Ode to P Ew - Big Fella in hall of fame

://www.nba.com/encyclopedia/hof_2008.html

Last night at halftime of the championship game (one of the better ones ever, no?) I flipped through the channels and came to FoxSports to hear this asshole Gary Apple talking about how theres no way Ewing could be considered the greatest knick of all time, critisizing him for always promissing to win big games and not always coming through, and generally degrading his career on the day he was inducted into the hall, also pointing out that ewing "wasnt always the most warm, fan friendly superstar in new york, and he wasnt good with the media". Yeah, one of those sensitive sports writer assholes, who is clearly missing something, like the point.

In defense of the big fella, I'm going to address these points one by one:

*He can't be considered the greatest knick of all time:
Stupid. Of course he can be considered the greatest knick of all time. This is clearly a debateable topic, but most certainly to knicks fans its a friendly, happy debate, not one that needs to be had with idiots who are going to point out any negative about patrick and ultimately just harp on the fact that he, in a team game, didnt deliver a championship. Three knicks; Clyde , Willis, and Ewing, are up for the honor of greatest knick of all time. Thats not just my opinion, but the obvious fact, if you are a knicks fan. And, any one of these guys could be considered the greatest. A serious argument about this can only be one in which the parties respectfully disagree and accept that yeah, you really could say its either of the three. But to the point, here's why Ewing is certainly in the conversation: Um, Clyde had Willis and Willis had Clyde. And Willis and Clyde had other great players on their team, perenial all stars and hall of fame players in Bill Bradley and Dave Debeussher, and of course Earl the Pearl. That is considered one of the greatest starting 5's of all time. Ewing never played with anyone who is even approaching Hall of Fame caliber. He never played with a second perenial all star, a second go to guy, let alone 3 or 4 others. Early in his career, he had Mark Jackson, in the middle it was Starks and Oak - all great guys, GREAT guys that we loved, but not the level of guys that could be considered that second scorer, that second great player. The most talented scorers ewing ever played with were Houston and Spree, at the end of his career. Yet year in and year out, the knicks were serious contenders. Lost lots of tough series. Lost lots of game 7's. Lost to the bulls a lot. Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippin. Hello, put Scottie Pippin in his prime on the knicks. Give Ewing a guard as good as Clyde, like Willis had. You feel me. The Knicks were contenders year in, year out, and they had character, heart, toughness - all the charictaristics ewing had as their leader. And along the way, he is the NBA's 15th or 16th all time leading scorer, 20 something all time in rebounds, 5th or 6th all time in blocked shots, and leads the knicks all time in every possible category except 3's. So you gotta be an idiot or you werent watching if you think he cant be considered the greatest knick ever.

*He promised to win big games, and didnt always deliver:
I mean, he always predicted they were going to win. And a lot of the time they did. He'd say they'd win round one and they would, he'd say they'd win round 2 and they would, and then when they didnt win, it became headline news. Same shit as always with the new york media. Whatever is all i have to say to that. If you are mad at him for guaranteeing wins, whatever. Maybe if he wouldnt have said anything at all while the reporters were swarming after practice, then the knicks would have won? So stupid.

* He wasnt always good with the media
Look at some of the assholes in the league. P Ew was a standup guy. All he did was bust his ass 24/7 for 15 years in NY to try win a title. Have you ever seen a retirement ceremony like the one for P Ew in 2003. Random great players from all over the league, his peers that he played against, all making the trip to the Garden to honor him. Jordan, Barkley, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler, freekin Dr J....Not to mention so many of his former team mates and all the legends like clyde and willis. I mean, thats how much respect there was for him. Jordan didnt have a retirement ceremony like that in chicago... not even close. I'll paste it hear i found it on youtube for those that wanna watch. So who cares if he wasnt great with the writers because their questions were annoying and irritating. Most of the media is annoying. ........... Proud day to be a knicks fan to see P ew go into the hall with Olajuwon, Riley, Dicky V.....

You should really take the time to watch this. Four parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQVxx6YZV5U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6KCEwSjKAc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D70xd03j644

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_NaN896JzI

A Good Move by the Dolans? I cannot believe it!

I was just informed of this story by the real estate blog the Real Deal. Apparently, there have been serious plans to move Madison Square Garden, redevelop Penn Station, open up millions of sq. ft. of office space, and rename it Moynihan Station, after the late Senator... It appears that the Dolans, using their power and large piles of pesos, have all but killed the plan. Would be interested to hear what people think. Here's the story:

The Dolan family, which owns Madison Square Garden, has the drawn the ire of supporters of the plan to move the arena so that Penn Station could be transformed into Moynihan Station. That plan looks all but dead after the Dolans announced yesterday that they will proceed with a renovation of their reviled 1968 arena, which infamously replaced the original Penn Station. City Council President Christine Quinn hinted that the city's approval of the Garden's renovation might not be granted.

The joint venture between the Related Companies and Vornado, which would have partnered with the Garden on building a new arena, says it remains "committed" to the project. Related and Vornado want to fill the area with new office towers, and had offered to $550 million for the new Penn Station, which would have cost almost $3 billion. The city and state only planned to contribute $300 million, with the rest expected to come from the federal government.

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/dolans-denounced-for-killing-penn-station-plans

way to ruin our franchise you cocksucker.

