There’s talk about the Knicks going after Tracy McGrady again. That would truly be fantastic since it worked so well last time. When McGrady was a Knick in 2010, he averaged 9.3 points per game. Who wouldn’t want that kind of production? Sign him for $50 million I say!

This is a pretty ridiculous story that needs to go away. look, T-Mac is a move Isiah Thomas would make. Last season with the Hawks, he averaged 5.2 points per game. The Knicks need more production than what McGrady has left.

More interesting is Kenyon Martin, who the Knicks are also pursuing. While Kenyon is also ancient in NBA years, (he averaged just 5.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG last season for the Clippers), he brings an poor man’s Oakley-like toughness to the team. (A poor, poor man’s Oakley that is, but nonetheless, more Oakley-like than McGrady, and the Knicks need some toughness.) Money has been, and is the issue with Martin though, as he does not want to sign for the minimum, which is what the Knicks can afford. (more…)

January 15, 2011; Denver, CO USA; Florida International Panthers head coach Isiah Thomas during a game against Denver Pioneers at Magness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Andrew B. Fielding-US PRESSWIRE

The best thing that happened to the Knicks franchise was the day Thomas was relieved of his duties of general manager and coach of this team. The damage Thomas did in his brief tenure in the Big Apple is still trying to be fixed in the present day.

However there could be bad news on the horizon for Knicks’ fans and that, according to a report from ESPN’s Ian Begley, Thomas and Knicks’ owner James Dolan met for lunch on Friday.

That by itself is not earth shattering news as Dolan and Thomas remain close friends and quite frankly deserve each other, but the timing is curious. MSG president Scott O’Neil announced he was stepping down from his post on Wednesday.

It’s highly unlikely that Thomas would be in the running for the president position, which is a job that includes marketing and sponsorship responsibilities. but Dolan has always wanted to bring Thomas back in some capacity; including in 2010 when he tried to hire Thomas as a consultant. Thankfully that was nixed by the NBA because of Thomas’ position as head coach of Florida International.

However there has always been speculation that Dolan wanted to bring Thomas back in some official capacity and since Thomas was fired by FIU in April, unfortunately the timing works out well for both parties.

Knicks’ general manager Glen Grunwald and head coach Mike Woodson are also close to Thomas as all three were teammates at Indiana University.

The worst part is that Thomas remains interested in the Knicks, telling Ian O’Connor in November 2010 that he thinks about running the Knicks again, “every day of the week.”

Personally, I can’t believe bringing Thomas back would ever be considered, although I can’t believe most of what Dolan does. If letting Jeremy Lin walk didn’t irritate most Knicks fans, bring back Thomas would alienate the rest of the fan base.

Things like that don’t go through Dolan’s mind though, so unfortunately it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Dolan announces Thomas’ return in the near future. All Knicks fans can do now is hope and pray that it doesn’t happen.

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10. Hiring Larry Brown: In 2005 Brown was given a 5-year, 50 million dollar contract to help revitalize The Knicks. He ended up going 23-59 in his only season with the team, and was subsequently fired.

9. Trading Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson, and Nene: In 2002, The Knicks traded Camby, Jackson, and Nene in exchange for Antonio McDyess, Frank Williams, and a second round pick (Maciej Lampe). Camby went on to earn a Defensive Player of the Year award and Nene ended up on the All-Rookie First Team. On the other hand, McDyess, Williams, and Lampe barely lasted for 2 seasons, and helped the Knicks to continue avoiding the playoffs.

8. Signing Allan Houston to a max contract: In 2001, The Knicks and Houston agreed to a contract that paid him over 20 million dollars a year. Houston would barely be able to play any games under that contract due to his serious knee problems over the next four years, and in 2005 he announced his retirement. You can’t blame Houston, but the Knicks giving a 30 year old such a huge contract was a risk that resulted in restricted cap space throughout the first half of the 2000′s.

7. Trading Patrick Ewing: In 2000, Patrick Ewing was nearing the end of his contract, and the Knicks could not reach terms for extending their aging center. Stories differ that Ewing requested his trade or that the Knicks pushed him out, but the result was trading away an 18 million dollar expiring contract for bad contracts that would continue to hamper them from signing free agents through the first half of the decade.

6. Signing Jerome James: Are you kidding me? Jerome James was signed to a 5 year, 30 million dollar contract by Isiah Thomas. James supposedly deserved this contract due to his better than average play in the playoffs the previous season. In his 4 seasons with the Knicks, he played in a whopping 90 games, and was traded away for Larry Hughes in 2009.

