Not Enough...

Like Jordan, I am encouraged by the Knicks effort in their last game. They looked good from beginning to end both offensively and defensively. Jared Jeffries has played well since he returned from injury, and the backcourt has been more fluid since Stevie Franchise has been out of the line-up. Channing Frye is expected back some time this week, and he will provide more inside scoring punch. Eddy Curry has been playing at an all star level for the past three weeks and the league has noticed.

With all that being said though, the Knicks are still five games under .500 and in the worst division in the history of the NBA possibly. They just had a very impressive win, but it came against an Atlanta Hawk team without their best player. No team in the NBA should lose to the Hawks at home when Joe Johnson isn't playing for them. I really can not get too wrapped up in that victory. Now, the Knicks play in Indiana tonight and then are at home against Denver tomorrow. They could very easily lose both of those two games, and then we will be up in arms once again.

This Knick team has plenty of talent, but it is bogged down by way too many bodies, high salary and a horrible head coach. In addition, it has a black cloud hovering over in the form of the fans and media. No one likes this team. Not the individual players, but the people that constructed it, Isiah and Jim Dolan (owner). In addition, the fans and media are sick of the propaganda that is spewed from MSG Network. Dolan and Isiah are both very hard headed and are not straight up guys. They think they are smarter than the next guy (fans and media alike) and continue to dig their own graves. This results in a snowball effect where the fans start to boo. After the fans boo, Isiah talks and the fans get on him even more. Why can't Isiah actually try to be himself and not put on some public face preaching positivity and patience? Be emotional with the fans and tell them you are tyring your best! The BS that comes out of his mouth, the owner and what they feed to the MSG network is an insult to us all.

At this point I still feel that the best case scenario for the Knicks is to fire Isiah, bring in a young, smart GM and totally gut the front office. The only untouchables in my mind are Curry and David Lee. Three others that I really like are Quentin Richardson, Renaldo Balkman and Jared Jefferies. Other than that I would look to trade. Shed salary by moving a higher salary guy with a lower salary guy. Do not wast the mid-level exemption on an average player for a couple years. Act like you don't have the most money in the NBA for 3-4 years and then come back with a vengeance when the team is better constructed. This thing needs to be totally ripped up before it can be build to the top again. Look at what Phoenix and Orlando did with their franchises. They were locked into long term deals with players they did not want. They traded for any cap relief they could find, got draft picks, got lucky in the lottery and now they are back where they want to be. This process is always shorter than you think. In any event, I enjoy watching these Knicks, and any further rebuilding will be much less painful than what Isiah and Dolan have made us sit through in these past three years.

STKAFI