www.newsday.com/sports/basketb...0,1158105.story .....Here's to the Isiah apologists.
Need to develop development
The rookies and young players typically hang together. And they generally get to the arena at the same time and warm up together, before the veterans. But to anyone who has spent time watching how teams conduct their pregame rituals, it is apparent that the Knicks spend less time and emphasis on drilling and developing their young players.
Before one road game this season, a player development coach who had just worked his players through some intense pregame drills looked down at the Knicks' end of the court. Three veterans sat along the courtside seats and chatted while a few young players did some routine shooting. One Knicks assistant coach came out with a cup of coffee in hand.
"What's going on down there?" the opposing coach wondered.
This is not an indictment of the Knicks' current player development coach, Greg Brittenham, who has been in the Knicks' organization for 17 seasons. Brittenham often is sweating by the time he's done with warm-ups, but he generally seems to work harder than some of the players he's warming up. He and the other assistants also are doing most of his work before the head coach, Thomas, arrives at the arena. The players know it.
Chandler, who along with Lee is generally among the first players on the court for pregame work, was asked if he ever felt in this lost season, one in which he rarely plays, that just being on time was good enough at this point.
"Obviously," he said, "it comes to mind."
Collins, who learned about having a good work ethic when he played for John Chaney at Temple, said lazy tendencies creep in, especially when you feel lost in the shuffle. "There's times you feel like that, but you've got to realize doing nothing is not going to benefit you at all," he said. "I'd rather get in there and work out rather than just sit around and not do nothing at all. I've got good people around me, good agents, family, they all try to tell me to stay ready. Even the days I don't feel like it, I still get in there."
Blame Isiah for this, though ...
There was a time in this franchise when that motivation came straight from the head coach. Pat Riley used to order Charlie Ward and Monty Williams to go through three hours of work per day with then-assistant Jeff Van Gundy in 1994-95. Riley gave the rookies two days off a week. "It's been tough," Williams said back then during a season in which he rarely played on the veteran-laden team. "They expect perfection 110 percent each way."
Thomas' expectations vary so much that none is taken seriously anymore. In training camp he gave each player a copy of the Wally Pipp story, which was supposed to be a warning that there were young players on the roster whom he had no hesitation about promoting over any veteran. But only Lee and Nate Robinson, both in their third seasons, have seen consistent playing time.
"If we were playing better and had we started off better, they would have had the opportunity for more court time," Thomas said. "If your team's playing better, you can take more chances with the younger guys. But in the situation we're in now, you're trying to win as many games as you possibly can."
So much for Wally Pipp.
A hell of an article
Pure Circus act by President/Coach Isiah Thomas and his clueless coaching staff on how to make young players want to give up.