WPCNR VIEW FROM THE MEZZANINE. By WPCNR’S SPORTSTALK Morty Slickman. July 11, 2010:
So I am sitting here in the old Madison Square Garden in the blue smoke of the rafters of the mezzanine in the arena of memory.
Richie Guerin in the old garden, going up against Paul Arizin of the Philadelphia Warriors, 1958. That's the Knicks Kennie Sears (12) and Mendy Rudolph is the Ref in the old garden of memory: where even in the third balcony you were on top of the court, the cigar smoke smelled like sports and the Knicks played hard.
I'm reading the sports pages Saturday and Sunday, and I am musing to myself should I ignore the upbeat spin being spun out by the hapless New York Knick management? Swallowed hook, line and sinker by the sports press? Who are already beating drums for the Knick Brains now out signing everyone in sight?
Should I ignore the urge to tell it like it is, and be a warmer, kinder gentler commentator?
Should I push my fedora back on my head, loosen my tasteless tie, puff my White Owl panatela and drink my black coffee and be positive and upbeat? And get on the Knick bandwagon to the crusade for 12 more wins? Shall I resist the urge to rap out in staccato fashion on the old Smith Corona a blistering indictment of the Knick-Knacks? Shall I show love and compassion?
Absolutely not!
What’s a sports columnist for anyway?
We serve no moral purpose except for creating myth and selling tickets and perpetuating fallacies and ignoring the raw, ugly underbelly of “professional” sports and "knowledgeable management," who "understand the game."
I just have to point out the flaws in the spin being floated out there by the desperate Knick-Knack management.
If I own those courtside seats, I’m shortselling.
No less an authority than The Times wrote yesterday that their alternate plan B, and I quote “It appears to be enough to get the Knicks in the playoffs for the first time since the 2003-04 season.”
The Knicks, having fanned on LeBron James – but having signed Amar’e Stoudemire, the Phoenix star—and traded David Lee now have a starting five consisting of three players from the Golden State Warriors, that perennial playoff contender. (NOT!)
The Warriors won three less games than the Knicks last season with these new hopes the Knicks have picked up from the “Wha?yers”: Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuik and Ronny Turiaf. Anthony Randolph is supposed to be a forward, teaming with Stoudemire.
They have signed Ray Felton from Charlotte who is expected to point guard, but his history is as a shooting guard. Well he better put it in the hole, and pinpoint his passes to Stoudemire otherwise the Knick-Knacks are going to be seeing the same scoring droughts that have plagued them the first two years of this sorry regime. A regime that gives up on players too soon and does not recognize the value of defensive play, let alone effort.
Is this talent from the Kansas City A’s of the NBA – the Warriors-- have enough potential undeveloped talent to pick apart the Dee to get the ball to Amar’e? Can they make stops? Can this untried combo of Randolph and Felton compete in the half court as well as the open court and swing that ball?
Unlike the Knicks, the better clubs in the NBA play defense.
More to the point, does the Knick coach have the patience to develop the young talent? He had no patience with the young players he has struggled with the last two years. Remember how the man the Knick Coach unloaded became a key part of the Celtics? That said a lot about the Knick coach.
However the Knick goal, as usual is modest.
They have to win just 12 more games. Even a one-dimensional coach should be able to squeeze 12 more games out. That would give the Knicks a .500 mark which would have given them the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference this year.
But, if as I alluded to Friday, the supporting cast is inconsistent, auccombs to being not quite ready for prime time, Stoudemire will assume the Bernard King role, the only man you have to stop to beat the Knicks. With the rough guys bumping Stoudemire big time, there is the risk of injury. Not only that but Felton and Randolph have a history of injury. The Knicks have Danilo Gallinari coming back and Eddie Curry. Gallinari, whom I always will recall sleeping on the sideline, while the Knicks were staging a comeback last season, has to be won over by the coach.
Is this the best backup plan they could come up with? Scoop up the nucleus of a 26-55 team and two “maybe babies?”
We shall see.
The Knicks lost a lot of games last season because of lousy defense and panic.
Without improving the way they defend, rebound and make stops, they could shoot their way to .500.
Heck, pal, they just have to win 12 more games and they are investing let's see maybe, what $2 Million per game for each of those 12 more wins? I can't do the math. I'm a sportswriter.
Get this: if they played defense last year they would have made the playoffs with 12 more wins.
But make no mistake, should the Knicks win those 12 more games, the sportswriters will laud the Knick management is being on the right track, and 2011-12 will be Carmelo Anthony time and a return to glory.
The sportswriters always do, no matter what they do.