5. Drafting Jordan Hill: I know this sounds crazy, but I partly blame this rare poor decision by Donnie Walsh for Lebron James not coming to the Knicks. The Knicks chose Hill over Brandon Jennings, yes you read that correctly. Jennings would be the best point guard this team has had all decade, but instead we took half a season of Jordan Hill. Many said that Lebron did not want to have the pressure of leading the Knicks all by himself, but could you imagine a trio of Jennings, Stoudemire, and Lebron? Not to mention that Jennings would have still been on his rookie contract, and therefore we could have filled the roster with great talent! I dream on, but still no one can deny that Jordan Hill was a big bust.

4. Acquiring  for Eddy Curry: The Knicks gave up a couple draft picks, but in case you don’t know who they turned out to be let me enlighten you: LaMarcus Aldridge and Joakim Noah! As a fan you may be able to live with that, if Eddy Curry did not turn out to be a bloated player with a bloated contract. He did not rebound or defend, and ended up playing almost no games once Mike D’antoni took over in 2008, while still earning 13 million dollars a year.

3. Trading for Stephon Marbury: There is not that much to say, because everyone knows why this was a bad move for the Knicks. He was a selfish and temperamental star. His feud with Larry Brown contributed to Brown’s firing, while his feud with Mike D’antoni resulted in Marbury’s firing. After a few years in New York, Stephon Marbury’s career ended up much like his shoes–falling apart. 

2. The coming of Isiah Thomas: His terrible contracts, his atrocious draft picks, and his poor trading decisions got him to number 2 on this list. He is responsible for Steve Francis, Ronaldo Balkman, Jared Jefferies, Fred Jones, Jerome James, and many many more terrible players getting a chance to play for an NBA team. How would someone like this keep his job for so long? Well, you become best friends with your boss of course! James Dolan and Thomas are famously friends, and it has long been rumored that Thomas is still pulling strings behind closed doors. Which brings us to…

1. Viacom selling MSG properties to Cablevision and ITT Corporation: This was the move in 1994, that ultimately led to what may be the worst day in Knicks History, because 2 years after Cablevision bought out ITT in 1997, James Dolan was made the Chairman of Madison Square Garden. I want you to scroll up to the top of this article, and read # 10 – #2 again, because these were all under Dolan’s supervision. In a world where Viacom sells the Knicks to ANYONE ELSE, all of the above would erased. James Dolan continues to make mistakes even with the newfound success of the team. Two years ago he traded everyone and their brother to Denver for Carmelo Anthony, and this summer he paid player after player to come to the Knicks before deciding that signing Jeremy Lin would be too much money.

Dolan has had limited success as the owner of both the Rangers and the Knicks. The Knicks have not won a playoff series since 2001, and have not won a playoff game since 2003 (until this season). Dolan oversaw the coming and going of several high profile name coaches including Larry Brown, Jeff Van Gundy, and Lenny Wilkens. There was one coach in particular that was bad news for the Knicks: Dolan’s good pal, Isiah Thomas.

Antonelli/News

Thomas had been a Hall of Fame Point Guard in his days with Detroit. After retiring from playing, Thomas had some success as the coach of the Indiana Pacers, but was ultimately fired due to lack of experience as a coach. In 2003, Thomas was hired as the President of Basketball Operations of the Knicks.

As the head of the front office, Isiah made poor decisions including trading away draft picks, signing players to ridiculous contracts (Jerome James anyone?), and having a team with the highest payroll and second lowest win total. It is also to be noted that Thomas brought controversy to the team when he was charged with a sexual misconduct lawsuit. Dolan of course extended Thomas’ contract even while the Knicks were playing mediocre.

Dolan made what may be the best decision of his career when he hired Donnie Walsh to replace Thomas as President of Basketball Operations. Walsh came in and cleared out the bad contracts Thomas had created, and fired Thomas replacing him with Mike D’Antoni. It is rumored that Dolan’s friendship with Thomas remained, and that Thomas was secretly running the show behind closed doors.

Walsh lost out on LeBron James, but still ended up with a winning team including young talent like Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire, Danilo Galinari, and Timofey Mozgov. At this time, the Carmelo Anthony rumors began, and that his preferred destination was New York. Walsh did not want to give up too much for ‘Melo knowing that he could sign him in the offseason, but Dolan demanded that the trade be executed, and he went above Walsh’s head in order to give away more talent.

