Knicks Defense

New York Post’s Marc Berman writes on Donnie Walsh’s affinity for a true mistake eraser, Hasheem Thabeet.  The comparison starts at Rick Smits and stretches as far as Dikembe, with a little bit of Manute Bol thrown in to top it off.

I was thinking, with all the emphasis on offense, we could use a guy that is a defensive natural.  Of course Thabeet will not be there at #8, but isn’t there something we could work out with Memphis to move up to #3?  If not, it’s looking like Stephen Curry in a month from now will be the next to sport the orange and blue for the New York Knicks.

I’d rather be watching the Knicks right now than these teams that are playing such fantastic basketball.  We’re 10 years starved for some playoffs.

Will Donnie Walsh scrap another year (the trading of Zach and Crawford was the move that landed us in the Lottery instead of a 7 or 8 spot (we’d have been knocked out for sure by now) at the expense of the 2010 free agency pool?

There is much hype around the league right now because of headlines to articles that read “LeBron wants to stay,” to today’s “Dwayne Wade wants an extension,” Knicks fans have to believe either LeBron or Wade is just saying the right thing right now.

Otherwise it’s Bosh, who I’m not sold on defensively despite his solid offensive game.

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If James Dolan ever wanted to go down as the craziest professional sports team owner ever, all he’d have to do is rehire Isiah after Walsh’s tenure with the team has ended.

Oh no, not again, Ewing please!

You’re not even a player on the team, don’t guarantee stuff you have zero control over!

Two “win or go home” game 7’s on today should keep things interesting.  The Lakers-Rockets are to tipoff at 3:30pm, while the Magic-Celtics game is slated to begin at 8:00pm tonight.

Today we shall see if the NBA is scripted or not–watch out for those not-so-rouge referees, the right-hand representation of David Stern’s playoff preferences.

So if you’re still die-hard enough to call yourself a Knicks fan (obviously you are otherwise you’d be watching the Cavs games at this point) the one thing you have to look forward to at this time is the NBA draft lottery, which is in a few days.  The lottery determines the selection order of the crappiest teams from this past season, with the teams that tanked having a greater chance of picking in the top three.

By all means our season went south after December.  There were some positive signs of change, for example, the Knicks didn’t look so very lost on both ends of the floor, as they had under Isiah Thomas.  There were no sexual harassment court cases.  There was the addition by subtraction of: Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, Jerome James and Stephon Marbury.  All were obvious mistakes that were finally erased under the mandate of Donnie Walsh.  Who cares what we got back in exchange, these players were league-wide considered untradeable and undesirable.  Now they are someone else’s problem and that is a big sigh of relief for this Knicks fan right here.

Yet the Knicks seriously need to think about getting into the top three of the draft.  If our luck is crap as it has been the past few years during lottery time, we’ll pick around 8th or 9th again, and those picks end up being Channing Frye type players for the Knicks, so we must try to move up in any way we can.

We need Rubio out of this draft.

What do we have that other teams would want to trade for such a pick?

David Lee.

David Lee is the one player that pretty much every NBA team would at least consider in a trade.

Walsh’s plan is to stay under the cap to get a D-Wade type player in 2010, so Lee would only compromise that agenda since he’s put up All-Star numbers this season including16.0 ppg 11.7 rpg, 3rd in the league in rebounds per game, 1st in the league in double-doubles, 7th in the league in field goal percentage.  Lee is playing at an all-star level and will likely ask for an all-star paycheck.

Lee has worked his butt off for the Knicks and he is the closest thing in spirit we currently have to the Ewings and the Oakleys (sorry, Chandler has not yet proven the warrior mentality despite his obvious talent).  But if Walsh wants to get a pair of all-stars in 2010, plus a great player from this year’s draft in June, he’ll have to negotiate with what he has, which is David Lee and a bunch of spare parts.

Lee is not a player you build around.  Lee is a complimentary player, not a franchise player.  Lee deserves to stay in New York, but you have to stick with the game plan.

Lee had a career year under D’Antoni, but how else could the Knicks move into the top three if we don’t get really lucky during lottery day?

Just bloggin’

I will not miss him in the slightest bit.

Good riddance Steve Mills.  You suck.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Dwight Howard was suspended for one game for throwing a malicious elbow during a recent playoff basketball game.  I had been watching commentary on said game on NBATV, when Chris Webber acted as though he were going out on a limb and challenging the officials and the NBA to force a suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct.

My whole take on Webber’s “going out on a limb” was that he was being a messenger FOR the NBA, as in, the NBA wanted him suspended, and Webber was putting that thought out there before it happened.  Doesn’t really matter if Howard deserved it, he got it, so be it.

Since his rookie year, I’ve seen Howard as a dominant, yet dirty player.  He’s got everything he needs to be Hakeem Olajuwon, but plays more like Karl Malone to me.

You see, there are tough players and dirty players.  You could be both, or just one.  Dwight strikes me as a dirty player taking advantage of his God-given body/athletic abilities.  Karl Malone was a tough player and a dirty player.  Ewing, Oakley and Mace were tough players, they were going to hack you if you went to the basket on them (less so for Ewing as he was a legit shot blocker).  The whole, “no easy layups,” mentality.  Starks was more dirty than our front line though, IMO.  I’ve seen Karl Malone knock people’s teeth out with his elbows. Oakley just made you think he was going to knock your teeth out with his demeanor.

And it is not just the big men.  Bowen is a prime example of a dirty player who jumps under you so that your jump shot is thrown off for the rest of the game.  Isiah used to step on people’s feet to get an advantage.  Isiah was both tough and dirty.  Stockton was absolutely a dirty player, but he was also tough.  Laimbeer was a chronic jersey-grabber, he was more dirty than tough IMO.

If you’re watching the playoffs, there is no way you missed it, unless you sinchronize your bathroom breaks with commercial breaks. Love the high-top fade.

I know we have major defensive issues to address this offseason (it has been this way since Van Gundy left for those who are actually keeping tabs), but I wouldn’t mind having both of these guys join the Knicks. Walsh needs to work his mojo and trade up to get a top three pick. After we gutted the team and sent Crawful and ZBo packing, we basically had a full team of reserves with no legit starters. Chandler may be a legit starter in a year or two, but he is not there yet. Duhon was at first, but he fell apart as the season progressed.

Rubio looks like he could run D’Antoni’s offense with more finesse than (dare I say it?) Nash. Curry is at a disadvantage because he is an undersized two, but how can you question this kid’s NBA range? If people like Steve Kerr can play in the league, this guy can play in the league IMHO.

Twenty-five percent off food and drinks? Where did the bean counters get that number from? Correct me if I am wrong (drossman), but wasn’t last year’s Fan appreciation night accompanied with free food all night? What gives?

Tonight will be interesting to see if Dolan’s emissaries try to squeeze in one last Isiah Thomas diss, seeing as he signed on with Florida Atlantic University yesterday. My guess is they’ll do nothing since Isiah is still on the payroll.

The New York Post is speculating that this may be David Lee and Nate Robinson’s last game as New York Knicks. The thought had crossed my mind as well.

Isiah Thomas will take over head coaching duties for Florida International University.

Recent alumni from FIU include NBA players Raja Bell and Carlos Arroyo (last I heard Arroyo was playing overseas).

Tomorrow’s fan appreciation night at MSG takes on a whole new meaning…