nuckles2k2
Superstar
The NBA trade-rumor mill has recently included Steve Nash's name, although that is viewed more as speculation than anything else.
Still, the Knicks are going to do their due diligence, just in case the Suns are actually interested in moving the face of their franchise.
The Knicks "will make an inquiry," one team source said regarding Nash's possible availability.
The Suns are 4-4 and probably wouldn't trade Nash until later in the season, and only if they fall out of the playoff race.
Coming off their embarrassing defeat in Minnesota on Friday, when they blew a 21-point lead and allowed Kevin Love pour in 31 points and grab 31 rebounds, the Knicks have to explore their options.
"If you can do something to make the team better, you do it," team president Donnie Walsh said, speaking in general terms about trades after the team's practice Saturday in Greenburgh. "That's pretty obvious. But in the meantime, you've got to play games, you've got to play the right way, you've got to get better and that's where we are."
Mike D'Antoni had his greatest success coaching Nash in Phoenix before he came to take over he Knicks, who are 3-6 and have lost four straight entering Sunday night's game at the Garden against the Rockets. He still is close with Nash and called his former playmaker to congratulate him on the birth of his son Friday. Nash made more off the court news Saturday, announcing that he and his wife, Alejandra, are in the process of a divorce after having lived separately for several month.
D'Antoni would not comment about the possibility of making a move for Nash, who likely would not want to leave Phoenix for the Knicks.
With the Knicks falling, D'Antoni and Walsh are far more concerned about the team's lack of mental toughness and failure to close out close games.
"We have nine games and the pressure of that here in New York makes it even greater, like, 'Oh God, Rome is falling. It's burning,'" Walsh said. "And you know, you've got 73 more games. It's not time to be making proclamations from my standpoint. There's some things I like, there's some things I don't like because we're not doing them well."
Walsh could not have liked the fact that even with Stoudemire, an All-NBA big man, the Knicks could not contend with Love, who has never been mistaken for Moses Malone.
"You said that," Walsh snapped in agreement when a reporter said not to compare Love and Malone.
In losing to a team that had been defeated in seven of nine games, the Knicks allowed the kind of epic performance that hadn't been seen in the NBA since Malone compiled a 30-30 in 1982.
"I knew this was going to be a tough month, with guys learning how to play together," Walsh said, referencing the team's 10 new players. "We're playing against good teams, we're playing away from home a lot and we just have to work our way through it. And we've got to find out what type of mental strength we have."
So far, it doesn't look like much, with two fourth-quarter collapses in their last three games, with the other coming against another sub.-500 team, the Sixers, at the Garden last Sunday.
Walsh appears to be bracing for more late-game failures. Unsolicited, he went back to when he first came to New York to clean up Isiah Thomas' mess.
"I knew when I came up here it wasn't going to be an easy deal, all right?" he said. "It just isn't easy when you're rebuilding. It's not. It's not going to be easy. And it's my responsibility, so if there's anybody to blame, it's probably going to be me. I've told you guys, that's OK with me. I do know, I feel, that we are in a better position as we move forward with where we are now than where we came here and that's all I can say."
The Rockets (2-7) are missing starters Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks due to injuries. The Knicks will go back to their opening-night lineup, with Timofey Mozgov starting at center and Wilson Chandler returning to the bench.
When in doubt....go get the PG who made your career as a coach.
Mike make Nash or did Nash make Mike?
Let the discussion commence.
I do hate D'Antoni's demeanor tho. It's not that we're losing games...it's that we're losing games in the same exact fashion as we did last year when we had a completely different and inferior roster.
Our players are different, our coach is the same, our play late in the game is still just as poor as it was last year. Last couple of years is was "our roster isn't good enough" and now it's "our roster is new, it needs to gel....oh and we need to look into acquiring the guy that kind of made D'Antoni's career."
I love Nash as much as the next guy, but there's no way we should be giving up assets to bring him in at his age. If I have to choose between a team that D'Antoni could "coach" with Nash, and a team with neither...I'll take the latter. Because our roster isn't bad, our lack of teaching and coaching is.