by Eddie Mayrose

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

Remember when we thought that failing to sign LeBron James was the worst that could happen to the Knicks this summer?  Now come whispers from Madison Square Garden that owner James Dolan has taken under consideration the rehiring of Isiah Thomas, perhaps the most incompetent employee the Knicks have ever seen.  Fans can only hope the rumor is a test balloon being floated by Little Jimmy to gauge public reaction.  Prayers might be more appropriate.

Thomas’ bumbling as President and coach was epic.  So much so, that, burying the Knicks in a salary cap mess that required the sacrifice of two full seasons to undo was not even close to his greatest failure.  Nor was the trading away of  so many draft picks that the roster was barren of any players that might have James consider coming to the Big Apple.  Rather, it was his sexual harassment of team exec Anucha Brown Sanders that resulted in a settlement of $11 million and a blight on one of the league’s most storied franchises that is Isiah’s legacy.

So, if Dolan is actually mulling Thomas’ rehiring, if he continues to act like the little rich boy born on third yet thought he hit a triple, if he refuses to acknowledge that New Yorkers paying the league’s highest ticket prices deserve more than one playoff appearance per decade, why should any player, fan or league executive take him seriously?

“How Do You Like Me Now?”

Just a suggestion to those Yankee fans that turned a blind eye to A.J. Burnett’s largely disappointing  ’09 season while vilifying Javier Vasquez as someone that couldn’t win in New York.  It’s time to wipe the pie off of your faces.  Oh, and Curtis Granderson is going to light up the second half, so, you might want to jump on that bandwagon while there’s still room.

New York Mets Stall As Manuel Mishandles ‘Pen

As the Mets limp home from the 2-9 West Coast trip that may have dashed their NL East title hopes, questions abound regarding Jerry Manuel’s handling of the team.  First, despite a staggering total of twelve walk-off losses, Manuel still refuses to use his closer, Francisco Rodriguez, in a tie game on the road; instead, managing to the save rule for no reason other than managing to the save rule.  Last Saturday, the Dodgers knocked off the Amazins on a 13th inning homer by James Loney off of Oliver Perez.  Yes, the same Perez the Mets placed on the DL because they couldn’t find another reason to keep him off the mound.  Yet, there was Perez in a pivotal game while Rodriguez, Manuel’s best available pitcher, languished in the bullpen simply because the score was tied.

Then there’s the case of Luis Castillo. While many factors contributed to the Mets’ slide, there’s no denying the correlation between Castillo’s presence and the team’s fortunes.  The hottest stretch of the season coincided with the second baseman’s trip to the DL; just as his return marked the beginning of the current slump.  Now, I understand that his ridiculous contract is untradable but anyone managing on a level above Tee Ball should realize that batting Castillo second is a recipe for disaster.  He is no longer a Major League hitter, grounding out to shortstop  with the frequency of a coach hitting infield practice.

Whether Manuel, or GM Omar Minaya for that matter, holds on to his job after this latest debacle is anyone’s guess.  But, the skipper need only to look at the stubbornly flawed way in which he constructed his lineup as the reason for the pink slip that might come his way.

Now that they’re finally here, after sacrificing two full seasons, the New York Knicks‘ chances to win the LeBron James sweepstakes seem as slim as their hopes to win an NBA title at any point since 1999.  While President Donnie Walsh has done a miraculous job to clear the salary cap room required to pursue two premier free agents, he’s only had two years to repair what Lil’Jimmy Dolan has had a decade to destroy.

No matter how convincing the pitch to the king might have been yesterday, the Knicks have nothing to offer but Manhattan. Sure, it’s the greatest city in the world, but not so much when you’re losing every night and getting killed on the back page.  If only the Knicks had paid even a little attention to the NBA draft instead of annually whiffing on productive players, James might have a different view of the team’s existing roster.  Ironically, David Lee, the only good pick New York has made since the Lincoln administration, is now being completely disregarded by management, as if guys who get twenty points and twelve rebounds every night are a dime a dozen.

To look at the other clubs pursuing LeBron is to realize that the Knicks are, actually, the least attractive of the bunch. Chicago already has one superstar in Derek Rose and young studs in Luol Deng and Joakim Noah.  In Miami, there is room to sign both James and Chris Bosh, then retain Dwyane Wade.  Hell, even the 12-70 Nets have better returning players than the Knicks and a new arena on the way.  Sadly, things don’t look good for Lil’ Jimmy.

Terrence Mayrose of CollegeSportsView.com and NY/NJ High Hoops is a lifelong Knick fan starving for something to cheer about at Madison Square Garden.  “I remember John Starks and “The Dunk”. I remember the ’94 run and Ewing’s tip-in”, said Mayrose. “I remember fights with the Heat, Charles Smith and Reggie Miller’s eight points ruining my First Communion gift. I remember despising everything about Michael Jordan’s existence, LJ’s four point play,and, of course the incredible run in ’99.  Those were all a very long time ago and I’m dying for them to give me something new to remember.”  Unfortunately for Terrence and a city full of basketball fans, it doesn’t look like new memories will be made anytime soon at Lil’ Jimmy Dolan’s MSG.  However, I’m hoping like crazy that I’m wrong.

