Photo by DvYang

The Knicks have become an entirely different team than the team we saw just seven games ago when they were an abysmal 8-15.  They were a couple losses away from Mike D’Antoni being jobless, Jeremy Lin being cut, and Carmelo Anthony banging himself up even more.  The Knicks were being led by a banged up Anthony and a struggling Amare Stoudemire.  Two men were attempting to carry the team on their backs.  It just could not be done.  They needed a change.  That’s when the Knickerbockers would make a Lin-probable return to winning basketball and an excitement in New York that we have not seen since the days of Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, and Latrell Sprewell.

The Knicks are now at .500 at 15-15 and in the thick of the playoff race securing the eight seed in the Eastern Conference right now.  Lin has helped lead the Knicks putting up unbelievable numbers.  Lin has scored at least 20 points in six of the seven games and has had at least seven assists in every game.  Three of the games he has recorded a double double.  Lin dropped 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in front of a packed Madison Square Garden without Stoudemire and Anthony.  It has been a story that has gotten Lin several endorsement offers and the financial assets to move him off his brother’s couch and into his own place.  Lin has thrived even with all the attention he has received.  When everyone thought the Lin-sanity would take a halt for a game against the Raptors in Toronto, Lin scored six points in the final minute including a game winning three pointer with less than a second to go.

This story has been one of the most inspiring stories and one that has Knicks fans believing in a championship this season. Just today, the Knicks signed J.R. Smith hoping he can add some depth from the shooting guard position.  When Smith is on, he is an explosive scorer.  Him and Anthony played together in Denver as well.  The Knicks have a potential starting lineup of Jeremy Lin, J.R. Smith, Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler.  That is arguably the best lineup in the NBA.  The question is whether Anthony will be able to co-exist with Lin and the rest of the team.  Melo will have to do a lot more passing and less shooting.  This Knicks team has thrived moving the ball and getting everyone involved.  They have gotten great bench play from Steve Novak as well as Jared Jeffries and Bill Walker.  The team has played superb team basketball since Anthony has been out.  The Knicks need Anthony to return, be healthy, and move the ball with this new look team.  If this team can co-exist and continue their unselfish play, we might just see a deep playoff run and MSG rocking come late May for the first time in over a decade.

The Talk of New York Sports host Bill Donohue welcomed Rick Barry to his show, who discussed the days when a kid just out of the University of Miami was an NBA All-Star with the San Francisco Warriors, before becoming the marquee player for the fledgling ABA in the early days. From the Virginia Squires, Rick came to the Nets to help the renegade league, with its 3-point shot and its red, white and blue ball, make a name for itself. Being a big ABA and old New York Nets fan, Bill spent some time speaking with Rick about how Rick felt about the team, the ownership and the area before he jumped back to the NBA Warriors. Rick also discussed his All-Time NBA Top 5 and well as his unorthodox but highly-effective free-throw shooting. The outspoken Barry proved to be a tremendous interview.

Hosted by Bill Donohue. Guests included former pro basketball players Jack Marin and Rick Barry. Hall of Famer Rick Barry proved to be an outspoken and insightful guest, speaking of the era of the NBA-ABA battle for superstars and his days with the New York Nets, who were just burgeoning as an ABA power. Rick, himself a TOP 50 OF ALL-TIME player, discussed his all-time starting 5 as well as his unorthodox but highly-accurate underhanded free-throw shooting. Former Baltimore Bullet Jack Marin spoke of the prolific battles with his team had with the Knicks of Reed, DeBusschere and Bradley as well as playing High School ball against Joe Namath. Bill closed the show with with a recap of the 2012 Hall-of-Fame vote.

Hosted by Eric Mirlis and Derek Wasiak. Derek could barely contain himself after the Jets terrible 45-19 embarrassment to the Eagles earlier in the afternoon before the guys welcomed Newsday’s Alan Hahn to the show, who talked about the Knicks heading into this shortened NBA season. Then the guys got into the the NFL games of the day including more on the Jets, as well as the Giants disastrous 23-10 loss to the Redskins.

