The Fork in the Road

The Knicks’ problem can be narrowed down to one item. Isiah Thomas’ road map to the future has a fork in the road. No one feels secure as to his future with a team, headed by 2 defacto leaders – a much-maligned point guard, and a rookie head coach.

Recent Knicks history proves front office and coaching hiring/firing decisions are made in a New York minute. By the end of next season, unless the team shows significant improvement, Isiah may no longer be with the team.

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Pat reaches Summitt as Dawn rises

by Rob King

Summitt’s recent accomplishments combined with the recent firing of University of Tennessee men’s basketball coach Buzz Petersen led some in the media (mostly male) to debate whether university officials should offer the position to her, and whether Summitt could successfully coach male student athletes. When Dean Smith passed renowned Kentucky coach the late Adolph Rupp to become the winningest coach in Division I college basketball he was allowed to relish the significance of the accomplishment without sports talk shows speculating on how he would fare coaching a different gender. Coach Summitt wasn’t afforded the opportunity to enjoy the moment the same way. Why?

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"Major MC’s become Minor B Flats…"

--L.L. Cool J

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The media witch-hunt to prove Bonds is a cheater has knocked over a generation of Hall of Fame statues. Sammy Sosa. Rafael Palmero. Mark McGwire. Barry Bonds. Though they all may still make the Hall, history will prove the real interest in a maturing Bonds was not worth the investment, especially when dealing in a sport with few guiding principles.

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As it stands, the number of Power Conference teams who lost in the first 2 Rounds to lesser-ranked opponents is practically equal to the number who gets to go to the Sweet 16.

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The Engine that Drives March Madness

by Anthony Robinson

The tournament is reality television in its essence. There is a script that each game follows but only fate controls how it’s played out. The players, coaches and officials involved in the games and the spectators watching in the stands or on TV all ride an emotional roller-coaster from first whistle to final buzzer.

Upsets happen all the time in the tournament especially in the early rounds. A school from a power conference unhappy with their seeding or coach from a school feeling the pressure of fans and alumni catch an upstart program with something to prove or nothing to lose, and someone’s going home early. In many cases we know who’s going to win but there’s that “anything can happen” element that keeps games compelling. Someone twists an ankle, someone gets their third foul or someone is in the zone; and that overwhelming underdog smells an upset.

However the NCAA tournament is one Big Dance where Cinderella may even electric slide past the first weekend, but it won’t hustle beyond the second weekend and it definitely won’t rock away home with the title. The NCAA basketball tournament is a battle where only the schools from the strong conferences survive.

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Closing Seconds

…Who is the Knicks’ Go-To Guy?

Two more 4th quarter collapses begs the question: who is the Knicks’ go-to guy? It should be the same for every team – the coach. Each time a game comes down to the final seconds my mind flashes to Bill Parcells’ first visit to the Meadowlands as coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

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Herb Williams has done a good job at strategizing and using all of his personnel. Yet, when it comes to closing out games, he has followed where his predecessors left off. Squandering double-digit second half leads has been part of the Knicks repertoire since the Pat Riley days. But, ever since Don Chaney’s regime, the team has not been able to continually hit the shot to salvage the win.

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Spurred Then Nearly Stung

Though the Hornets had made 5 straight playoff appearances, the job had one major parallel to Scott’s former job in New Jersey: a disgruntled Point Guard making ‘max’ money. Such situations can take a coach to Hall of Fame potential a la Pat Riley’s good fortune in becoming Magic Johnson’s guy after the firing of Paul Westhead. Scott has not been so lucky, except that he was not fired and the Golden State Warriors took Baron Davis off his hands.

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Isiah’s Taylor-Made Trade Has Herb Smelling Like A Rose

A few weeks ago, it was not a smell but a stench coming out of the garden. Where there are dead bodies, they are reporters hovering like buzzards, devouring the carcasses by writing premature obituaries.

The season is far from saved, but the recent winning has brought smiles to the players’ faces, and a wait-and-see attitude from the media, who blasted the trade and, more specifically, the man who orchestrated the move to acquire Malik Rose and Maurice Taylor.


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After the Magic is gone…

New York and New Jersey suffered embarrassing losses to the Orlando Magic on consecutive nights this past week. The Nets have yet to play since Saturday night’s game. With only 22 games remaining in the season, the Nets have a slim chance of making the playoffs.

Same for the Knicks, who were able to shrug off the blowout at Orlando. On Sunday, they defeated the Golden State Warriors, improving their "post-trade" record to 4 and 1.

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Revisionist History 0205: Thorny Issues…

…Elden Campbell is the latest example why NBA players’ contracts are out of control.

