Friday, January 23, 2009

Curry a Big Mistake

New York Knicks center Eddy Curry continues to show that it was a mistake for the Knicks to bring him to New York.
First, he shows up with a heart condition and the Knicks didn’t even know if he was going to be able to play or not.
Then, he underachieves, hurts his knee, gets fat, shows up to training camp out of shape, hurts the OTHER knee, and NOW he seems that he has gotten himself into a legal dispute.
It appears that his personal driver is suing him, first, for about $90,000 in unpaid wages (c’mon, Eddy), and to add insult to injury, it seems that Curry is a homosexual - not that there’s anything wrong with that.
But the embarrassing part is that he sexually harrassed his driver, and allegedly exposed himself to him.
This type of conduct is totally unacceptable. Curry, not the first person in the Knicks’ organization in recent years to be slapped with a sexual harrassment suit (see Isiah Thomas), continues to add to New York’s problems.
This player has been a complete bust since he first arrived at the Garden. Not only has his playing not met expectations, but his lackadaisical attitude is not endearing himself to head coach Mike D’Antoni, either. To show up to training camp fat and out of shape simply shows that Curry doesn’t care.
He doesn’t care about his career, his teammates, his coaches, or perhaps worse, the people who pay his salary, the fans.
Knicks fans have had enough heartache since Willis Reed and Clyde Frazier raised the roof of Madison Square Garden with their second championship back in 1973.
First, there was Jordan, Jordan, and more Jordan, who consistently crushed New Yorker’s dreams of a title in the 80’s.
Then, there was the missed finger roll as well as the missed free throw (see Patrick Ewing)- both times costing New York a banner.
Now, since Ewing left, the Knicks have been in worse shape then ever. They don’t ever make the playoffs, Isiah put his dismal signature on the organization by running them even further into the ground, his scandal which finally got him out of the front office, a trade that cost the Knicks their top two scorers, bad draft picks, and now the Knicks expect their fans to put the next two seasons on hold in hopes of LeBron James gracing the Garden’s floor after the 2010 season.
Other than David Lee, this organization has very little to smile about. D’Antoni, once he makes this team his own with the roster that he will build, will bring New York back to respectability.
It is even obvious that he has earned the respect of his current team. This team will not make the playoffs, but they are not going down without a fight. Game after game, the Knicks may not be winning, but they are not giving up. And that is because of D’Antoni. After a trade like they made, if D’Antoni can still sell his system to the remaining roster, it is clear that they have bought into his philosophy, and they are fighting each and every night.
So, now this. Bringing Curry to New York was a bad move, and it appears that Curry is solidifying that belief with his latest shenanigans.
Curry needs to be unloaded by this club. It won’t be easy, because he makes a lot of money and nobody wants damaged goods, but the Knicks have got to do something about it.
This is a situation that was ugly from the start, and it’s only getting uglier.
Come on, Eddy, pay your driver and keep it in your pants. These are not the types of headlines that the Knicks expected to see about you when they acquired you. Grow up, show some respect for ALL of the people around you, and pay your bills.

Lee Most Underrated PLayer In NBA

New York Knicks power forward David Lee is beginning to take the NBA by storm, so you may want to keep your eye on him.
Lee, who came on last year off of the bench for the Knicks, has proven himself worthy of a starting position on the club.
On a team that shows little fire or intensity most of the time, Lee is the furnace that’s burning in Madison Square Garden’s cellar.
With the trades that the Knicks made earlier in the year, it may have been an easier decision for New York head coack Mike D’Antoni to play Lee more, or maybe it was just the enthusiasm and intensity that Lee plays with that earned him a starting position, but whatever the reason, you can’t deny that Lee belongs there.
With all of the fancy playmakers that this league has to offer, all of the high-flying dunks, alley-oops and amazing three-point jump shots, Lee simply goes out there night after night and fights for every loose ball, will take a two-handed slam if the defense is passive, and continues to throw up double-doubles night in and night out.
Lee’s numbers over the last six games are more than impressive. In his last six, Lee is averaging over 18 points per game and 12 rebounds.
Over the course of the season, his average is 15.2 ppg and 11.3 boards.
It would be easy for Lee to mail it in like management did on hopes that King James is coming to New York to save the franchise. But he hasn’t. Instead, Lee is playing as if two years away is two years away, and he’s not willing to sacrifice those two years by just going through the motions until (and if) LeBron comes to town.
His game is an example that several of his teammates can learn from. When you watch David Lee play, you tend to forget that you’re watching a team that has sacrificed the now for the future, a team that on paper has no business even thinking about such a thing as the playoffs. By watching Lee, you would think that he was defending a league championship.
You simply see a player that wants to grab every rebound and wants desperately to win every game that he plays, no matter who the comptetition is.
Lee could be a huge teammate for Lebron James, if he arrives in two years as projected. The two of them together could be quite a tandem to watch.
Knicks fans just better pray that management doesn’t decide to trade him, as well.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Islanders Establish Themselves

The New York Islanders have established themselves. Not in a positive way, mind you, but they are perhaps in the worst position as they ever have been as a National Hockey League team - the league's worst.
Before you try to say that I'm wrong - I know that the Islanders have 12 wins and that the Tampa Bay Lightning have just 11 - but look a little further in the stats and you will see why I am correct.
New York has 26 losses in regulation, which is the most in the NHL. Tampa has just 19 because they have lost 10 games in overtime.
Also, New York has only 28 points. It is the only team in the league that has not topped to 30 mark for points.
If you look at goals scored, the Islanders have 109 to their credit. Six teams have less goals than the Islanders, but the difference is that the Islanders have allowed 154 goals, compared to those other six clubs where just one of them, the Lightning, has allowed more than 120 goals - 124 to be exact.
Next, let's take a look at the flaming-hot hockey that New York has played over its last 21 games.
The Islanders have lost four straight games, six of their last seven, 16 of 18, and 18 of 21. That's miserable hockey, no matter who is on the injured list.
I know that preseason is preseason, but it's amazing how a team can win four of seven games in training camp, but can then go on to the regular season and win four of TWENTY-TWO! - including a 10-game losing streak.
A couple of years ago, it seemed as though perhaps the Islanders were on a road to being a contending team once again, but the last two seasons have been a joke.
They changed coaches again before this season, but it certainly hasn't seemed to help at all.
I don't know what GM Garth Snow is doing, and personally I don't think that he has a clue, either.
It sure doesn't appear that New York is in a winning direction, and this ship is sinking fast.
Something needs to be done, and quickly.