Jmpasq wrote:How many players were connected to the Knicks last year that didnt sign here and were reported close about 10. I think most of these NBA beat writers have zero contacts.

I don't think his compares to what the Grant Hills and other free agents who used the Knicks to get a better contract. We reached out to him, his statements in this regards were nothing more than him being classy enough to say let us know that such a situation is intriguing. Who wouldn't feel that way about playing at home. Not like he came in, sat down for an interview, said great things and then went and signed a modified contract like Grant Hill did to us.

GustavBahler wrote:

Dagger wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:

VDesai wrote:Is Brand better than Kenyon Martin at this point their career? Kenyon is a bit older, but more ferocious. But Brand seems more steady. It seems like its one or the other right?

Don't believe Brand will be telling his teammates to dress in black as if they were going to a funeral. If Kmart does come back I hope he leaves the high school stuff at home. And Martin was wondering why it took so long to get on a roster last season....

I thought it was Kidd and Chandler who suggested that because they did it in Dallas?

http://www.slamonline.com/online/media/slam-tv/2013/05/knicks-players-dress-in-black-to-bury-the-celtics-video/

Kenyon Martin Says Knicks Will Bury the Celtics in Game 5The trash talk between Boston and New York is reaching epic levels, as the increasingly testy series shifts to a crucial fifth game. Knicks bruiser Kenyon Martin told his teammates after yesterday’s Game 4 defeat to prepare for a Celtics funeral. Per the NY Daily News: “[JR] Smith will be back Wednesday for Game 5 at the Garden. ‘I don’t care if Patrick Ewing comes back for them,’ Terry said. ‘We’re going to treat it like a Game 7.’ Terry had a right to talk big. He made all three of his shots in overtime, including a pull-up 3-pointer off a 2-on-1 break that broke an 88-88 tie with 1:32 left and gave the Celtics the lead for good. But his talk was also the talk of the Knicks’ post-game locker room. ‘The guy was mouthing off before the game,’ Kenyon Martin said. ‘He told me, ‘You’re not dancing at my funeral today.’ [...] ‘We’re ending it Wednesday,’ Martin said. He even made it a point to tell teammates what to wear when the Knicks look to win this series in five, then get ready for the winner of Indiana-Atlanta. ‘Wear black,’ he said. ‘Funeral colors.’”

My bad.

I was glad when we signed Kmart and I wouldn't mind bringing him back if he can keep that stuff in check. Needs to let his game do the talking.

That dressing in black stuff is pretty commonplace in the playoffs and was only emphasized to create drama post-Boston tragedy by media dbags that wanted to dig into the "cocky" Knicks on the verge of a sweep. It had no impact on the game and is of no importance whatsoever. We did not lose two games because of some stupid change of clothing. Kmart was great last season, I'd love to have him back. When Kmart gets pumped up after a sweet block it gets me out of my seat as a fan and makes the game more fun, not everyone is a robot. It's not like he's getting t'ed up left and right and costing us games. He doesn't need to cut out anything, he saved us when Tysoft pulled a Houdini and peaced out halfway through the season.

Its not nearly as commonplace as you suggest and those that have done something similar in the past didn't make such a big production out of it like the Knicks did. The media knew in advance what was coming because some players couldn't stop talking. Not their fault for doing their job and reporting it. It was the Knicks fault for doing a victory lap before the series was over. Absolutely nothing admirable about talking a good game, posturing, and getting your hat handed to you. Showed that they weren't focused enough on getting the job done. Dressing in black and talking trash was a symptom of their lack of focus, not the root cause.

I want Kmart back. I want him to bring his energy and enthusiasm, but I want him to leave his juvenile antics at home. Stuff like that does more to fire up the other team than ours. More bulletin board material for them to use. Others ways to get the team fired up.

Good post - agree completely

OasisBU wrote:Here is the problem I foresee with this team:
No continuity. The roster will be overhauled once again - the Knicks have had a dramatically different roster almost every season for years, especially with Melo.

How can we expect this team to gel? Sure out core 2 (plus Stat) are constant but our PG's are a revolving door, not to mention the flaws in our roster in general.

I love the Knicks but it has been really frustrating to be a fan with such poor decision making going in to our roster/future.

I hope we find a mix that works with Melo otherwise we have been wasting a lot of time.

It's inevitable. Most of the money is locked up in the three from court guys. Our philosophy is to BUILD AROUND this CORE. The reality is the so called core of mismatched dysfunction leaves almost nothing to acquire players for the build. So we get only those players that other teams don't want and we try to convince ourselves that JR will stop being a head case and suddenly become a
Consistent, Camby will revert to his post NY grat play, Rasheed will have some thing left in the tank, Felton will somehow be a facitator, Bargnani will play defense because Woody is "coaching" him, Elton Brand......blah blah blah

When these are your expectations going in maybe one or two out of 4-6 will pan out if you are lucky. But because you couldn't lock them up the ones that do will look for more money from other teams and get it. So we get to start this all over again.

No continuity is an outcome of our "plan" which was to pay the top three guys about 90% of the salary cap. And then the top three being what they are we were in "win now" mode whatever the fudge that means. Because as far as I can tell the only thing we managed to win was the Atlantic division with our rivals sustaining injuries to their best players.

Some of us want the Knicks to acknowledge that incremental improvement of this roster will not lead to a championship and so we would like to see it blown up.

Think about the electric car market for a minute. Each year they come out with cars that go a few extra miles per Charge. But not one car dominates the industry ( except Tesla - 300 mile range per charge) If cars now average 40 miles per charge next years models will target 50-65 miles. If your target is so low you will achieve it as will your competition. So we get incrementally better so does most teams we compete with. If a car company decided to take on Telsa and build cars that go 300 miles or more each time you charge them they would have to completely overhaul their current thinking. So it comes down to what you want, do you want incremental progress and mediocrity or do you want to push boundaries and challenge for top dog status.

Knicks front office and a large portion of the fan base are happy to be mediocre again. It only took us the lost decade to return to mediocrity so people think it's an accomplishment.

CrushAlot wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:And he has a history of breaking down like last yr

Injury histories definitely play a role especially if you are paying more then the vet mini. KMart has had micro fracture surgery on both knees. Brand I believe tore his acl. It would be nice to have both guys. My guess is Amare doesn't get a full season in so there will be minutes.

Yea I want both since we can't count on Amare but if it came down to brand or Kmart I would take brand cos he does everything Kmart does except he replaces amares low post scoring and shooting. Kmart like Tyson give you zero offensively. It's bad enough watching Melo go 1 on 5 with Tyson and Kmart on the court together