Yes! and the Foul

Finally on Team Carmelo

Posts Tagged Ricky Rubio

No margin for error. And if the Nets win the draft

Jan 29

Posted by YesandtheFoul in Hypotheticals, Knicks Banter, Recaps | No Comments

Game recap

Another spirited loss for the Knicks last night against the Raptors.  I actual felt my excitement and anxiety levels budge while watching the second half.  What did I take away from it all?

  • The Knicks need a true floor general or leader.  I’ve said it before, but there needs to be someone asserting his will on the game and team.  Coach D didn’t even bother with a lifeless Duhon in the 4th, and instead went with Nate, and let Nate be Nate.  Which meant some great one on one play by Nate and even a few good passes, but a gradual deteriation in the offensive flow.  Like last season, what other options does Mike have but to let his players be themselves?
  • Speaking of deteriorating offensive flow…  Al Harrington.  Kudos on trying to tough it out, especially with Jared Jeffries injured, but Al also managed to pour a vat of glue into the Knick offensive machine.  And having him as the fall back option on the last play was not what I’d have drawn up.  Why not get the ball to Lee as the fall back on that play?
  • We missed Jared Jeffries in the second half defensively.  JJ would’ve been able to double down more effectively on Bosh and also would’ve defended the 3 at the top of the circle.  If he’s out for long, that’ll be the final nail in the playoff coffin.
  • As for Bosh, his battle with Lee was great.  That was some old school, nasty basketball going on.  It was almost like Bosh had had enough of Lee besting him in previous games and decided he was going to show Lee what a real max player is all about.  Lee more than held his own, though Bosh made some great blocks and defensive plays in the fourth to win the battle.  Last night might have been one of the first games where I thought, “wow, maybe Chris Bosh is on ‘that’ level.”

The very different implications for the Knicks if the Nets or Twolves win the John Wall Sweepstakes

As of last night, the Knicks hold the 9th worst record in the league.  Or, we could say the Jazz are holders of the 9th pick in the 2010 draft.  Knicks fans can feel pretty comfortable that our squandered pick, the last remnant of the Isiah/Marbury era (Jeffries and Curry contracts aside), will not turn into John Wall.  Unfortunately, there is a real good chance (25% of the pingpong balls) that the Nets may win the Wall lottery.  And, if that happens, the Knicks may be truly screwed.

Imagine this absolute horror scenerio (for Knicks fans).  The Nets concede they are going nowhere fast and decide they are sellers leading up to the trade deadline.  The obvious bait is Devon Harris, who amazingly has a somewhat untarnished reputation despite how terrible the Nets are.  At 9 mil per thru 2013, Harris might be enticing enough to a team that realizes they aren’t getting in on any game-changing free agents this summer.  Somehow the Nets pull a “Suns trading the Knicks Marbury” and trade Harris for expiring contracts.  By doing this the Nets will have roughly $34 mil in cap space this summer (whereas the Knicks will have about $24 mil).   They’ll be the only team that can lock up 2 completely maxed out players.

Fast forward.  The Nets (with 25% of the ping pong balls) win the lottery.  John Wall is the clear pick.  Maybe the most obvious number one pick since… Lebron James.  Oh boy.  Is John Wall enough of a foundation for Lebron and a BFF to come to the Nets.  I think it just might.   Here is the Nets potential starting line-up in 2010:  Wall / James / Yi / Bosh / Lopez.  That’s pretty frightening.

And what if the Timberwolves win the John Wall lottery?  This could be a dream for the Knicks.  Since they’d HAVE to pick Wall, they’d be forced to trade Flynn, Rubio, or Sessions — Rubio being the most likely candidate.  I imagine the Knicks chances of landing Rubio improves greatly if Wall lands on the Twolves.  And, effectively, landing Rubio may make it easier to attract the free agents we are making space for.

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The problem with moral victories, and the absolute need for a PG (…named Rubio)

Jan 25

Posted by YesandtheFoul in Knicks Banter, Recaps | No Comments

Watching the game against the Lakers on Friday, I couldn’t help but feel that the Knicks had achieved a moral victory of some sort. The Knicks went shot for shot and blow for blow against the best team in the league. Neither team had more than a 6 point lead until the 4th quarter.  It wasn’t until the 4th quarter that the inevitable occurred.  Pau Gasol asserted himself in the paint and subsequently disposed of Lee, Jeffries and Chandler, who all took turns trying to D up the big man.  Heck, even when the loss was apparent, I felt okay about the Knicks’ overall effort and moxie.  I didn’t even mind David Lee getting repeatedly denied by Gasol (who blocked or altered numerous shot attempts) in the fourth.  At least the Knicks attacked.  At least the Knicks fought and gave the Lakers—and the fans—all they had.

It was a strangely satisfying loss. I even thought about writing a post entitled “If ever there were a moral victory…”

And then the Dallas loss happened. And, yes, it felt like a punch in the face.

But, really, should it have? The aberration was the fact that the Knicks were able to stick to the Lakers as well as they did with the same lineup, and with the kind of PG play the Knicks have been getting out of Chris Duhon.  Somehow it feels like the moral victory against the Lakers blew up in their faces.  The Knicks came out chemistry-less, passive and overconfident and it resulted in the most embarrassing loss of the season.

The most remarkable part of the Dallas game was that Jared Jeffries had 14 points in the first half. But, even that makes some sense if you think about it because no team in their right mind actually D’s up JJ. It just so happened that yesterday, Jeffries, in some Bizarro World vortex, knocked down his first half chances. While Dallas gave non-threats Jeffries and Duhon space, they intelligently suffocated Lee, Chandler, and Gallo who were all taken out of their games.

After the first half, it seemed a gift to be down only 16.  I figured the Knicks would come out with spark after an embarrassing first half and make it a game.  Nope.  Duhon once again looked like he was playing a pick up game after being awake for 72 straight hours, clumsily turning the ball over and missing shots.  Barea effortlessly drove around him time and again on the pick and roll, while it never occured to Lee and Chandler come over and help, and maybe knock him on his ass to at least make life a little bit difficult for Dallas.  Drew Gooden played as if he had a vendetta against David Lee, blocking his shot and dominating him as if he were Pau Gasol. And symmetry in the universe was restored when Jeffries missed layups and had rebounds bouncing of the back of his head.

Anyway, it’s easy to blow this loss out of proportion.  But what is absolutely crystal clear, and what can’t be exaggerated is just how desperately Mike D’Antoni needs to bench Chris Duhon — NOW.  I don’t care if Nate is injured.  I don’t care if we need to make a D-league call up.  Duhon is crippling this team in a way that puts the rest of the season in jeopardy.  Every fan in the Knicks’ universe sees this.  Literally, every fan.   It’s simply too much for the Knicks (who start Jeffries and Duhon) to begin every half of basketball 3 on 5 on the offensive end.  And, I can actually live with JJ out there.  He’s our defensive stalwart and he manages to deflect enough balls and keep things fluid on the offensive end.  But, Duhon may single-handedly be sinking the Knicks hopes of competitiveness all by himself.

Which leads us to Marc Berman teasing us with this: Knicks president Walsh still has eyes on Rubio.  Really, teasing us with any hope of landing Ricky Rubio, especially now, is downright cruel.  But, if there is ANY way for the Knicks to pull this off without trading Gallo, I still maintain that if must be done.

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