Walsh did not like that he did not have autonomy over the team, and Dolan could not come to terms with a new contract, so Walsh was replaced with Glen Grunwald. Grunwald is credited with seeing Jeremy Lin’s potential after he was released from Houston. Lin blew up on to the scene with Linsanity in February. His contract would be up at the end of the season, and everyone and their brother assumed that Lin’s contract would be matched no matter what.

That was not the case. After Houston offered Lin a large back-ended offer for three years of service, Dolan was allowed three days to decide if he should match it. After a free agency that including paying big money for Camby, Kidd, and Felton, it seemed like the Knicks did not worry about luxury taxes and cap room. It seemed wrong, because Dolan decided not to match Lin’s deal–letting one of the most famous athletes on the planet walk away from one of the most famous teams.

Avoiding that contract may have been the smart thing to do, and I believe it may end of being a wise move by Dolan, but that doesn’t matter to Lin’s fanbase. Dolan can’t win, and people are mad at him for taking away their beloved star.

While Dolan may be one of the more wealthy owners willing to dig deep into his pockets in order to have his team win, he also may be one of the most involved in a business that he knows nothing about. Dolan deserves all of the hate he receives from the fans, but he can reverse his fortune by keeping himself out of the way. The Knicks need an owner who will shut up and win. I doubt that will happen.

Amare – 12-15 FG, 31 Pts in 24:13 (WOW!)

Carmelo – 12-16 FG, 34 Pts in 30:11

When asked in the post game press conference whether now we should expect nights like this on a regular basis, Carmelo laughed at the silly question, looked down at the box score in front of him and said something to the effect of, “Ain’t gonna be too many nights that the two of us miss only 7 shots”. Damn right about that, but it was pretty damn fun to watch anyway. You can credit the awful Jazz defensive effort some for the inflated stat line, but clearly Anthony and Stoudemire are tow of the most gifted offensive talents in the NBA and are capable of combining for 65 points on any given night.

Here are a few other intriguing things that came out of Carmelo’s mouth. He talked about how he and Amar’e are beginning now to play off of each other. This revelation was apparent very early on in this beatdown, as Melo assisted on three Amar’e buckets in a 3-minute stretch of the first quarter. The best part of Carmelo’s dishing and Stoudemire’s swishing was that STAT’s buckets came from different spots on the floor. One 19 footer, one layup at right next to the rim, one short 7-footer.

To me, this showed that Melo is beginning to recognize where Amar’e is on the floor on different offensive sets and he using his ability to draw attention of more than one defender to “get” Amar’e open. In fact, Anthony said as much in his post game comments, explaining that since defender tend to gravitate toward him and not leave him to double team someone else, other guys (Stoudemire and Toney Douglas) will be open. It’s just a question or them knocking down shots, which they did early and often tonight.

Stoudemire actually took to the podium first. He basically brushed off the astounding shooting performance by the two stars and said, “Myself and Carmelo can score one-on-one with ease. Offense is not a problem for us”. It most definitely was not against a seemingly disinterested Utah squad that is obviously in shambles since Jerry Sloan stepped down and Deron Williams was dealt to New Jersey. Amar’e went on to echo some of the same sentiments as Carmelo in regards to the two of them being able to open up shots for the rest of the guys:

“The goal is to always keep the ball moving, and always keep the defense on [its] toes. They can’t quite guard us. If we keep the ball moving like we did tonight and other players get involved and make open shots, then it’s going to be hard to guard us”

Landry Fields put it best in the locker room when asked about his two superstar teammates, something to the effect of, “When STAT and Melo are playing like that, there’s not much anyone can do. Toney Douglas acknowledged that he knew it was up to guys like to knock down open shots when Melo and Amar’e are cooking like they were last night, because there would be opportunities aplenty.

I know it’s one game and the Knicks still have a ton of holes on defense and still struggle against squads/players with a big interior presence (case in point: Al Jefferson’s 36 pts tonight), but when was the last time this team had a laugher like this? After so many nights I sat in MSG, cringing at the poisonous atmosphere created by the Isiah’s Thomas’ reign of terror, last night was a blast. The always heady Garden fans chanting for Andy Rautins to enter the fray. Watching Stoudemire cheer lead for his boys continuing to pour it on the hapless Jazz in the final quarter. Seeing Renaldo Balkman swish a trifecta, fresh off the bench. Pure joy.

