At least he is consistent,he consistently hates the knicks no matter who they put on the court.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/238755p-204866c.html

There's no way around it. There's no way to sugarcoat it. Isiah Thomas had himself a miserable offseason.
OK, so it wasn't as bad as Bruce Ratner's. But whose was? But after promising bold, creative moves to get the Knicks back to contender status, the team's president didn't exactly get Lenny Wilkens what he desperately needs to get this team back to winning big at the Garden.

Five months ago, Kenyon Martin destroyed the Knicks in Game4, putting the final touches on one of the franchise's most embarrassing playoff appearances ever. But instead of finding his own big man who can dominate a game in the spring, Thomas went out and got himself an undisciplined, immature shooting guard who still has to prove that he knows a good shot from a bad one.

"Now," announced Jamal Crawford, Thomas' lone major offseason addition, "I'm on a winning team."

Crawford made that statement twice in a 30-second span at media day yesterday, so it's obvious that he missed the news that the Knicks won only 39 times last season, finishing four games under .500. But when you come from Chicago and win only 23 games, as he did last season, and Isiah Thomas is waving $55 million under your nose, you don't sweat the details.

For $102.44 million, you'd think that the Knicks would have a big man who can draw double-teams in the post. But as they top the $100 million mark in payroll for the first time in their history, it is interesting to note that they still haven't replaced Patrick Ewing.

Thomas has been on board less than 10 months, but the payroll is now more than Scott Layden's. Eight of the Knicks' top 12 players are Thomas imports, with more on the way if he can rid the roster of Kurt Thomas and Shandon Anderson, who are proving to be more of a pain for the team's No.1 basketball executive than they've ever been to opponents.

While $102.44 million is an obscene total for a team that still lacks a franchise talent and is no lock to win a terribly diluted Atlantic Division, it's not drawing the ire of Garden CEO Jim Dolan. During an offseason meeting with his basketball brain trust, Dolan joked that he'd rather have Isiah Thomas spend his money than have to give it to his ex-wife.

Dolan may be happy with the results, but it's just more fiscal insanity, especially when the front line is still inhabited by the likes of backups and retreads miscast as starters. Thomas' one play for a front-court player wasn't even that creative or good. Knicks fans will be eternally grateful that Chris Mullin didn't cave in to Thomas' strong-arm tactics and send them Erick Dampier, a classic underachiever who would have heard boos in the Garden by Christmas.

The rough treatment still could come this winter for the Knicks. During their recent internal meetings, Thomas and his aides came to what can only be regarded as a startling conclusion. They think that only Detroit will be better in the East, a prediction that flies in the face of Shaquille O'Neal's arrival in Miami and what should be another strong team for Larry Bird in Indiana.

"We ain't played one game yet," Stephon Marbury said yesterday. "It's all speculation."

It's silly to say the Knicks are going to be appreciably better, just as it is for Thomas to say that his team draws inspiration from the Yankees. In fact, there's a better local baseball analogy. Think of the team with similar colors and an equally clueless owner.

Right, the Mets.

Besides the obvious problems up front, who's to say that Allan Houston returns to form off his knee troubles? Who's to say that Crawford can accept coming off the bench? Who's to say that Marbury passes the ball to Crawford, or that Crawford deigns to find Marbury? The three backcourt players all need the ball to do what they do best, and there's only one ball to go around.

But the three-guard rotation doesn't even begin to address the Knicks' biggest problem. Think back to their lightning-quick playoff exit and remember the token defense they employed. Going from Wilkens' collection of matadors to Detroit's championship-level "D" in the next round had to be a monumental shock to the Nets' system. Now Wilkens has no excuses, getting his first training camp here.

"Our challenge is to start off with the right defensive mind-set," Houston said. "We have to get our defensive identity early. That bonds you as a unit."

If the Knicks can ever do that, who knows? Maybe they'll actually see .500.

haha... great article. Same guy how was openly ripping Isiah for trying to horribly overpay to get a career under achiever in Dampier now rips him for NOT getting Dampier.

Posted by fishmike:

haha... great article. Same guy how was openly ripping Isiah for trying to horribly overpay to get a career under achiever in Dampier now rips him for NOT getting Dampier.

If he had written that a healthy Baker,the return of a much better conditioned Sweetney and Nazr might improve their frontcourt then at least he would be showing some balance.Nothing wrong with criticizing the Knicks but when thats all you do...

One benefit of the Knicks doing well this season would be to see this loser eat his words.

Posted by Kwazimodal:

Posted by fishmike:

haha... great article. Same guy how was openly ripping Isiah for trying to horribly overpay to get a career under achiever in Dampier now rips him for NOT getting Dampier.

If he had written that a healthy Baker,the return of a much better conditioned Sweetney and Nazr might improve their frontcourt then at least he would be showing some balance.Nothing wrong with criticizing the Knicks but when thats all you do...

One benefit of the Knicks doing well this season would be to see this loser eat his words.

This is waht I don't get. Why would he write a bad article about the knicks that doesn't accentuate any positives at all when I think we can all agree that there are some, in a NY paper to a NY knicks fan base? Doesn't he know that this just makes him look bad.

And also, inthe article, he rips Isaih for getting crawford. Imagine what he wouldve wrote if we didn't get crawford AND houston goes out for awhile also. Then he would be bitching and moaning about how we have no insurance policy at the 2 guard.

Mitch... you're a ny sports writer reporting in a ny paper for the knicks. newflash! STOP BEING AN ASS!

