Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Disasterpiece.

Seriously, how can it get much worse? I was at the Knicks/Lakers debacle last night, and Chris Sheridan—a friend and former AP writer who now writes for ESPN.com—stated that this Knicks era and team wasn't the worst, that it was worse in the Felton Spencer era. Now, it actually took me a minute to remember that Spencer (a soft-in-the-middle bust center who had braces during his stint with the Knicks) was even in New York in the first place, but I don't know. Did anyone think it could get this bad?

It's like Larry Brown is trying to play chess (that's giving him a HUGE benefit of the doubt that I'm pretty sure he doesn't deserve) with Monopoly pieces on a backgammon board. There's no sense to it. And the last two games were just astounding. A Larry Brown coached team giving up 250 points on back-to-back nights? Losing by a combined 52 points? And to the Hawks and the Lakers, neither of who should be competing for a championship. They also allowed the Lakers—not just Kobe, the entire team—to shoot 71 percent (and score 70 points) in the second half last night. In contrast, tonight against the Pacers, with 3:50 to go in the GAME, the Lakers have 73 total points.

Don't give me the whole "rebuilding" thing, either. This is rebuilt! Isn't that what Isiah told us? The payroll's still over $100 million, most positions are filled by vets. Also, THERE IS NO NUMBER ONE PICK to bail out a lottery-bound team. That belongs to Chicago. And even when Penny Hardaway and Antonio Davis disappear off the books this summer, it's not like they'll have cap space to pursue any free agents.

And why would anyone want to come to New York right now anyway? I thought about it while walking home yesterday—the Knicks play in the biggest market in the country, in the best gym to play ball in, have a gleaming new practice facility and the alleged best coach in the game. You'd think a superstar would totally want to play here. But right now, the way things are? I can't imagine a single big name—Wade, LeBron, Kobe, KG—wanting to come here. Well, Kobe maybe, he's the only one crazy enough to think he could turn it all around himself.

Also, what exactly is the esteemed teacher Mr. Brown teaching? Has anyone learned ANYTHING, except to be sure to check the lineup/inactive list very carefully each day? Jamal Crawford is still erratic and turnover prone, Eddy Curry still can't rebound, Jerome James—well, it's best not to even talk about him.

Meanwhile, the rookies are hitting the wall, the best player is the guy who was picked up on waivers (Qyntel Woods), and James Dolan should be happy most of his season tickets are in the hands of corporate drones instead of real fans.

At this point, it's hard to believe that Trevor Ariza's the only member of the organization who's delusional.

1 comment:

TRINI said...

Hey Russ,

Thoughts on the AD/Jalen trade?