Donnie Walsh's Teachable Moment

Avert your eyes, Knicks fans. This isn't pretty. 

"When I saw [Brandon Jennings] play in Vegas, I did go to our scouts and I told them, 'Look, if you knew he was that good you should have come to me every day in my office and said, 'You've got to look at this guy,'" said Walsh. "I said, 'I listened to you. You said, 'He's good,' but that was about it."

Oy. The Knicks, in case you haven't been paying attention, are pretty thin at the point guard position, and really could have used a player of Jennings caliber, even if almost nobody projected him as worthy of the lottery. (Full disclosure). "Jennings to Gallo for three" or "Jennings to Lee for the easy stuff" sound a hell of a lot more promising than "Duhon turns it over again" or "another wild shot by Robinson."

I have to give Walsh, though, some credit for admitting he and his staff screwed the pooch on Jennings. A certain general manager can't even cop to that. But let's not get carried away here. A mistake is a mistake, after all, and the total breakdown in player evaluation leading up to the draft, when it's most pressing, mind you, doesn't exactly paint the organization in the most positive of lights. 

Look, this isn't exactly the Blazers passing on Michael Jordan. The Knicks, despite their many flaws, will survive this. But that doesn't mean passing on Jennings doesn't sting, especially this season. Or next. It does. And it will. Missing out on Jennings also ratchets up the pressure on Mike D'Antoni and his staff to bring out the best in Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas, two promising but salmonella-raw players drafted in lieu of Jennings. 

Walsh still has this summer to rectify his mistake. I just hope he learns from it sooner rather than later, and his draft night misfire was truly an aberration and not a harbinger of things to come. 

Ping-Pong Prayers

Later tonight, before the Lakers and Nuggets tipoff in the first game of the Western Conference Championship, the National Basketball Association will hold its annual draft lottery. The Knicks have a less-than-inspiring 2.8 percent chance of winning the first pick, which they will use to select, most likely, either Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio. "We have a chance, it's not a great chance but we'll see," Knicks president Donnie Walsh told the Daily News yesterday. 

This is where Saint Cayetano, the patron saint of gamblers, comes in. Cayetano is regarded as the intercessor of sporting men because, according to Catholic lore, people would bet him a rosary or votive candle that he wouldn't do something good for them. Cayetano usually delivered, even going so far as to give his vast family fortune to the needy, and, later, dedicate his life to the care of the sick. Good man, that Cayetano, although it's a bit unclear if he's responsible for any specific miracles, let alone the requisite three necessary for veneration. It seems, at least to this lapsed Catholic, that Cayetano's account is in arrears. He owes somebody a miracle, which is why I'll be praying to him--and the secular Saint Debusschere-- throughout the course of the day.   

Starburst

When Knicks President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas acquired Stephon Marbury from the Phoenix Suns in January 2004, Marbury was heralded as the man who would once again make the Knicks relevant. Marbury, a basketball prodigy from Coney Island, returned home to great fanfare and irrationally high expectations. A backcourt of Marbury and shooting guard Allan Houston, Knicks fans were led to believe, was supposed to make the Knicks a perennial playoff threat, and perhaps, with a few minor additions, a championship-caliber team. Houston got hurt, and Marbury, with Thomas's full support, quickly became the face of a shockingly dysfunctional franchise.

In his first season in New York, Marbury led a mediocre team to the playoffs, where they were summarily dismantled in four games by Jason Kidd and the Nets, the eventual Eastern Conference champions. Things got progressively worse from there, to say the least. Amazingly, that 2004's first-round exit was, in retrospect, Marbury’s brightest moment as a Knick. In subsequent seasons, Marbury led the Knicks to 33, 23, 33 and 23 victories, respectively, and seemingly did his best to embarrass and hijack the franchise, alienating teammates, executives and, eventually, fans with a number of high-profile off-the-court incidents, including his role in the sexual harassment case against Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden, the subsidiary of Cablevision that owns the Knicks.

After Donnie Walsh named Mike D’Antoni head coach, D’Antoni, who dealt with Marbury—and his massive ego—in Phoenix, decided the team was better off without him and banished Marbury to the bench. Marbury’s days as a Knick were obviously numbered. It was only a matter of time until he was traded or released.

Yesterday’s buyout, then, should come as no surprise to anyone who’s followed the NBA this year. Marbury’s been finished with the Knicks for months. The buyout just made it official.

I have nothing bad—or good—to say about Marbury. My venom is reserved for Thomas, who, in my mind, is most responsible for running the organization into the ground. Marbury just rode shotgun. Although I’m relieved Marbury's no longer on the team, I’m not going to get worked up about his buyout one way or the other. He’s gone, just like Moochie Norris and Steve Francis before him. Let’s just leave it at that.

Basketball Operations 101

Donnie Walsh, the greatest New York City hero since this guy, did exactly what basketball general managers are supposed to do when swapping players: make the team better right away without screwing up the organization's long-term goals. 