It is funny, you would think that IT added all 102.4 mil of salary, I mean were the knicks not on the books for almost 90 mil before he got there? and another thing, please tell me a dominant big man that was available for the knicks to get that would not have stripped the team of every asset we had(meaning shaq)? This is such a stupid article, I mean was he expecting us to get Yao? or Jermain Oneal? I mean come on..

So the article was a little harsh, and why should he be optimistic are the knicks really a good team, no they are a decent team in a weak ass conference that is 3 teams heavy at the top. So yes everyone seems to be improved, but until that translates into wins why be so optimistic

Stop saying the East is a weak conference. Look at it this way, whoever comes out of the East is taken the whole thing. Period! If we fair well against the top teams in the east then we have as good of a chance as anyone to do some real damage. That ain't optimism, that's the truth!

Posted by fishmike:

haha... great article. Same guy how was openly ripping Isiah for trying to horribly overpay to get a career under achiever in Dampier now rips him for NOT getting Dampier.

Thomas' one play for a front-court player wasn't even that creative or good. Knicks fans will be eternally grateful that Chris Mullin didn't cave in to Thomas' strong-arm tactics and send them Erick Dampier, a classic underachiever who would have heard boos in the Garden by Christmas.


I think you read this to quickly - he is clearly still saying going after dampier was a mistake.

it's funny b/c dumars and isiah actually are working on the same page. they both were part of the 3 guard rotation that was the core that pistons team.

isiah went out and got marbury and crawford, 2 more young guards to go with h20. dumars got billups and hamilton. the major difference is that dumars inherited a team with ben wallace while isiah inherited one with mutombo and doleac. they both went after sheed and isiah seemed to have it done till ainge got into the picture. so dumars had a little more skill/luck, what have you, but their team models are similar.

as for amare and boozer - that's total hindsight. nobody said amare was a can't miss and boozer was indeed just a 2nd round player coming out of college.

btw, you don't necessarily need a "great" bigman to win championships either (wallace - who's not a prototypical great center, cartwright, wennington, laimbeer). it's the entire cast of characters you have to make up the team that gets you the championship.

If Isiah wanted he could have perhaps move Marbury, who is making progress but is still not a proven winner....

LA Trades Shaq, NY Trades Marbury, TT & Naz would have been just as good if not better

I still think we could have made a deal to get McGrady if Marbury is on the table, lets not compare the too please, the he did take the Magic to the Playoffs a couple of times with little to no talent...

But thats not really important....The genius, yes that you Monk who said the East is not a weak conference go get yourself checked out....

Just Because the East has Detriot, Indy, and Miami doesn't mean its not weak

Bulls, Raps, Bobcats, Hawks, lets not talk about the conference anymore...the sixers are weak the cavs are suspect

The West ****s on the East really

Top Teams: Minny, Dallas, Spurs
Just Below: Sac, Denver, Mem, Houston
Fighting for the last spot Playoffs: Suns, Lakers, Jazz
Would make playoffs in the East: Hornets

East that would not make the playoffs: Knicks, Sixers, Raps, Celts, Magic, and everyone else not in the top three

Posted by OasisBU:

Posted by islesfan:

I don't know, I thought it was a fair article.

Me too, JCraw and Junkyard arent exactly going to fix the glaring hole at center and PF - he is just pointing that fact out. IT promised sweeping creative moves, I dont think he was very creative with this. Did he improve the team? Yes. Did he fix the teams problems? Not quite, he still has a long way to go. The Knicks are a work in progress and probably will be for a few more seasons.

I think Mitch like many NYK fans are dying to see a replacement for Patrick...something we may never get.

There are different ways to win basketball championships, but I will be the first one to agree that the % are with you when you have dominant type big men. That being said you need a HIGH draft pick, like a number 1 which includes having one of the worst seasons in the league[and a big man with talent is there] and then beating the odds to get the pick--see Boston celtics-Tim Duncan for that deal. I think there were big mistakes made in the NBA by teams who failed to do higher due dilligence on some of these younger players. The odds of getting a really good big man without cap space or a high pick is SLIM.

I do think the Orlando Magic have drafted the next type of dominant big man because of his size[6-11 255] athletic ability[36 inch vertical leap] arm length[7-5] and more imporatntly because of his skill level. I think he ll end up a C while a guy like Okafor is more of a 4. Okaofr should have more immediate impact because he plays on a bad team but down the line I think dwight will be the next one in the pivot. The Knicks have no chance at a high pick, nothing to trade for a high pick and not enough$. We would have to get somewhat lucky.

But we deal with what we have and we are not bad. 2nd best team in the confernce like the knicks think. NO! perhaps 4-5 sounds more realistic--winning the atlantic and getting the third seed is realistic but the differnce betwen this team and DETROIT, INDIANA, and MIAMI is a whole level IMHO. to get to that level-we need more{SIZE}

Posted by OasisBU:

Posted by islesfan:

I don't know, I thought it was a fair article.

Me too, JCraw and Junkyard arent exactly going to fix the glaring hole at center and PF - he is just pointing that fact out. IT promised sweeping creative moves, I dont think he was very creative with this. Did he improve the team? Yes. Did he fix the teams problems? Not quite, he still has a long way to go. The Knicks are a work in progress and probably will be for a few more seasons.

I think Mitch like many NYK fans are dying to see a replacement for Patrick...something we may never get.

I probably over-reacted in my first post. The language was too strong. I guess I'm just annoyed that he didn't want to point out any positives at all. It's true, we need good big men, but it's the complete pessimism I can't take. We did get better, we're not title contenders, but at least we have the backup at guard that we sorely needed.