|
rvhoss
Posts: 24943
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 11/2/2004
Member: #777
Switzerland
|
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Oh, Isiah...Raptors Fans Thank You
You've got to hand it to Isiah Thomas. Every time it looks like there's no way he could make the New York Knicks any worse than they already are, he defies the odds and finds away to do just that.
Zeke's latest stroke of brilliance involves importing Eddy Curry, his potentially life-threatening heart condition and Antonio Davis, who has a contract so bad only the Raptors could be responsible. (Naturally, they are). Meanwhile, say what you want about Glen Grunwald or Rob Babcock, it's Thomas who's quietly building one of the most stunningly mediocre collections of big men the NBA has seen to date. Curry will be flanked by David Lee, Malik Rose, Maurice Taylor, Channing Frye and of course, the name that strikes fear into coaches’ hearts everywhere...Jerome James. The bittersweet news for New York fans is it looks like Davis will be cut before they even gets a chance to pelt him with trash at Garden.
Meanwhile, all they need now is Clarence Weatherspoon and it's on for real. I know the Knicks have a lot of money to spend, but the way their team's shaking out right now it looks like the food per diems alone are going to exceed the payroll of a couple of other clubs. At least they've got Nate Robinson though, and managed to unload Mike Sweetney. That ought to even things out a little.
So once again Isiah's embarrassing the fans of New York, and the Atlantic Division is making the basketball Gods shudder to their very cores. Yep, it's definitely beginning to look a lot like basketball season.
The aforementioned Raptors were also active on the trade market Tuesday, sending malcontent Rafer Alston to Houston for Mike James. The difference Mike James will make in Raptors purple probably isn't worth writing about, but Rafer in Texas? Yikes.
Apparently, Stan Van Gundy doesn't like his brother much because when Rockets' coach Jeff called his kin for an opinion about whether Rafer would be the "pass first" point guard necessary to ignite the Rockets offense, I don't feel like he got a particularly honest response.
Alston's got a lot of gifts as a player, but how long before he and T-Mac are "beefing" and Rafer's threatening to quit the NBA and go back to throwing alley-oops to The Main Event?
Plus, are Skip-To-My-Lou's best assets (speed and athleticism) really going to be optimized on a team where the whole scheme is based around Yao Ming? What good does it do anybody if Rafer blazes down the floor and then has to take a nap with Derek Anderson while waiting for Yao to reach half court?
Hard to say if Mike James will ever be considered a "steal," but in terms of the Raptors, getting rid of Rafer is a quintessential example of addition through subtraction.
Of course it may not be long until the Raptors have another streetball sensation on the bench, as they continue to make headlines (ok, sidebars...ok, tiny, almost unreadable blurbs) by signing Corey "Homicide" Williams. Williams is an interesting story, in that the closest he's come to the NBA was playing at Alabama State in the late 90s. Since then it's been China, Brazil, Sweden and of course, Rucker. Oh, and apparently somewhere along the way, he killed some people. To look at it, you'd have to say the Raptors have absolutely no idea when enough is enough.
Man, if I didn't know better, I'd think Isiah was still in charge.
all kool aid all the time.
|
10/6/2005 2:35 PM
