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NBATV to feature Knicks Training Camp on Monday

On Monday, at 11AM, the Knicks’ training camp will be shown live on NBATV.

The past three years, everything going into the regular season was “top secret” with reporters unable to watch practices except for the last 60 seconds of half-court hail-mary shots, the fact that the Knicks are televising a portion of their training camp signifies that Walsh has indeed altered Dolan’s famously tight media policies for the better.

I’m going to China for a while to help my uncle adopt a child. By the time I come back, the preseason will be wrapping up, and the regular season will be upon us. Here is to the Knicks having a better training camp than last year. Since no Knick is currently on trial for sexual harassment, I’d say this season is already an improvement upon the last, but we shall see.

Behind the scenes with the Knicks

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Jared Jeffries out 6-8 weeks with broken bone

Read all about it courtesy of Alan Hahn’s place.

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I’ve heard it before

“It’s uncanny how he shoots the basketball,” D’Antoni said. “It’s ridiculous. Everything that goes up, you know it’s going in.”

He’s talking about Allan Houston.  The last person to speak of Houston with such glow?  Rudy T. when he was coaching the 2000 Team USA that brought home the gold (same team with Vince Carter jumping over 7′2″ Fred Weis).

The difference of course being that Houston has leg problems now at 37 that he did not have at 29 on Team USA.  Those must have been great times for Houston, going from the Finals appearance in 1999 to the gold medal in 2000.   I believe he had a child shortly after the Olympics as well.

If D’Antoni is bright enough he may be able to use Houston the way some of these career spot-up shooters like Craig Hodges, Steve Kerr, Dennis Scott were able to contribute in such a one-dimensional way.

My favorite time of the year

Even when I wasn’t lucky enough to live in the Northeast, I always enjoyed this time of year because of the shift from t-shirts and shorts weather, to hoodies and jackets season.

But mostly, this time of year signifies the start of basketball season, be it try-outs for high school/college, or even prior in my county rec days. You’re outside, on the hardcourts, hooping it up with your family and friends who love the game as you love the game. It is a great feeling, the birth of the new season.

And when it is time to come home from your battles on the court, you check up on your Knicks team. For me, there was always Street and Smiths to clue me in on the off-season acquisitions. Would this be the year Ewing finally got his ring? In the days before the internet, before blogs, it was the newspaper articles (Orlando Sentinal when I was down south) and preseason box scores to amp your enthusiasm. Yes, even one thousand miles away in Florida the local sports writers would do articles on the Knicks regularly. Well, in years past, the Knicks were more often title contenders, but it also has to do with the general interest of all the NY transplants that are scattered all over this great nation (yes we are still a great nation in my opinion). We know these Knicks die-hards are everywhere when we watch MSG and they cut to the loyal Knick fans that are always representing in orange and blue regardless of the NBA city the Knicks are visiting.

There may not be very much to get excited about because this still is 95% Isiah Thomas’ creation/abomination, but I still look forward to seeing what these Knicks can do with what they’ve got. A friend once told me it is not about your God-given looks but what you do with them that makes her attracted to someone.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Mike D’Antoni sees in ex-dukie Chris Duhon as the point guard that would assume Steve Nash’s role as the facilitator here in New York. I’m looking forward to seeing if Gallinari is a hit or a miss, and I’m looking forward to seeing the continued development of the player Alan Hahn has dubbed “the baby matrix,” Wilson Chandler.

There are reasons to stick around, stay tuned, and follow this team that may not win very many games this season. The fact that you’re even reading this blog or any Knicks blog indicates to me that I don’t have to list them.

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Gallo Out for the Preseason

Not good.

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Eddy Curry had a questionable summer

I believe one article quoted D’Antoni as saying “could be better, could be worse,” with regard to Eddy Curry’s off-season conditioning coming into Knicks training camp 2008.

This was the summer Eddy was supposed to give 110% towards being in great shape. If Mike D’Antoni can’t motivate Curry to put in the hard work, nothing except a contract year will (that goes for Jerome James as well).

Can a coach with a lot of heart ever instill fire and desire in a player with questionable heart?  It must come from within.

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Knicks Sign Grunfeld and Houston

Wow. first we got Ew2, now Grunfeld2.0 and AH7 part deux?

This is the generations team. At least Walsh is going out of his way to recruit people with Knicks roots, Isiah shit all over any former Knicks that  expressed interest in joining the team. I won’t give Walsh too much credit though, he did snub the real Patrick Ewing just as Isiah did. Maybe it has something to do with Dolan?

Anyone know if Oakley or Starks has some kids about to finish high school? Walsh is something else thus far.

Checkout Knicks.com for a new interview with Coach D’Antoni.

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Zach Randolph Not Going Anywhere

Alan Hahn is reporting on Knicks Fix that the Z-Bo to Memphis deal has soured.

Over the summer, Donnie Walsh has had plenty of opportunities to deal Z-Bo. For whatever reason, he has resisted. Walsh does not want to be short changed for one of the select few players able to average 20 points and 10 rebounds per game.

Getting Darko in the trade would have at least boosted the Knicks’ shot blocking ability on the front line.

Right now with Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph up front, the duo combines to average 0.7 blocks per game. This defensive deficiency was illustrated by the fact that many players had their season highs against the knicks this past season.

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That’s what I’m talking about…

“I mean, I love offense. Why wouldn’t I? I love him,” Wade told Newsday while in New York. “We’re in practice, I love [Portland Trailblazers coach] Nate McMillan, but I want to be on Mike D’Antoni’s team because Nate is preaching all defense and Mike is preaching all offense.”

D-Wade would be my next pick after LeBron in the 2010 free agency cornucopia of top-tier talent.

Some people may say 2010 is just a way to set the bar low (if those same people realize how low the bar has in fact been the past six-to-eight years remains to be seen) but I do think it is the smart thing to do at this point even if it means two more years of bad basketball, by the time those two years are up we could be a contender for the Atlantic division.

I’d rather have D-Wade in two years than Kobe. I really liked what I saw of D-Wade in the Olympics. Looks like his back has healed up well.

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Nothing

Nothing to write about with regard to the Knicks, but I was sick of seeing the old post so I’ll just add this and continue waiting for either something to happen, or for training camp to arrive. I hope it is the former case because the Knicks as they are currently constructed are in for a long season.

OK, maybe a short season: 82 games and no playoffs with this roster is more likely.

The 2010 plan is the opposite of the “pull the band aid off quickly” syndrome: things may get better down the road for the Knicks, but LeBron this and D-Wade that is all at the expense of the now.

Anyone have season tickets for this year?

More Nothin’ from N.O.R.E:

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