Saturday, May 12, 2012

There are no champions here

In the realm of sports, as soon as you lace up you're sneakers, cleats, or skates you are subjecting yourself to judgment. "You suck", is probably the first thing you hear in the fields of action. What separates the strong from the weak is the determination to get better. What separates that from all else is the heart of the individual. Success is not judged by the pay check. It's judged by your peers, fans and spectators. Your hardest critics should be your family. My son for instance, is trying to destroy me at anything he can. He's only 8 and we have a great relationship but he understands the unwritten rule of sports. Kill or be killed.

Where is the killer instinct with todays basketball players? Im not only talking about the highest paid guys. Just players in general. The greater majority have to be in almost perfect situations to succeed. Alot of times it's opportunity and fit. Alot of times it's lack experience. There comes a time when you have to question a persons heart and how they stand for this thing called pride. It doesn't have anything to do with how many shots a guy puts up in practice or how many rounds of p90x they did in the off season. What matters is, when the sneakers are laced and the ball is tipped, who is going to walk off the court victorious? If the team sucks, each individual has to take that with them. All championship squads had hall of fame talent. That hall if game talent would be nothing without cold blooded role players. Robert Horry, Mario Elie, Derek Fisher, Steve Kerr, John Paxson....Even the clubs that came close had guys that had the heart of a champion just the short end if the stick.

Knick fans out there are out there crying. At the short end of our stick the Knicks have names like X-Man, Oakley, Mason, Starks, Harper, Lj, Sprewell....you know the names. Guys never won a thing but earned the respect of a fan base and their peers that will never be taken away. 
Check the knicks roster after their playoff loss to Miami. Where are your champions? Can you name 3 with a straight face? No matter your opinion of this team....i challenge you to pick out 3 warriors. Not guys that you hope to one day become warriors. Be realistic and you will see what we have to do to improve this team. We are not as close as we thought we were.

Still...the motto is always "go knicks". Show us the pride on the court and the fans will show respect on and off the court.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Off-season starts now for the Knicks

Nothing on the basketball court mattered as soon as Shumpert went down with a torn ACL in game one. That moment was just a testimony for how horrible our team is. It was like the basketball God's smitted the Knicks for thinking they had a "Mobb Deep" bench. Then Stoudamire swings and accidently slices his hand, like he was going walking in the gym dropping 25pts and 10 rebounds a game. It didn't matter if he played or not. Game 3 proved that for the last time. To add insult to injury (baddum bum), Baron completely shatters his knee on a simple drive to the basket. Baron was crowned the savior at the begining of the year. Anyone remember that? Even if Baron stayed healthy...did anyone believe he was going to all of a sudden put on a Golden State Warrior jersey and carry the Knicks on his back (baddum bum)?!?!?

Numero Uno...Landry Fields is a bum. When guys start getting hurt, other guys need to step up. That guy should be Landry Fields. 15pts a game is all I ask. He should already be walking in the gym dropping 15pts a game even with Melo and Stoudamire out there. You just watch him looking for someone to pass it to. You look at him cringe at the sight of contact. You see his broken jumpshot. You see is horrible beard. How can you expect the team to have heart when a major rotation player, a starter, has the heart of a slug. If the Knicks had Mike Dunlevy, Jamal Crawford or anyone else with comparable size and skill to Landry the Knicks would have had a better chance. The Knicks must replace him. The Knicks are not in a position to give guys another chance. We know what we have in him. I would give him a qualifying offer for a million and nothing more. You do not lock him up for more than that. It's roster suicide, unless you plan to trade him.

Numéro deux...Amar'e Stoudamire can't rebound the basketball. He doesn't control the paint unless guys are letting him bully them to the basket. Effort kills Amar'e. Every team has thrown an effort guy at Amar'e and he continued to get killed on the boards. It really doesn't matter who it is. New Oreans, the Bucks....they throw no oame guys out there and they make Amar'e look washed up. I hear alot of excuses from Amar'e, from injuries, to coaching, to the death of his brother. He's got to play his position and control the paint. That's his job. He has to do his job, period. If he can't? They he shouldn't play. How do you fix that? The Knicks must find a back up power fwd that the Knicks can lean on to produce when Stoudamire disappears. You can't put this on the fact he doesn't have a point guard since Jeremy Lin went down. Will a point guard help him rebound? That's the point I'm trying to make with him. Knicks might already have the answer in Josh Harrelson, but they have to play him more minutes.

3號...The Knicks can't go into the year with the future resting on Jeremy Lin's back. Shumpert is going to come back strong. That kid has the heart, determination and confidence to do it. What he doesn't have is the ability to play point guard when Lin is not in the game. His rightful spot is at the shooting guard spot next to Lin. With this said, the Knicks need a proper backup. Mike Bibby deserves brought back after not laying down against Miami. Still the Knicks need a guy that could start on any team in the league if they had to. The Knicks don't have the cap space, but they do have shot at getting guys like Johnny Flynn, JJ Barea or Kyle Lowry due to their injuries, etc. It doesn't have to be them but it has to be someone that could start. I would try to move Landry and the chicken without a head Toney Douglas to get this point guard.

That to me is it. The Knicks need to find Amar'e and understudy, aka a spot starter that can clean up Amar'e's shortcomings. Carmelo Anthony needs another guy to help take the scoring pressure off him. The Knicks need to solidify/strengthen the point guard situation. They simply can't continue on with the limited players they have now.

In Grunwald we trust...

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Knicks need to cash in reality check

A'mare Stoudemire was "stat city"....he put the city and the team on his back and said "the knicks are back". It was all good just a year ago.

A'mare ruined his back trying to touch the top if the back in last years series against Boston. This year he punches a fire extinguisher case and almost bleeds to death. He might have seriously ruined his hand in the process. Was he mad because he disappeared against Miami? Is he mad because he can't seem to grab rebounds? Is he mad that Haslem, Bosh and the rest were beating him to every ball? Was he mad he wasnt getting touches?

This is where we are. The reality now is this is Carmelo  Anthony's team. This is not a bad thing. The bad thing is the team is not functioning properly around his talents. Landry Fields is the hands down X factor in this series but the man is scared to death to make an impact on the game other than moving the ball. Knicks need him to drop double figures attacking the rim and making shots. He's been a like a basketball wife, a non motherf'in factor. Poor Chandler has been sick but has been giving more effort than anyone not named Carmelo. Baron Davis had been horrible and the guy everyone has written off in Mike Bibby has been steady at point guard. Jared Jeffries is playing his best basketball right now in short minutes.

With A'mare now out with Shumpert, perhaps the knicks need to utilize a bully in Dan Gadzuric. Dan has a mean streak and will protect the rim and rebound. Toney Douglas needs to be used at shooting guard finally. Shump going down is a sign to play Toney in his natural position as a chucker. Knicks need someone to get hot. Knicks need someone that is going to put someone on the floor when they drive the same way Miami is doing it to them.

Bottom line: Start Melo at the 4 no matter if A'mare its healthy or not.  Landry at the 3. Chandler at the 5. Start Baron and Jr Smith in three backcourt. Put Toney back out there in an instant offense role off the bench. Utilize Bibby more. Let Gadzuric and Jared foul out rebounding and defending.

Protect our house and beat the Heat....we'll deal with A'mare after the series.