Wednesday, February 21, 2007

2/21 - The Season is Over...


Yeah, it's not officially over, but after a disgusting loss to the bottom-feeding Philadelphia 76ers, this team doesn't seem prepared to improve. David Lee was out of the lineup with the flu, and the Knicks couldn't find anyone else to take his place. Crawford was horrendous, and I forgot Channing Frye was in the building for most of the game.


Mike Breen interviewed Isiah Thomas before the game, who again echoed his own statement of no trades. He claims he is happy with the group he has, and that they are playoff ready. I don't know how you could be happy with a player like Channing Frye (drafted two years ago #8) who has regressed in improving as a player, and for some reason only knows how to shoot 18 foot jump shots. How can you be happy with a guy like Jared Jefferies, who you touted as a defensive force, who does absolutely nothing to help the team. He killed the late momentum by the Knicks when he committed a charge on one end, only to follow it up with a foolish foul at the other end.


Again, a three-point shooter lit up the Knicks, as Kyle Korver basically did whatever he wanted on the court thanks to Jamal Crawford's lack luster defense. Eddy Curry had a good game as usual, but didn't get any help. One bright spot was the rookies Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins working well on the court together, especially Balkman, who seemed to be the only player on the court who wanted to turn their late run into a win.


So after dropping to 24-31 tonight, is Isiah still content with this team? Steve Francis barely played tonight, get rid of him. Some foolish GM will probably bite on a former all-star who contributes nothing on the court besides turnovers and bad jump shots. What about Channing Frye? He is a one dimensional player who hasn't shown any desire to refine his game. I'm sure some team out there thinks they can turn him into a low post monster. They don't know the truth, he is SOFT. It's pathetic. We have David Lee, there's no need for some dainty loser who seems lost in the low post.


To me, it seems as though the simple answer would be to drop the coach himself. Isiah has babied his players all year, patting them on the back after a loss with a "we'll get 'em next time" mentality. Well there is no next time when you can't manage to beat a team like Philly, who has nothing, absolutely nothing, to play for the remainder of the season.


The sad truth is that Isiah will be the last one out. Owner James Dolan is scared to make a move, so this team will be in his hands through the summer, and at least into next season. So now what will the coach/president do? Maybe the idea of a trade should be revisited. There are still a few things that can be done to have one last shot:


  1. Make a trade tomorrow. Something needs to be done to overshadow this embarassing loss. Move Channing Frye and/or Nate Robinson. Neither one of them fit into this team's rotation. Try to get a slashing forward or a pure shooter.

  2. Trade or buy out Steve Francis. Just get rid of him somehow. Trade him for an expiring contract and a second round pick. All he does is take away minutes from other players and make foolish decisions on the court. I'm sick of him pretending to want to be here, because he obviously doesn't, and I don't want him here either.

  3. Start David Lee. What else does the kid need to prove? He is pulling down double digit rebounds off the bench every damn night. His scoring has improved, and he knows what to do with the ball when he gets it. Pull your head out of your ass Isiah, no one cares about his so called energy off the bench, which leads me to my next point.

  4. With Frye gone and Lee starting, Balkman moves up into the rotation. He is slowly becoming the David Lee of last season, lifting this team up off the bench. He plays hard every time he is in the game, time to reward the guy with minutes and stop giving them to Jared Jefferies. Hopefully the trade acquisition is a scoring guard or forward to replace Francis, and now you have a solid rotation.

  5. Nine man rotation: Starting five: Marbury, Q-Rich (in his real position of SG), Rashard Lewis (example), Curry, and Lee. Off the bench we have Crawford (in the role that made him the MVP of the Knicks last year), Balkman, Jefferies, and Rose/James/Collins.

Of course none of these things will happen, Isiah will keep doing ridiculous things like starting Jerome James, and the Knicks will miss the playoffs again. There are less than 18 hours until the trade deadline. Please give me a reason to keep caring about this team.

Be back tomorrow. Sorry I forgot about the links today. Hopefully this rant will do for now.

Here's one link thanks to the only person who comments on my blog, simply known as "V". Jason Whitlock, also known as the fat guy who is on PTI sometimes, seems to have been one of the only people to trash this past All-Star Weekend. Check it out, and thanks to "V" for the link.



No comments: