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.

It's Not Your Fault and Other Advice on Following the Knicks

The good folks over at The Onion remind us just how difficult it has been rooting for the Knickerbockers since Scott Layden traded away Patrick Ewing for Glenn Rice, Luke Longley, Travis Knight, Vernon Maxwell and the rights to about five other players eight long years ago.  

How bad has it been? Two words: Clarence Witherspoon. 

Two more: Isiah Thomas. 

When you go through two organizational nadirs within an eight-year period, you're either 1.) in book publishing or 2.) a fan of the Knicks. During Isiah's reign of terror, I edited books for a living. I'd rather not dwell on this dark period of my life. Suffice it to say, I had a lot of conversations with friends that, more or less, went like this.

 

Still, the Hirsute One has a point: "It's not your fault." Once a Knicks fan can shrug off responsibility for the Layden-Isiah years,  they're practically home free. The rest is simply about managing expectations. 

Although the team has gotten off to a solid start, let's not get ahead of ourselves. They're in a middle of a long--and long-overdue--rebuilding phase. These things take time, no matter who's calling the shots. I have all the faith in the world in Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni, but even they can't magically deliver the Garden faithful a 50-win season. At least not right away. As dispiriting as Sunday night's loss to the Dallas Mavs was-- and as elusive as a Tuesday night road victory over the defending champs will prove to be-- we still need to keep in mind that the Knicks, currently second in the Atlantic Division, have already exceeded expectations. Granted, those expectations were about as high as Bush's approval rating, but this team does have a promising future-- with or without LeBron. The same can't be said for our current lame-duck president or, say, the American automobile industry. 

So, as the inconsistent play continues, don't fret. Track Wilson Chandler's continued development. Celebrate Marbury's benching. Count the days until Malik Rose is no longer allowed to put on a Knicks uniform. Pray Gallinari gets some burn this year. Enjoy David Lee before it's too late. Hope for Junior's return. Put up with Nate Robinson's erratic play because his hard court histrionics are kind of fun to watch and, well, simply because he's not Howard Eisely.

This current incarnation of the Knicks is, by no means, the team of the future. But at least they ain't the Knicks of the past eight years. 

Spanish Fly

According to various reports, Ricky Rubio, an 18-year-old point guard from Spain, has declared for the National Basketball Association's upcoming draft. Rubio, whose games is often compared to Pete Marovich, has been on the radar of hardcore basketball junkies for at least two years, when he first earned a starting spot--at 16!--for Joventut, one of the better teams in the best professional league in all of Europe. This summer, Rubio cemented his reputation as a big-time player, helping the Spanish National team win a silver medal in Beijing. 

Yadda, yadda, yadda. The kid's good, but the question is, can the Knicks get him? Not likely, although there are a number of ways we could, at least theoretically, hope to land him. We could, of course, win the draft lottery. Why not? Stranger things have happened. 

Realistically, though, there are a number of factors working in the Knicks' favor. First, because Joventut controls Rubio's contract, if an NBA team wants him, they're going to have to pay Joventut the $500,000 allowed under the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. Under the Dolans, the Knicks, although morally bankrupt, have always been flush with Cablevision cash, which means they wouldn't think twice about shelling out the money it would take just to draft Rubio. Second, and perhaps more important, the Knicks are only a handful of lottery-bound teams that actually, you know, need a point guard, and would welcome the chance to take Rubio over the likes of Blake Griffin or Hasheem Thabeet. 

I'm not alone in thinking this, either. Bethlehem Shoals, as is his wont, breaks down, the emerging Griffin-Rubio debate, vis-a-vis the performance of dominant guards in this year's playoffs:

Look at the teams with the league's worst records: Sacramento would love Rubio, but the Wizards and Clippers supposedly have stars recuperating to retake their point guard slot. Oklahoma City would run into the problem of what to do with explosive, promising Russell Westbrook. The T-Wolves could use him; the Grizzlies have been encouraged by the progress made by Mike Conley, Jr., but whatever. The Warriors would have to resign themselves to a small backcourt, and once and for all give up on Monta Ellis as their PG. Rubio to New York could save the NBA. At the same time, almost all those teams would benefit instantly from Griffin's presence -- and not have to deal with a buyout in this cash-sensitive climate.

