alamo50
03-10-2005, 04:01 AM
G.M. chiefly to blame that N.Y. no playoff contender
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050309/050309_thomas_knicks_hmed.hmedium.jpg
Kathy Willens / AP
Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas has built a horrible team through bad trades and signings, NBCSports.com contributor Michael Ventre says.
COMMENTARY
By Michael Ventre
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 4:39 p.m. ET March 9, 2005
Think of Isiah Thomas as the Christo of pro basketball.
He constructed something that attracts attention way out of proportion to its actual worth. Most people don’t know what to make of it. And by the spring it will be quickly forgotten.
But Christo’s The Gates was not judged by wins and losses, so it had that going for it. Isiah isn’t so fortunate. The Knicks won their seventh straight home game Tuesday night, but all that did was raise their record to 26-34, good for 10th in the East. When you reside in the Eastern Conference of the NBA and the best you can muster is 10th place, even the most lenient critic might trash such a creation as the product of a troubled mind.
Isiah came to the Big Apple amid much fanfare, akin to Martha Stewart busting out of the big house. James Dolan, Madison Square Garden’s chairman and CEO, is a suit with no conception of basketball’s finer points, but he learned how to get on the tabloids’ back pages by taking a page from the George Steinbrenner manual:
Keep making high-profile moves, whether they make sense or not. It will create the illusion of leadership.
There is nothing about this current collection of Knicks that suggests the franchise is on the proper course. There is no indication that, two or three years from now, the Knicks will assume their rightful place among the upper crust of Eastern society. On the contrary, this bunch looks more like it will loiter amid the bowels of the Bowery for seasons to come.
Isiah’s centerpiece is Stephon Marbury, who is a great talent but not a great player. There was a time when he and Allen Iverson were potential draftees together. Who would have thought at the time that of the two, Iverson, the bowling alley brawler, would develop a reputation as a player who would sacrifice a limb for the good of his team, while Marbury would be viewed as a franchise-killer?
The blame for the current Knicks’ anemic state does not fall completely on their self-centered point guard. After all, it takes a village to eviscerate a franchise.
But Marbury is a symbol of Isiah’s thinking, which mirrors that of Dolan and reflects the current trend of marketing tripe as a replacement for the institution of sound philosophy.
The Knicks’ brass is selling the sizzle instead of the steak because it burned the steak.
There are two ways to evaluate the Knicks: the team itself as a self-contained entity, and the team in the context of the rest of the NBA.
Isiah made a deal at the trade deadline in which he swapped a perfectly fine center in Nazr Mohammed for forward Malik Rose -- who lost his place in the San Antonio rotation and was only ever a serviceable role player on a club loaded with talent in the first place -- plus two first-round picks. I would applaud the two picks, except they figure to be near the bottom of the first round, and I also have grave doubts about Isiah’s ability to rate talent.
In a separate deal, the Knicks traded Moochie Norris and Vin Baker to Houston for Maurice Taylor. Granted, losing Norris and Baker won’t cause Knicks fans to stage a candlelight vigil. But all you need to know about Taylor is that he was once a Clippers’ castoff.
The Knicks are not endowed with good passers. Marbury proclaimed a few weeks back that he was the best point guard in the game, but he failed to acknowledge that point guards are table-setters, not gluttons. Marbury leads the Knicks in assists at 8.3 per, in scoring at 21 points per game and field-goal attempts at 946. By contrast, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, who truly is the best point guard in the NBA, is fourth on his team in scoring at 16.2 and fifth in field-goal attempts at 641, but No. 1 in assists at 11.4.
Marbury’s primary instinct is to take care of Marbury, to get his. As long as a team is run by a point guard who thinks shot first, it will never amount to anything.
That’s the problem with the Knicks as a whole – bad casting. Marbury is not cut out to play the point. Kurt Thomas is actually a solid power forward, except he’s playing center now that they shipped Mohammed out, and he’s not big enough to handle the nightly rigors. Mike Sweetney is a career reserve power forward who happens to be in the starting lineup. Tim Thomas is one of the game’s most infamous underachievers, except when he plays at home against the Lakers.
Jamal Crawford is a splendid addition, but somewhere along the way he’ll succumb to the NBA disease that strikes those among the league’s entitled when they fail to get the looks and touches they feel they deserve. He had that problem in Chicago, and New York is a much larger gymnasium for the ego.
In the context of the rest of the East, at least six teams – Detroit, Miami, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and Indiana – figure to occupy spots among the eight playoff contestants for the next few years. The Nets also should be much improved, at least next season with Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson back. That would leave one playoff spot open for the rest. There are no signs the Knicks belong in that mix.
Isiah and Dolan have other considerations besides winning, which is why they won’t win anything anytime soon. Cable viewership is almost more important than a club’s place in the standings, at least in New York. That’s why the Mets went on a madcap offseason spending spree to lasso Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez. That’s why the Knicks will continue to construct a team loaded with names rather than players, and make fruitless runs at people such as Phil Jackson and Larry Brown to coach.
The Knicks are capped out through 2008. They have a player with a bum knee, Allan Houston, who is owed $57 million over the next three years and has refused overtures to retire. And they’re doing worse than they did last season, when they garnered the No. 7 spot in the playoffs and got stomped by the Nets in the first round.
