Was listening to BS Report with ESPN writer Bill Simmons and NBA Analyst Marc Stein and they brought up a couple of things about the Knicks that I sort of wanted to share:
1) "I don't know how you can blame D'Antoni for not winning on a team that wasn't trying to win." - Marc Stein, in response to Simmons saying the NY media wants to run D'Antoni out of town.
There's been a lot of debate on this board about this, and I wanted to share just one person's, who is closer to the NBA than a lot of us, take on it.
2) Rumor: Phil Jackson to NY.
This sort of brought up the "Why fire D'Antoni" thing. Stein said that D'Antoni's whole reason for being here was to attract guys here. But Simmons claims he heard floating rumors that Phil Jackson would consider NY, and NY obviously would consider Phil Jackson. Now, I've said it's pointless to fire D'Antoni, but I think we can all agree if Jackson was a possibility we would waive bye to D'Antoni in less than 1 second. Stein thinks you have to let D'Antoni do what he was brought here to do, attract players. If the Knicks strike out, then make a move.
3) Toronto will NOT do a sign-and-trade involving David Lee and Chris Bosh.
Good points made here, Toronto would lose Bosh and make their front-court two guys that should be playing PF and two guys that are not big time defensive bruisers (or offensive bruisers, for that matter) in Andrea and David. I think I've seen this opportunity floated around here, but I don't think it makes much sense for Toronto.
4) Walsh and D'Antoni are not getting along. Simmons claimed each has used media people to sort of bash the other one. I'm not sure exactly what he is talking about, but the rumor is that the NY media wanting to run D'Antoni out of town is based at least partially in stories floated by Walsh. I haven't seen much evidence of this, and some on this board like abcd have not erroneously suggested that the two are attached at the hip at least, and Walsh is D'Antoni's slave at the worst.
5) Eddy Curry to LAC for Baron Davis.
Simmons would not say where he heard it, or even if he heard it, but he make a couple of points about this trade. Donald Sterling is cheap as hell. This saves the LAC $3 million next year (even in the NBA, that's not small shakes) and gets rid of a disgruntled Baron Davis and his contract that runs PAST next year. The Knicks get a PG who thrives in front of big crowds, and will be more than happy to switch coasts to run in D'Antoni's system (I would think). I'm sure support will come in droves on this board for the moving of Eddy Curry for anything, but this solves our PG problem in a quick way, and gives us a guy to possibly attract a good free agent. I'm not sure how Baron is regarded in NBA circles amongst the players, but the chance to play with a pretty good PG is better than what we have now.
1) "I don't know how you can blame D'Antoni for not winning on a team that wasn't trying to win." - Marc Stein, in response to Simmons saying the NY media wants to run D'Antoni out of town.
There's been a lot of debate on this board about this, and I wanted to share just one person's, who is closer to the NBA than a lot of us, take on it.
2) Rumor: Phil Jackson to NY.
This sort of brought up the "Why fire D'Antoni" thing. Stein said that D'Antoni's whole reason for being here was to attract guys here. But Simmons claims he heard floating rumors that Phil Jackson would consider NY, and NY obviously would consider Phil Jackson. Now, I've said it's pointless to fire D'Antoni, but I think we can all agree if Jackson was a possibility we would waive bye to D'Antoni in less than 1 second. Stein thinks you have to let D'Antoni do what he was brought here to do, attract players. If the Knicks strike out, then make a move.
3) Toronto will NOT do a sign-and-trade involving David Lee and Chris Bosh.
Good points made here, Toronto would lose Bosh and make their front-court two guys that should be playing PF and two guys that are not big time defensive bruisers (or offensive bruisers, for that matter) in Andrea and David. I think I've seen this opportunity floated around here, but I don't think it makes much sense for Toronto.
4) Walsh and D'Antoni are not getting along. Simmons claimed each has used media people to sort of bash the other one. I'm not sure exactly what he is talking about, but the rumor is that the NY media wanting to run D'Antoni out of town is based at least partially in stories floated by Walsh. I haven't seen much evidence of this, and some on this board like abcd have not erroneously suggested that the two are attached at the hip at least, and Walsh is D'Antoni's slave at the worst.
5) Eddy Curry to LAC for Baron Davis.
Simmons would not say where he heard it, or even if he heard it, but he make a couple of points about this trade. Donald Sterling is cheap as hell. This saves the LAC $3 million next year (even in the NBA, that's not small shakes) and gets rid of a disgruntled Baron Davis and his contract that runs PAST next year. The Knicks get a PG who thrives in front of big crowds, and will be more than happy to switch coasts to run in D'Antoni's system (I would think). I'm sure support will come in droves on this board for the moving of Eddy Curry for anything, but this solves our PG problem in a quick way, and gives us a guy to possibly attract a good free agent. I'm not sure how Baron is regarded in NBA circles amongst the players, but the chance to play with a pretty good PG is better than what we have now.