Yes this team has been enigmantic, and will likely continue to be so through the last 20 games of the regular season, but the the Knicks are relavant once again. Going to a game at Madison Square Garden is special again, and that’s the damn way it should be in this hoops town.

Last night, in his long awaited and much anticipated debut with the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds—leading his team in both categories.  The performance wasn’t overwhelming but it was impressive, and with it comes the serious weight of expectations.  This is New York. A place where the response to a 27 and 10 tally against Milwaukee will soon snowball into a “so where’s the 30, 15, and 8 nightly line?” outcry.  But, for one night, the people seem content. And so here we give you our daily links. Spoiler Alert! A lot of people are really excited.

* Let’s start with the basics.

* This will send chills down your spine. Guaranteed.

* Can the Knicks reach Yankee status?

* Funny, but let’s hope this isn’t you.

* Bloomberg gets in on the action.

* Isiah Thomas involvement is obviously the most worrisome, incredibly damaging long-term scenario any team, person, or fan base could ever have. But is it true? And why does James Dolan squint so much?

*When I said a lot of people were really excited, this guy wasn’t one of them.

* Neither is Rick Reilly.

* Last night was great for New York, and better for the Knicks. But how does Carmelo fit into D’Antoni’s offensive system?

* Let’s not forget Mr. Big Shot. While he may be 34 and on the decline, Billups is a better shooter and decision maker than Raymond Felton. Whether or not his legs can hold up is another story.

Clearly, we all know about the story that has developed over the past week or so since Howard Beck of the NY Times penned this piece back on January 31st. Donnie Walsh, who has been the driving force behind rescuing the Knicks from the depths of NBA/Isiah Thomas hell the past  2 1/2 years, is in contract limbo. He has an option for 2011-2012 that James Dolan must pick up by April 3oth or his current deal will expire on June 3oth. The enigmatic Knicks owner has not talked to the media in four years and his PR lackeys have given no comment on Walsh’s tenuous contract situation.

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Amar'e Stoudemire is the new King of Broadway (Source: Yardbarker.com)

After attending last night’s heartbreaker to the Celtics, I figured it would be a good time to add my initial contribution to the site .I don’t want to get too much into the nuts and bolts of the game, but just add a few observations of the scene at MSG before during and after the game. I’ll start out by saying that this is my 7th season covering the Knicks so I have witnessed some dark days at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

• Stephon Marbury anointing himself “the best point guard in the NBA” before the 2005 New Year’s Day tilt with the Jason Kidd’s Nets. We all know how that proclamation turned out.
• Nate Robinson’s circus act leading to a vicious brawl with the Denver Nuggets in December of 2006.
• Jerome James. Enough said.
• The poisonous atmosphere that existed during Isiah Thomas’ last days at the helm with the continuous “Fire Isiah” chants booming down from the rafters. The fact that two Italian dudes constructed this rap song just about says it all.

Last night, all of the darkness seemed to have drifted far away from that hallowed cathedral of hoops. There was life again in Madison Square Garden, the kind of life not seen since Latrell Sprewell roamed the court more than a decade ago.  It was the most pregame anticipation I had ever felt at that place. There was a tangible buzz in the crowd and the place erupted when the lights dimmed and the Knicks were introduced. Amar’e Stoudemire, the new hero on Broadway, got the loudest ovation any Knicks player has gotten in years. I’d say the guy deserves it with the way he’s been playing.

Ronny Turiaf then did his now customary twirling dance, circumventing the the rest of the Knicks players as they huddled under the basket. It almost like he’s a witch doctor casting some kind of voodoo on the opposing team. Pretty cool to see in person. Unfortunately on this night, there wasn’t quite enough voodoo to hold off what I would consider the best team in the Eastern Conference if not the entire NBA. Paul Pierce is a cry baby and gets phantom fouls a aplenty, but the guy is a cold-blooded killer in the 4th quarter. The second best closer in the NBA behind Kobe Bryant in my book. He stuck the dagger in the Knicks, but that does not temper the positive vibes I took from their performance last night.

