With my dad coming from up-state New York, and me growing up in Sacramento, as far as basketball was concerned, I considered myself a New York Knicks fan first, and a Sacramento Kings fan second. Well, early in my life, I'm sure I rooted for Magic Johnson and the Lakers more than I ever rooted for the Kings. But that changed somewhere in high-school, probably around the same time the Kings actually got decent.
Anyway, having lived in the City for the past three-and-a-half years means that, as a self-purported Knicks fan, I've been able to watch first hand the incompetence of the Isaiah Thomas era and the running-aground style of ownership of Jim Dolan. The Knicks have been a collection of bad trades, poor drafting, and lackadaisical execution for a while, and while I'm not as hardcore as some Knicks fans (the NBA doesn't rank that high on my list of things-I-like), it's been tough to pay attention to.
Of course, last year they booted Isaiah, brought in Donnie Walsh, hired coach Mike D'Antoni, and he installed his up-tempo offense that players seem to love. While D'Antoni had lots of success with Steve Nash in Phoenix, those Suns teams never made the finals because, it seems to me and some local NBA-covering reporters, those teams never contorted themselves into defensive units. So what did we have last year in the Garden? High tempo offense...32 wins instead of 28...and almost no emphasis on defense.
Eddy Curry, a mountain of a man and an Isaiah import (bust), touted by the I-man as the next Shaq, played all of 14 minutes last season. Really though, he had a stomach flu that made it hard for him to get in proper shape, and his daughter was murdered in Chicago, which obviously is a tragedy, and one from which that it'd be understandable to want to take some time off. David Lee, a white-kid forward and rebound specialist, is a great young player--he ranked all season in the top-ten in rebound average--and he wasn't even a starter. Explain that to me.
Now, I saw in the paper today something that boggles the mind and cracks me up, like in May when the papers are worried about how many games the Yankees are behind in the Wild Card standings...in May...well, this season for the Knicks has been rendered basically meaningless, as all eyes are looking forward to July 1st of next year. That's the day LeBron James could become a free-agent by opting out of his contract. He could become a free-agent, which means he could sign with the Knicks, which would make the Knicks relevant again...
Whether he wants to sign with the Knicks...whether he wants to leave Ohio and Cleveland, where he is treated as a god first, a king second, and a governor third is another question...
There is a graphic in the paper today saying "Only 274 more days until LeBron could be a free-agent"...and that's how the Knicks season is going, and will be branded throughout the NY media all year...let's just wait for the free-agent class of 2010. LeBron is dream candidate number One, Dwayne Wade is dream candidate number Two, then a toss-up between Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudamire...
New York teams don't rebuild (maybe the Jets and the Nets, over in east Rutherford, are allowed to rebuild), they just restock, and the Knicks have a tough road ahead, made even tougher by the fact they refuse, and have refused the past four or so years, to admit that "rebuilding" is what is necessary. So, we wait until next July, with a pesky season to play in between.
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