By Chris Ippolito

Since Donnie Walsh’s first day as president of the New York Knicks, he made it clear that the best way to end the team’s streak of futility was to get under the salary cap for the first time since 1996.  Although it has been two painful years since his April 2008 proclamation, Walsh has executed his plan.  Today the Knicks are approximately $35 million under the salary cap, an enviable position considering the plethora of talent in this year’s free agent class.  Only the Miami Heat, who essentially dismantled their team for this purpose, have more money to spend this off season than the Knicks.

Apparently, fair weather fans of the Knicks, who probably spent the last five years or so denying their orange and blue affiliation, look at this cap space only as an opportunity to sign LeBron James, by far the most coveted free agent on the market.  This idea is not a far-fetched one.  In my opinion the Knicks should do everything they can to recruit James to New York.  He is a physical specimen who I believe will end up averaging a triple double for a season at some point in his career.  The problem is that Chicago, Miami, the L.A Clippers, and James’s former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, all want the King as badly as the Knicks do.

To me, it is pointless to predict where James will choose to play.  People have been trying to do this for months, yet, I honestly don’t believe that even LeBron himself knows what the outcome is going to be.  However, I will admit that I am not nearly as confident in Walsh’s ability to bring in James as I was a year ago, when the New York media made it seem as though it was a formality.  With this said, I think it is important…extremely important…for the Knicks to have a back-up plan.

People seemed surprised that James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Joe Johnson are discussing their future plans with one another.  To me, this just shows that these players are serious about winning.  Ask LeBron James (probably the second best player in the game today to Mr. Bryant in L.A) how easy it’s been to win a championship with the likes of Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams as Robins to his Batman.  Ask Chris Bosh how easy it’s been for him to even make the playoffs with Andrea Bargnani as his primary running mate.  The obvious point is that since these guys are serious about winning (and they all seem to be pretty tight because of their USA basketball affiliation) they are going to attempt to relocate so that each has a great chance to be successful.

Let’s assume that what everyone thinks is going to happen will happen: LeBron chooses PF/C Chris Bosh as his running mate for the next 5-7 years and they go to Chicago, L.A, or even Miami.  What should the Knicks do?  I’ll tell you what they should not do, and that is panic.  Undoubtedly, the Knick fan base will feel as though another 10 years of infamy is inevitable.  However, it will be up to Walsh construct a team capable of beating the James/Bosh squad.  Unfortunately for Knick fans, it will probably be a two year process.

First and foremost, the Knicks need to put together a formidable front court.  Even more so than a point guard, interior defense and center play is essential to winning NBA basketball.  With Bosh off the table, the Knicks would have to choose between Carlos Boozer, Amare Stoudemire, or David Lee as lynchpins for the Knicks front court.  I would go with the former Dukie,  Boozer.  He is a much better rebounder and defender than Amare and also is less likely to be distracted by New York’s bright stage.  In my opinion, Lee needs a change of scenery anyway.  Perhaps the incessant losing has made winning in New York unimaginable for him. Offering Boozer a max-contract is something that Walsh will have to think long and hard about, yet I may oblige Boozer in the end because of his tenacity, effort, and relative durability.  However, at 6’9, despite the fact that he is very thick, Boozer will have trouble guarding the NBA’s larger 5’s.  Thus bringing in a Brad Miller or Brendan Hayward on a one or two year deal would make a lot of sense.  Nonetheless, the Knicks need to make it a point to improve their front court drastically this offseason, especially from a defensive perspective.  To me, this is a bigger priority than bringing in a superstar scorer not named James.

If you can’t tell by my last sentence, I do not want the Knicks to feel the need to overpay for anyone, let alone a player who is injury prone.  In other words, Mr. Walsh, be very weary of Dwyane Wade.  I love watching him.  He plays with reckless abandon, and nearly every game he makes a play that the common fan has never seen before.  He’s one of the best scorers in the game and is as clutch as they come.  The problem is, that in his seven years in the league, he’s only played in 75+ games four times.  Compare that to Lebron who has done it in all seven of his NBA seasons and Dirk Nowtizki who has done it in every season since the 99-00 campaign.  I would be really tentative to sign Wade to a max contract, while also keeping in mind how frequently Wade dives, crashes, and bounces on the floor.

This said, the Knicks need to add to their team offensively.  Adding Nowitzki would be silly, since they have the big German reincarnate in Danilo Gallinari.  I would go after Joe Johnson, but only if he would accept a deal worth less than the maximum.  I look at Joe Johnson, a former Mike D’Antoni disciple himself, as the Ray Allen of this potential Knick dynasty.  His scoring would be essential, and his court sense and veteran presence would help win a lot of games, yet on a championship team, he can be no better than the third best player on the squad.  I feel like Johnson would be the perfect fit for New York; a quiet killer who goes about his daily business without setting off any fireworks.  He knows how to succeed under Mike D’Antoni and would help to teach his younger teammates the system.  Without assuming any of the other pieces, a team with Johnson, Boozer, Gallinari, and Wilson Chandler is a .500 basketball club, easily.