Photo by Keith Allison

With the recent acquisition of Tyson Chandler, the Knicks are a legit NBA championship contender. They were a contender before the addition of Chandler, but now they have a serious chance to win it all.

Chandler will bring a lot to the table for this team. He will give the Knicks a physical presence down low and will take a lot of pressure off of Amare in terms of rebounding. Amare will now be able to hang around near the elbows and make a living off of that 15 foot jumper.

One of the most important facets that Chandler will bring to this team is experience and leadership. He knows what it takes to win an NBA championship. He should step right in and be the voice in the locker room, along with Amare and Carmelo.

Taking a look at the rest of the Eastern Conference and how the Knicks stack up to the other top tier teams: the Heat are the obvious favorites and will be the toughest to beat. The Celtics are old and their “Big 3″ seems to be coming to an end. That leaves the Knicks with possibly the number two spot in the East.

Carmelo is going to have a career year this season. He has to be tired of coming up short and tired of the spotlight shining on Lebron.  Amare will also have a breakout season. Much of weight has been taken off of his shoulders, and with the addition of Chandler, he won’t be relied on to score 25 points and bring down 10 boards per game.

The opening day matchup against the Celtics on Christmas day will be a great measuring stick for how good this team truly is. This team does not lack talent, however, if they have any aspirations of winning a championship, they must throw away all ego’s and play like a team.

Hosted by Greg Locke. Guests included Anthony Donohue from The Knicks Blog, who spoke about the end of the NBA lockout, the CBA and of course the New York Knicks. In the second half of the program, Greg, co-host Joe Carcagno and Sports Radio NY writer Cody Normand spoke about the Jets, Tim Tebow and the rest of the NFL.

Hosted by Paul Revelant. Topics on the show included the Knicks and the end of the NBA lockout, with the NBA players owners reaching a tentative agreement. Then Paul and his co-hosts John Revelant and Vinny Chiarucci spoke mostly about the Jets, before closing the show talking about some of the other NFL teams and potential playoff races.

This Christmas is going to be an extra special one for basketball fans.  Fans get to not only wake up on Christmas day to family and presents, but will also get to watch NBA basketball for the first time since June.  Early Saturday morning, the NBA owners and players would come to a tentative agreement to end the 149-day lockout.  The league plans to open up training camps and free agency on December 9th and have the first games on December 25th.  It is planned to be a 66 game season, 16 games less than a regular 82 game season.

The specifics of the deal have not been confirmed yet.  The players accepted a deal somewhere between the range of 49-51% in favor of the owners.  The exact details of the deal should be known in the coming days.  Most importantly, basketball will be played and both sides wanted to end this lockout as soon as they could.  Commissioner David Stern said it would take around 30 days from when the deal was made to begin the season.  In just two weeks, the craziness that we all saw once the NFL lockout ended will be seen in the NBA.  Trades and free agency signings will be in a frenzy as lots of moves will be made.  It happened to be one of the most exciting weeks in sports when we saw all the moves made in July following the end of the NFL lockout.  Plan to seen all that madness come again in December.  Owners, players, and fans are all relieved to see the end almost near.  It has been months of negotiations and meetings that at times had many extremely frustrated and had fans in disarray.

