TR1LL10N
Hannibal Lecter
Dear Haters, Pessimists and Fake Knick Fans,
(I am not going to name names but you know who you are)
It is clear some of you are vested in failure to vindicate your crying, whining and the hate of our Knick organization and the 2010 plan. For nearly two years many of you have thrown borderline temper tantrums at every move this team made to shed salary. We have spent close to a decade in turmoil, lurching from one inept front office to another. This lead to bringing in overpaid ex-all stars who did not mesh well together in the hopes of turning someone elses headache into a success for the Knicks. It netted one playoff appearance and not a single playoff win. It turned our franchise into the laughing stock of the NBA and arguably the worst managed franchise in all of American sports.
Two years ago Donnie Walsh was hired to change that trajectory and wipe the slate clean in order to rebuild our team into a contender. It was impossible for this plan to happen overnight and many thought it was impossible to do it by the summer of 2010. Walsh was single minded in his pursuit and accomplished what he set out to do. (no, he never said it was Lebron or bust in spite of some assertions on this board) His plan was to rid the Knicks of as many of the toxic players and contracts as possible, breathing new life into the organization and he has done precisely that! We went into the biggest free agent summer in the NBA's history with the MOST amount of money to spend while holding on to as many young assets as possible. We went from the highest payroll to one of if not the lowest in the league in 24 short months. This feat alone is a major accomplishment and puts us back on a path of fiscal sanity after years of mismanagement.
Walsh seized on an opportunity to aquire a top 5 coach in the league knowing full well that rough times were ahead. Many of us understood that Mike D'antoni was acquired because he was the best coach available, not because we thought he would turn a team without a center, competent PG or star into a contender. It would have been nice for the Knicks to have beat out expectations and overachieve but sadly that did not happen. Each time the Knicks started to get on a bit of a roll we made a trade in order to shed salary and capitalize on the inflated value of the traded player. We should be thanking D'antoni for taking the job knowing that we were at the beginning of a 2 year rebuilding plan, not hating on him! He put his reputation and win/loss record on the line to come to the Knicks in the hopes that Donnie Walsh would do everything possible to turn this franchise around. Many in the media and on this board bought into the notion that a coach of the year winner, Olympic Gold medal winner, Euro/Italian league hall of famer who lead the Suns to back to back 60+ win seasons can't teach defense. It's laughable and anyone who cared to look past the talking points could clearly see that he is more then competent on coaching defense. He happens to be an offensive specialist and designed a completely new offensive system so his prowess as a defensive coach got swept under the rug. I have posted several videos and quotes proving D'ant understands and actively coaches defense so all these attacks are baseless. People also overstated his issues with players pinning the blame on coach while completely absolving the the player from any responsibility. People used quotes from Amare to prove their case that D'ant is not a good coach yet Amare ran back to his coach, apologized for his lack of maturity and is signing his praises. Let's be clear, Amare did not have to sign with the Knicks but chose to, knowing full well who are coach was.
So now that we signed a top 5 big in the league who is hungry to play in New York some of you still complain and whine. I was not originally sold on Amare and have even called him overrated but he is now a Knick and that means I will embrace and defend him. I strongly feel he will be dominate in NY and paired with the right players will be one of the linchpins in a title contending team. He also commands a double team and our shooters should benefit as well. People can claim he is overpaid but what are we really talking about...1-3 million a year? I for one look forward to him exploding in the Garden wearing orange and blue getting the crowd rocking! He has coutless playoff experiance including battles against the Lakers and Spurs. Most importantly he makes the Knicks relevant again and brings star power to the Garden. (we may once again have a starter repping the Knicks again in the all-star game)
The acquisition of Amare also makes us the most attractive roster available to acquire Lebron James and I firmly believe Lebron will be announcing that he is coming to the Knicks tomorrow night. I am optimistic and hopeful unlike some who rather us fail just to scream "I told you so" while ignoring that Lebron was just ONE path towards building a contender. Lebron or not the Knicks have already upgraded our roster and wiped the stench of Layden and Isiah away. We have a ton of cap space left and the flexibility of Curry's contract moving forward. That my friends is success!
