NCAA's Madness and The Knicks

I have a lot of things on my mind, so I’m going to get to all of them in order of importance.

My last article referred to the madness that the NCAA tourney usually causes. I voiced my opinion that it wasn’t all that and a bag of chips with the dip. I got plenty of texts and messages saying that I was crazy and I needed to have my pulse checked.

Upon further review, my pulse has been checked and all vitals are fine, but I will admit that I had a good time this weekend with the NCAA’s. Although my bracket has gone in the crapper thanks to San Diego and Western Kentucky, I suppose it’s the only time that the consolation prize of seeing exciting basketball with upsets are good enough to help the victim of a broken bracket get over their diminishing chances of an office pool championship.

A few thoughts about the tourney are:

1. If Stanford lost in the second round due to its coach being ejected it would have been unfortunate and very disturbing. The one factor that can never be changed about any sporting event is the power that officials have over the contest. The referee, Curtis Shaw, who has been blowing that whistle every time he breathes apparently, had warned the Stanford head coach, Trent Johnson, that enough was enough but when he teed him up, moments after he had received one technical by David Hall (another ref), I was upset for the coach. Refs should never have this much power, but regardless, the maddening thing about referees are the trust we give them to call a game right down the middle.

If the belief is right that everyone gets caught up in the midst of all the ruckus that a tourney brings, then perhaps referees (they are human too ya know) too are not immune to this disease called euphoria. Curtis Shaw has about as short a fuse as Bobby Knight and continued to tee up anyone he saw give him a bad look. He reminded me of Billy Crystal in “Forget Paris” where he teed up Kareem Abdul Jabbar in his final game as a pro. I think he did eject the mascot.

2. Stephen Curry is the real deal. He is the usual tale of small boned player who never got a real look from any majors, coming from good pedigree (son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry), that plays with a chip on his shoulder. He played lights out in Davidson’s first round match up against Gonzaga (you know the annual wearer of the glass slipper) scoring 40 then slowed down for one half, only to remain patient against a good Georgetown team and find his stroke and his way to the free throw line to score 25 of his 30 in the second half. That’s what good players do, not just good college players, but good NBA players.

I know that there are plenty of negatives on playing with his size in the NBA (both in height and overall body size), but basketball IQ can only be displayed on a hardwood, and he showed me and the entire national viewing audience that smart players will always find their way to double digit scoring games.

There are many NBA teams that could use a sharp shooting specialist like Stephen on their teams but many few will take the risk. They would rather import European players who have never played in the states to come here and play on US teams that don’t teach the fundamentals of the game anymore rendering them useless as well. Hopefully we will see Stephen Curry on an NBA roster soon playing a substantial role, but if not, here’s to the rest of the tourney that will allow his basketball IQ to shine.

3. It seems that North Carolina is using their home court advantage to, well, their advantage. They have scored in triple digits in both of their games and vanquished their opponents by the half. Kansas has also played well, but I just don’t see them getting to the Final Four, I think Bill Self still has a few more tourneys to play before the emotional component of “never being able to win the big game” will actually attach itself to him in some national spotlight to make us care enough.

4. So long Michael Beasley but not so sure about OJ Mayo however. He seems to have a pretty stacked team in USC and if some other players leave college like Collison and Love from UCLA, who in the PAC-10 could compete with them? Seems like he would shape himself up to be a #1 pick in 09 as opposed to a mid first round pick in 08.

5. I like Beasley and I think he will be a double double threat every night in the NBA eventually, but his attitude and his trouble making ways must change. He just seems like a headache waiting to happen for some team that will willingly dump millions of dollars for the potential that he offers (I will address this in the next article).

Ok, now that I was able to get that off my chest, let’s talk about the real news. Now that Donnie Walsh has stepped down from his job at Indiana (his so called dream job) the rumor mill will run rampant about his interest in the job that is currently being occupied by a rotting corpse. I meant to say that he will be the favorite for the New York Knick job.

But that’s not the point, you see, if anything this news should show us Knick fans how our expectations have precipitously been dropped so low that we see anything, anyone to bring in and we jump at the chance. Just admit it, we would have taken the corner bum off the street if he had any GM experience. I know, I know, blame Isaiah right?

Well, now is the time we should most be on our guard. Let me give you a few reasons why.

I think Donnie Walsh is a wonderful candidate for the job. Overall he’s done a fantastic job with the Pacers and was overseeing them while they were at their peak during the 90’s. He campaigned and eventually won to draft Reggie Miller over Steve Alford, who was Indiana’s golden child back then. To put that decision into perspective, its like when the Texans picked Mario Williams over Reggie Bush in the 2006 NFL draft. Controversial but it turned out to be a good selection as Reggie (Miller that is) embarked on a career that will eventually land him in the Hall of Fame.

He’s a former head coach, trained under legendary head coach Frank McGuire and is from New York so his roots are there, undoubtedly.

But it troubled me when I heard a report indicating that not hours after he left Indiana, he had accepted a preliminary agreement to be GM of the Knicks at seasons’ end for 3 years/$15 million. Why does it trouble me? Not because I think that Donnie Walsh isn’t the right man for the job, but because it doesn’t make sense.