Leading up to this afternoon's NBA trade deadline, the Knicks, just three games out of the playoffs, were in desperate need of another scoring guard and a defensive presence at center. In rapid succession, Walsh addressed both deficiencies. He first jettisoned the expendable talents-- and contracts-- of Tim Thomas, Jerome "Big Snacks" James and Anthony Roberson to Chicago for Larry Hughes, a proficient scorer who talked his way out of Chicago and, before that, Cleveland, but could very well revitalize his career under Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun system.  

Walsh then sent seldom-used Malik Rose--and his expiring contract, a valuable commodity in this economy--and some cash to Oklahoma City for Chris Wilcox, a 6-10 center/power forward who can bang down low with the big boys and put up some points in the paint, to boot. (Wilcox was previously part of the trade that would have brought Tyson Chandler to Oklahoma City if Chandler hadn't failed his physical; the trade fell apart yesterday afternoon).  

Like Rose, Wilcox will be a free agent at the end of the season, while Hughes is on the books through next year. Neither contract interferes with Walsh's master plan of going after LeBron James and the other big-name unrestricted free agents, like Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade, among others, in 2010.  

In the meantime, the Knicks are poised, for the first time since 2004, to make a serious run at the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Admittedly, bringing in Hughes is risky, to say the least, but I do think he's going to thrive under D'Antoni and playing off Chris Duhon. Even Bethlehem Shoals is intrigued. Hughes is also a pretty good on-the-ball defender, which should help keep opposing guards from driving unmolested into the paint. If they get by him, at least we now have a player in Wilcox who can do something about it. 

 

And with Thomas gone, D'Antoni can now give more burn to Danilo Gallinari, who has impressed in spots this season, and let David Lee play more minutes at power forward instead of playing out of position at center. Further, by getting rid of Thomas, James and Roberson, Walsh opened up two roster spots, which means he could theoretically bring in two more players, like the recently released Quincy Douby and Patrick Ewing, Jr., which would make at least this fan happy. 

Another good day at the office, I'd say, for Donnie Walsh, the man who will be forever remembered around these parts for ridding the Knickerbockers of Stephon Marbury, Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford and Jerome James in the same season, delousing the Garden once and for all of the stench Isiah left in his wake.  

Truth Be Told: The Legend of Danny Granger

I've mentioned briefly about how much I love me some Danny Granger. Kid does something for me. His game, like Brandon Roy's, is impeccable and, to co-opt a phrase, fierce-terrible. He's a total gamer, and I would welcome him on the Knicks in a second. No surprise there. 

I first saw Granger play in 2005, when he was a senior at New Mexico. His Lobos were playing Utah, which featured consensus Naismith Award winner and presumptive number one pick Andrew Bogut, who was in the middle of an impressive sophomore year in which he logged 26 double-doubles. Granger, though, give the big man fits all night long and, according to the announcers, had his way against the Aussie throughout Bogut’s two-year collegiate career.

I remember liking Granger’s game but not giving him much thought at that time. I never imagined he’d have much impact in the NBA. More of a defensive guy, I thought, than a true offensive threat. (Full disclosure: I was more excited about sleeper picks Joey Graham and Hakim Warrick, who were selected 16th and 19th, respectively, in the NBA Draft later that spring.)  Donnie Walsh, though, as the then-general manager of the Pacers, grabbed up Granger with the 17th pick, and, in the three seasons since, Granger has become one of the most talented young players in the league, averaging 25 points a night.

How good is he? I’m going to go out on a limb and say he could one day be as good as Paul Pierce. Seriously. I'm not kidding. Granger's just that talented. 

To wit: In his last three games, Granger has put up 35, 36 and, last night against Phoenix, a cool 37 points, including this ridiculous three at the buzzer to steal the game from the Suns, via NBA Fanhouse. 

Welcome to Danny Granger's coming-out party. You've arrived just in time.

(Via NBA Fanhouse)

Donnie Basketball

"I'm committed to getting this franchise back to where it was"-- Donnie Walsh, the president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks, upon his hiring in April 2008. 

In one day, Walsh put the Knicks in a position to make a significant play for LeBron James when he becomes a free agent in 2010. Hell, by then, the Knicks, who at that point will only be on the hook for approximately $18 million (baring any future transactions), might be able to make a play for James and another high-profile free agent, like, say, Tyson Chandler, to pick one name at random. 

Since he accepted the job, Walsh has said his first goal was to get the team under the salary cap by 2010. It took him eight months.

Although he's off to a hell of a start, he's not done yet. He still needs to field a competitive team, while simultaneously keeping salary available, so free agents will even consider signing with the Knicks in 2010. 

Still, I have no doubt that Walsh knows what he's doing. After this afternoon's flurry of activity, I'm secure in the knowledge that the Knicks are, at long last, in capable hands.