Sometime soon, after the Knicks finish congratulating themselves for winning their first playoff game in a decade, the franchise will have to get around to figuring out the next move in the longest rebuilding project since post-Nero Rome.
That’s not to say there wasn’t some progress made this past season.
Even if the year did include the firing of Mike D’Antoni, a couple of serious knee blowouts and Amare Stoudemire’s one-rounder with a fire extinguisher, those speed bumps were mixed in with some pretty good basketball.
The Knicks were better this year, no question. Mike Woodson added a fresh voice, and the team responded.
Tyson Chandler showed his class, Carmelo Anthony exhibited his offensive virtuosity and Jeremy Lin was the fairy-tale story of New York sports.
But if the Knicks proved anything concrete along the way it was that, as presently constituted, they are not quite good enough to make a real run at something like the NBA Finals.
That’s not a knock, just a fact.
Even if, as Stoudemire contends of the team’s big three, they are, “Right there at the top of the bunch,” it’s still not quite enough.
The franchise needs more.
More depth.
More talent.
From where I sit, the first place to look is in the direction of the skinny 38-year-old Canadian soccer player who happens to already live in town in the offseason.
The Phoenix Suns’ stunningly durable Hall of Fame-bound point guard Steve Nash is a free agent, as you no doubt have heard. The two-time NBA MVP remains smart and tough. And he can still play 30 high-quality minutes per game and produce double-digits in scoring and assists.
Amazing, right?
But it is so.
I know, I know.
The Knicks are over the salary cap. They have serious financial flexibility issues, but that’s all for the accountants to figure out.
As Woodson pointed out this week, the clock is ticking on this veteran group. The window of opportunity is closing.
Nash would fit perfectly.
He’d be a great addition for the not-quite-ready-for-prime-time Lin, serving as both cushion and mentor for the fledgling point man.
The savvy pick-and-roller would make bigs Chandler and Stoudemire better simply by finding them more often in good spots.
He’d be pure gold for deep-shooting Steve Novak, and would even add a dimension to Landry Fields’ game.
And just because he’s so darn good, he’d accomplish it all without getting in Melo’s way.
Nash would have to take a big pay cut to come to the Knicks. But all he really wants at this stage of career is to win, and he could make that happen at The Garden.
Plus, if he comes to town permanently, Nash would get to hang all year long with his NYC soccer buddies.
*****
I’m not bailing on David Robertson, who has certainly earned some time while he tries to step into the largest pitching shoes in Yankee history.
Just the same, watching the new closer head for the mound for a ninth inning gives you a whole different feel, right? Â
*****
I’m not pointing fingers here, or trying to rain on anyone’s parade, but CSI’s Tony Petosa deserved Division III Coach of the Year honors at the Met Writers annual Haggerty Awards Dinner a few weeks back. Â
*****
As of yesterday, the Mets and Yankees had identical records.
It’s early in the season, obviously, and there’s no guarantee Terry Collins club can continue grinding out wins they way they did this past week in their sweep over the Phillies.
But the more you watch this scrappy no-name group you think that maybe they can keep things interesting.
And, as someone said to me the other day, if Collins can win 80 games with this roster, they should let him manage the Mets for as long as he wants. Â
*****
Can anything be less interesting — or important — than the Roger Clemens perjury trial, by the way?
Other than all those ESPN talk shows, I mean? Â
*****
One of the joys of this business was running into old-time Knicks coach Fuzzy Levane back in the day, whether it was at The Garden, where he worked for decades as a scout for the Knicks, or at the betting windows in Queens.
Levane, a son of Italian immigrants who came out of Brooklyn’s James Madison HS to star at St. John’s in the early 40s, died at 92 last week after a full life.
He was one of the last of the great gray-sweats-and-a-whistle coaching crowd, like his friends Red Holzman and Lou Carnesecca, who believed friendships, a good laugh, and the art of doing your best were almost as important as a ‘W’ at the end of the day.
That was before it all became so darn serious, of course. Â
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working toward a bachelor’s degree in general studies.
What is the freaking point? Getting a bachelor’s degree is on par with getting a high school degree 20 years ago. At least pick a real major. I suggest physical education.
I wouldn’t go that far… that’s true in some cases (Amare’s is probably one of them), but it’s also very contingent on where you go to school. He may as well get a bachelor’s in Latin.
Oh nice, more commenter love from TBL’s twitter peeps:
“shots fired! RT @dglspl even on your site, reading the comments saps my hope for humanity. great content, horrible readers/commenters”
Must only read Sousedbergin’s comments. That dude is one sick motherfucker. But he’s pretty damn funny and clever.