In New York, fans could not be happier.  We get to see 66 games of Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire together on the same floor.  ”Stat and Melo” had Madison Square Garden packed every night for the three months they got to see of them.  There is no question that MSG is going to have the same excitement this season as they get 75% of a season to see them suit up together.  The Knicks have a bright future to look to, but are going to need more than just two stars to win.  Veteran point guard Chauncey Billups played a pivotal role in the Knicks success late last season as well.  This will most likely be Billups only full season with the Knicks as he is a free agent after he makes $14.2 million this season.  The Knicks are going to need a lot more depth and some more size if they want to achieve success this season.  They struggled mightily at the center position last season.  They lacked size and depth to help out Stoudemire in the paint.  The Knicks are going to need to make moves adding depth to this team.  Rookie Landry Fields had a very solid season for them, but was nonexistent in the playoffs and spent most of the time on the bench.  Big man Jared Jeffries is a liability on offense and cost the Knicks a playoff game in the first round against the Celtics.  Guard Roger Mason did not get much playing time throughout the season and when he did was very ineffective.  One bright spot the Knicks did see last season was the play of backup point guard Toney Douglas.  Douglas was very effective off the bench and has a very bright future ahead of him.  The Knicks need help but have the pieces to build a championship contender.  Of course, they will have to compete the “big three” in Miami as well as Derrick Rose and the Bulls and the division rival Boston Celtics.

Knicks fans and all NBA fans are looking forward to Christmas day.  Mark down December 25th on your calendars NBA fans, it is a rare day where you get to celebrate two holidays in one day.  The season tips off at noon at MSG as the Knicks play the Celtics.  The Mavericks will host the Heat in a rematch of the NBA finals.  FInally, the Lakers will host the Bulls in a classic matchup of two past rivals.

A successful NBA point guard must be a leader, have good court vision, and make quick decisions. Nets guard Deron Williams fits this description both on and off the court. On the court, Williams has averaged twenty points and ten assists per game in his six seasons in the league. Off the court, Williams pioneered playing overseas for players during the lockout.

On July 15, Williams cemented his pioneer status by becoming the first high profile player to take his talents overseas amidst an uncertain NBA labor situation. A move that was first deemed hasty now appears to be a stroke of genius. Williams was a visionary who made a quick decision to jump ship once he saw the labor negotiations starting to sink.

Williams signed a one-year contract with Besiktas for $5 million that allows him to return to the NBA if the work stoppage ends. The move protected Williams from some financial losses, but not against injury to his surgically repaired wrist. Now however, as the NBA is entering a “nuclear winter,” according to commissioner David Stern, Williams is blowing up the scoreboard in Turkey with a healthy wrist and getting paid to play the game he loves.

Photo by Keith Allison

Do you remember what it was like to be twenty-something? How many mistakes did you make in your twenties? How many things would you take back if you could? Now imagine you have to live out your life, like it or not, on a world stage, while making all of these growing pains’ mistakes. Meaning, all of your work transgressions, and even some of your personal ones, become fodder for the entire world of print, television, and social media. How well do you think you would be able to handle it? Well, this is the life of LeBron James, and although he’s had a life that most people would die for, there are potential drawbacks to living LeBron, and over the last year James experienced those issues firsthand. He went from one of the most beloved sports figures living, to one of the most despised – from a King, to a court jester, from the beloved Michael Jordon, to the despised Tiger Woods.

The NBA finals have been over for two weeks now. The series is still fresh in our memories, yet enough time has passed to allow close examination of the entire LeBron James saga that took place this season.  To understand how James became the most hated man in the NBA, all roads lead to last summer, July 8^th in particular, and his ESPN special “The Decision.”

James 24/7

The negative reaction was immediate, Cleveland fans, the Cavalier’s owner Dan Gilbert, sports reporters, and the talking heads at ESPN all weighed in on his announcement. It is clear that he chose a poor way to announce his future plans. Okay actually he chose a terrible way. In fact, everyone who watched Lebron James hour-long self-indulgent narcissist-fest ESPN debacle “The Decision“ knows that it was a terrible miscalculation. The nation spent an hour wasting it’s time on something that only required ten minutes to announce, and twenty minutes to discuss. And yes the critics were right, he should have spoke to Dan Gilbert face to face to say goodbye to the Cavalier organization, however Gilbert’s offensive reaction afterwards, demonstrated the type of man James was dealing with in the first place. No wonder rumors have surfaced that they disliked each other when James was a Cleveland Cavalier. However, it is important to remember that ESPN and James were not the only players in this show. The entire nation was gripped in the unprecedented 2010 NBA free agency period.  NBA teams were caught up as well.  Several teams cleared cap space in a manner and urgency never before seen in professional sports.  All the major NBA free agents were receiving major press and attention.  Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, even David Lee were all sought after, but ESPN had their “Lebron watch” running daily, and his eventual destination trumped all. From the first day of free agency until the day he signed with the Miami Heat, Sportcenter, PTI, Around the Horn, Rome is Burning, and First Take discussed James free agency ad nauseam.  James, ESPN, all other sports media, and the public bear some responsibility for the atmosphere that created ”the decision.”  And while James deserves the most blame, ESPN deserved its fair share also, but didn’t receive any. Instead ESPN made money off of LeBron, both coming and going. On the show, and then the criticism of the show that they produced, and produced poorly at that.

