Nate: "I can never imagine playing anywhere else."
As I said earlier this week, I caught up with Nate Robinson at his basketball camp up in Mt. Kisco. We've got a story running in the Sunday edition with the good stuff (be sure to check it out). But here I'll share with you what fell onto the cutting room floor....

On his MVP at the Las Vegas Summer League: “Summer league, it was my team. I was the point guard. It was different.”

On being the next starting PG of the Knicks, once Marbury does his Italian Beckham thing: “I just want to play. Period. Regardless if I’m going to be out there playing point guard or the two . . . Whoever’s out there, I just want to play. I want to be part of the team that is going to make the playoffs and send New York on a wonderful ride.”
On hearing his name come up in trade rumors: “I couldn’t imagine seeing me in another uniform. I love the Knicks. I love the colors, they’re my high school colors – orange and blue – I don’t know what else to say. I couldn’t see myself on another team.”

On playing at the Garden: "I can never imagine playing anywhere else."

On how a long offseason feels: “When you go home early, you have too much time on your hands. Watching all these teams playing, you think ‘We should be playing right now.’ It hurts inside knowing that our team, on paper, is ridiculous.”

On the Knick players getting together over the past few weeks at the MSG Training Center to work out: “My rookie year, guys didn’t come in. To be real, guys didn’t come in. My sophomore year, guys didn’t come in . . . Now, it’s like, guys are serious. Everybody that came in and worked out and played and been here. And that’s a good thing.”


The print edition story obviously goes much deeper. I was pretty up front with him about how I felt about his game. I told him I was one of his toughest critics (he nodded, nice to know he's reading!), but I explained why: You've got so much ability. God-given ability. Million dollar tools in a 10-cent toolbox.

Ya 5-foot nuthin. A-hundred an' nuthin . . .

Nate took it all in and gave good replies.

I can't get too excited, however. Training camp is still 5 weeks away. I need to see it to believe it. Sorry, my Daddy made me that way.

You know the class-clown is still there inside him, probably always will be. And he's good at running his game with the media. He knows what answers you are looking for. He plays the role. But if some of the things we talked about, things he's doing this offseason, are all legit, then Nate might have finally started growing up.

Might. Not having Steve Francis around will help things. Francis was known to mock the role as a bench player and get Nate to lose his focus on the bench, which always seemed to land him in Isiah's doghouse. I'll never forget Francis and Nate goofing off on the bench in Toronto when Isiah called Nate's number and Nate didn't hear him.

He heard him the second time, though.

"Nate! Stop f---ing around!"

There were those awful pregame practices, such as scoffing down greasy fast food, messing around on the court and focus-less catch-and-shoot routines that, for all intents and purposes, were nothing more than throwing balls into the air. I wrote about it during the season. Sure, the guy loves to have fun. I appreciate his ability to enjoy the moment and his love for interacting with kids.

But when it's time to get down to business and you don't take yourself seriously, who else is going to?

One Knick player approached me after the story ran and said, "Damn, you were rough on little Nate."

I replied, "But was it accurate?"

The player smiled. "I'm just saying you were a little rough. But you were also dead-on."

With all this still fresh in my memory, I closed the conversation with Nate this way:

"So you still shooting those half-court shots?"

"Always," he said without hesitation.

"C'mon, why?"

"I end my workouts that way," he said. "Gotta leave on a make. You can't walk off the court with a miss."

Nate can't imagine playing somewhere else, but he most likely will be.


All these stories about Nate makes you wonder if he is going to get traded before the season starts or at the trading deadline. Nate might want to be serious now that he feels he might get traded but it might be a little too late



[Edited by - BigC on 08-26-2007 10:26 AM]

I don't know for sure about that. Tho I have my problems with Nate at times and I don't like his Size, he is a super talent. Fully focused this guy can be a bigtime player in this leauge. I really liked the points from the Newsday Article:

"My whole attitude, my whole mind frame, has changed for some reason. I don't know why, it just happened," Robinson said this past week as he opened his first basketball camp for kids 6 to 16, a dream come true for the 23-year-old.

There's good reason to be skeptical, however. Robinson is skilled at spewing rhetoric and sounding sincere. It's doubtful that he will ever shed his class-clown personality, but from a basketball perspective, there is evidence of maturity.

With Stephon Marbury declaring his intentions to be the Basketball Beckham of Italy after his contract runs out in two years, Robinson is at a critical point in his Knicks career.

Is he the point guard of the future? Or with the emergence of Mardy Collins, is he merely a trade asset to be used to acquire an established veteran such as Ron Artest?

Robinson, who will be a restricted free agent after the coming season, said he wanted to answer those questions this summer.

"I told Isiah [Thomas] and I told everybody, I'm serious," Robinson said. "I want to be part of this team that is going to go all the way."

Robinson told his family he was staying in New York for the summer. He made himself a regular at the MSG Training Center in Greenburgh. Other than the trip to Las Vegas for the NBA summer league, where he earned MVP honors, Robinson has left the area only for two short trips home to Seattle (so his kids could visit with Grandma and Grandpa) and a family vacation to Puerto Rico with Eddy Curry's family. Last summer, Robinson spent the majority of his time in Seattle.

