-injecting life into MSG and for banishing the malcontents from the Thomas era (more on that later).

Anyway here are a few other thoughts from the Lakers 116-114 win over New York from my seat high up in Section 316:

I love when the Knicks come to town! Spike Lee, Clyde Frazier, NY Media and especially the most boisterous fans win or lose (sorry Boston but you bailed on the C's from 1992 to 2008... Bandwagoners!!!), when the Knicks come to town there's a special buzz in the arena. No matter the record the game is always close and the NY fans are quick to run smack if they even sniff a lead. This always wakes up the somber Lakers fans who fire back a rousing "New York Sucks!" chant. This is my 14th Lakers-Knicks game in a row and not one has disappointed. From Kurt Thomas throwing down Dennis Rodman in 1999 to Chris Childs and Kobe brawling in 2000 to Allan Houston dropping 53 in 2003, the game never disappoints.

Andrew Bynum is tired??? Maybe he's experiencing an upper respiratory infection or he's still jet lagged from being raised on the east coast or he's hitting the LA clubs on an all-night drinking/hookering bender all I know is that Drew looked gassed in the first half. The absolute worst moment was when Nate Robinson got a backdoor alley oop in right behind Bynum. You mean to tell me that 5'9" Nate Robinson out jumped 7'0" Andrew Bynum for a tip in? Let's do some math here: 69 inches versus 84 inches! How the hell is a 21 year old getting gassed in the first half? Does his workout guru in Atlanta not believe in running a few wind sprints? Come on Drew you starting to come off as Benoit Benjamin.

Lakers fell for the SSOL trap. You can’t get sucked into matching the SSOL (7 Seconds or Less, I’m tired of writing it out) offense by jacking threes early in the shot clock.... which the Lakers did for the first 44 minutes of the game. This ain’t brain surgery! Just like the 2006 PHX-LAL series, all you need to do is slow the pace and pound it inside. Trevor Ariza was the biggest culprit shooting 1-6 from beyond the arc in only 25 minutes. This plays into SSOL's hands. Long shot = long miss = quick fast break = uptempo pace which is exactly what the Knicks want you to do.

Starbury in da hizzie! I didn't make this the main story here just because that's exactly what Marbury was trying to do by stalking the Knicks from courtside last night. Though I was hoping he'd break out one of those cheap knock off Marbury #3 jerseys or at least a Kobe jersey. And the Lakers totally blew it by not putting a split screen of him and D'Antoni on for the kiss me cam. But really the whole Marbury thing needs to go away... and all the Knicks have to do is make an official announcement that they aren't trading or playing him for the rest of the season. Just let him as his $21 million fade away.

Monday Morning Point Guard

by Craig Kwasniewski

Time to roll out an old favorite of mine: Monday Morning Point Guard, which is five thoughts from the past weekend.

Z-Bo to the Clippers: Very rarely do I ever get a chance to write anything about the "other team" in LA so let's start it off with the Zac Randloph trade and how it affects the LA Clippers. First off, on paper the Clippers are loaded up front. Randolph, Kaman and Camby is a three-man rotation that could hang with the likes of the Lakers, Spurs (when healthy), Utah (also when healthy), Orlando, etc. And they got him on the very cheap as NY is selling off and clearing cap for LeBron (more on that later). The downside is by shipping off Cuttino Mobley they're every thin in the backcourt and are forced to give Ricky Davis a ton of minutes (who along with Andre Miller ranks as one of those great-on-bad-teams-but-awful-on-good-ones type of players).

And now the one BIG problem with the deal... Mike Dunleavy. Already clashing with Baron Davis over coaching styles how will Dunlevy's very hands-on approach on offense blend with Z-Bo and his reputation as a malcontent? With Rickey Davis, Baron Davis and Zac Randolph will there be an in-house revolt? Are there any deals in the near future for Chris Kaman (relegated to the bench because both he and Randolph are low-post ball-stoppers that won't mesh on the floor)? Will Camby and Boom Dizzle find the motivation to play the rest of the season now that the Clippers are playoff contenders (at least on paper)? If anything the Clippers are trying to bring in a winner "across the hall" in Staples Center... so big ups for the effort.