The unfortunate side of it all, the public doesn’t remember its involvement and participation in the spectacle. The hatred Lebron received after the announcement was disproportionate to the act. He was free to choose his own destiny, to choose where he would live and go to work, just like any other American citizen, or any other NBA free agent.  He was insensitive to the Cavs fans true, but the amount of hatred displayed during the season and playoffs in particular seemed ridiculous.  Especially since these negative feelings came from fans all from over the country, and not just Cavs fans.

It is understandable however that the Cavalier fans rooting against Miami, were also ticked off by the Heat organization’s introduction of the new look team of James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Only days after hurting them with “The Decision,” it was another over-glitzed, over produced,  “look at me” event done in poor taste, and more importantly, the main reason that the casual basketball fan began to root against the Heat.  However this was a Heat organization event, and the organization should take the “heat” for the debacle, not any player in general, and especially not James in particular. And if the players do take the blame, there were three players on that stage, and they should equally share any criticism. However, there hasn’t been a bad word said about Chris Bosh all year long, and hardly any vitriol directed directly at Dwayne Wade. This team has had many detractors, but when it comes to assigning blame to an individual Heat player, LeBron James is in a class unto himself.

Teflon Wade

By the time the NBA finals came, the main media story was the repeated failure of LeBron James in the fourth quarter of games. Does he have a killer instinct? Can he close out games? Does he have the “it” gene that Jordon and Kobe Bryant possess? These type of questions were all the rage on sports talk radio and TV programs. Either it was quickly forgotten, or easily overlooked, but James closed out games against the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics to get to the Heat to the finals. Granted, it is a “what have you done for me lately league,” but James mistakes were highlighted at ever opportunity, while Dwyane Wade’s were consistently overlooked. When headlines were made about Lebron and Wade making light of Dirk Nowitzki having the flu in game 3, it was actually Dwyane Wade who made the joke, not Lebron.  James was only guilty of laughing at Wade, but took most the blame for the incident. If it was Mario Chalmers laughing at Wade when he made the joke, would Chalmers have made headlines? Or would the blame for the incident landed where it belonged, squarely on Wade‘s shoulders? The bias went even further. While Wade did carry the Heat at times, scoring the majority of the teams points in most games, he had key turnovers in the fourth quarter of at least two games, critical crunch time mistakes -just like Lebron James, not as many, but crucial still the same.  In game 4, Wade failed to get off the final shot, a potential game-tying basket.  He fumbled the ball and Mike Miller was forced to take a desperate air ball three pointer.  In game 5 the Heat failed to score for almost the last four minutes of the game, and Wade had a critical turnover during that period. These key mistakes were overlooked in favor of the “bigger” story of Lebron James failure to score in the fourth quarter, but when it counted the big issue was that no one on Miami scored.

Looking past the hype of the NBA finals, and the fact that Miami made it there, the Heat were a flawed team, and ill equipped to win a championship. The Dallas Mavericks were a complete team, while this year’s version of the Heat, lacked a viable option at point guard or center and had a questionable bench.  Has anyone really looked at this roster closely? Eric Dampier, Juwan Howard, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Mike Bibby were all shells of their former selves, while Joel Anthony, Mario Chalmers, and Mike Miller are at their best, solid role players. The Heat failure in the finals was a team issue, not a LeBron James failure to score in the fourth quarter issue. He did need to score in crunch time, but he Heat must improve their team quality and depth over the summer to take that final championship step.

