The New York Knicks’ return to the playoff chase after a decade of irrelevance has made for feel-good fodder for much of the national NBA media.Spurs forward Richard Jefferson, whose team embarks today for a game Tuesday at venerable Madison Square Garden, doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.
“Even though they had a bunch of great teams for a bunch of years, they haven’t won a championship since the 1970s,” Jefferson, who spent the first seven seasons of his career playing across the Hudson in New Jersey, said Sunday. “This is not a Boston Celtics team or like the Lakers franchise. What year was the last time they won a championship? 1973?
“So to say basketball is back in New York, what does that even mean?”
Boosted by the offseason arrival of All-Star center Amare Stoudemire in free agency, the Knicks have opened the season 19-14, good for sixth in the Eastern Conference. They aren’t exactly threatening the 29-4 Spurs for the best record in the NBA, but for a team that hasn’t made the postseason since 2000-01, it’s a start.
Though several in the Spurs’ camp, including coach Gregg Popovich, agreed it is good for the NBA to have a winning team in New York, Jefferson deemed the topic “completely pointless.”
He isn’t buying the prevailing notion of New York as a basketball mecca.
“There are too many good players and teams,” Jefferson said. “You look at how great it was for Cleveland having LeBron (James) and what it did to that community and how important it was for them. You look at what is going on now in Miami or in Oklahoma City.
“It’s great for whatever city gets the benefit, but I don’t think one city is more important than another.”
"Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us." - Earl Nightingale
1/4/2011 7:40 AM