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My Thoughts on the NBA’s Hard Cap Issue

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I just read a lockout article in support of the players.  I have to say the author, Howard Bryant must be Kobe’s brother because the arguments made here are completely irrational.

In summary, he’s saying that there is parity in the NBA.  The owners argue that there isn’t enough parity and that they want to base their model more like the NFL’s where there is.  The author says the NFL does not have parity.  He bases his argument on stats like this “In the NFL, the league of the vaunted hard salary cap and far less guaranteed money for its players, 20 of the 44 teams in the NFC of AFC title games came from top-10 TV markets”  OK, so 31% of the teams played in 45% of the title games.  I think that’s pretty even considering some teams get ravaged by injuries or bad management every year.

To say the NBA has parity is ridiculous.  3 teams from the west have made the finals since 1999.  12 years.  3 teams.  Sounds pretty lopsided to me.  In the east there have been a number of teams that made the finals, but every year there are about 4 good teams and 11 horrible ones.  Yes the Knicks have one of the highest salaries and haven’t done anything, but that doesn’t mean having no cap is a good system.  In poker if you start each hand with pocket aces you might not win every hand but you definitely start off with an advantage.  If you have good ownership, having the highest salary is a huge advantage.  (see Lakers and Yankees).  Those two teams don’t win every year but they’ve made the finals a hell of a lot more than any other team in their respective sports.

I’m all for a hard cap.  It’s boring if the same teams are in it every year.  Why not just contract the league to 8 teams if the others aren’t going to have a chance at being competitive?  And yes I’m aware that Oklahoma City is a very small market and are doing alright for themselves, but last I checked there is still only one Kevin Durant, so not every small market team is going to be able to draft him to become relevant.

Knicks Podcast Fantasy Basketball League

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We started a fantasy basketball league (yeah I know we have high hopes of actually having a season).  We would like as many listeners to join as possible.  The draft is on Sat Oct 15 1:00pm EDT.  Here’s the link to join – http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/4995

Please let this happen

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It has been rumored that the Miami Heat are seriously looking at Eddie Curry.  Yes, the same guy who ate burgers on the Knicks bench for two years.  Last year he weighed 350 pounds.  Let me repeat three hundred and fifty pounds.  Allegedly he is down to 300 and 288 is what the Heat want him to get down to.

In a perfect world Eddy gets down to say 285.  The Heat, impressed with his motivation for a paycheck…er…to play again signs him for a few million a.k.a. the rest of their cap space.  Eddie, delighted to get paid again celebrates at the buffet.  Over and over again until he’s 400 pounds and less productive than Erick Dampier.

Final Thoughts on the 2010-11 NBA Season Part 2

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The What Could Have Beens:

A number of teams were derailed by injuries.

Golden State Warriors – Couldn’t help but think that with a healthy David Lee and Andris Biedrins they would have at least been within striking distance of the 8th seed.  Lee wasn’t the same after Wilson Chandler went all True Blood on him.

Cleveland Cavaliers – We knew after LeBron left they would be bad.  But this was still a team that won over 120 games the last 2 seasons.  How did they fall so hard?  Well at one point in the season Danial Gibson, Antawn Jamison, Anthony Parker, and Anderson Varejao, you know, pretty much their starting lineup were all injured at once.  They were pretty much a D-league team 3/4 of the way through the season.  And not a good D-league team.

Milwaukee Bucks – Delfino, Jennings, Redd and Bogut missed a ton of time.  Salmons also got that virus a lot of people get right after they sign a big contract.  It usually lasts until about a year before the contract is up. Continue reading →

Knicks Interested in Kurt Thomas

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It has been reported that the Knicks are interested in Kurt Thomas. 

Ironically he would be our first real center since….Kurt Thomas!  I say why not?  He can still play decent defense and he can still shoot the midrange jumper..  I’d feel better about Kurt at the 5 than I would having Amar’e bang in the paint on his shaky knees all season.  He’d be a relatively cheap option as well.

Steve Nash for Chauncey Billups

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There have been a bunch of rumors going around saying there might be a trade between the Suns and the Knicks with the main pieces being Steve Nash for Chauncey Billups.

Don't get excited Knicks fans, he'll still be with the Suns next season.

This is never going to happen so don’t get your hopes up Knicks fans.  Billups is three years younger than Nash and scores a few more points a game, but they are both in the last year of their contracts and Nash is still playing at a higher level. Continue reading →

More on D’Antoni

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I have never agreed more with Steven A. Smith.

The Future of D’Antoni

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Here is an excerpts from a recent e-mail discussion Jay and I had about D’Antoni

Jay: I completely disagree with this article about why the Knicks should bring back D’Antoni. Continue reading →

Holy Crap the Knicks Won a Game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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To quote Frazier, it has been a long time since MSG has seen “winning and grinning”. The Knicks actually beat the Orlando Magic tonight, and though it took overtime to do it, I am just freakin’ happy. Some points from tonight:

  • The Knicks played defense tonight!!! This was a shocking event. A less shocking event would have been Jared Jeffries giving birth to a unicorn baby through his anus at halftime.
  • this would be the unicorn baby
  • Carmelo scored 39 points with 10 rebounds. Amare had 20 points with 9 rebounds. The Knicks got about as much as possible out of their boring isolation heavy offense. If they can actually get the offense grooving again and keep playing defense they could possibly put up a fight in the playoffs.
  • While Shelden Williams fouled out in 16 minutes he had a couple of huge plays including a big rebound and forcing a jump ball with Dwight Howard.
  • Jared Jeffries for some reason allowed Jason Richardson to shoot a basically uncontested three to tie the game at the end of regulation. I guess the defense Jared Jeffries provides does not include putting his hands up to contest important shots.
  • One of the biggest plays of the game was a lucky foul call against Jason Richardson. Carmelo and Richardson were scrapping on the floor, Carmelo nudged Richardson to the floor while getting up and Richardson tripped Carmelo in retaliation. Luckily the ref only saw Richardson’s trip which nullified big Turk’s game tying three. YAY playing dirty and stupid retaliation!
  • Shockingly no Magic player benefited from the Knicks Effect.

Download Episode 50

Sorry Earl Barron, We don’t need any stinkin’ 7ft Centers

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Center Earl Barron became a free agent when he was not re-signed by Milwaukee yesterday, but Walsh said he would pass for now despite the Knicks’ center woes. According to a source, Walsh likes Barron, but doesn’t want to sign him because D’Antoni won’t play him over Jared Jeffries or Ronny Turiaf.

Great, why would we possibly need a guy who can help clog the middle? This also sounds like the reason Walsh won’t re-up with this team, he is clearly not on the same page as D’Antoni about how to improve this roster.