Redemption Song

On May 11^th, after the Heat dispatched of the Boston Celtics and sent them summer “fishing,“ LeBron James explained why he joined the Miami Heat and apologized for “the decision” while he was at it. “I knew I had to go through Boston at some point. I went through a lot signing to be here and the way it panned out. I apologize for the way it happened, but I knew that this opportunity was once in a lifetime.” James may be young, and at times arrogant, but he is not stupid. LeBron went even further after the finals and posted a mea culpa on his personal website stating, “He has a lot to learn” and “a lot of work to do.”  Now, let’s allow him to do that work and grow, just like every other twenty-something adult.

In this era of sports where stars commit adultery, get arrested for drugs, DWI’s, domestic violence, homicides, steroids, and HGH, James has always conducted himself with grace. LeBron is a responsible father, and has been in a long-term committed relationship with the mother of his children, he’s never been arrested, associated with drugs, thugs, or seedy situations.  He has been a model teammate on every team he’s played for, and is an international ambassador for the NBA and the game of basketball. The young man has fallen on his sword, the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in six games, and he has apologized for past mistakes. I believe the basketball gods and basketball fans have received their pound of flesh, now can we allow the kid to just go play basketball? Really folks, when we choose our villains to root against, we could do a lot better than LeBron James.

The Knicks succeeding in acquiring the superstar player they needed and wanted, and the one who wanted them. This transaction furthered the plan put in place by Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni three years ago, when they took over the reins of the team, ” get under the cap and have the ability to sign multiple superstars.”  Though spurned by LeBron James, the Knicks front office managed to pry Amare Stoudemire away from the desert.  That was their one and only free agent prize of last year’s epic offseason.  They now, after much pandering and conjecturing, got their second star, ‘Melo.

Yes, the price was steep, very steep.  Giving up four or their top eight players, plus draft picks and spare parts is a lot to give up for any one player.  The rational for this move is two fold, get superstar number two and set themselves up for the point guard they covet in 2012.  Raymond Felton was playing great this year and provided a toughness and leadership this team had not had since Charlie Ward.  In reality though, Felton was a two year rental and a place holder for either Chris Paul or Deron Williams.  Chauncey Billups, though eight years older, is more seasoned player than Felton and  has championship experience.  Billups is pricier at $14 million for the next year and a half, but again is a veteran stop gap who can shoot and be a leader on the court.  The remaining pieces from the Nuggets are merely filler for the rest of the roster.

The underrated part of the trade for the Knicks is the acquisition of Corey Brewer from the Timberwolves.  Brewer started hitting his stride last year starting every game and averaging a career high 13 ppg.  He took a step back this year, but in the high octane fast paced Knicks offense, he could thrive.  He’s a 6′9″ swingman who could fill in nicely backing up Landry Fields or ‘Melo.  He could also mix in well with Shawne Williams off the bench as another shooter and fast pace player.  Of course, this all depends on D’Antoni’s new rotation.

Now that the dust has settled, it is time for ‘Melo to live up to the hype.  He got what he wanted and now he has to perform.  The Knicks are a better team now than they were before the All-Star break and appear on their way to becoming perennial contenders.  There are a few more moves that need to fall into place for the Knicks to be a threat to the Heat and the Celtics, but they got done what they needed to for this season. I look forward to sitting back and enjoying the ride.

Moose and Dock take on the underachieving Mets, the reeling Yankees and an NBA playoff preview. Listen to who Moose thinks the Cavs are going to face in the Eastern Conference Finals. The show closes with Dock giving a disclaimer for those interested in watching the movie Notorious, and the fellas give their prediction as to who will win the love of Ray J.

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