Isaiah to coach Knicks. Adios Larry

With tons of space left over, sam.

 

It's Nate Robinson.

 

Oh well.

I just like Nate's game, and he's a good guy, so I decided to come back from vacation and have my first post be a whiny correction.

Carry on...

 

Re: Knicks fire Brown; Zeke named coach

"Face it, Isaiah, you threw up on Dean Wormer".

 

A half-empty MSG is pretty embarassing. Pretty sure that's what will happen for most of next season's home games.

 

I agree ... to an extent. Maybe Brown shouldn't have taken the job with that roster and that little control over personnel, but I don't think there are many of us who, given that much cash incentive, who would have turned down the job over the issue. The team he was given was horrid. Unbelievably, the team is now positioned to do something I had previously considered impossible: Get worse.

 

Everybody seems to have bought into the idea that Brown had such awful material to work with. I just don't buy it. The Knicks' roster isn't well-balanced, but it's not without talent. They have lots of veterans who have been at least moderately successful in this league, individually and team-wise. A team with Marbury and Crawford in the backcourt, Jalen Rose and Maurice Taylor at forward and Eddy Curry at center isn't awful, with Steve Francis, Malik Rose, Channing Frye and Q Richardson coming off the bench as matchups warrant. It's not a good defensive team, but you can't tell me that's only 23-59 talent. With a coach who decides on a set rotation and accentuates his players' strengths instead of bitching about their weaknesses and trying to turn them into another version of the Pistons, the Knicks could have been a 35-40 win team. That's what makes Brown's psycho coaching job such a shame. He could easily have made the Knicks a competitive team if he hadn't been so full of himself.

 

And to think he could have been running the Pistons after he retired. I shudder thinking about it.

 

I guess I agree and disagree, Ragu. You're right, Marbury is a problem. He thinks he's better than he is. But the general perception of him now is that he's worse than he is. There's still a place in this league for a player who can put up 20-25 a night and break people down off the dribble. Marbury can do those things. Yes, the Knicks look better on paper than they are on the floor. But I don't think it's true that they have 6 or 7 guys who think they're the man, with no role players. Marbury, Francis and maybe Curry are the only ones who have ever been considered No. 1 options. Guys like Malik Rose, Quentin Richardson and Maurice Taylor have never been anything but role players. How are those guys appreciably different than Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey, who just won rings?

Here's how I would work with this roster. Marbury's the No. 1 option on offense, with freedom to push the ball and attack the basket. Put Q Richardson in the backcourt with Marbury, to shoot 3s when Stephon penetrates or when Curry draws the double-team. Q is not a great defender, but he's a willing one. Crawford's the third guard, instant offense off the bench and also showing signs of at least trying to defend. Frontcourt -- Curry's my low-post scorer. Start Frye at power forward, because he's athletic and he can provide some of the shot-blocking that Curry doesn't. You've also got Malik Rose to come off the bench and do a lot of the dirty work that Curry can't or won't do. Put in Jalen Rose at small forward, with either Richardson or David Lee getting minutes there as well, and there's your rotation. It has low-post scoring, outside shooting, penetrating ability and athleticism. Defensively it's weak, but that's why it's only a 35-40 win team. Maybe it wouldn't work, but it's at least a plan. Larry Brown never had one.