Great post and great content, Jason.
Chicago – I guess my point was if he is going to get a bachelor’s in something, it should be general studies, which is what broke ass college athletes major in. This dude is a millionaire several times over. Take a few finance/business classes.
dglspl even on your site, reading the comments saps my hope for humanity. great content, horrible readers/commenters”
Ahem. I know us commenters are horrible. We’ve been told many times. And we don’t really give a shit. He has to fall in the “readers” category then. If one is going to insult people, they should probably try not to insult themselves in the exact same sentence.
I also like how their is a cottage twitter industry hoping to get retweeted by TBL by insulting the commenters. If they were such internet tough guys*, come join us in the muck in the commenting section.
*Internet Tough Guys was a copyright TBL secured in 2009.
it should be general studies
Shouldn’t
I got re-Tweeted last night by Hernia for insulting Paul Pierce
Me > dglspl
their
There.
I’m going to break my promise to myself and go ahead and shoot heroin before Friday this week.
I got re-Tweeted last night by Hernia for insulting Paul Pierce
A re-tweet by the Legend Hernia is not a bad thing. Hernia is a funny dude.
I havent had a cubicle in years, yet I’m confident my hatred hasnt ebbed.
Grow a pair and leave a brilliant comment to wow us, you genius twittering jackoff.
General Studies
I think it’s admirable that an NBA star of such gravitas is interested in running a general store. I commend him.
Guy does have a lot of room to talk, what with recent brilliance like this being added to the internet:
well i do insanity and all non-lifting p90x workouts with ankle and wrist weights so when my body says “chill” i listen haha.
ok i can feel the pre-workout coffee starting to kick in. time to hit #p90x chest, shoulders, triceps and ab ripper x.
ok i can feel the pre-workout coffee starting to kick in.
Is he warning the internet of impending bowel movements or just gas?
Wow, this @dglspl character is highly intelligent. HIGHLY. Also very brave, and tough, and really fucking cool.
Oh, and apparently he’s sometimes NSFW! How edgy.
Coop, you don’t think that’s been the case over the last few months? Come on, everyone can see it. It’s the same lame jokes over and over:
Can we have a hockey post?
Is this yardwork?
Jason, you suck
This is a post?
Is this yardwork?
Jason, you’re an idiot
Why so many NBA posts?
blah, blah
The actual witty responses to the subject of the post are few and far between. I’d love to do a Lost-like purge of commenters who bring nothing to the table.
Remember when Jason McIntyre was essentially one of the commentariat? I know it seems like a looong time ago, but it was only about 3 years ago. I guess now he just shits on commenters with his twitter fuckpals.
JMac, when did you start taking everything so seriously?
Chicago – i did/do enjoy commenting when you guys are funny or on topic. Nobody seems to be anymore, so what’s the point?
take a look at the mock draft comments
http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2012/05/09/nba-mock-draft/
maybe 1/10 of the comments are about the mock or the draft or the NBA. why would i drop by and engage with banter? at least if you tweet that out, you’ll get people wanting to talk NBA/draft/players.
I dont know, I come and go and only really read/comment on a few posts a day so I’m the wrong person to ask. I think this time of year (aka non-football season), people are generally more pissy because there just isn’t much going on. And NBA playoffs angry the blood.
I dont have admin views, so I cant say if some specific person just complains. All I know is twitter sucks, so if you think bannin will help then go for it.
I’d ban anyone wanting more baseball posts myself. And people from Ohio.
This has been discussed before, but I’ll mention it again since you’re here and paying attention. You could easily deflect >50% of the barbs just by addressing simple questions or following through with what you say. Like the mobile site, Yardwork, and website “tweaks”. Just a simple, “Hey, this is what we’re doing.” or “Just wanted to let you guys know that the mobile site fell through.” would go a long way. Instead, things are left hanging and that’s when memes are formed.
The other thing that would save you a lot of grief is to stop being so hostile towards the commenters, and I’m not talking about the bannings. Calling people “clueless” or “whiny bitches” when they bring up legitimate talking points about the topics you write about is never going to end well.
I know I’ve thrown my fair share of grenades, but lately I’ve been trying to make an effort to be more positive, or at least less negative.
Jason is a delicate flower. The “twitter fuckpals” don’t insult him at every turn, and he seems devastated by negativity in the comments (even if some of his posts are total shit).
If we all just could say something nice about him or his post before the insults, maybe he would feel better.
JMac, picking a random post and citing it as an example doesn’t really work for me. I scanned the first 30 comments and it seems that all but 3 of them were somehow related to the post. Worth noting that one of your own writers wrote this comment.
