Players Meet Press on Media Day - Training Camp Begins Tomorrow in Charleston, SC
Training Camp? Can’t Wait to Get Started.
by Tom Kertes


GREENBURGH, NY, October 3, 2005 -- “Is this going to be a playoff team this year?” new Knicks center Jerome James ponders THE question on everyone’s mind on Knicks Media Day at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Greenburgh, New York. “Hey, from where I was sitting (in Seattle, unfortunately), the Knicks were a playoff team LAST year. The pieces, the talent, were certainly here. They were doing well -- but then all the injuries happened, of course. However, this year with Larry…”

Well, yes. The NBA is a player’s league and all but, without a doubt, whatever improvement the Knicks might experience this season -- and it could be significant -- will primarily be due to the coach’s immeasurable impact. “Already, just in the pickup games we’re playing in the gym, you see the difference,” guard Penny Hardaway says, eyes glistening from excitement. “Guys are picking up on defense over 94 feet, guys are looking to get the ball to the open man.” In other words, the guys are anticipating what’s coming – and that’s before Brown has officially said word one to any of them. “Oh, Larry’s talking,” smiles Hardaway. “Seriously, dude, who is going to keep Larry Brown from talking if he wants to talk?”

Certainly not James. “Coach has already given me another two or three inches on my jump shot,” the big guy says with an unmistakable trace of awe in his voice. “I have a naturally soft touch so, throughout my career, I never worried about which was my plant foot when I was shooting. I just paid no attention to it, period. Well, the other day Coach watches me shoot, stops me like four times in a row, and says ‘No! Big guy, I’m going to be on you hard all year because you are very talented and because you are a key to this team. You’re shooting it all wrong -- do it THIS way, plant with your drive foot and don’t walk with the ball, run with the ball. I promise you, you’ll increase both your range and accuracy.”

“I mean, I’m 7-1 and the coach is telling me to DRIBBLE,” James raises his basso profundo in open amazement. ”I never had that. This has never, ever happened to me before. It’s going to be my sixth year in the NBA and everything I’ve known about basketball is being re-formed and re-shaped. Excited? I’m telling you, I’m in hoop heaven.”

“Larry Brown is going to bring us some structure and some great coaching,” swingman Quentin Richardson, another new Knick, said. “And that’s going to be extremely important because we have a lot of new young talent that must be developed. He’s the best coach in the league. I can’t wait to absorb whatever I can learn from him. I’ll try to let him help me become better as a player -- I know that’s going to make us a better team. I don’t have an ego when it comes to that. If we pay attention…”

Actually, there are no ifs about that. “I’m a sponge,” smiles James. “Just call me a big, bulky, 7-1 sponge. The sky’s the limit for me with Larry Brown.” “A coach with Larry’s background and credentials simply oozes credibility,” Hardaway says. “The players know that. No disrespect to anyone, but it makes an enormous difference when you’re listening to a guy who you KNOW is going to make you better. The man is a big time winner, probably the best coach in the league. You’d have to be nuts not listening to him, no matter who you are.” Some NBA players, you see, take to teaching and criticism better than others. “Everyone listens to Larry,” says Hardaway. “If you don’t, you may find yourself listening to Larry on television from another town.”

“If, on a certain play, I’ve always gone left and I still want to go left but he tells me to go right, I go right,” point guard Stephon Marbury chimes in. “Basically, it’s as simple as that.”

Of course, coaching is one thing -- a big thing, but just one thing, nonetheless. But due to a better -- and certainly better balanced – roster, could the team’s on-floor chemistry be better as well? ”The one thing I’m sure of is that I’ll provide interior defense,” James, the legitimate big man the Knicks did NOT have last year, says with a tone of total certainty. “And that is going to allow Stephon and the other perimeter guys to play much more aggressive defense. They can play more up on their men and funnel them toward the middle, knowing that a shot- blocker is waiting back there.”

Still, in order to block those shots, James must be out on the floor. “I think my foul problems began to be resolved last year,” he says. “Especially during the playoffs (where James dominated). Much of it has to do with the recognition factor. Look, I’m a big dude. I remember, in the San Antonio series, I went up to block a shot and I accidentally hit Manu Ginobili in the mouth. He was on the floor, it looked really bad, and one of the referees wanted call an intentional flagrant. But the other one said ‘no, I know Jerome James. And he would not do that.”

“Big-winning teams usually have two stars -- and the rest of the players must sacrifice and adjust to playing within the limitations of their roles," ”says James. “If any coach in the NBA can convince players to do that, Larry Brown can. And that is going to be the key to the Knicks success this season.

“This is by far the greediest organization I’ve ever been with,” laughs James. “And I mean that in the best way, they are greedy with the ‘W”-s. Isiah Thomas, Larry Brown, they want to win in the preseason, in the regular season, in the playoffs, in everything. They are all about winning. That’s all they know, that’s all they are talking about, ways to win, how to create an atmosphere to win, what the players must do to win. And that is not a good thing -- it’s a great thing.”

This article is all hype but I sincerely hope that half of this is true Someone remember to bring this article up again after this coming season...