From his lips to god's ears. Shoals goes on to say that, like a certain red wheelbarrow, so much depends on the playoffs. If the league's premier guards are all knocked out in the early rounds, he posits, then a general manager is more likely to take Griffin, a reliable, cheap frontcourt presence, over the promise of Rubio. Knicks fans, then, should be rooting against Derrick Rose and the Bulls, and, to a lesser extent, Rondo and the Celtics, if we hope to land Rubio in, what will most likely be, the mid-to-late lottery. As if we needed another excuse to hate Chicago and Boston. 

Even if the Knicks don't land Rubio, there remains a silver lining. With Rubio in the draft, the Knicks are now essentially guaranteed a guard who would thrive in D'Antoni's system (Brandon Jennings, Stephen Curry, Tyreke Evans, Eric Maynor or Ty Lawson)-- which would almost make up for missing out on Rubio. Almost. 

Irony is Recession-Proof

For the fourth consecutive year, Forbes magazine has rated the Knicks as the most valuable franchise in the National Basketball Association. 

With an estimated worth of $613 million, the Cablevision-owned Knicks, who won all of 23 games last season, finished just ahead of the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers and their scant $584 million, according to the magazine. 

Even in the darkest days under Isiah Thomas, when the team lost 66 percent of its game and spent $424 million on players over four years, the Knicks still managed to generate a league-leading $208 million in revenue last year, $12 million more than the team earned the previous season. What's more, the team's operating income jumped to $29.6 million, up from a loss of $42 million in 2006-2007. 

Kurt Badenhausen, an associate editor at Forbes, makes some sense of this ridiculousness.  

In spite of the Knicks' terrible play on the court in recent years, the franchise is the NBA's most valuable thanks to the pricey luxury suites and ticket packages that fans and companies continue to snap up at Madison Square Garden.

So it is our fault. Still, there's not much we can do about it. Knicks owner Charles Dolan, who also owns Cablevision, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Rangers, the New York Liberty and a bunch of other stuff, profits regardless of where the Knicks finish in the standings. This pretty much puts a kibosh on any hopes that he and his son James would ever sell the team. I mean, why would they? Father and son are practically printing their own money over at Madison Square Garden. Let's just hope they remember to open up their wallets in 2010 so Donnie Walsh can finish what he started. 

Knicks 2009-2010 Schedule

The National Basketball Association released this morning each team's schedule for the upcoming season, the league's 64th. While most people jumped up to find out when LeBron was heading to Los Angeles, or when Kobe's slated to play in Beantown, I was more interested in taking a look at the Knicks' upcoming road to perdition. (Spoiler alert: the Knicks don't have a draft pick in next year's draft, and the projected, much-ballyhooed salary cap seems to be getting smaller and smaller with each passing week). Seriously, things don't look good. The Knickerbockers start and finish the season on the road, opening against the Heat in Miami, and topping things off north of the border against the Raptors, a game that may or may not have playoff implications--for about two or three teams not from New York. 

It gets worse. In March and April, just around the time I usually lose complete interest in them, the Knicks face a series of absolutely brutal road trips, including a visit to Texas, followed by a five-game trip to the West Coast. In between, they host the 76ers, the Rockets and the Nuggets. That just seems unfair. See for yourself.

Yikes. That stretch should pretty much put an end to the team's playoff chances, if they even have any after the All-Star Break, which, per usual, arrives in mid-February, right around my birthday.

Surprisingly, though, the powers that be have deemed the Knicks worthy of five nationally televised games, including a Christmas Day contest against the Heat, one of five games scheduled for a national broadcast on Baby Jesus' birthday. Meanwhile, LeBron makes an early appearance at the Garden, on November 6, the Knicks' sixth game of the season. Kobe drops in on January 22. Both games are, of course, nationally televised, because of what happened the last time these two stopped by. I guess the world needs to see the league's two most marketabl stars abuse my Knickerbockers. While we're on the subject, I'm not too crazy about the team's chances of winning any of their games in front of a national audience, which also include home games against the Clippers and the Raptors, in December and January, respectively. It's only August. Is it too early to write off the entire season? 

The Senegalese Tease

I knew this deal was on the horizon, but yesterday afternoon the Knicks signed 7-1 Senegalese center Cheikh Samb, a former second round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers, to a 10-day contract. The addition of Samb gives the Knicks their first marginal-to-potentially good shot-blocking presence at center since Dikembe Mutombo, in 2004, believe it or not. Mind you, this says more about the so-called centers various Knicks teams have featured at the 5, though, than it does about Samb, who isn't exactly the second coming of Bill Russell, or even Samuel Dalmbert, for that matter. 