Crawford to the Warriors: Al Harrington for Jamal Crawford... The Warriors go from small to smaller. With Crawford the get a true three man (1 plus 2, meaning he'll call the play from the point and jack it up from everywhere) and the Warriors become the most exciting non-playoff team in the NBA. And that's just it... They're not big enough to hang with the Lakers, Utah, San Antonio, Phoenix, New Orleans and Portland and they're not deep enough to compete with Denver. So they're stuck competing for the eight seed with the Clippers and Dallas. But they'll have fun and the always boisterous Bay Area fans will enjoy this season... the regular season.

Knicks Dumping Salary: So Donnie Walsh did exactly what he came to NY to do, clear cap space and erase the Isiah Thomas regime. Done and done... and worthy of a standing ovation. A potential eight seed playoff appearance was scrapped (and rightly so) for a better shot and at THE free agent class of 2010. Here's the only problem, outside of Shaq in 1996 and T-Mac in 2001 no superstar has left his current franchise in his prime as a free agent. Read that again.

Outside of Shaq in 1996 and T-Mac in 2001 no superstar has left his current franchise in his prime as a free agent.

The Lakers tried to clear cap space in 2005 hoping to land Yao, Stat, Wade, LeBron or Melo and all of them re-signed for better $$ with their original teams. And the Lakers had a decent nucleus to build around with Kobe Bryant. Basically they all passed at a major market franchise and a title contention for extra $$ to line their pockets. What's to guarantee that LeBron, Wade or Bosh will pass up cash to play in MSG?

I would LOVE to see the Knicks back on the front pages of the tabloids for good reasons, but they better have a back-up plan in case those three take a pass. The worst case scenario is the 2001 Orlando Magic, where they dumped salary hoping to get Tim Duncan and T-Mac only to settle for Grant Hill, his injuries and an annual first round exit.

Eddie Jordan and PJ Carlesimo FIRED: One is a terrible defensive coach and the other had the worst talent in the NBA (along with the worst owner). With Jordan is was the case of it's about damn time. Wow he took a team with Gilbert Arenas, Carron Butler and Antawn Jamison to the postseason in the Eastern Conference... BIG... EFFIN'... DEAL!!!! Roll the ball out and get 45 wins from three NBA All Stars, anyone can do that! What he couldn't do was coach defense and the endless first round exits in the playoffs showed that.

Carlesimo got stuck in the middle of an owner dumping talent to move a once-proud franchise from the 13th largest TV market to the 36th market all to steal get a sweet stadium deal from a bunch of gullible rednecks politicians in OK City. The Sonics go from a division title and a second round playoff appearance in 2005 to dumping a very talented team for scraps just to lose fans in the Pacific Northwest. So how do they reward PJ for being a good soldier and coaching this crappy line-up the past two seasons... YOU'RE FIRED!!!!

Enjoy the NBA Oklahoma City!!!!

We're down 30 with 12 minutes to go. We're still in it... Sonics on three!!!!! I mean Thunder!!!

316 Report - Lakers vs. Sacramento: Not much to say from Section 316 at this game to merit an individual post so here are a few bullets:
-I'm digging the new goggles on Vlad Rad, the NBA needs more goggles!!!
-Spencer Hawes looks like The Machinist
-Lakers fans are more "talented" this year. Seriously, my head was on a swivel as hotties are once again showing up to Lakers games.
-Hoops-wise, the Lakers seem to be going to Kobe in the post more when the offense bogs down. Maybe we're seeing Kobe transition to a late-90's Jordan with more post moves and less hang time.

The Knicks Should Elect to NOT Buyout Marbury

by Craig Kwasniewski

So I'm reading that Stephan Mabury's benching is a distraction to the 2008-09 Knicks and that his contract needs to be bought out.

Here's my thought: WHY?

Why should the Knicks help out the NBA's biggest cancer and buy him out? Why should "Starbury" be allowed to escape a mess that he caused? Why should he be shipped to a another team with a shot at a second chance and possible re-newall? (And this happens all the time in professional sports, a malcontent attaches himself to a winner and is praised for finally "getting it" and "maturing" when the mess he leaves behind continues to be just that... a mess.)