I laughed, but since it’s not all that related to the post I guess you should scold him or something.
I just find that you are displeased with many regulars that criticized (and IMO, sometimes it is well deserved) the content of many of the posts. In turn, you seem to take it out on the commenters with your twitter buddies that shower you in praise. Maybe my perception is wrong, but I feel that your perception of the commenters is very wrong.
In short JMac, I am often times astonished at how sensitive you can be despite saying how we don’t matter at all. And unlike many of these new readers and twitter followers, I can recall when this site was a little more fledgeling and you interacted often and with value in the comments. Seems reasonable to think that there was once a time when the comments and commenters mattered a lot, but I might be wrong.
St. Bear – Yardwork has been asked about and addressed many times. As have mobile site, tweaks, etc. Problem is, one guy will ask it, 10 people will miss the answer, and then they’ll ask it the next day. then 5 people who missed it will ask it the next day.
and again – it’s not me being sensitive to criticism. i dont have time to dabble all day, that’s for sure. corporate life, son. obviously commenters matter, and i talk to multiple daily on email, gchat & twitter.
Bobcats in 6 is funny! NBA related!
Ok, I’m going back to Ibaka’s block party. He’s got 3 in the first 8 minutes.
Can we have a hockey post? – If your commenters don’t know there isn’t much hockey here, then that is on them. I don’t even care. I’m from Kansas. Not a whole lot of hockey here.
Is this yardwork? Ok. I get your pissed at this. But it was a pretty funny meme for awhile. It has probably run its course. However, you could have just mentioned that it was too much work for Hernia for the pageviews it got. Or whatever the reason was.
Jason, you suck – You know who is saying this most often… commenters that hardly ever comment here. Yeah, some of the regulars have it out for you. That is a fact. This is your sandbox to manage.
This is a post? – And when their comment is that, you get two pageviews. You benefit.
Is this yardwork? – Just explain why it went away.
Jason, you’re an idiot – You may be a lot of things, but you aren’t an idiot. Low Seven Figures. The guys saying this shit all had no less than two or three failed sportsblogs while you had one successful one the entire time. This is beneath you. Idiot.
Why so many NBA posts? You are an hoops guy. Once again, the commenters should know this by now.
blah, blah
Also, please continue with all the NBA posts.
The guy has a point, this thread being an example. Who in the hell rips on someone for taking college courses? Peop going onto NBA threads to talk about how they don’t like the NBA. The commentariat comes off alot of times like a high school courtyard.
KC gets it. He might be the most senior commenter here. Smart man.
/really, back to the Thunder game
Yardwork has been asked about and addressed many times. As have mobile site, tweaks, etc. Problem is, one guy will ask it, 10 people will miss the answer, and then they’ll ask it the next day. then 5 people who missed it will ask it the next day.
I am around a lot. I’m not much a baseball fan so I don’t usually click on the baseball posts. So, I probably missed your explanation. Just as a favor, give it one more time and I’ll post it as a comment when people ask again.
Who in the hell rips on someone for taking college courses? Ben
I see your point, I guess at the least it sets an example for kids. I just think he is older, richer, and needs to watch his money. If he wants to read up and write a paper in Western Civ. II, he could do that outside of college at this point just by reading history books. He needs business and finance classes so he isn’t duped by friends with car wash and bar and grill franchises.
Hernia said from the get-go that he would no longer be doing recaps, but rather a long-form post on one topic. The “issue” is that the baseball people don’t know where to talk about their sport, hence the meme.
Hernia said from the get-go that he would no longer be doing recaps, but rather a long-form post on one topic. The “issue” is that the baseball people don’t know where to talk about their sport, hence the meme.
Yeah, I saw that. Why did Hernia change the format? I guess I’m going to the root of the meme. I’m a Sherlock Caruso sort of person.
Great read about your state today on the front page of the times. “Mounds of toxic stone” is a nice feature. I will now picture you as the one couple that refused to leave the toxic town.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/magazine/last-ones-left-in-treece-kan-a-toxic-town.html?hpw
I could be wrong, but I don’t think that was ever addressed. But that kind of thing is what I was talking about in my comment above.
Philly might want to get rid of that dong imprint KG and Rondo left on them tonight
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/magazine/last-ones-left-in-treece-kan-a-toxic-town.html?hpw
I am printing this off now and going outside and reading this. Thanks, Coop. Treece. I think that is the old horrible mine country in SE KS/NE OK. Houses collapse in mines and the Feds buy up the tiny towns and these people. Oh. my. Ok. Printer done. This ought to be good.