In fact, I doubt Samb'll even see extended minutes on the court, because, in 20 career games, his statistics have about as much bounce as a University of Delaware seismic station: 0.1 assists; 0.2 steals; 1.1 points; 1.5 rebounds. He also shot an embarrassingly horrendous 27 percent from the field, presumably, from about two feet away from the basket. 

So why am I even writing about his signing? With three open roster spots, it's in the Knicks' best interest to see if Samb, who did put up some promising numbers in the NBA's D-League, is up to snuff. And, as the Lakers, Pistons, Nuggets and Clippers figured before the Knicks, Samb's freakishly long arms should run into some shots, which, in turn, should turn into some easy baskets in transition. Who knows, if he shows D'Antoni and his staff something in practice, he might just be able to fit into the team's plans going forward, without screwing the pooch for 2010 and beyond. Although this is more than a little troubling. But that kind of thing happened to Patrick quite often. 

Knickerblogger sees it pretty much the same way, I think:

This is a good low risk-medium reward deal for the Knicks. It’s something that the team has been weak at considering the Roberson/Von Wafer mistake over the summer. If Samb can join the legion of NBDLers who have become solid NBA players he will give New York another cheap player to help the team win now. Additionally players like Samb could help New York field a competitive roster for 2011 without hurting them fiscally.

Worse case scenario, Samb is terrible, and is released before St. Patrick's Day. No harm, no foul. 

Why the Knicks Still Matter

Three reasons: Location. Location. Location. At least according to FreeDarko's 6th man:

In this way, New York is the true capital of basketball. Beyond the dizzying array of connections to the NYC that unite almost all of the game’s denizens, New York’s primacy as a streetball center keeps the sport anchored in the five boroughs. Basketball embodies New York’s spirit, and New York embodies basketball’s. Appreciating this dynamic explains why places like West 4th Street are hallowed proving grounds; why the history of the game was likely altered the day that Black Jesus came forth from Philadelphia, held court in Harlem, and dazzled Lew Alcindor; why a palpable chill descends on the building when Kobe shows up to drop 60.

[SNIP]

The Knickerbockers are New York’s most visible link to the sport with which it shares a soul; the Knicks are a proxy for the City. And the Knicks, of course, play in the National Basketball Association. NBA basketball is the best-known, best-played form of the sport. A sustained championship drought, therefore, has bedeviled New Yorkers because it has challenged a shared sense of identity. Even if this discomfort is not always articulated as such, the Knicks’ failures have struck at what New Yorkers are about. The place of basketball should field a team which can play it as well as just about any other.

With or without LeBron, the Knicks will soon field a team as good as the game. Mark my words. 

Q-Rich Gives Back

Last night, Quentin Richardson came up big for the Knicks with two hold-your-breath shots against the Pistons. I was surprised as anyone. In fact, when the man known as Q-Rich took both shots, I shook my head and hoped he'd at least draw iron. Although they weren't pretty, the baskets helped secure a much-needed victory for the Knicks, their second straight road win. Here's one of them:



The Knicks are now just one-and-a-half games out the eighth--and final--playoff spot, even though I essentially wrote them off just a few days ago, after they blew back-to-back games against the Bobcats and Nets. Can you really blame me, though? Baseball is just around the corner and March Madness is pounding on the front door. Simply put, the Knicks's schizophrenic play was interfering with my growing interest in the World Baseball Classic and, more immediately, my preparation for the NCAA tournament, which is as close to sacred as it gets around these parts. I should clarify, though: the other day, when I wrote that baseball was a much more pleasant viewing experience than basketball, I meant specifically in comparison to the NBA's 82-game schedule. March Madness, on the other hand, is a perfect viewing experience, the best sports has to offer. 

But I digress. This post is about Q-Rich's helping hands. In addition to putting away the Pistons, Richardson donated--during the game, no less-- $1,000 to Feed the Children, an organization that provides food for impoverished families in the state of Michigan, as part of the Pistons' annual telethon.  

Fans in the arena were urged to give at every break in the game's action -- and from his spot on the visiting team's bench, Quentin Richardson got the message. Despite the fact that his team was in the middle of a game, Richardson had a team employee fetch a donation form so he could cut a check for a cool grand at halftime.

Good for Q. Although I've never particularly been impressed with his game, I've always liked him for his unwillingness to put up with Stephon Marbury's crap and his personal resiliency. The guy's been through a lot. 2005 was a particularly rough year for him: his relationship with the singer Brandy came to an end and two of his brothers were murdered in Chicago. That's also the same year he was traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Knicks, which would have been too much for just about anyone. Q-Rich, though, pushed on, and continues to make his presence known, even if it isn't always via the box score.   