Mike D’Antoni, Amar’e and Raymond Felton all expressed their disappointment in not being able to close the Celtics out during their postgame meetings with the press. Sometimes, you hear guys talk about no moral victories in losses, but you could tell each one of these guys was proud of the effort the Knicks put forth and you could see and hear a confidence and swagger continuing to build, even in defeat. Here is a little sampling of what I heard:

“Everybody has their own opinion. Real basketball players and people who understand the game know we have a good team and we can play with anybody. We lost a tough one against possibly the best team in the league.” -Raymond Felton

“I guarantee you that Boston respects us. We are not slouches. They know how good we can be and how good we are. We’ll see them again.” -Amar’e Stoudemire

Before I close up shop, here are few scenes I witnessed and heard while moving between the media room and the two locker rooms:

• Nate Robinson hooting and hollering and spitting out more obscenities than Rex Ryan as the Celtics left the court and headed to the visitor’s locker room. Pipe down Nate. Your act was one of the reasons this franchise was such a joke the past few years. Once a punk, always a punk I guess
• A smiling Kevin Garnett and the huge rocks in his ears talking to a small gathering in front of the media room after I left the Knicks locker room. He was chatting with a blond-haired woman about two feet shorter than he was and said something to the effect of, “Whew boy, did you feel the electricity in here tonight? [The Knicks] thought they had us but we are bunch of champions. Not gonna argue that one.
• Amar’e Stoudemire walking toward the exit leading out to the where the Knicks park their shiny vehicles next to Amber Rose. You may want to click on the link provided. Check out Amar’e's tweet from Dec 5th at 10:41 PM. That my friends is a bird call. It appears as if we may be seeing a lot more of Ms. Rose at MSG in the coming days

Bring on LeBron and crew. It appears these Knicks are not afraid to tangle with anyone.

Would you be willing to part with any of our new acquisitions for Melo?

According to Chris Broussard’s twitter page, sources tell him that Melo’s preferred destination is with the New York Knicks.

Isiah also thinks it’s down to Chicago or New York.

Take this for what it’s worth, but the fact that Broussard didn’t throw out Chicago as well might actually mean this is true. In Isiah’s case he’s just talking just to talk.

With all the Melo rumors still swirling around one HAS to believe the Nuggets are going to trade him rather then lose him as a free agent this summer. This strategy sounds nice, but if I was I in this new GM’s shoes there is no way I’m trading my franchise player unless he specifically tells me he’s not re-signing, which I doubt he has.

Melo would obviously be a great fit here and would put up some outrageous offensive numbers, but at what cost? The new Nuggets GM is not just going to give Melo away, but he’s also made it clear he will be moved before Melo’s contract is over. This puts the Knicks in a really tough spot because if the Nuggets front office doesn’t have any interest in any of the Knicks pieces then the Knicks just have to hope Melo gets moved to a team like the Nuggets where he has no intention of signing an extension, which is pretty unlikely. Best case scenario right now is if the Knicks can get a third team involved with good young pieces and draft picks to sweeten the deal so the Knicks could ultimately obtain Melo.

Personally, the only players on the roster that would be off limits in a deal for Melo would be Randolph, Felton and Stoudemire. Notice I left Gallinari off because with Melo there would be no use or minutes for him.

I’d love to see the Knicks grab Melo, but it really just depends on the price.

Today we examine many fans' most hated move by Donnie Walsh: hiring Mike D'Antoni. They might not like our opinion on the subject. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

We’re now on the last lap of our Donnie Walsh analysis.  We’ve gone over his Drafting ability (which earned him a zero), his Trades (a nice +3) and his Free Agency Signings (another +3).  Today we look at the remaining qualities under the amorphous title of General/Other, which includes just two large elements.  Honestly, I’ve now forgotten some of the things I was gonna examine in this section, so forgive me if I don’t include something important.  I should’ve jotted down quick notes when I started this endeavor but I never remember that I tend to never remember things.  It’s a curse.  I think.  I don’t remember.  But probably it has been.  Anyway, The rules again:

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Thank you, David Stern, for saving us Knick fans from our owner.

“Donnie finds this entire thing distasteful,” said one NBA source. “He’s had second thoughts about staying but he wants to finish the job.”

[...] Dolan’s insistence on giving Thomas the ambiguous title of consultant angered Walsh, who for two years has been trying to hire former St. John’s All-American Chris Mullin as general manager. Dolan has refused to sign off on hiring Mullin.

The Daily News doesn’t always have the best of reporting, so while Walsh’s interest in conceivably hiring Mullin has been documented, take it with a huge grain of salt, heck, take it with a whole tablespoon of salt, that Walsh definitively tried to hire Mullin and Walsh flat out said no for two whole years.  However, Walsh’s justifiable anger over the hiring of Isiah has been supported by ESPN:

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Isiah could change his name to Mr. Kotter and Knick fans still wouldn't say welcome back. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

In a move, that despite being foreshadowed for a month, still seems incredibly shocking, the Knicks have rehired Isiah Thomas.  His position is that of consultant, and the team announced his duties are to “assist the team’s senior management in various capacities, including player recruitment.”  For those who instantly stopped paying attention to bball news this off-season after LeBron announced he was taking his talents elsewhere, you may’ve missed the revelations that Isiah had apparently been working for the Knicks behind the scenes.