Having the heard threat of a NHL lockout, I figured the hockey players would realize they are paid well, and with guaranteed contracts. Hence, there would be no lockout or strike. I was wrong, yet I could care less – it’s just ice hockey, a sport that never resonated enough curiosity, because it lacks crossover appeal and the ability to translate well into one’s living room.

B-Ball is a different matter. It is easy to shoot solo or play a pick-up game with friends. Basketball has been the foremost expression of race and socio-economic warfare, in which black males continue to prosper.

NBA players are not only ballers on the court; they are also an international marketing force. Armed with guaranteed contracts that range up to 7 years, the players have learned how to flex their muscle by maneuvering to force trades and buyouts. These moves range from under-performing, airing their grievances in the media, to just plain sulking.

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sunday wrap-up: A Tangled Webb

…how rumors get started…


The NBA should look into live television coverage of the annual trade deadline, the same way it does for the draft. This year’s deadline proved more dramatic than most daytime soap operas.

From a basketball standpoint and how it affects wins and losses, only the Chris Webber trade will have any impact this season.

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Knicks play No Limit, Texas Hold ‘Em

…moving the Center to go Forward takes us Back…


In two trades that amount to folding your hand right after the flop, Knicks President Isiah Thomas did his best Scott Layden impression. At the same time, Isiah showed why he is so different from his Knicks predecessor.

Thomas stocked up on Forwards by trading Center Nazr Mohammed, Vin Baker, and back-up Point-Guards Moochie Norris and Jamison Brewer. In return, he got San Antonio Forward Malik Rose, Houston Forward Maurice Taylor, and two first round draft picks.

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sunday wrapup: ALL BULL?

…‘Roids in BaseBall, Nets Resurgence, and Knicks Reality


Baseball is lucky to have Jose Canseco. He is a metaphor for why playing baseball is often considered passé. The game does not have a level playing field; it never had, not even after black players joined the ranks.

Baseball historians hold numbers dear, bypassing the fact each stadium has different dimensions; and the changes made to the ball at various points in the game’s history.

Canseco used steroids to alter his physical limitations, much the same way stadium walls are adjusted to benefit a team.

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Working Over / Time

The Atlantic Division is the laughing stock of the NBA – at least that’s what the pundits would have you believe. Wins and Losses tell you that, on the surface. Even if you keep injuries as a constant for all NBA teams, this division is in major flux. Each team has a new head coach, and a revamped roster.

Since 1999, the division has made 4 trips (sent three teams) to the NBA Finals. None of the teams has “rebuilt” completely through the draft. Their moves have been to complement their core with a patchwork of mid-level first round picks, and acquiring free agents.

Whether one or two teams make the playoffs, the Atlantic will be a force.

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sunday wrapup: Stay Off The Bandwagon!!!

For the New Jersey Nets to surpass my pre-season expectations of 30 or so wins, I need to stay off the bandwagon.

The Nets cannot be categorized as a franchise that makes bad trades, except that of Julius “Dr. J” Erving. When it came to transactions, the team had become a haven for top draft picks, veteran underachievers, or established NBA talent whose image has recently been tarnished, in some fashion.

Until Rod Thorn took over the front office, at best, the Nets were a franchise beset by a string of bad luck injuries and tragedy, maximized by the death of Drazen Petrovic.

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Brotherly Loathe

…why the NFL wants the Eagles to win the Super Bowl

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T.O. has the chance to become the most loved figure in Philadelphia team sport history, unless Allen Iverson wins a title for the Sixers. Whereas A.I. was the NBA’s principal opponent, as the league tried turning players into robots, T.O.’s struggle is to be included in the NFL marketing hierarchy.

Except for its PSA (public service announcements), contrary to the NBA, the NFL markets the players who embody the sports’ pugnacious reality. The NFL does so, on a wink-wink basis, which is best represented by its recent affiliate marketing scandals: Janet Jackson’s nipple; and Nicolette Sheridan’s towel drop.

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FREE…throw... FALL

…another Knicks loss


The Knicks continue to lose, and last night’s loss has to be the most frustrating. Yesterday, the three major local papers reported and gave a spin to accounts of Knicks players’ fighting spirits. This airing of differences came on the heels of two disparate road losses – a close one to the Los Angeles Clippers; and a blowout at the hands of the rejuvenated Denver Nuggets.

Throughout yesterday’s game against the Sacremento Kings, the team presented the evidence. They were not going down without a fight.

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REVISIONIST HISTORY 0105:

...The Knicks Should Trade For Ron Artest

...in the age of free agency and guaranteed contracts, revision is part of the landscape.