He said along with his workouts, he watched a lot of playoff games in the spring.

"I was never a big fan of watching basketball, because it made me want to play," Robinson said. "But this year, I watched every playoff game. I watched the Spurs. I watched Tony Parker and I just watched how they run their team. I didn't watch nobody else, I just watched the point guards."

Steve Nash was another study subject. "I watch how much he keeps his dribble. It's unbelievable," Robinson said. "It's like he never picks his dribble up, no matter what. If he picks it up, he passes the ball and moves. That's something I'm learning how to do even more to this day."

The summer league MVP comes with an asterisk because Robinson was a third-year player who competed mostly against rookies and second-year players. It was the experience of running the Knicks' offense for five games in the midst of actually studying the playbook (instead of familiarizing himself only with where he is supposed to be) that has greater value.

"I know every position, I know where everybody's supposed to be," Robinson said, "and I know every countermove to our offense."

His dynamic physical skills - incredible athleticism, a textbook jump shot - have never been questioned. The concern about Robinson has always involved the mental side. Not just when to pass, when to shoot and how to get through a screen, but how to control himself and how to focus and how to take his game preparation seriously.

"Now I see," he insists. "It's not about 'I have to score to help my team win; I have to score to be able to stay in the league.' You know, I have to do everything to better my teammates, and that will better myself. That's why I've made the crossover."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spnate265347094aug26,0,6768729.story?track=rss


[Edited by - nixluva on 08-26-2007 10:27 AM]

It might be too late, but isiah could still keep the guy. They always say it takes about 3 years for a player to learn the ins and puts of the NBA. Maybe Nate has finally figured it out. The media loves a soap opera and Nate loves the atention.

I think Nate can become a mike bibby type. He was very steady in summer league. The energy level and the stakes were very low but he did show us a different Nate. A leader. He also made some good passes in transition and he directed guys around the court with confidence.

Mardy is good but why can't the knicks have craw, Nate and mardy in 2 years? Or just mardy and Nate as the starters? Who's to say mardy can't go 17/6/6 and Nate go 17/5/3? That's a solid back court.

Isiah already acknowledged that you just can't keep everyone. I just hope God can guide his decisions from here on out.

I don't think Nate nor Mardy will be around in 3 years. If Isiah is going to get a pg of the future is it going to be someone he feels is going to be a star. NOt an average player. It is going to be a player he feels is going to be an elite pg. Or at least a top 10 pg in this league. Isiah likes explosive pgs. Mardy is good but I just don't see him as an Isiah type of starting guard.

The reason Nate is trying to shape it up is because he knows there are 17 players left on this team. Two have to go. And he just finished seeing Frye and his buddy Francis being removed. If this is not a wake up call for Nate I don't know what is.

pretty soon, nate will be talking about wanting to win a title in sacramento...

Steve Nash was another study subject. "I watch how much he keeps his dribble. It's unbelievable," Robinson said. "It's like he never picks his dribble up, no matter what. If he picks it up, he passes the ball and moves. That's something I'm learning how to do even more to this day."

it took Nate just 2 seasons of watching Steph before he realized he should be watching Nash. I'd say he is coming along nicely.

You gotta wonder what's with all the Nate articles all of a sudden.

And for all those who were getting on his detractors saying("LB was wrong for trying to expose him") the past couple yrs and how they were haters being way too harsh on him, it's ironic seeing his own words printed that his "whole attitude has changed".

[Edited by - TrueBlue on 08-26-2007 2:08 PM]

I was interested in the Nash remark, because that's one of the things I always liked about Stockton - the way he never stopped his dribble.

Nate has a good chance to stick here with a good showing this year. It's not that he doesn't have the ability to play at a higher level as a floor leader. It's a matter of focus. Offense comes so easy to him that if he only focuses on the mental aspects of the game he'll be a very good player in this league. Just the idea that he could watch Nash and pick up what makes him successful and look to do similar things is a great sign. This isn't just more talk, that's some solid observation. I don't care what caused him to have this change of heart, all that matters is that he does change.

He's our player and I'm always in support of our own home grown talent succeeding. I want Mardy and Nate to succeed here. We all know that we have the talent on this team and that it's just a matter of putting it all together. What does Nate really lack except for size. He's capable of making good passes, breaking down defenses and making big shots, he just has to make setting up his teammates a priority. Reading the defense and understanding game situations as well. He could be great insurance along with Mardy in case of injury to Steph.

Its funny that Nate can't imagine playing anywhere else because I can imagine him playing else where. Lately I see him in Sacramento good luck Little man Nate.

I think it's an open question as to whether he can develop into a good passer. His size is a disadvantage and summer league success can be a mirage. Still, the fact that he's trying to learn how best to play the position can't hurt and will probably help to some degree. How much will he improve? We'll see in November.