(Via NBA Fanhouse)

Win or Lose, Patrick Ewing Is Going to Be Disappointed

Patrick Ewing is one of my favorite professional athletes of all time. I grew up during his heyday with the Knicks. I watched him, each year, come tantalizingly close to breaking through against Michael Jordan and the Bulls. Finally, in 1994, while Jordan was off trying his hand at baseball, Ewing led the Knicks past the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Championship, putting up an amazing 24 points, 22 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 blocks in the decisive Game 7. A few weeks later, despite jumping out to a 3-1 series lead, Ewing and the Knicks ended up on the wrong side of Hakeem Olajuwan's Houston Rockets in the Finals. Later, in 1999, Ewing, out with a partially torn Achilles tendon, was forced to watch from the sidelines, as the Knicks, behind Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell, Larry Johnson and Marcus Camby, made their improbable run to the Finals. That Knicks team lost in five games to the San Antonio Spurs, another goddam team from Texas. In his professional career, Ewing was 0-2 in the Finals. 

Like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and John Stockton, Ewing's quest for a championship ended badly. To this day, Ewing is widely considered one of the greatest basketball players never to have won a ring, a dissonant, unforgiving list of Hall of Fame talents who came up short, a list that grows longer each passing year. As a fan, this remains my biggest disappointment in sports. Patrick, as he was known around my household, should have won. At least twice. The fact that he didn't continues to wrankle, even today. 

It seems to be messing with the Big Fella, too.  Yesterday, Ewing, now an assistant coach with the Eastern Conference Champion Orlando Magic, had this to say about the prospect of winning it all. "It means a lot," he said. "A player, coach, winning a championship means a lot. That will shut everybody up. Everyone who says I don't have one, it will shut them up when I do have one."

Does he really believe this? Could capturing an elusive championship as a coach possibly be as satisfying to Ewing as it would have been if he had delivered a ring to New York as its franchise player? Does Ewing really think an Orlando victory would separate him from the likes of Barkley and Malone? I'm sorry, Patrick, but this just isn't the case. If the Magic win it all, I'm sure Dwight Howard would be more than happy to credit Ewing with his inevitable development as a player. I'm sure, too, that Stan Van Gundy would continue to put in a good word for Ewing around the league as a possible head coaching candidate. But, ultimately, if the Magic go on to beat the Lakers, bragging rights would belong, almost exclusively, to the players, head coach and general manager, just as it always has, and just as it should remain. Ewing's championship contributions, on the other hand, will be noted, rather unceremoniously, somewhere between 12th-man Jeremy Richardson and Tom Smith, the Magic's athletic trainer.   

Friends in High Places

When Knicks President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh freed up close to $46 million in cap space for 2010, he did more than just make the Knicks the prohibitive favorite to sign LeBron James when he opts out of his contract. He may have also put the Yankees in a better position to land their biggest free agent target this winter: C.C. Sabathia. 

According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the idea of LeBron James suiting up for the Knicks in two years could very well convince his good buddy to put on the pinstripes this spring.  

Sabathia developed a friendship, through his years in Cleveland, with LeBron James, as the two became the biggest stars in a small town. They have bopped around New York together in the past, and on Friday, the Knicks made trades that are being viewed as precursors to their pursuit, in another 20 months, of James.
Presumably, at some point, Sabathia and James have shared a conversation about living and playing in New York at the same time -- Sabathia for the Yankees, James for the Knicks. James, as the world famously learned in the playoffs of 2007, is a Yankees fan.

Olney cautions, however, that Sabathia isn't even close to coming to a decision about his future, and he is still weighing a number of factors, like staying in the National League or pitching in his home state of California, that could very well determine where he ends up playing next season. 

Still, the Yankees' reported offer of $140 million over six years, coupled with the King's possible arrival in the Big Apple, could likely tilt the balance in the Bombers' favor.  

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.   

Eddy Curry is Vestigial

Yesterday, Eddy Curry, the man once considered the cornerstone of the New York Knicks, was diagnosed with a torn right plantaris muscle, a vestigial sheath of tissue located between the calf and the ankle. Only 40 percent of the world's population even has this muscle. Curry, who missed the better part of the past two seasons due to various ailments and poor conditioning, is now injuring parts of his body that are, medically speaking, no more useful than an appendix or a human tail. Which begs the awful, yet inevitable question: how much longer can Eddy Curry last in the National Basketball Association?

