Mike D'Antoni to Bill Walker: "You either show up to camp looking nappy or I'll find someone who will."

In a team survey asking which Knick would make the best standup comedian, the Knicks answered, almost to a man, Bill Walker.  Which I found strange, because Walker usually looks like he’s one wrong look from snapping and killing everyone on the court.  He has a little Kendrick Perkins in him – scowl on the court, sweetheart off it – and since arriving from Boston last year he’s shown flashes of NBA rotation quality.

Unfortunately, as great a standup as he might be, his best chance to win a title will probably come with him sitting down.  Walker’s skill set is a study in positives – and there are positives – mitigated somehow by very specific negatives or a simple lack of production.  His greatest skill would have to be his outside shooting, but his overall game doesn’t merit enough minutes for him to find a shooting groove – it’s unfair to expect him to come in and immediately get hot in just ten minutes a game.  The Shawne Williams renaissance of last winter could’ve easily been the Bill Walker coming out party, but Williams did enough other things just well enough to keep himself on the floor after his three-point barrage leveled off.

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There’s no shame in being the least talented player in the NBA. It’d be like poking fun at a co-worker because he had a one night stand with the “ugliest” model featured in last year’s SI Swimsuit issue. Becoming a professional basketball player is more than a dream come true for the few who’ve cracked the fraternity. It’s serious recognition for putting in enough hours of hard work to fill a mountain, displaying top notch discipline since middle school, and, to be honest, being blessed with the luck of a lottery winner.  (more…)

In many regards, Mason Jr. was a major disappointment considering with San Antonio in the 2008-2009 season, he averaged almost 12 points and shot 42% from three, making 166 of them.  His numbers dropped off in 2009-2010, but he still averaged over six points and played 79 games.  In Mason Jr’s defense, he was never given a real opportunity to play with the Knicks.  We have all learned how Coach D’antoni can designate a player to the bench for a very long time.

Finally in the playoffs, do to all of the Knicks injuries, Mason Jr. received more PT and played much better.  In the series against the Celtics, Mason Jr. played in three of the four games and averaged around six points.   Maybe if D’antoni gave him more of a shot, the Knicks would have seen better results.  I don’t understand how Mason Jr. was good enough to get significant PT with the Spurs and not the Knicks.  I guess Mike D’antoni must know more than Gregg Popovich. (more…)

In his first season as a professional basketball player, Landry Fields was a victim of his own success. The consistent play he exerted night in and night out for one of the most scrutinized franchises in professional sports had New Yorkers quietly hoping he was cut from the same stoic cloth as Derek Jeter, ready to inherit the city’s longstanding role as the billboard worthy tall, dark, and handsome athlete women love and men strive to be.

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Toney Douglas hides his partially torn right labrum from public view.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the Celtics series – you know, after the injuries, the crunch-time mishaps and the shady, WWE-style officiating – was the drawing of conclusions about our Knicks.  The series ended a lopsided 4-0 sweep and the drive-by national sports media, who pick about five teams to actually watch during the season, decided this team was utterly ill-equipped to compete against the Celtics, as if the Knicks had really been banking on Anthony Carter, Roger Mason and Jared Jeffries in crunch time all year.  That in turn led to the old standbys to which we’ve become accustomed: “The D’Antoni style doesn’t win,” which is true, when two of his three best players are hurt; “defense wins championships,” which is something people say when they have nothing else to say; and my new favorite, “Boston exposed the Knicks’ lack of depth after the Anthony trade,” which was great because it came from the “Melo’s a bargain at any price” crowd.  People treated that series like the Knicks played at full strength, and judged them accordingly when they failed.

One Knick in particular suffers from a similar mischaracterization.  Toney Douglas had a strong second half of his rookie season, shooting far better than we’d hoped while patrolling the defensive perimeter with a zeal we may not have seen since Derek Harper.  The showing gave us a glimmer of hope that the late first-rounder could be our point guard of the future.  Yet he is dogged by factors that are to an extent out of his control: he played the entire season with a partially torn labrum, for which he finally had surgery two weeks ago and may be out of action until September; and of course, even to many Knicks fans, there’s that old adage that sure, you can play Douglas at point guard, but he’s just not a “true” point guard.

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(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Hate to drag you down memory lane but let’s go back and talk about Game 4 for a second, particularly the second half. Questions like this are irritating, but which Knick do you think wanted to win the most? Who played the hardest? Who believed his team could create a miraculous comeback for the ages even while trailing by three games and double digit points in the series’ deciding game? If you’ve yet to erase the game’s details from your memory, only a few candidates are presenting themselves. And if you read the title of this post, then you know my answer: Anthony Carter.

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(Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

He was meant to be a throw in. An unnecessary incentive to complete a blockbuster deal; the free toy a near starving child would receive when all he really wants is to sink his desperate little teeth into that ever so juicy happy meal. As those who have been following basketball regularly for the past 10 years can attest, Chauncey Billups is more like a side of fries—even in this final stage of his borderline Hall of Fame worthy career. (more…)

As a photographer, you can only shoot Renaldo from so many angles.

If there’s one thing I learned in college, it’s that Wikipedia can teach you a hell of a lot.  You can read about anything: the Siege of Tyre, perhaps, or what goes in a Red Death, or a list of sexual positions arranged by body torque.  It’s one of the great innovations of the Internet age.  Nothing tops it.  Except possibly the Red Death.

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(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Welcome to the very first installment of Bucket Over Broadway’s “The Knicks A-Z”. Over the next few weeks, in alphabetical order, we’ll be breaking down every single player that ended the season on New York’s official roster. No matter the minutes played, the amount of money earned, or the level of production amassed, each player will receive a detailed forecast based on how he can help the Knicks in their hopeful future.

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