Two weeks ago when all this hub bub about actual change started reaching the newspapers and such, rumors started flying around and names were attached to a job that Isaiah had not been removed from. Jerry Colangelo, Jerry West and Donnie Walsh were the three largest fish. All three were intrigued by the job and Jerry West (the guy who built the Showtime Lakers and the Shaq and Kobe Lakers) even went on to say that he would be excited to get a phone call for the job.

Does anyone not see how preposterous that sounds? Isn’t it our luck that a great GM like Jerry West would be tickled to even get a phone call from us? Its like we’re the class nerd being hit on by three of the hottest girls in school. How can we not be ecstatic that people are still interested in working for a crazy guy like James Dolan? How can we not be ecstatic that guys with real resumes of turning ships around be linked to a job and actually want it?

That’s why this doesn’t sit right with me. That’s why, I DO NOT want Donnie Walsh for the job. If these last three years have taught me anything, its to know that anything is possible with this organization. It stems from poor leadership at the top (paging Mr. Dolan to the psych ward) all the way to the nitwit sitting on the bench, too lazy to even care about our team tanking.

Oh yeah, if you haven’t figured it out, the Knicks quit on the season and are in full lottery mode. It’s a good thing too, because this is the ONLY lottery pick of this decade Isaiah hasn’t managed to give away to take more money. Its like he’s pawning number one draft picks for more headaches and contracts that no team would possibly eat up. We’re on the speed dial for every new GM because if they can somehow parlay one horrendous contract into a Knick draft pick, they’re practically assuring themselves that it will be a lottery pick.

Somewhere along the line, we all gave up hope on the Knicks and just gave up our will to fight. If this were the 60’s, there would be riots on 34^th and 8^th avenue nightly, but we are a different generation. We fall for every TV ad that comes our way and we let people fool us into thinking that having an Iphone, a PS3, a Brooks Brothers overcoat and a nice Mercedes is what is considered cool and hip. Let me put it into terms you may understand, we’re a generation of suckers. No lie, because as much talking as us Knick fans do, we don’t back it up. Guess what, MSG is STILL reporting good fan turnout. Decent enough to tell James Dolan that Knick fans will always be loyal to the uniform and won’t care how the guys in those uniforms perform in them. Its still a business folks, its still a business of making money and the Knicks are making money, they are still attracting the big wigs and Hollywood types and they are still getting John Q Taxpayer to pay exorbitant sums to watch a D-League team play in the World’s Most Trying Arena.

We boo, but you know what would sting more? Silence. The silence to know that nobody cares about watching the Knicks anymore. That even if you were handing out tickets for free, you couldn’t get us to come out because you don’t care enough to give us the team that we deserve.

There is one thing about Dolan I like, he isn’t afraid to spend. He isn’t shy about going above the luxury tax threshold and won’t allow his pen to go dry to sign off on a gigantic contract, so atleast that cheers me up. That kind of overspending will be needed to draw top flight talent to our wonderful empire.

Yes, Dolan is free wheeling but he’s also strangely loyal, to a fault. He is loyal to Isaiah (why is the question I want truly answered) and refuses to give us the satisfaction of knowing that he will be gone by the end of the season.

You want to know why he won’t say anything? Because he won’t be gone folks. That’s why the Donnie Walsh quick hire is the perfect move for Dolan. Dolan wins by making a change at the top of the pecking order while ensuring that he has brought in someone that can coexist with Isaiah. Donnie did, after all, hire Isaiah in Indiana and they are good friends.

Why else would Dolan not interview the Jerry’s? West and Colangelo have put together some fantastic teams in their heyday and they can certainly find a way to do the one logical thing that seems to be every logical person’s mind (and I say logical so many times because on the chance that James Dolan comes upon this site and has to read this word and look it up in the dictionary and figure out the meaning of the word) which is to clear enough cap space, which means you Jerome James, Jared Jeffries and especially you Stephon Marbury, to bring in Lebron once his contract runs out in 2010.

I will tell you why he didn’t, because he knows the moment Colangelo and West move into their office in MSG, the first thing they will do is fire Isaiah, which for some bizarre reason is what Dolan does NOT want. To understand why, you have to hit yourself on the head a few times with a sledgehammer so you can destroy every brain cell you have. Dolan can not concede to the public that he has made a mistake with Isaiah, so now he must find a way to right this error by putting tape on a wound. Its like putting a bumper back on with masking tape, its not too smart. The Jerry’s don’t have any real connection with Isaiah and won’t hesitate to make that decision, and Dolan would never allow this to happen on his watch.

But there is no real change happening here and I can see it from a mile away. The marquee will still have the Knicks coached by Isaiah. Perhaps one more season or maybe Isaiah will stay until the contract extension he signed is played out.

Sorry Knick fans but if you’re waiting for Donnie Walsh to walk through that revolving door while Isaiah is walking out, I’m afraid chances are you will sadly be mistaken.

I want to be wrong about this like I was about the lack of excitement in the NCAA tournament, but I’m afraid there is very little sense in what Dolan did in order to hire Donnie Walsh. Remember, this is the guy that said he wouldn’t make a decision on Isaiah’s future until after the season a year ago and then went out and resigned him, the one day they were in the 8^th spot in the Eastern Conference standings last season, before they began tumbling downhill like a snowball. As you can see Dolan’s track record on impulse buys, are not good!