At least Christo knew when to pack up his Gates and leave town.
Michael Ventre writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050309/050309_thomas_knicks_hmed.hmedium.jpg
Kathy Willens / AP
Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas has built a horrible team through bad trades and signings, NBCSports.com contributor Michael Ventre says.
COMMENTARY
By Michael Ventre
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 4:39 p.m. ET March 9, 2005
Think of Isiah Thomas as the Christo of pro basketball.
He constructed something that attracts attention way out of proportion to its actual worth. Most people don’t know what to make of it. And by the spring it will be quickly forgotten.
But Christo’s The Gates was not judged by wins and losses, so it had that going for it. Isiah isn’t so fortunate. The Knicks won their seventh straight home game Tuesday night, but all that did was raise their record to 26-34, good for 10th in the East. When you reside in the Eastern Conference of the NBA and the best you can muster is 10th place, even the most lenient critic might trash such a creation as the product of a troubled mind.
Isiah came to the Big Apple amid much fanfare, akin to Martha Stewart busting out of the big house. James Dolan, Madison Square Garden’s chairman and CEO, is a suit with no conception of basketball’s finer points, but he learned how to get on the tabloids’ back pages by taking a page from the George Steinbrenner manual:
Keep making high-profile moves, whether they make sense or not. It will create the illusion of leadership.
There is nothing about this current collection of Knicks that suggests the franchise is on the proper course. There is no indication that, two or three years from now, the Knicks will assume their rightful place among the upper crust of Eastern society. On the contrary, this bunch looks more like it will loiter amid the bowels of the Bowery for seasons to come.
Isiah’s centerpiece is Stephon Marbury, who is a great talent but not a great player. There was a time when he and Allen Iverson were potential draftees together. Who would have thought at the time that of the two, Iverson, the bowling alley brawler, would develop a reputation as a player who would sacrifice a limb for the good of his team, while Marbury would be viewed as a franchise-killer?
The blame for the current Knicks’ anemic state does not fall completely on their self-centered point guard. After all, it takes a village to eviscerate a franchise.
But Marbury is a symbol of Isiah’s thinking, which mirrors that of Dolan and reflects the current trend of marketing tripe as a replacement for the institution of sound philosophy.
The Knicks’ brass is selling the sizzle instead of the steak because it burned the steak.
There are two ways to evaluate the Knicks: the team itself as a self-contained entity, and the team in the context of the rest of the NBA.
Isiah made a deal at the trade deadline in which he swapped a perfectly fine center in Nazr Mohammed for forward Malik Rose -- who lost his place in the San Antonio rotation and was only ever a serviceable role player on a club loaded with talent in the first place -- plus two first-round picks. I would applaud the two picks, except they figure to be near the bottom of the first round, and I also have grave doubts about Isiah’s ability to rate talent.
In a separate deal, the Knicks traded Moochie Norris and Vin Baker to Houston for Maurice Taylor. Granted, losing Norris and Baker won’t cause Knicks fans to stage a candlelight vigil. But all you need to know about Taylor is that he was once a Clippers’ castoff.
The Knicks are not endowed with good passers. Marbury proclaimed a few weeks back that he was the best point guard in the game, but he failed to acknowledge that point guards are table-setters, not gluttons. Marbury leads the Knicks in assists at 8.3 per, in scoring at 21 points per game and field-goal attempts at 946. By contrast, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, who truly is the best point guard in the NBA, is fourth on his team in scoring at 16.2 and fifth in field-goal attempts at 641, but No. 1 in assists at 11.4.
Marbury’s primary instinct is to take care of Marbury, to get his. As long as a team is run by a point guard who thinks shot first, it will never amount to anything.
That’s the problem with the Knicks as a whole – bad casting. Marbury is not cut out to play the point. Kurt Thomas is actually a solid power forward, except he’s playing center now that they shipped Mohammed out, and he’s not big enough to handle the nightly rigors. Mike Sweetney is a career reserve power forward who happens to be in the starting lineup. Tim Thomas is one of the game’s most infamous underachievers, except when he plays at home against the Lakers.
Jamal Crawford is a splendid addition, but somewhere along the way he’ll succumb to the NBA disease that strikes those among the league’s entitled when they fail to get the looks and touches they feel they deserve. He had that problem in Chicago, and New York is a much larger gymnasium for the ego.
In the context of the rest of the East, at least six teams – Detroit, Miami, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and Indiana – figure to occupy spots among the eight playoff contestants for the next few years. The Nets also should be much improved, at least next season with Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson back. That would leave one playoff spot open for the rest. There are no signs the Knicks belong in that mix.
Isiah and Dolan have other considerations besides winning, which is why they won’t win anything anytime soon. Cable viewership is almost more important than a club’s place in the standings, at least in New York. That’s why the Mets went on a madcap offseason spending spree to lasso Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez. That’s why the Knicks will continue to construct a team loaded with names rather than players, and make fruitless runs at people such as Phil Jackson and Larry Brown to coach.
The Knicks are capped out through 2008. They have a player with a bum knee, Allan Houston, who is owed $57 million over the next three years and has refused overtures to retire. And they’re doing worse than they did last season, when they garnered the No. 7 spot in the playoffs and got stomped by the Nets in the first round.
At least Christo knew when to pack up his Gates and leave town.
Michael Ventre writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.