TAKE YOUR PICK!
I HAVEN’T the foggiest notion whom the Knicks plan to draft. At the same time, I guarantee Donnie Walsh will not surrender his first rounder (No. 6, overall) for the express purpose of liquidating a loathsome contract, as certain hysterical media mopes hypothesize . . . and continue to be employed.
Maybe I’m mistaken, but didn’t Walsh and Mike D’Antoni just get here? In other words, there’s no pressure to turn around the ocean liner in mid-Panama Canal lock.
It’s all good. The decision-makers own ample time to screw up later on in an attempt to create cap space. Why do it early while even the mind of this Attention Deficient disorderedly hasn’t yet wandered.
As I recall, the last regime squandered more than its share of assets, including three ultra desirable draft picks(two to Chicago). Let’s not forget, as a Newsday columnist did last week, that the Jazz own the Knicks’ 2010 slot – and it’s unprotected!
Sleep on this unusual concept? Why not keep one for a change? It’s somewhat easier to rebuild that way with young, optimistic, mentally-unscarred-by-habitually-losing talent.
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Introducing Boston Strangler II: Everything about Rodney Stuckey reminds me of Andrew Toney! Everyone remembers what a deadly shooter the former 76ers guard was from jump street, but we tend to overlook his precision passing when doubled, well, tripled, anyway.
Had the Pistons’ third guard (shades of Vinnie Johnson, too) not missed the first few months of the season because of injury, Stuckey no doubt would have been right there with Al Horford challenging Kevin Durant for rookie honors.
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“Tell Charles (Barkley), if he should foul out in his run for the Governor of Alabama, I understand the state of Mississippi is looking for a new Gaming Commisioner,” e-mails column contributor Phil Marmanillo. “On confidential info from the IRS, Barkley’s name was listed right below Nike and the Chicago Bulls on Jordan’s income tax returns.”
FYI: The Bulls hired the Democrats to choose their next coach.
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Former Bullets forward Jack Marin responded to recent analysis of LeBron James dominating the dribble in the Cavaliers’ Game 7 loss at Boston. It reminded him of Baltimore’s first two series defeats by the Knicks in 1969 and ’70, when Earl Monroe controlled his team’s offense as well as the scoreboard.
“I went to Gene Shue the next year and told him Bill Bradley could guard me easily if I touched the ball rarely, and that was the true for the other guys,” e-mailed the former Duke great who became a lawyer and practices in the Durham, N.C., area.
“We agreed Earl would give up the ball more, allow the rest of us to run plays, like my pick and rolls with Wes Unseld early in possessions, with the ball coming back to Earl down low if the plays didn’t develop a good shot. The rest of us got into the action. Earl got some rest on offense and the Knicks got less rest on defense. We were all more effective; they were less, so I believe.”
For some odd reason, Marin cannot comprehend the appeal or value of one guy pounding the ball while four teammates lounge (“literally standing still“) and stare.
Game after game this season the Bobcats took one bad shot after another, he noted, mostly because they never caused any confusion in the defense.
“They could screen down, cross under the basket, go get a drink, something, anything to engage the defense in movement to give them at least a chance to screw up. After all, most players have short attention spans. One guy might set a screen high, but he would then go back to being a fan!
“I have often thought this point guard stuff is overrated, perhaps the result of a conspiracy among the other players to let him do most of the work.”
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I promised to jog your memory. Tuesday at 6 p.m., NBA-TV “The Vault” will air an hour-long special honoring the pre-eminence and unearthly willpower of Maurice Stokes, whom Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman submit would have been top 5 all-time had an on-the-court fall not caused permanent paralysis several days later in 1958.
Almost all the footage of Stokes’ 202 unbelievably productive (16.4 points, 17.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists) games is freshly unearthed by NBA Entertainment executive/historian Paul Hirschheimer. The interviews with Oscar and Mark Kutsher (in studio), Twyman (Mo’s legal guardian), Dave Piontek, another Cincinnati Royals teammate, are love-you-tender.
“There are special people in your life, who have passed on, who’ve died. But there are just a few who you think about all the time, and Maurice is one of them” said Carole Twyman, tears streaming.
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This just in, Part I: Should the Lakers reach The Finals, Joan Benoit Samuelson predicts Andrew Bynum will have the 17 days necessary to fully recover from his arthroscopic knee surgery.
This just in, Part II: Column contributor Phil Savery reports Charles Barkley has “vigorishly” denied he’s contemplating a comeback with the Mohegan Suns.