The Knicks have the money to do the right thing and keep Marbury where he should be; on the bench slowly rotting away with no chance of ever playing in the NBA ever again. This needs to be Spreewell 2.0, where Laterell turned down several offers because he needed to feed his kids only to find nothing on the table the next year.

Send a message to all players, bad contracts and bad attitudes will not be saved via buyouts. Let Starbury fade... on the bench in a suit. It's not like the Knicks were playoff contenders this year anyway. So send a message to the other potential malcontents and scrap heap from the Isiah Thomas regime, shape up or sit your ass down!

Keep Marbury and sit his ass down!!!

Shockingly, We Have Video of Knicks Fans Booing the Gallinari Pick

by Brett Edwards

And by "shockingly," I mean, "completely predictably." Still a funny clip though, and at least they seemed to be a little calmer than fans of the Sacramento Kings were last night.

Around the NBA and Blockquoting Myself Until I Go Blind!

By Craig Kwasniewski

Time to do my favorite thing of all time... outside of cracking on Pat Riley and the Miami Heat, which is way too easy these days, especially after getting rolled by the Celtics' Big One (KG and Ray Allen were out). I mean rolled... at home by a score of 117-87. And all D-Wade could do was score a Barkley-needs-to-remove-him-from-his-five 7 points.

EMBARRASSING!

Where was I? Oh yeah, my OTHER favorite thing... outside of cracking on the Golden State Warriors, which is never not fun, especially after losing to Houston 111-107. But I'm sure it's because the refs screwed over Tha Dubs, right? Actually not, the Yao Ming-led Rockets shot 2 more freethrows than the perimeter-oriented Warriors (32 to 30 in Houston). But unlike Miami, Golden State is expected to drop a roadie to a very good Houston team, so there's nothing embarrassing about it...

I'm just happy.

So AGAIN, where was I? Oh yeah, my OTHER, OTHER favorite thing... outside of cracking on the San Antonio Spurs, which... is... pure... fun! Especially after losing to a team currently on a Miami Heat-esque 14-game losing streak. Yes, the San Antonio Spurs fell to the redneck-owned Seattle Sonics 88 to 85. The loss puts the Spurs at 0-2 on their annual Rodeo trip.

RODEO-SMODEO... it's called a long road trip and many teams have their own brutal roadies every year (Chicago has the circus trip and the Lakers have the Grammy's trip), but all I hear over and over again is "Rodeo... Rodeo... Rodeo..." Deal with it and move on! Every team has 41 home games and 41 road games, unless your the Clippers where its 39-43 because of the Lakers. So what does a 9-game roadie at the end of January/early February mean? It means you have a crapload of home games coming up!

Suck it up San Antonio!

Anyway, my real favorite thing of all time... blockquoting myself (only because, as many of our regular readers know, I'm rarely right). Anyway, because of a first half injury to Son of Walton (vaginal inflammation?), the Lakers were forced to use a lineup that I've been suggesting for days. This is what I said on Monday:

Simple solution to Son of Walton crapfest: Shift Kobe to the 3 and start a backcourt of D-Fish and (heavy sigh) Sasha Vujacic. I can’t believe I wrote that, but Vujacic is a lot better offensively this year and his defense gets under the opposition’s skin. And Kobe at the three spot is a ton better than Son of Walton.

So with the Lakers trailing 100-91, a line-up of Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown put the Lakers on a 29-9 run on their way to a 121-109 win at Staples Center. Two key adjustments were made down the stretch: Kobe was moved to small forward and Son of Walton was NOT on the floor. And as I hoped, Vujacic's scrappy/annoying defense got under the skin of Nate Robinson, drawing a technical foul along the way.

One of the biggest flaws in Phil Jackson's coaching is his inability to change line-ups from game to game. Once he finds his rotation, he sticks with it all season. In many cases he'll start a rarely-used player instead of messing with his set rotation. The best example was with the 1994 Chicago Bulls, the season after MJ's first retirement. Instead of acquiring a big-time scoring guard, Jackson stuck journeyman Pete Myers in Jordan's shooting guard spot and maintained the same rotation from 1993 throughout the rest of the line-up.

Well, son of Walton's case of sudden vaginal inflammation caused Jackson to make the change tonight and hopefully this'll shed some light on the Zenmaster. Until Bynum and Trevor Ariza return, the Lakers best chance is Kobe at the three, facilitating, passing and attacking from the post and sides of the court.