Not only was he for some reason sent to give a last-second pitch to LeBron on behalf of the Knicks (insert your own joke here about how that convinced LBJ he’d made a good decision to not come to NY), but word was that he also played a role in successfully recruiting Amar’e Stoudemire to join the boys in Orange and Blue.

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Will LeBron join D'Antoni? And is that even a championship combo? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The following comes from my friend Shai:

Since Alex generously allowed me to post my ramblings about college basketball players on this Knicks site, I asked him if he would consider posting the following honestly-curious question to Knicks fans:

What exactly are you expecting to happen?

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Big summer franchise movies are assembled much like a NBA franchise team. You’ve got the executives who care more about the bottom line (“Let’s sign Allen Iverson — he’ll put butts in the seat” or “Let’s hire Scarlett Johansson — she’ll add sex appeal!”) rather than whether they create a high quality product. They hire the actors, or ball players. The thing is, it’s then up to the coach, or director, to make something out of this collection they were force fed, with their name being on the line. When a movie sucks, how often do you hear, “Man, that studio executive did an awful job?” And days after the Chicago Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was coach Vinny Del Negro who got the axe, not GM John Paxson.

For the rest, click here.

In a lottery lacking surprise,
DeBusschere drafted “The Franchise”.
But the team was a shame
Losing game after game
And from the cellar they never could rise.

Al Bianchi assembled “the Bomb Squad”
Mark Jackson, J. New, and the Hot Rod.
Traded Cartwright for Oak,
But MacLeod was a joke,
And the roster, though good, remained flawed.

Grunfeld put together some winners
Reaching the finals when league talent got thinner.
He perfected the craft
Of dodging the draft
But his teams needed “Offense for Beginners”.

Ed Tapscot was GM for a day
With a roster on the verge of decay
Instead of drafting Artest
Took the player he thought best:
A Frenchman who stayed in Marseilles.

Scott Layden had the master solution:
Trading Ewing to begin the devolution
Getting Longley and Rice,
Swapping Camby for ‘Dice
And then brilliantly maxing out Houston.

And who could forget our Isiah
At one time, a Hall of Fame playah
But as an exec
Proved an utter train wreck:
A perverted, capped-out franchise slayah.

So now there’s a savior named Donnie
Who, to undo all Isiah’d done wrong, he
Traded all of our picks
‘Till Three Thousand and Six
But still wins if he gets us LeBronie!

It doesn't matter if you hate Chicago's Derrick Rose. As a Knicks' fan you should root for him to expose Cleveland's Mo Williams so that a certain King will get frustrated and wanna leave the Cavs. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

It’s Fan Appreciation 101 to root for your team to win, but as anyone who’s taken higher classes in Team Supportation knows, that’s just the tip o’ the iceberg.  Sometimes you gotta see the larger picture, which may require you to hope your team actually loses for say a better draft position.  The Indiana Pacers finished the season playing some of their best ball, but that annoyed many true-blooded Indy fans since it destroyed their lottery chances.  Other times, you may root for your team to lose so that the owner finally wises up and sees it has to fire that crappy coach or GM (or both — hello Isiah Thomas and Mike Dunleavy Sr.).

Frequently, as a member of the faithful, you may even have to root for outcomes in games featuring other teams.  Say you’re battling for the 8th seed in the playoffs, then you gotta watch the games involving the other teams in the battle so you can root against them.  Or maybe you’re assured of being in the playoffs, but you know you match up against one team better than another.  Now you gotta cheer for the right teams to win and the wrong ones to lose all so that everything falls perfectly for your one true team.

However, with the Knicks’ eliminated from the playoffs long-ago, what’s a Knick fan to root for?  Things that will help us out in free agency.  I spent the last month of the regular season caring less about the Knicks’ wins/loss total than about the outcome of the Raptors/Bulls’ battle for the final playoff spot.  I figured that if the Raptors don’t make the playoffs, then surely Chris Bosh’s chances of remaining in Toronto drop rapidly.  Does this mean he’s a sure-fire Knick, or even that he’s my top choice?  No, but I like to improve my odds as much as possible.  Had the Pacers finished with the fifth worst record instead of the tenth, they still might not have won the lottery, but it wouldn’t have hurt.

