I know Ben Gordon thought enough of his defense to get T'd up recently. Anyway here's Hamilton via Corey Clark. Though he too is surely speculating?

From the Coach's mouth?

Corey Clark's FSU beat blog

Oh ... so that's why the Knicks won't play Toney Douglas
Posted 1/20/2010 1:22 AM EST

So Leonard Hamilton had his booster luncheon on Tuesday afternoon.

The Florida State head basketball coach talked about his current team for about 20 minutes or so before taking questions from the gathered fans in attendance.

They were the typical inquiries you might expect:

Why does the offense continue to struggle with turnovers?

Is Michael Snaer developing at the expected pace?

Is Corey Clark really the best beat writer we can get?

And so on.

But one answer Hamilton gave – about a former player – really intrigued me.

A fan asked about the transition Toney Douglas (you may remember him) is going through right now in the NBA.

The FSU head coach said that Douglas calls the coaching staff all the time and has said how much he misses Tallahassee and the Seminoles’ program – and maybe more to the point, how much he misses actually playing in basketball games.

Hamilton did interject that on the first and 15th of every month Douglas has a pretty big smile on his face (he’s making $996,000 this year by the way – not technically a millionaire, but rich enough to loan his favorite sportswriter a few bucks I think. Seriously with all I did for his career and he can’t even buy me a 60-inch plasma? Or a boat? What’s wrong with that dude?)

But it’s had to have been a frustrating first half for Douglas with the New York Knicks. He’s averaging 12.8 minutes per game, but hasn’t stepped foot on the court in seven of the last nine. And it’s not like he hasn’t proven he can play. In back-to-back games in early November, Douglas scored 21 points against the Jazz and 23 against the Hawks.

He’s rarely played since.

Anybody who cheered for Douglas or interviewed him 10,000 times (like I did a season ago) was hoping he would make a bigger splash his rookie season. We were all rooting for him. We’re still rooting for him. And we’re wondering why the Knicks have seemingly relegated him to the bench for the rest of the season. It’s the Knicks after all. What do they have to play for?

Hamilton had an explanation I hadn’t thought of until the moment he said it – which tells you how astute a reporter I really am.

The Knicks want to make a run at some big-time free agents next season – a guy named LeBron, some other dude named Wade – and they’re going to have to free up a few dollars. They would also like to showcase some of their veterans for a possible trade.

Quite obviously, someone like Chris Duhon's value would dip substantially if he has a bunch of DNP’s in the box score. Same with Nate Robinson. They both have expiring contracts, but maybe the Knicks could get something in return before the trade deadline. And they wouldn't get much of anything if some rookie from FSU was stealing their minutes.

So Douglas is on the bench. For now. And the Knicks, as far as I can tell, are now the only team in the league with an eight-man rotation. But I have no doubt Douglas is an NBA player. He will get his chance to shine.
But as Hamilton said at the luncheon, the former Seminole star is learning first-hand that the NBA is a business first and foremost.

Of course, he’s reminded of that on the first and 15th of every month anyway.

I am comfortable the Knick staff is doing what it can to fulfil its plan. As we know, things don't always go according to plan. Eddy is a bigger piece if crap, Al is breaking down, and Hughes who is always injured is inconsistant and getting benched which gives wilson and gallo more touches.

TD and Hill will get their opportunity in due time.

EwingsGlass wrote:

martin wrote:nice article but unfortunately it doesn't add much to what we as Knicks-followers already know. I wish either the reporter or coach commented on the TD's PG vs SG play.

No knock on Toney, but he has a long way to go before he is comfortable at the PG position - same as 99% of the guys who come into that position (Tony Parker and Harris struggled for years).

Could be just a factor of playing time and who he plays with; Duhon is just better at running the team and finding teammates (the traits that shine most brightly for Douglas - shooting, finishing at rim, defense - are exactly the ones we all wish Duhon should more competency with). Could also be a factor of who is on the court WITH Toney when he plays; second liners and guys who don't get minute are more apt to do bad/wrong things.

Excited to see what he does in this year's SL.

If Lebron is going to be the man, TD only has to get the ball across the midpoint and pass it to Lebron. And guard the PG. Then hit the jumper if the ball is kicked out to him. He can do that.

I have no problem him being in a BJ Amstrong/Derek Fisher roll. With better defense then them both.

Sangfroid wrote:Whereas TD has many components of the PG game( offense, defense) he doesn't seem to have the PG mentality. He is still a shoot first PG, and not looking to move the ball. As this awareness comes aboutm so will his time in the spotlight. Remember, Stevie Nash gets the points AND the assists.

Interesting you should say that. He wanted to be like Michael Jordan since he was 3. His Mom is a Nash fan and tell's him 'bout it. Go figure.

Anyways...he's living a dream. But he busted his butt for the oppurtunity and many watched and root for him still.