Amare said it best...The Knicks are back!
(I am not going to name names but you know who you are)
It is clear some of you are vested in failure to vindicate your crying, whining and the hate of our Knick organization and the 2010 plan. For nearly two years many of you have thrown borderline temper tantrums at every move this team made to shed salary. We have spent close to a decade in turmoil, lurching from one inept front office to another. This lead to bringing in overpaid ex-all stars who did not mesh well together in the hopes of turning someone elses headache into a success for the Knicks. It netted one playoff appearance and not a single playoff win. It turned our franchise into the laughing stock of the NBA and arguably the worst managed franchise in all of American sports.
Two years ago Donnie Walsh was hired to change that trajectory and wipe the slate clean in order to rebuild our team into a contender. It was impossible for this plan to happen overnight and many thought it was impossible to do it by the summer of 2010. Walsh was single minded in his pursuit and accomplished what he set out to do. (no, he never said it was Lebron or bust in spite of some assertions on this board) His plan was to rid the Knicks of as many of the toxic players and contracts as possible, breathing new life into the organization and he has done precisely that! We went into the biggest free agent summer in the NBA's history with the MOST amount of money to spend while holding on to as many young assets as possible. We went from the highest payroll to one of if not the lowest in the league in 24 short months. This feat alone is a major accomplishment and puts us back on a path of fiscal sanity after years of mismanagement.
Walsh seized on an opportunity to aquire a top 5 coach in the league knowing full well that rough times were ahead. Many of us understood that Mike D'antoni was acquired because he was the best coach available, not because we thought he would turn a team without a center, competent PG or star into a contender. It would have been nice for the Knicks to have beat out expectations and overachieve but sadly that did not happen. Each time the Knicks started to get on a bit of a roll we made a trade in order to shed salary and capitalize on the inflated value of the traded player. We should be thanking D'antoni for taking the job knowing that we were at the beginning of a 2 year rebuilding plan, not hating on him! He put his reputation and win/loss record on the line to come to the Knicks in the hopes that Donnie Walsh would do everything possible to turn this franchise around. Many in the media and on this board bought into the notion that a coach of the year winner, Olympic Gold medal winner, Euro/Italian league hall of famer who lead the Suns to back to back 60+ win seasons can't teach defense. It's laughable and anyone who cared to look past the talking points could clearly see that he is more then competent on coaching defense. He happens to be an offensive specialist and designed a completely new offensive system so his prowess as a defensive coach got swept under the rug. I have posted several videos and quotes proving D'ant understands and actively coaches defense so all these attacks are baseless. People also overstated his issues with players pinning the blame on coach while completely absolving the the player from any responsibility. People used quotes from Amare to prove their case that D'ant is not a good coach yet Amare ran back to his coach, apologized for his lack of maturity and is signing his praises. Let's be clear, Amare did not have to sign with the Knicks but chose to, knowing full well who are coach was.
So now that we signed a top 5 big in the league who is hungry to play in New York some of you still complain and whine. I was not originally sold on Amare and have even called him overrated but he is now a Knick and that means I will embrace and defend him. I strongly feel he will be dominate in NY and paired with the right players will be one of the linchpins in a title contending team. He also commands a double team and our shooters should benefit as well. People can claim he is overpaid but what are we really talking about...1-3 million a year? I for one look forward to him exploding in the Garden wearing orange and blue getting the crowd rocking! He has coutless playoff experiance including battles against the Lakers and Spurs. Most importantly he makes the Knicks relevant again and brings star power to the Garden. (we may once again have a starter repping the Knicks again in the all-star game)
The acquisition of Amare also makes us the most attractive roster available to acquire Lebron James and I firmly believe Lebron will be announcing that he is coming to the Knicks tomorrow night. I am optimistic and hopeful unlike some who rather us fail just to scream "I told you so" while ignoring that Lebron was just ONE path towards building a contender. Lebron or not the Knicks have already upgraded our roster and wiped the stench of Layden and Isiah away. We have a ton of cap space left and the flexibility of Curry's contract moving forward. That my friends is success!
Amare said it best...The Knicks are back!