NUPE wrote:fishmike wrote:he did a fine job with what he was handed here. The first year he had a stable roster to work with and one all star the Knicks were very good. They were 22-15 and had wins vs. the Spurs, OKC, Denver... and the Knicks were like the 3rd or 4th youngest team in the league, had max cap space next offseason and were looking like they were on the right track. Then we traded the roster for Melo and Billups. One guy was too old to run an uptempo offense and the other simply couldnt be bothered too. Mike will do well there
Immediately before the Melo trade, the Knicks were 2 (two) (dos) games over .500 and were highly erratic. To be clear, the Knicks were 28-26 before the Melo trade NOT 22-15.
They had a rough fist 13 games then surged thru to January to reach 5 games over.500. What rattled the team a bit was the presistant rumors of a trade. A guy like Felton might not have been uneasy but young internationalists like Gallo and Moz had only been in NY. Shy Wilson was still young guy and only knew of playing for the knicks. They had tougher run until the trade actually happend.
Lets be real, they were no world beaters at that time but it was a young core of appreciating assets and was fun to watch. Dolan spent it on getting Melo and the rest we know it as is.
I thought MDA's first two years was a waste of time with the exception of growing Dlee, Gallo and Shy Wilson. The talented roster of Craw, Z-Dumb and Marbles was not suited for our inflexible coach who was grooming yoots and looking forward to the day the roster gets cleaned out and Lebron comes to town.
MDA got the Laker gig over the phone. His cred is still high. He might be under a bigger microscope now with this team than in NY. Bum knee and chewing oxy might make for a basketball remake of "House".