I feel as though the point guard is overrated in the D’Antoni system to begin with.  Half the time, when the Knicks are pushing the ball up-court, the point guard is not the first or second person to touch the ball anyway.  Sure, if Raymond Felton or Rafer Alston want to come play in Madison Square Garden for the right price, I’m all for it.  However I feel that the Knicks should have their team in place, then find their floor general, not the other way around.

I understand that if the offseason plays out this way, many a Knick fan will be somewhat disappointed.  My advice is to do your best Donnie Walsh impression, and be patient and realistic.  Don’t feel that the offseason is lost because LeBron didn’t come.  More importantly, don’t feel as if you need Wade to battle the hated LeBron. Basketball is a team game and it will take a lot more than doling out money to Wade to beat a James/Bosh combination.  Instead, understand what it takes to win an NBA championship.  Realize that interior defense is the be-all, end-all in the NBA.  Understand that on championship teams, former superstars sign on to become role players and in certain games, become superstars again.  Just ask Ray Allen about game two of the NBA Finals.  And lastly, realize that next summer, when Eddy Curry’s fat ass and fat contract leave New York for good, know that Carmelo Anthony and potentially Kevin Durant will be free agents.  Those are two guys who are comparable to LeBron and are probably better than Wade.  But that topic is for next summer, after a 2010-2011 Knick playoff run.

By the way, how many championships has LeBron James won in his career?  I forgot.

St. John’s Basketball May Be Out of the Norm

If this is where it ends for St. John’s Head Coach Norm Roberts, if yesterday’s loss to Marquette; his 100th, is the one from which he is not permitted to return, he need only to look in his own backyard as the reason he was unable to return St. John’s to the upper echelon of college basketball.

Charged with cleaning up the scandal ridden mess left by his predecessor, Mike Jarvis, Roberts has been every bit the classy, gentlemanly face Red Storm administrators had hoped when he was hired.  Despite their lack of success, his teams have been the kind of hard working, blue collar squads appreciated by coaches everywhere.  What they lacked, however, was that star player to put them over the top. The player that bails you out on a bad day.  The player that brings your school recognition with a successful NBA career.  The player that draws the media to practice and the fans to Madison Square Garden.  The player that, sadly, toils in High School gyms throughout the Metropolitan area but hasn’t decided to bring his game to Queens.  Having gone his entire tenure without recruiting a player that went on the the NBA, Roberts may have had his fate sealed last month, when just 3,500 showed up at the Garden on the night the Johnnies honored the 1985 Final Four squad led by Chris Mullin; the most recognizable player in their history.

Sadly, while Roberts has been unable to lure any of the city’s prep school stars to his program; something that was the foundation of the success of Lou Carnesecca, the situation has been made worse by the fact that many of these cagers enroll at rival Big East schools.  How difficult must it be for a Johnnies fan to watch West Virginia run the Red Storm out of the gym with five area starters?  Or endure a litany of Big East Champions led by New York point guards?  For some reason, Roberts has either been unable or unwilling to tap into the talent pools of the city’s prep leagues and now,  it has likely cost him his job.

Roberts is a guy you pull for; a guy who paid his dues while working his way up to his dream job.  However, in the big money world of college basketball, that isn’t always enough.  Despite the fact that St. John’s basketball program is one of the nation’s most successful, there is now an entire generation of young basketball fans that has never seen a Johnnies squad ranked in the Top 25.  Who’d a thunk?

New York Mets Still Have Medical Issues

Since word broke about Jose Reyes and his overactive thyroid, speculation that his condition may be a result of HGH use has run rampant.  While that’s simply a function of the current state of baseball; where each injury is now scrutinized for its possible link to some performance enhancing drug, it also serves to add another sorry chapter to the relationship between the Mets’ medical staff and its players.

Last year, Reyes played his last game in May; a result of a hamstring injury that eventually needed surgery.  You wouldn’t have known that to read the preliminary medical reports that initially had the shortstop listed as day to day with a calf injury.  Reyes then injured the hamstring during rehab; a setback from which he’d never return, despite reports from team doctors to the contrary.  Teammate Carlos Beltran, continued to play with a bone bruise in his leg last season because he was advised that his condition could not worsen.  A month later, Beltran went on the DL because the bruise, had in fact, doubled in size.  Beltran finally underwent surgery in January; a procedure the Mets knew nothing of, and will miss the start of the season.

You have to wonder how it’s possible that an organization could be as uninformed about such high priced commodities as its own players.  Yet, here was Reyes, making a trip to Canada that the Mets may or may not have known about, to the blood-spinning doctor now in trouble up to his stethoscope over his distribution of HGH.  “If we stay healthy…” is the motto of every club during Spring Training as they gear up for Opening Day.  In the Mets’ case, however, that “if” is seemingly much larger, thanks to a medical staff that can’t seem to get on the same page as the players.

The NBA Has Left the Building

Last Saturday, I thought I was taking my son, Tim, to his first professional basketball game.   However, after sitting through the silliness that was Knicks-Nets, I realize that I still owe him an NBA game.