What's interesting is that Indiana is probably what Isiah pointed to in his job interview when describing his "rebuilding" plan to Dolan. Probably said something like "we had aging veterans like Reggie, Jalen and Davis and we picked up Jermaine and developed him and made some key drafts, like Tinsley and Harrington, and we were able to stay competitive while getting younger, more athletic, and better."

Sounds great, and for a while it was. Let's put aside that is was spearheaded by the venerable Donnie Walsh and we'll never know how much input Isiah actually had (some I'm sure), but one can easily see why Dolan would droll at the prospect of doing the same here.

One might even try to break it down to see if Isiah has followed his model and perhaps in some ways he has. Eddy represents o'Neal, Mardy his Tinsley, Balkman his Harrington. For better or worse, he certainly has the JO loyalty going with Eddy.

Obviously, Indy was a better balanced team, and they still had the incredible work ethic and leadership of Reggie, the defense and intensity of Artest, the two way ability of Jermaine, the shooting of Croshere, etc,. But what's really interesting is the way that Indy, after hitting their short lived ceiling, is now falling apart around issues of dislike of their coach, chemistry problems in the lockerroom, lack of leadership, questions of heart, effort and intangiables, etc. All the things we detractors denounce around here daily.

Curious parallels indeed, I think.

^BTW, Frye is probably our Croshere.

Let's hope that's not his ceiling...

Anyone who wants a "partial rebuild" needs to suck my large right testicle

OK so tell me how many complete rebuilds have resulted in a TITLE in the last decade? It's all been part draft and picking up key FA's. Boston and Atlanta have been at it for years. Chicago has been at it since 98 and only now have a decent team, but still no title. It's not an easy thing to do. To start from scratch and build thru the draft.

To hear so many of you speak of this team you'd think we didn't have any talent to build a team with. When we draft this year hopefully we'll have yet another useful young player. Yet i'd remind you that we currently have five 1st rd picks of our own on the roster in just 2 years.

Right now we have to look at the team and see what kind of players we need to augment what we have. You all know what this team lacks in certain areas. All of a sudden now you're all reluctant to wait for this team to try to get those players and finish developing the players they have. What would you be saying if you were a fan of the Magic? Are they really any better off than us? I'm sure their fans have some hope that the GM will add what they need and that their young players will continue to develop.

Channing Frye: I'm partially female
Eddy Curry: I partially try on defense
Nate Robinson: I partially try to start fights
Jamal Crawford: I partially try to use my brain
Jerome James: I partially try to stay in shape
Renaldo Balkman: I'm partially better than Marcus Williams
Isiah Thomas: I partially try to protect lottery picks