Thus, for a true Knick fan, here are the things for which we should be rooting in order to increase our chances during the free agency period:

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Damn straight, Phil Jackson should be walking with his head down after some of his coaching choices! Right? ...Right? Um, maybe not. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Is there anyone in the NBA who gets criticized more than coaches?  It doesn’t matter who you are, how successful you are (or have been), or what players you have at your disposal — we can always find problems with you.  Earlier this year, Greg Popovitch was criticized for being unable to make his big off-season acquisition, Richard Jefferson, productive.  The other night, Phil Jackson, winner of more NBA titles than God himself, left himself open for target practice by choosing to draw up a play for Pau Gasol to attempt the game-tying three-point shot (Pau missed, which could cause the Lakers to lose home court advantage if they play the Magic in the Finals).

We, the fans and media, aren’t necessarily wrong in complaining about these points, but I think sometimes we not only expect too much, we also don’t always see (or know) the full picture.  For instance, maybe Phil was trying to make a point to Kobe about how the Black Mamba needed to give his body rest or it would cost the team (the previous possession Kobe missed two free throws that would’ve given the Lakers the lead).  If Kobe/Fisher/Artest/whoever hit a three for the tie, then maybe Kobe remains convinced that he can play through his injuries.  Sure, you can say this was a costly way to make a point (& I have no idea if Phil was trying to make this point), but if Kobe’s sitting out these two last games enables him to be healthy enough to lead the Lakers back to a championship, it’d be hard to argue with the results.

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Joe Johnson – Atlanta Hawks

As we discussed after the recent Knicks/Hawks game, JJ has a nice relationship with Coach Mike D’Antoni from their time together in Phoenix, plus the Knicks have somehow managed to look competitive this year in the three games he played against us.  When JJ was on those D’Antoni Suns teams, although he was huge for them, at the time he was considered to be at best their fourth most important player (after Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudamire & Shawn Marion).  Joe rightly felt he could be more, a centerpiece, and he wanted to be paid accordingly.  Having achieved all that with the Hawks, he now has reached the point most vets get to: the main thing he wants now is the chance to play for a championship.  He is even one of the few stars who has literally put his money where his mouth is and has stated he’d be willing to take a bunch less money to be on such a team.

Now don’t misunderstand: he knows he has a very good thing going with the Hawks and that they are a really, really good team.  He’s not gonna just leave them to play on a mid-level Knick team.  So ignore this quote in the NY Daily News:

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Sadly, Big Al goes in for the layup even if it means shoving others aside. (Source: Yardbarker)

Maybe all the cold weather in New York this year has made the Knicks think it’s still Christmas, ‘cuz they’ve been non-stop giving out the gift of victories to any team that comes near them.  The New Jersey Nets, who had won only 6 our of 61 games, were on a path to be the team with the worst record in NBA history.  The previous record low is only 9 games (out of an 82 game season) held by Washington in like 1982 or something (their leading scorer was Fred Carter).  If the Nets kept at that 6 of 61 pace, they not only would’ve been unable to win more than those 9 games, they wouldn’t have even won 9.  Now though at 7 of 62 after we let them whup us on Saturday, suddenly they’re on pace to out-do those 9 games.  Not a bad gift from their cross-river rivals?  This is one mark in the record book for which ya don’t wanna become famous.

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New Yorkers, rightfully, are worried that this is an all-or-nothing proposition.  Basically, unless we get LeBron James or Dwayne Wade, we’ll just be a slightly above average team.  Kinda like how we looked with Crawford & Randolph.  While there are other studs available this summer like A’mare Stoudamire, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, none of ‘em are mega-stars who ensure you’ll have a legit shot at winning a championship.  Those second-tier guys just assure that you’ll make the playoffs.  Even if you do get two of ‘em.

So if we don’t get Plan A, does that mean Plan B is doomed to fail?  Not necessarily.  Most Knicks fans are worried about Plan B, but that’s ‘cuz they assume it means not just that we sign two lesser talents, but that we sign them to more than they’re worth.  The fear is that we do something like the Pistons did this summer, when they had a bunch of cash and felt compelled to spend it, thus overpaying for Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, both of whom are currently coming off the bench for Detroit.  Likewise, several years ago a few teams cleared cap space to sign Tim Duncan and Grant Hill.  After Duncan stayed with the Spurs and Hill went with Tracy McGrady to Orlando, Chicago paid a bunch of money to some scrubs just to say they got someone.