Ratings. Possibly attendance figures.
I believe the criticism was the major, not the act itself. It was on topic however. +1 on topic, -1 criticism. Final score of 0.
I believe the criticism was the major, not the act itself. It was on topic however. +1 on topic, -1 criticism. Final score of 0. Coop
Hehe.
What classes make up the higher level “General Studies” courses?
I might be in the minority but I enjoy all of the NBA/NFL/College posts on this site. Initial reason why I started reading and now I stay for both the posts and comments.
Getting that degree would be an accomplishment for himself moreso than the cliche of doing it for the kids. The downfall of many of these athletes is that their peak earning power comes earlier and lasts shorter than anyone else. Many people have gone to college, reached the peak of the business world and have it collapse. The difference is they have a much longer period of time to rebuild. The mistake these athletes make is they are the primary financial backers of many of these investments. Experience in the business world, not college, would teach them to take the Magic Johnson, LA Dodgers approach and allow your name to make money for you without having the biggest investment.
Can we have a hockey post?
Is this yardwork?
Jason, you suck
This is a post?
Is this yardwork?
Jason, you’re an idiot
Why so many NBA posts?
Yeah – all that gets old for most of us – I just blow by em.
i do think its a bit funny when a post is of the “wth – this is a post” genre, b/c it’s fun to watch the hypocrites rip it, while seemingly knowing about it before it posts.
Darrell, I may just be missing it, but I’m not sure I follow your point… A Finance degree has much more value than a degree in General Studies. Especially for an individual that will make a lot of money in a short period of time and needs to manage it appropriately for the entirety of his life.
Jordan Hill, another great draft pick by the Knicks…
Generalissimo Francisco Franco >> General Studies >> General Apathy
knitty – when did you start reading/commenting?
Coop, you don’t think that’s been the case over the last few months? Come on, everyone can see it. It’s the same lame jokes over and over:
Can we have a hockey post?
Is this yardwork?
Jason, you suck
This is a post?
Is this yardwork?
Jason, you’re an idiot
Why so many NBA posts?
blah, blah
/Todd Charske
@KC
Will you marry me?!?!?!
29 year old man who’s job right now is to play basketball. If he doesn’t want to worry about the intricacies of personal finance, he would be better off suited to pay professionals to do that for him, which I’m sure he’s done. Being able to go to school and have an actual educated person guide him through whatever journey of knowledge gathering he wants to pursue probably has more intrinsic value to him then just taking finance classes just to take them. There are plenty of rich people who let the professionals handle their wealth and they are usually smarter for it.
jersey on point
/per usual
There are plenty of rich people who let the professionals handle their wealth and they are usually smarter for it SJ
I agree this is how it should be. But Scottie Pippen is bankrupt. And several other elite 90s/00s athletes. A class load of General Studies when they are pissing in gold commodes in their late 20s isn’t preparing them for post-pro life. Just simply knowing how interest rates work in an undergrad class would do wonders for them.
Well that makes sense, Jersey.
Jersey – And you are taking the intrinsic route. I haven’t addressed that. If their only goal is to get a degree and feeling fine. Great. I have no problem with that. I just think their time could be better spent while getting a degree of worth.
We are just going at this from two different angles. No big deal.
gasol up to his old tricks
fucking refs’
/unwatchable
I have been banned from this site numerous times, for numerous reasons. I finally accepted it and moved on. I dont read many posts, do laugh at the editor, and rarely engage any commentors. I have made “friends” on here that I like more than many other people. Just accept this site for what it is, SEO and all, and dont worry about how someone else runs their business (or how other people run someone-else’s business for them).
/
off soap-box
Started reading in late 2008, commenting 2010.
I laughed when I saw the CRM post about the college teams dancing to the same song, no idea how people could be annoyed at that…and if the post was about actual sports instead they’d have had a problem with that too for whatever reason
I’m not a fan of the obvious trolling that happens in some posts but it’s easy enough to ignore and just wait for good conversation in the comments or another author to put something up
Durant only 11 shots… give him the ball.
ruh-roh OKC
wow! what is going on with the lakers?
nice kobe….F.U.C.K.
no way Lakers win this
Damn! What a game… Durant is amazing.
Was that a sliding travel by Durant during the foul?
Looked like a travel by Durant…
LA played well enough to have hope. Can they take two straight at home?
Durant’s teeth look like a bunch of mis-matched chiclets
Kobe with the clutchiest 0 points, 0 assists, 0 rebounds in the final 6 minutes. But at least he took the last shot, right? No? I am assuming LeBron will be to blame.