Idle Worship

The Knicks have completely revamped their team from last year. They added 5 rotation players and 3 second round rookies to a depleted roster that only consisted of 5 players, including Eddy Curry. Is it enough to have promising youth? The fanbase has been crying about building with the draft for years. The Knicks don't have a player over the age of 28. They have Wilson Chandler, Toney Douglas, Gallo, Bill Walker and Anthony Randolph still on their rookie deals. Their potential all of a sudden isn't enough for the fanbase anymore...now they need a superstar.



Wait don't the Knicks already have a superstar on the roster? Amar'e Stoudamire is every bit a superstar. He's arguably the best power forward in the NBA. He puts the POWER in power forward. He had a freak accident with his detatched retna and seems to have overcome his microfracture surgeries. That's not enough to save him from the boo birds of gotham. All of a sudden Amar'e isn't SUPER enough. They need super DE Duper!!!



The Knicks fanbase are star struck by the Lebron fiasco. Their attention has been immediately spun towards Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul. It doesn't even seem to matter than each player is currenty under contract. It also doesn't matter than the Knicks already have players at the small forward and point guard position that could do the job. The Knicks actually have 3 small forwards in Gallo, Wilson, and Anthony Randolph(kid needs a nickname) with the potential to be all-star calibur. Gallo alone showed that he is capable of taking on scoring responsibilities. For the final 8 games in April of last season, he averaged 22 points, 2.8 assists and 5.9 rebounds in 39 minutes per game. Believe it or not but those numbers rival Carmelo Anthony's. What if Gallo comes into camp in shape and actually makes those numbers a reality for the New york Knicks over the course of the season? What the heck would they need Carmelo Anthony for? Granted, Gallo's skillset is closer to a Peja Stojakovic when he was with Sacramento, but Peja was putting up 20/5/2 during that time period. Peja was no slouch while with the Kings. Peja also played next to Chris "Don't mention me and Darko in the same sentence" Webber who was quite similiar in stature to Amare while in his prime. This would be a wait and see approach but why shop around when you have good stuff at home?

Anthony Randolph is an intriging player because he is a 6'11" player that can block shots like Camby and handle the basketball like Lamar Odom. He can be a key reserve that will rack up minutes backing up all front court positions. He allows Turiaf to start and can slide Amar'e to center for stints or man the position himself according to matchups. You can't have that option if you trade this kid for Carmelo Anthony...or Chris Paul for that matter. Speaking of which, What is so wrong about giving Raymond Felton a chance to run the point for the Knicks? He's not Chris Paul...he's not Steve Nash either. Why does he have to be 2 of the best point guards the league has ever seen? Why can't the dude be a solid point guard just like so many other starters in this league? How good was Terry Porter in his Portland days? How good was Terrell Brandon in Clevland/Minnesota? Derek Harper in Dallas? Nick Van Exel with the Lakers? Mookie Blaylock with Atlanta? There are a list of point guards that were awesome. They weren't Stockton, Isiah or Magic but they were very good point guards on some great teams. Raymond Felton needs his chance to prove himself. He's never played with a finisher inside like Amar'e. He's never played with a shooter like Gallo. He's an uptempo point guard as well who's been asked to pound the ball for 90% of the shot clock. He'd be in an offense that allows him to do the things he's good at.

When did Knicks fans become star struck? Yeah the Knicks haven't had a huge name here in quite some time. Reality of it is these "stars" all laughed at us when the Knicks were down. They see their boys team up in Miami and now they wanna do the same. Chris Paul came out looking like a clown with his no leverage trade demand. The Knicks also look foolish mortgaging 2 seasons just for Lebron, Wade and Bosh to go to Miami like they probably always planned. When do you say to yourself "enough already!" The Knicks can't keep its own players on eggshells wondering if they will be on the next plane out when a "superstar" becomes available. What if they don't trade Carmelo or Chris Paul? Who's next? We need to gather some sort of pride as a franchise and fanbase. Are we chasing championships or are we star gazing? Are we Knicks fans or are we superstar groupies?

Stop....now think about it!