Revising history needs full cooperation from parties who may not be ready to admit culpability.

But they will do so if the spin is tight; the public relations hit minimal; and the numbers match, on and off the court:

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sunday wrapup: Roll of the ‘Dyess’
…when injuries derail a season!

·For the Knicks, it started with the 2002 NBA draft, when management gambled and traded its first round-pick and the injured Marcus Camby for Antonio McDyess.

In hindsight everyone criticizes this trade and then-GM Scott Layden never recovered from that transaction, because McDyess was never healthy enough to contribute. A similar thing happened in Orlando when the Magic signed free-agent Grant Hill who was coming off ankle surgery.

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Thursday, January 27, 2005

No Love for Serena!
…sounds from the Australian Open

Serena vs. Sharapova in a Grand Slam tennis semifinal needs no special build-up, no villain. Last night, listening to the commentary provided on ESPN2, Mary Carrillo and Dick Enberg, one would think Serena stole something, and did not deserve to be there.

A day after defending her sister and family’s name with the statement, ‘we have nothing to prove’, Serena Williams found herself playing an error-filled first set.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2005

KNICKS & NETS - Midway Predictions


Make your midway projections!Simply go to nba.com and look for your team's schedule!

With 41 games left for both the Knicks & Nets, I have the balance of the schedule as:

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Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Will the Sun set on Marbury’s Knicks’ Tenure?

Consider yourself lucky that print columnists are there to sell advertisements, and are not financial research analysts, telling you which stock to pick.

With the Phoenix Suns in town to play the Knicks, the coverage is all about Steve Nash vs. Stephon Marbury. Reading today’s New York daily newspapers and Chad Ford’s espn.com column, you’d get the idea that the Knicks should trade Stephon Marbury, so next year’s team can win 50 or more games, make it to the playoff, and win (WAIT) a championship.

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Monday, January 24, 2005

"Not the herb you're looking for…"

Recent reports out of the New York papers hint that fireworks could be in the horizon for the NY Knicks, because new head coach Herb Williams is not one with whom players should fool.

Williams has been labeled a “player’s coach”, yet is not beyond publicly stating who messed up at any given time during the game.

Though he has a new contract in hand, Herb is not expected to coach the team next year.

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Sunday, January 23, 2005

sunday wrapup: The Buck Stops Here…

In this first edition, I intone on three topics: NY Knicks, NFL Playoffs, and the “reality” show, Strange Love.

· JAMAL CRAWL before you… jack up three-pointers and other ill-advised shots to start the game.

Until the Feb. 24th trade deadline passes, I can start every Knicks’ column commenting on Nazr Mohammed spotting the opponent’s starting center with 2 quick, first quarter fouls. I will not because once the deadline passes, Nazr will either be gone, or play better because he's comfortable that he wasn’t traded or that expectations have been lowered since he is now coming off the bench or earning his DNPs.

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Saturday, January 22, 2005

Lenny and the Sword

After a heartbreaking, last-minute loss to the Houston Rockets last night, Lenny Wilkens decided it was time to resign as NY Knicks head coach.

The first I heard of it was on television channel ESPNnews nearing (or shortly after) midnight.The reporting was credited to Stephen A. Smith, as ‘Wilkens expected to resign’. Though the Knicks’ organization was said to have given Wilkens the night to mull it over, the word was already out; thereby making it impossible for him to change his mind.

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Friday, January 21, 2005

That Familiar Feeling...
...of loyalty, rigidity, and stability

The Houston Rockets will be in New York tonight, but it seems like New York is always in (or with) Houston.

When GM Carroll Dawson hired Jeff Van Gundy to coach, I don’t think he knew JVG was going to be such a ‘homer’and bring all these folks with Knicks' ties to the franchise.

Another aspect that Dawson never anticipated: JVG’s rigidity in his coaching style.

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Thursday, January 20, 2005

DEAD(line) that talk!
a message to underachieving NBA teams

The day after the Knicks fell apart in the fourth quarter versus the Toronto Raptors, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News wrote trade prospects Donyell Marshall and Jalen Rose may have ruined that deal, due to their spectacular performance.

I’ve been hearing about various Knicks’ trades involving these two players for weeks, and want no parts of it.

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Tuesday, January 18, 2005

‘Soft in the Middle’

Those words came from Eddy Curry of the Chicago Bulls in describing the NY Knicks, after Saturday’s (01/15/05) game. Though I knew why he would say such a thing, I still felt it was an odd statement from a player who had very little success in the game.

Yes, he did hit the winning layup, and scored 17 points; but as they often say in sports, “the numbers lie.”

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