The Association

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!)

Starbury Two Sneak Peek

By Craig Kwasniewski

Set to release on April 1st at a Neil and Bob's Steve and Barry's near you, the Starbury 2's. Just like the Starbury One's, they will retail for a stunning $14.98. I've done my share of Starbury One jokes, but the concept of a top NBA player endorsing low-cost shoes is brilliant. Stephon Marbury not only maintains his street cred, but also helps improve his mainstream image. And the kicks continue to fly off the shelves:

Steve & Barry's President Andy Todd told ABC News that the chain sold out two month's inventory in just three days when the sneakers debuted last August. Seven months after the sneakers' debut, Todd said, they continue to sell well.

The 2's look nice, they kinda remind me of the Wade 1.0's (minus the flopping). For $14.98, I'll buy a few pairs, but this time I'll make sure to use insoles. One last thing, couldn't the Starbury people release the shoes on March 31st instead of April 1st just to avoid the expected rash of April Fools jokes from sportstalk radio? Come on!

Anyway, here's a few pics of one of the colorways (check out starbury.com for other versions):

Editor's note: Click here to view the unboxing of the Stabury Two's I bought on April 1st.

New York Muffin Top Dancers?

By Craig Kwasniewski

Does Isaiah Thomas also pick the dancers?

The caption reads, "a Knicks City Dancer performs during a break between the New York Knicks and the Portland Trail Blazers at Madison Square Garden."

What the hell happened to the Knick City Dancers? Not only are they rocking the beer guts, but check out the back tats on the two dancers in the background. I've been to NYC before and the women are waay hotter than this. You'd expect the Knicks to have better looking dancers with all the stage shows in town.

Obviously the look for 2007 is "2 AM Drunken Whore!"

(Which isn't necessarily all that bad.)

My Favorite Knicks-Lakers Game

By Craig Kwasniewski

After a 95 day road trip, the Lakers return to Staples tonight to face the Knicks.

BTW - Screw the damn Grammy's! Why can't they hold the Grammys in the summer and interrupt the LA Sparks home schedule? Instead the Lakers, Clippers and Kings (They play a game called "hockey," it's really big in Canada, I heard it's like soccer on ice... whatever.) get sent on a brutal two week road trip that ends up killing any momentum. Does anyone besides bitter housewives even watch the Grammys?

Anyway, I always roll out when the Knicks come to town. The NY transplants show up in their Starbury or Ewing jerseys bringing that east coast attitude. The game somehow feels a little more important despite the Knicks sucking since Van Gundy left. Maybe it's nostalgia for the Ewing-led Knicks or the stories my dad told me of Clyde Frazier, but I've always made sure I catch the Knicks when they face the Lakers. In fact tonight will be my 12th Knicks @ Lakers game in a row.

So looking back I ask myself, what was the best game in the last 11 years? Was it Alan Houston dropping 53-points on the three-time defending champs? What about the Kobe-Chris Childs fight? Or maybe it was the 1997 game, where the Lakers rallied to tie the game causing my friend and me to run back to the Forum from the parking lot to catch the OT.

Actually my favorite game of all time was the 1999 encounter. Let's set the stage: It was the strike-shortened season. Every team was to shoehorn a 50-game schedule in three months. The players were out of shape and bitter.

The Lakers had fired head coach Del Harris and replaced him with Kurt Rambis; they traded fan favorite Eddie Jones for Glen Rice; the players started turning on Kobe with Shaq rumored to have punched him in practice. Oh by the way, a guy named Dennis Rodman came to town, got married to Carmen Electra, divorced Carmen Electra, sat out a few games for mysterious reasons (which was code for Vegas) and was then dismissed after playing in 23 games. It was a circus and very fun to watch (in fact one of my all-time favorite Laker seasons).

The Knicks came to town with their own internal problems. The team with Ewing, Camby, Sprewell, Houston and Larry Johnson were woefully underachieving at 16-14. Their fans were expecting a championship run, but instead they were treading along as an eight seed.

The game matched the typical NY-LA hype... very entertaining. Dennis Rodman got under the skin of several Knicks players and turned the game into a slugfest. Here's a video of Rodman getting into it with Knicks bruser, Kurt Thomas:

He got Kurt Thomas ejected for the throw-down. Soon the GW Forum faithful starting chanting, "Rod-man... Rod-man... Rod-man..."

The rest of the Lakers followed Rodman's lead, making the game very physical. Shaq later threw down a thunderous jam right on Chris Dudley, landed on him and shoved him on the ground. Check it out (as they say, Dudley went down like a Tijuana whore):

Chris Dudley got up, grabbed the ball and fired it at Shaq who was walking away at half-court. The ball hiliariously tapped Shaq on the ass, no force at all. The refs immediately ejected Dudley from the game.

It's hard to remember the rest of the details from the game (THC, alcohol, age... who knows), all I know is that the Lakers ended up beating the Knicks 99-91.

To me the game best represented the Rodman era, a circus atmosphere with the feeling that you never knew what to expect next. I didn't know it then, but the crowd chanting Rodman's name was the peak of Rodman's Laker days. In less than three weeks, the Lakers waived him. The Lakers season started to unravel, culminating with the implosion against the Spurs in the playoffs. Phil Jackson and three championships were right around the corner.

Zizou Takes in a Clippers-Knicks Game?

By Craig Kwasniewski

Zizou to Red Bull New York, you heard it here first! (Bonus points to anyone who knows what that means.)

Anyway, here's Zinedine Zidane with Spike Lee at the Knicks-Clippers game on Tuesday night. (Insert 'Zizou head butts Spike Lee' joke here.)

So what the hell is one of the best soccer players in the world doing at a Knicks-Clippers game? Is he into self-mutilation? Does he like watching shitty coaching? Did he want to see AI? (Oh yeah, the Clippers stuck with Maggette and Shaun Livingston, so how's that going by the way?)

Hey Zizou, the NBA is waaay better than a random Clippers-Knicks game. I'm just hoping that he doesn't blow off The Association thinking, "it's too boring, there's too much violence, there's too much flopping or they all are long-haired freaks."

BTW - The biggest shock of the photo... Mars Blackmon is going bald! No wonder he always wears the Knicks hat. Still, props for wearing his own signature kicks, the Jordan Spiz'ikes.

NBA Coaches Siding With Bobby Knight

by Brett Edwards

Apparently there was an incident involving Bobby Knight popping one of his players in the face the other day. I know, shocking, right? NO WAY Bobby Knight would do anything like that! In case you haven't seen it, check it out here.

Several NBA coaches are actually siding with coach Knight on this one, here are some of the quotes:

George Karl: "In today's world, we can't go away from tough love and tough coaching," Karl said. "All (Knight) was trying to do was get eye contact, which I think is important for young people and young players. I wish more NBA players would make eye contact with the coaches."

Pat Riley: ''It's typical of Bobby Knight hysteria from the media calling for his head,'' Riley said. 'I didn't see anything wrong with that. I do that myself. I never do it in public. It's like a little love tap. My father used to hit me in the face all the time, like 'Wake up.' The player realizes he was just trying to get his attention.''

Isiah Thomas: "I thought it was great."

Isiah later added that effective immediately, he would begin slapping players in the face if they were subbed out for not playing well. He hopes this new tactic will shock and embarrass his team into playing better.

OK, I just made that up. But at this point in the Isiah Thomas reign in New York, would anything surprise you?