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In his infinite wisdom, James Dolan has declared that Isiah Thomas must show “measurable” progress to keep his job after this season. What exactly that means hasn’t been defined, but the question is; how can this team not improve on last season? The Knicks managed only 23 wins last year and seemed to use a different lineup every night. Larry Brown ruined his reputation as a great coach by sniping at his players in the media and failing to set a rotation. In short, there is no possible scenario where this team plays worse than it did last year.
That doesn’t mean things are going to be a lot better. The Knicks did the smart thing and got rid of Maurice Taylor and Jalen Rose before the season started, stopping Isiah from being able to use their expiring contracts as trading chips later. Coach Thomas will still have to figure out how to get this roster of mismatched parts to play together. A backcourt of Marbury and Francis may score 80 a night and give up 100. Eddy Curry has to quickly become a great player or the trade Thomas made which cost New York the #2 pick last year and gave the Bulls (the team that crushed Miami last night) the right to swap picks this year, will go down as one of the worst ever.
Channing Frye should contribute positively and David Lee will too. Renaldo Balkman looks like he can be a terror on defense, but you still have to wonder why he was picked so high. Jared Jeffries will be missed, while he recovers from a wrist injury, since he was one of the few guys on the roster capable of playing defense.
In the end, it should all add up to a team that wins around 35 games. The Eastern Conference is full of mediocre teams, so that might even be enough for a playoff spot, but is it enough to save Isiah?
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LMAO!! If Larry Brown couldn't turn the Knicks around, what makes you think that Isiah Thomas can do it? Just look at Larry Brown's track record (Allen Iverson, MVP) and experience as a coach. Experience says alot. Having played the game is not enough. It is not just the coach. Where are the veterans the Knicks should have on the team that help the coach lead the team? It can't be Isiah, he's not playing. The team is young? They don't have experience. The fact that Larry Brown went to the press is not worthy of mentioning. He did the same thing with Allen Iverson. They ended up complimenting each other and spouted great respect for each other in the end. Larry Brown is one of the best coaches in NBA history.
You need to look at how the culture of the game has changed. In past decades men were inspired to play for the sake of the game. Other men wanted to associate with another athelete because he was good at what he did. Teamwork was important. Knowing who the leaders were was critical and showing them respect was paramount. Presently, it appears that there is an obsessive drive for stardom that makes or breaks the career of the players and the coaches. It seems that money is the motivator for the team owner, and the player. Then recently, the violent music, rap, has also overshadowed the game. Since when was a culture of music so closely associated with the game. It isn't happeing in baseball or football. Jay-Z never played basketball. Why is he and other music artists given so much attention and woven so tightly into association to the game. No other famous spectator has been given as high profile as some rap artists are given. Another issue,the guys that can't deside whether they want to launch a rap or music career as opposed to the basketball career they already have,s shouldn't be in the game. I wouldn't look to the coach and point the finger. Point the finger at the franchise owner and the players. What is their caliber?