Curry's professional career has been a complete disaster. It's sad, but true. Diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat at the end of the 2004-2005 season, Curry was traded to the Knicks for an expensive package of expiring contracts and future draft picks. The trade, compounded by a number of horrendous organizational decisions (See Thomas, Isiah), continues to cripple the franchise. Curry, believe it or not, is still under contract next year, which could very well prevent the Knicks from signing a second free agent in the much-heralded class of 2010. 

I'm not about to put this on Curry, though. I honestly feel bad for the guy. His most recent setback caps off a horrible 2009. In January, Curry's former driver filed a bizarre sexual harassment suit against Curry alleging Curry exposed himself and tried to solicit sex from his former employee. That same month, Curry's former girlfriend was killed in her home, along with the couple's daughter. Their three-year-old son witnessed the murder. In June, Curry's home went into foreclosure, which prompted Curry to ask the Knicks for an advance on his $8 million-salary. The Knicks denied his request. There's nothing funny about his current personal or professional situation. The man obviously needs a lot of help, financially, professionally and emotionally.  

Still, at this point in his career, Curry is quickly running out of time and chances, and is in serious jeopardy of losing everything.  

A Fan's Note

I was fortunate enough to take in last night’s Knicks-Blazers game. Here are a few random thoughts from the evening, as experienced from section 345, row D, seat 1.

Chris Duhon is better than advertised. David Lee works hard. Brandon Roy plays like Clyde Frazier. Greg Oden looks lost. LaMarcus Aldridge is nice. So is Travis Outlaw. Rudy Fernandez has lots of fans and is an absolute chucker. Malik Rose has no business playing basketball. Tim Thomas is still Tim Thomas. Channing Frye is irrelevant. Al Harrington is better than Anthony Bonner. Q is fat. Roberson is tiny. The Knicks ran out of gas. D’Antoni pays attention to everything, except Stephon Marbury. Nate McMillan needs to tighten up his team's D. The Knicks City Dancers are off. The Garden overestimates people’s hankering for cotton candy. And, finally, Knicks fans don't drink nearly as much beer as Rangers fans.

Thanks to NT and PF-T for looking out.

Not OK

Roughly 48 hours after defeating the Boston Celtics, the Knicks set organized basketball back 15 years last night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the worst display of the slowly unraveling first season of the D’Antoni/Walsh era. How bad was it? At one point, the Knicks were down 23 points to the four-win Thunder, the team’s largest lead of the season. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green both put up 27 points, while Russell Westbrook made Chris Duhon look like post-op Jay Williams all night.

Just when I didn’t think it could get any worse, the decaying corpse of Joe Smith made a brief appearance, blocking four shots (David Lee twice) in 20 minutes.

Of course, the Knicks, losers of eight of 10, pulled within a basket with nine minutes to play. I should know by now, however, that the team, specifically Nate Robinson, likes to call a game in their favor long before the game is, you know, actually over. If you ever see Nate pound the floor or scream at the rafters after sinking a contested shot, mark it down for another Knicks’ loss. Trust me.

Last night’s game was straight out of Isiah’s tenure. Old habits die hard, I suppose. Still, I’ve come to expect more from D’Antoni’s squad, even if they are sitting seven games under .500.

No, New York, No, New York, No

I'm not going to lie. This year's Knicks team doesn't really excite me. I watched a number of their preseason games, including the bizarre exhibition against Maccabi Tel Aviv, and to borrow a phrase, this team don't look too f*cking good. 

Although they do work hard on both ends of the court, the team lacks a go-to offensive weapon, a reliable defensive presence, a consistent shooter and a vocal, veteran leader. In theory, Al Harrington is supposed to fill these various roles, but if anyone expects Harrington to do this, they haven't exactly been paying close attention to Al throughout his career.   

Headed into the season, the Knicks have a ton more questions than they do answers: Is David Lee worth the long-term investment? Is Wilson Chandler a foundational piece, or is he just a role player? Can Danilo Gallinari play in the NBA? Is Nate Robinson anything more than a sideshow? Has Darko Milicic finally figured it out? Was Jordan Hill worth drafting? Is Toney Douglas any good? Is there any team desperate enough to want Jared Jeffries and/or Eddy Curry?

If the Knicks can answer half of these questions in the affirmative, I'll consider the season a resounding success. Going forward, though, the future fortunes of the Knicks, no matter how much progress they show on the court, will rise and fall based on one question and one question only: Will they land LeBron? 

