He is the prototypical "player's coach". He's very positive with his guys, doesn't overcoach, stands up to poisonous stars like Marbury, and, most importantly, makes bad players look average, average players look good, good players look like all stars, and all stars like mvp's (I'm thinking Nash, Diaw, Bell -- and since with the Knicks: Duhon, Chandler, Randolph, Lee, Nate and Harrington -- basically anyone in the rotation besides Q -- nobody could make that guy look good). Part of this is just stat stuffing. By playing so fast and playing such a short bench, his guys get more looks, score more points, get more assists and grab more rebounds than they would in a traditional system. Part of it is making guys feel confident so they play better.

Anyway, the end result is the Knicks look like a borderline playoff team when it's hard to think of more than 2 or 3 teams in the league that have worse talent. It also helped us move Randolph and Craw (think what you like about the trades, we couldn't have even gotten what we did over the summer). And if we want to move Harrington, Lee or Nate, I like our changes of getting value. Flip side, Lee and Nate are going to be more expensive to re-sign than they should be. Hope Walsh isn't seduced by the guys' inflated stats.

Didn't Walsh trade fan favorites b4? If any1 is seduced its the GS and the Clipper GM's and a coupla Knicks fans.