This is truly funny and also true

3. What if the Knicks had never hired Isiah Thomas?
This could have been its own bizarro "Where Amazing Happens" commercial called "Where Isiah Happens."
(Cue up the annoying piano music that haunts me every time I try to fall asleep after hearing it for five straight months.)
(Picture of the '05 Suns celebrating after a playoff win.)
Where Phoenix dumps the Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway contracts on someone and remakes its team into a contender happens.
(Picture of the '07 Bulls celebrating after a playoff win.)
Where Chicago dumps Eddy Curry for two lottery picks and copious amounts of cap space happens.
(Picture of the '07 Raptors celebrating after a playoff win.)
Where Toronto finds some dummy to take Jalen Rose's contract and aid its rebuilding process happens.
(Picture of San Antonio's 2005 trophy celebration.)
Where San Antonio dumps Malik Rose's contract for a center who helps them win the title happens.
(Picture of the '08 Blazers celebrating after a last-second win.)
Where the 2008 Blazers become the most likable young team in the league because they found a taker for Zach Randolph happens.
(Picture of a white SUV.)
Where a Truck Party happens.
(Picture of Anucha Browne Sanders celebrating on the courthouse steps.)
Where a humiliating $11 million sexual harassment settlement happens.
(Picture of Curry and Randolph looking overweight.)
Where an NBA frontcourt that includes two C-cups happens.
(Picture of a mostly empty Madison Square Garden.)
Where a 60-year tradition of professional basketball goes down the tubes happens.
(Picture of Isiah sitting on the bench with that frozen, blank look on his face like he's either flatlining or planning to kill everyone on the locker room after the game.)
Where Isiah Happens.
(Follow-up note: Has a GM ever directly altered the fortunes of SIX franchises before? Portland, San Antonio, Phoenix, Toronto, Chicago and New York. That's 20 percent of the league. See if you can top that resume, Chris Wallace!)

If I Had My Druthers . . .

Contracts, ping pong balls, and movability aside, this is what I would like to see happen this off season.

KEEP:
Nate, Jamal, Z-Bo, D-Lee, Wilson Chandler, Ro-Show

DUMP:
Eddy Curry, Q, Malik Rose, Steph, JJ #1, JJ #2, Randolph Morris, Fred Jones

SIGN:
Ron Artest

DRAFT:
Roy Hibbert/DJ Augustin

Obviously, the dumping part is the hardest. I'm assuming our draft pick will be somewhere between 7-11 like it always is except when we trade it, and it jumps up to #2. I don't know what the NBA rules are on this, but can players be traded for draft picks? i.e. could we trade eddy curry for a mid-first round pick. If we can (i'd probably even take on some bum with a 6ish million dollar per year contract to make the salary work with curry's. Then I take Roy Hibbert with our #7-10 pick and DJ Augustin with our pick for Curry (hopefully around #14-#16). Both of these players should be there with these picks. We should then be able to package either JJ, JJ, or Fred Jones in with a Malik Rose/Steph deal, dumping those three players as well. That leaves us with Q, and two of JJ, JJ, and Fred Jones. Which is fine, Q and whoever it is can either ride the bench or be sent to the Steve Francis/Penny Hardaway Houston 'rehab facility'. What I really want to see on the Knicks is people with attitude who look like they actually enjoy playing basketball and care if they win or lose. I've loved eddy curry forever, but its clear that he just doesn't really give a shit and is never going to rebound, blocks shots, play defense, or show up every night on a consistent basis. this is why I opt to keep Z-Bo, you at least know he loves to ball and comes ready to play. And he's still one of the better rebounders in the NBA, a guy who is just always near the ball. Stack the Knicks with people who want to compete. Jamal, Nate, Z-Bo, Artest, I'd even like to sign a veteran point guard for a year, someone like Sam Cassell. A guy who has been in the playoffs, a guy who has won before and has attitude. Ron Artest is like this. Then you take a shot blocking, rebounding, defensive presence in a Roy Hibbert, put him next to Z-bo, with Ron Artest at the 3, and then nate and jamal at 1, 2, or hopefully dj augustin/sam cassell at the 1, jamal at the 2 and nate off the bench-- you got yourself a team.

I understand how unlikely this is to happen, but it doesn't strike me as impossible. Obviously it is bc Dolan Isiah (who will be back next year) are primates, but those pieces aren't impossible to acquire. Ron Artest is finally a free agent and there is no reason he shouldn't be able to live up to his word and sign with us for our mid-level exception. as far as Hibbert and Augustin, they are both projected as mid to late first rounders. i expect those projections to jump after the tourney (esp. augustin), but we should at least be guaranteed one of them with our pick. I'd like to think we won't have any lower than a 5 pick, but even if its 8 or 9, we should still be able to snag one of them. then if we could unload eddy curry, or even david lee, for another mid-first round pick, we just might be able to scoop both of them. i know the sam cassell thing is never going to happen, but there are tough veteran guards out there who have been to the playoffs and know who to win. i think its so imporant for the knicks to acquire guys who have been in the playoffs and had success there. i think it really just changes the makeup of your team.

These are all just dribblings and fantasies for the most part, but I think what us Knick fans have learned over the past several years, and everybody claims to know this, but few can apply such a magnification glass to it, but we've learned how imporant it is to have players on your team who play with heart and pride everynight and who genuinely love to play the game. i dont think you can say that about a lot of these knicks- think eddy curry, steph, jj, jj, steve francis, all these idiots. i love this kid dj augustin. he stays in a defensive stance the whole game, every game, defines pass first, shoot second, always looks to make the extra pass, has a 10 to 1 asst. to turnover ratio, and leaves it all out on the court. we don't need more offense from our center, so if you put a shot blocking/altering and rebounding guy like roy hibbert next to z-bo, with ron artest at the 3, you've got a damn good rebounding team and some serious defensive presences. jsut my thoughts, i'd love some feedback . . .