Here's a few other things that I saw from Section 316:

Robinson and Lee were tired at the end: One other reason why the Lakers were able to pull away late in the game was that David Lee and Nate Robinson were simply gasses at the end. Both were having great games; Lee with his hustle and put-back points (21 points!) and Robinson who was hot from the perimeter. They both played a big part in that 100-91 lead but all the hard work and long minutes finally caught up with them. Lee had to fill in for the foul-plagued Eddy Curry and Robinson's taking up a lot of Marbury's minutes, both playing 10 more minutes than normal.

Nate was on fire! The Knicks were running Rip Hamilton-type of screens all over the floor and giving him decent looks, which mostly he hit.

Knicks bigs can finish: Curry, Z-Bo and Lee are all long, strong and have soft hands. Once they got the ball inside 3 feet they rarely missed. The Lakers, on the other hand, blew a lot of easy shots for various reasons. Obviously Kwame has no hands and Mbenga has no offensive games, but it was Odom and Turiaf who missed a few easy put-backs. Odom goes through these stretches where he puts so much English on his shots that they lip out.

Knicks fans not as much of a force tonight: Normally a huge contingent of transplant Knicks fans roll out to Staples for the Laker-Knicks game (with their "back home's" and "out here's"). But maybe the Isiah era has finally taken a toll on west-coast Knicks Pride or maybe they're all at the Super Bowl. Either way, Knicks games are always fun because of their fans but this year was a 3 on a 10-scale.

Laker haters rest easy: This is the last 316 section report until February 19th because the Lakers head out on a 9-game roadie because of the Grammy's. (Grammy's Trip... Grammy's Trip... Grammy's Trip!) So outside of a 10,000 word anti-Son of Walton post, there will be a lot less Lakers stuff here at TAB for the next few weeks.

Charles Oakley Will Not Play for "Bullsh-- Money"

by Brett Edwards

There's a phenomenal interview with Charles Oakley over at ESPN.com, where Oak is probed about the reasons for his attempting a comeback at the age of 43. There's a good chance that money is the main motivator, but considering it's Oakley we're talking about, it could just as easily be about his desire to slap some of the younger players around a bit. Either way, more of Charles Oakley in front of a microphone is always a good thing. Here's a sampling of some of the more riveting commentary from the interview:

Your pal Jordan knows a thing or two about comebacks. What advice has he given you?

MJ is my best friend. He respects me as a friend (regardless) of what I want to do. He says, "If they going to pay you, you come back. If they're not going to pay you, don't." I'm not going to come back for no veteran's minimum. I'm coming back for a good salary. You can't buy me. Money can't buy me. But I'm not coming back for no bull---- money.

OK then, what is not "bull---- money"?

At least two years, $10 million. Nine or 10 million. I'm not coming back for a million and five. My value is worth more than that.

That's a lot of money, Oak. Is this comeback about money?

It's not about money. Money is a part of the comeback, but you can't buy me. It's something I'd be happy with, but I can get you more than what you paid for. I'll give you three-times your money.

You're often spotted in Vegas and it's well known that you like to gamble. Is your comeback attempt at all related to gambling?

No, it's not about gambling. I have money. I have six car washes. I have one that's worth $10 million, one that's worth $5 million. You know, like, I'm probably worth $25 million dollars in assets.

You hear that, General Managers? Oakley WILL NOT PLAY FOR BULLSHIT MONEY! Honestly, I'm not sure Oakley would pass a drug test at this point if he thinks anyone in the league would pay him $20 mil over two years. It's obvious that Oak would provide some toughness and some entertainment to any team that would sign him, I just don't know if any of it would be seen on the basketball court.

[via True Hoop]

Jared Jeffries' New Look

By Craig Kwasniewski

Last night, Knicks forward Jared Jeffries gave us a preview of his new look for the 2007-08 season. Instead of the lanky, defensive-minded role player, Jeffries is going for the sinister, poker playing euro "ball handler" Le Chiffre.

I'm down as long as it takes the Knicks one step closer to playoff contention next year. Just don't sit down if he offers you a chair. But the real question that I know y'all want to know: which groupie gave him Haemolacria?

(I love Wikipedia!)