Knicked

Yesterday, I let slip a revealing fact about my basketball viewing habits: I haven't watched a game since Sunday afternoon. That includes my beloved Knickerbockers. It's true. The same thing happens every year. I live and die by the Knicks from October to mid-March, when my attention turns, almost exclusively, to college basketball.  Is it a coincidence? Hardly. The Knicks, as is their annual wont, display early and consistently inconsistent flashes of progress only to collapse completely by the round of 32, when college basketball is at the top of its game, so to speak. Let's face it: the Knicks, losers of five straight, including inexcusable and miserable losses to New Jersey and Sacramento, haven't been competitive or even-- and it pains me to say this-- worth watching since they returned from their five-game road trip, two days before St. Patrick's Day.  

Let the draft-day speculation begin. 

ElimiNate

Near the end of his otherwise uninteresting profile of the increasingly overhyped Nate Robinson in this week's issue of New York magazine, Mark Jacobson makes an important point about the diminutive guard and, by extension, his frontcourt running mate, David Lee, both of whom will be restricted free agents this summer: "Fact is, both Robinson and Lee are sixth men on a team of seventh and eighth men."

I couldn't have said it better myself, particularly about Nate Robinson. When Nate burst onto the scene in 2005, I cheered on his histrionics and tantalizingly inconsistent play because, well, the Knicks didn't exactly have much else going for them at the time, and I honestly thought Nate had game, a belief that hasn't really changed over the years. As the team gears up for the future, though, it's becoming increasingly clear that Nate and his game don't exactly fit into the organization's long-term plans. Sure, Nate's an explosive role player, a quick spark off the bench. But he's not a building block—at least not for this team, which has failed to win more than 35 games in any year with him on the roster. What, exactly, has Nate shown over his tenure with the Knicks to warrant a second contract, other than two meaningless Slam Dunk titles and four years of losing basketball? For all his talents and razzle-dazzle, I'm afraid Nate is simply a luxury the Knicks can no longer afford.

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. 

Toney Douglas

Toney Douglas, the 29th overall pick in this year's NBA Draft, is making quite the name for himself in Las Vegas this summer. Douglas, a 6-6' combo guard out of Florida State, has been running the point for the Knicks in the team's first two Summer League games. So far, he's racked up 21 total assists, while only turning over the ball twice. That's practically an 11:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Ridiculous. Douglas, whose draft rights were purchased by the Knicks on Draft Night, still hasn't found his shooting stroke, but Knicks coaches and league scouts are raving about his ability to run the floor, manage a game, create shots for his teammates and, best of all, defend the ball. I can get behind that, even after only two games. 

Today's Knicks Sexual Harassment Story Brought to You by the Letter "E"

Not a good week for Eddy Curry. After pulling himself out of Sunday night's game against the Rockets, he gets nailed with this ridiculous sexual harassment suit from his former driver, David Kuchinsky, who claims Curry, on two separate occasions, exposed himself and told Kuchinsky "to look and to touch him," according to Kuchinsky's attorney. 

The suit also alleges Curry referred to Kuchinsky in racially offensive terms.

Curry denied the charges, presumably from the Knicks' bench, where he's been planted for all but 158 seconds this season. "This is absolutely false," he said. "It's incredible. I can't even believe it."

In Curry's defense, this sounds like total crap. Kuchinsky has been trying to extort money from Curry since late last year, when Curry fired Kuchinsky. Explains Curry:

He had approached my friends and me a while back trying to get money and stuff like that. I just never thought -- especially with the past that me and him had -- I never thought that it would go past where it did, which is idle threats; 'I want some money or else' kind of stuff. I guess it's just like a prime example of you just got to watch who you have around you. This is a guy who I really thought was my friend up until the last four or five months. I can't even believe this has happened.

Teammate Malik Rose put it even more succinctly: "I know for a fact Eddy’s not gay." 

Way to lend a hand, Malik. You're about as good a character witness as you are an on-the-ball defender. 

Still, Kuchinsky's lawsuit will probably go away, unlike Anucha Browne Sanders' very real sexual harassment charge against Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden, which cost Knicks owner James Dolan $11.5 million and helped put the final nail in Isiah's coffin. That, and the 56-109 record as head coach. And the $100 million salary cap.

If Donnie Walsh really did have an inkling to trade Curry, he has even more work cut out for him than I originally feared. Which team wants to add an overweight, unmotivated center who doesn't rebound or defend, with a sexual harassment suit hanging over his head?

“Eddy’s brand is tarnished forever,”said Rose. “People are always going to associate those words and those actions with him."

But he's totally not gay.