Stephen A. Smith put it bluntly. If you look at this team, they are nowhere near as bad talent-wise. But they are that bad heart-wise and head-wise, and when you don't have a head or heart, then you're not going to go anywhere in this league.
In some cases, taking risks is what you need to do sometimes, and it appears that Isiah has gotten the short end of the stick more often times than not (understatement). But I don't give him a pass for this season. Neither do I give this team a pass. I said it before the season started and I stood by it, that if this team is healthy, it's playoffs or bust. Aside from the whole Marbury fiasco, this team could have been at least competitive enough to be 10 games under .500 and fight for the 8th seed right now.
I remember what Malik Rose said after a tough loss a couple months back, saying that he felt for Zeke because most of the players didn't understand that if they put forth worthy effort every night, the tough losses would be endurable because then the mistakes would be more easily recognizable and correctable.
This past season, I saw inconsistent playing time among the wing players, too much one-on-one, little ball-movement, and non-existent rotations on defense. The players need to be held accountable too.
We've seen it, even a guy like Doc Rivers can go from an 18-win season to a 50 win-season in a matter of months. Does a guy like Isiah do it? Probably not, unless a miracle goes down.
Now to the point. Do I want Isiah gone? I really don't know at this point. I'm just really disappointed that my faith and loyalty (still undying) to this team has not delivered what I had hoped for. I think Isiah has created a team that had the ability to at least build on something, but was not able to without any real leadership from the players. My gut feeling is that if Donnie Walsh goes to the Knicks, Isiah stays as coach, but he's back to the "significant progress or else" label. I think we're going to see some shakeups, with Eddy Curry, Randolph, Jeffries, and Marbury involved in the brunt of things.
This team needs to start forming an identity. We have to stop shortchanging David Lee sooner or later, and find a way to invest in him as "the man" at power forward. I would love to have Derrick Rose running the show for us, and I think Crawford and the fans would be beneficiaries of having someone create for him instead of the all-too-familiar and persistent isolation plays. In a sense, we may have to do addition by subtraction. Guys need to develop and be more accustomed to their roles, and we don't do that by having too many interchangeable players (Balkman, Jeffries, Chandler, Q-Rich). This summer will be the most important summer the Knicks will ever have, and anyone can say what they want, but I think Isiah stays.
. Really, nobody who has seen the last few years can seriously start such a poll
