Isaiah to coach Knicks. Adios Larry

Gee. Assessing the talent on hand, and trying to figure out a way to win with the players you have.

What a concept.

The Knicks' talent is horribly mismatched, due to Isiah's incompetence (and also somewhat to the idiots who ran the show before him), but it is not like there is absolutely no talent there. There is enough talent on the roster, they should have won 30-35 games.

By the way, Larry Brown indeed did have a plan: if he didn't get the roster he demanded, he would intentionally put the players in situations to produce the worst possible results, proving yet again how much better the team would have been if they had done what he demanded from the start, thus setting up easy whipping boy/scapegoats for his self-serving, responsibility-dodging, ego-stroking, infantile tirades.

In other words, exactly what he did with the Olympic team.

The job of a basketball coach is to win as many games as he can with the team he's got, not to make up as many excuses as he can think of as to why he can't, and why it's always somebody else's fault.

 

Here's an interesting update:

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060623/COLUMNIST03/606230362/1108/SPORTS01

The final arbiter of Brown's contract will be David Stern, which means Brown can expect a payoff of approximately $0.00.

 

I don't see how anyone could win with the band of losers the Knicks have assembled, but maybe Isiah will prove me wrong.

 

I doubt he'll "win", but undoubtedly he'll win a few more than Brown did, and at least Dolan, and for that matter Knicks fans, and for that matter the rest of the NBA (not coincidentally, including David Stern), will be at least reasonably sure the coach is actually trying to win, not intentionally tanking games to prove to the whole wide world how horrible the roster is, and what fools your bosses were for not instantly caving in to all your roster demands.

 

A. Not news at all. Was widely reported in NY yesterday within hours of Dolan saying Larry was fired "for cause." and would not be paid the $4- mill he is owed.
B. Do you really believe that Stern is going to giver Brown nothing and expect to get away with it. Brown would have the Knicks and the NBA in court in a heartbeat and would clean their clocks for the $40 mill plus legal expenses.
C. Stern -- who supposedly called Dolan in a few weeks ago and told him he better get his shit together and stop embarrassing the league -- will tell Dolan in no uncertain terms to settle this mess as quickly as possible ($20-25 mill sounds good) and then STFU about Larry Brown.

 

Next: a new boat for this old salt to pilot.
http://katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=84394

 

B: In the ever more employer-friendly legal atmosphere we live in, don't bet on it. Flagrant willful insubordination and intentional operational sabotage is being looked upon more and more poorly these days.

Brown and his agent of course, will threaten to go to court, and the NBA and Knicks may very well say, "Fine. Bring it on." By the time he gets done in court, Larry Brown may never set foot in an NBA arena again.

 

That's a rather strong accusation, star -- that Brown was intentionally throwing games.

Care to give a few examples?

 

Intentionally and continually playing the wrong players in the wrong positions.

Did Larry Brown order Marbury to intentionally throw the ball away with 10 seconds left in a tie game? Probably not.

But he continually did stuff he knew would just as unavoidably lead to losses (just as he did with the Olympic team), when he had other options. All to stick it to the management which failed to provide him with all the players he wanted, and to perpetrate his persona as the incomparable genius, cruelly denied the support he needed to win. And, of course, to stick it to the players, who were unwilling or unable to "play the right way."

 

I understand the overall idea of what you're saying. I'm just looking for some specifics. Who'd he play in the wrong position and when?

I'm not trying to attack your argument here. I'm not sure I could even if it were wrong, since I watched about 30 minutes of Knicks basketball this past season. I'm only looking for specifics.

 

As Ragu was pointing out, Brown's starting rotation was awful. He would start some of the shittiest players on his team for the sole purpose that the town they were playing in that night was the undrafted signing's home town or nearby the kid's college.

Jalen Rose, a known cancer, was heralded by Brown and they said things would work. Rose started and/or played pretty well in the first 6-games or so and then received 10-straight "DNP Coach's Decision."

To top it off, the 40 different line-ups had little or nothing to do with injuries.

"What's that Qyntel Woods? You are from Memphis? Oh, it just so happens that's where we are playing today. You get to start! Starbury, you get to sit."