Now if Isiah was still in charge, sure, we all know he would definitely follow that path, but doesn’t Donnie Walsh deserve the benefit of the doubt?  Besides the remarkable salary dumping job he did for us, he had quite a run with the Indiana Pacers.  Not only did he assemble enough talent for them to constantly be in the top of the east during the late 1990s, but he even got that team to Finals against the Lakers in… what was it, 2000?  And after that within a year or two he had completely rejuvenated that team, getting rid of Rick Smits, Mark Jackson, Dale Davis, Antonio Davis, Jalen Rose, and turning them into a young Eastern Conference contender around Jermaine O’Neal, Brad Miller, Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jamaal Tinsley, and the still effective Grandpa Reggie Miller.  This was a team that seemed poised to make it to the finals for the next few years until the unfortunate Malice At The Palace, players-and-fans-scuffle.  Has a team ever been turned around that quickly with a completely new cast?  The Lakers new team is still built around Kobe, one of their two supernova stars from their earlier three-peat.  The old-time Celtics won like 11 championships with various supporting stars, but they all centered around Bill Russell.

Fine, you say, we’ll give Walsh a chance.  But if he doesn’t get LeBron or Wade, what can he reasonably do to get the rest of the cream of the crop?  The key is getting some supporting parts at reasonable prices.  Houston has been excellent at that, getting solid unflashy guys like Shane Battier, Trevor Ariza, Luis Scola, and Carl Landry on the (relative) cheap.  Get Chris Bosh and Joe Johnson to agree to slightly less than the max, and then try to snag Ray Felton, Brendan Haywood, Josh Childress, Shannon Brown, Rudy Gay, Manu Ginobili, Kyle Korver, or Mike Miller on the cheap.  Maybe David Lee or TMac will agree to a lesser deal.  It would be pretty solid to have a line-up of Bosh, Lee, Gallo, Chandler, and Felton with Childress, Brown, Miller & TMac coming off the bench.

Yes, that’d still probably only get us to 4th or 5th in the East, but here’s the thing: it also would keep us out of the tax.  Since you personally don’t have to pay the tax as a fan, you probably don’t care, but it matters a bunch.  Why?  It means that the following summer, 2011, when Eddy Curry’s $11.3 million salary comes off the books, we can use that full amount to sign someone else.  If we give out excessive contracts this summer, we’ll go over the cap and won’t be able to add anyone new after we get rid of Curry.

With that $11+ mill, we could have a real shot at such 2011 free agents as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Greg Oden, Jason Richardson, Samuel Dalembert, Jeff Green, David West, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Shane Battier, Aaron Brooks, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, J.R.Smith, Nene, Caron Butler, Joakim Noah, Boris Diaw, Kendrick Perkins, Jamal Crawford, Al Horford, and some guy named Carmelo Anthony.  Adding just one of those guys to the above roster would probably elevate the team to one of the East’s elite.  Adding Melo would bring a very real possibility of winning multiple championships.

By having a few reasonable, desirable smaller contracts, we could also trade Curry’s expiring contract in the middle of next season, so we wouldn’t even have to wait for 2011.  Like by next year the Celtics will finally have to accept that Kevin Garnett is so half-dead he’s practically a zombie.  They realize they need to blow up the team, so they decide to get rid of Paul Pierce for an expiring contract.  He makes more than Curry, but we throw in Mike Miller to make things work.  Using those contracts would also help if say someone like Melo wants more than that $11 mill.  We basically give a Mike Miller to a team for free (like only getting a second round pick in return), and then we have like another $3 mill available to pay Anthony.

The point is that it’s not LeBron/Wade or mediocrity.  It’s about not returning to the ways of Scott Layden & Isiah Thomas (& honestly lots of other GMs), and overpaying mid-level players.

Clusters of spectators occupy sections in every arena, waving Israeli flags, chanting his name, pleading for an autograph, a high-five, or even a glance.

These past few days in particular have been a blur of activity: Pregame and postgame chats with a throng of fans Sunday in Toronto; a post-practice gathering Monday at Madison Square Garden with members of the media, including several Israeli television and print journalists; a private audience with Commissioner David Stern in his Olympic tower office hours later; a reception sponsored by the Israeli Consul General in the early evening and, finally, tonight’s long anticipated Kings-Knicks matchup that is being marketed as Jewish Heritage Night.

A Jewish acappella group sang the National Anthem

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