The Knicks Fix

Question.

What's his specialty?

What's aspect of the game was he hired to work on?

Alan,
What year did you graduate St. Anthony's?

You can't ask the blog host to reveal his greys... I mean age!

hope he knows defense

REPOST

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08062008/business/cablevisions_rainbow_rerun_123263.htm

From the article:

"Cablevision is likely to begin issuing a regular quarterly dividend and has directed its board to once again explore a potential spin-off or sale of either its Rainbow Media or Madison Square Garden units to unlock shareholder value."

This is a HUGE chance for the Knicks to exorcise the Dolan Demon, and thee only way long term for the team to regain respectability. A fish stinks from the head, boys, pray they sell MSG.

And from the press release, Kenny's duties are:

"Atkinson joins the Knicks after spending the 2007-08 season as the Director of Player Development with the Houston Rockets where he was responsible for improving player performance through on-court, one-on-one skill development and the use of video analysis."

WIllis

Who would you have take the reigns of the Knicks if the team does get put on the open market?

I think we all know the answer to that Orange and Blue:

Isiah Lord Thomas

Sweet maybe this guy will convince them to trade Zach, Jamal, Jeffries, Curry and Q

Keepin 2010 alive
with some Bulljive

peace was so upset about the low IQ label on Balkman.
it sure takes one to know one - LOL

Anyone who told Mak, Pete and Anonymous to be yourself's couldn't have given you worse advice.

Balkman doesn't have the IQ to play forr D'Antoni?????
that reeks!

PEACEMAN is a retarded delusional socio-path who'll use 'racial overtones' selectively to his perceived advantage.

You know it, I know it, and we all know it.

End of story.

PS:
Dumars is all class, respected as a person, player, and GM/Pres.
While Zeke is a "retarded delusional socio-path who'll use 'racial overtones' selectively to his perceived advantage."
Hmm.... sounds like Peaceman.

* Jordan threw out Isiah from Dream Team 92 = racial
* Malone sharpened his elbow on Zeke's eyebrows = racial
All racial, right Peaceman.

LMAO @ 20:34

LMAO @ 20:34

Mak,
You are not worth my effort or precious time!
You are an easy Mark......and no challenge.
You can't play hoop. I'll bet you couldn't score against Drossman.
I'll triple any bet that you CAN AFFORD THAT DROSSMAN would blank you one on one ...score Dross 10 ..you Zip.....like your zipper eyes!

I just wiped and saw Mak on my Charman!
Or will you plead Barf leave me alone!!! LOL

Hello Makunat
Do I need to remove you from this Blog too?
Nah....it's too easy with you!

Yo BARF

Check into Knicks Fanatics drop some knowledge kid!

Me and Lives and Peace have been talking about heading to some games this year, and we heard you'd be up to it.

Hit us back on the Fanatics.

PEACEMAN,
Didn't Drossman kick your butt at KnicksDefense BOY?
I heard you got banned at KD. Pretty soon, they'll ban you here BOY.

Are you shining Drossman's shoes BOY?
Wanna fetch me Chinese food, BOY?

Isiah wasted a pick on Balkman. Then to make matters worse, Zeke destroyed Balkman's career by nurturing him in his doghouse.
Isn't that racial BOY?

Out of respect for the bloggers here, I will stop kicking your butt now, BOY.

Mak ,
Correct me if I'm wrong ... Starberman wrote me an email referring YOU as being the WORST OFFENDER of using OTHER
EMAIL HANDELS TO POST YOUR VOLITALE HYPERBOLE ON HIS BLOG. Maybe ALAN has to take the same action here
as it would insure YOU would not pull yor Berman 5TH grade
IQ.....check it Alan....MAK IS FAMOUS FOR posting shyte under other handels. ACORDING TO STARBERMAN......YOU ARE BANNED AT HIS PATHTIC BLOG...CONGRATS MAKUNAT!

people on the bright side

the packers have traded Brett Favre to the NY Jets.

now i have a reason to actually watch the Jets...LOL
but for real
BRADY vs FAVRE
now thats good TV

I like the idea of someone specializing in player development with overseas experience. A commitment to rebuilding with youth and getting capspace, finally! We may lose a few but hopefully it won't hurt too bad.

I wonder if it was hard to sell Dolan on this.

@ PEACEMAN, MAK & Da Joka

Can you babies play nice in the crib and share the rattle?

How about you keep your petty teenage girl fights to yourselves?

These cats have clawwwwssss...ewwwww!

Ridiculous...

2 Faced PeaceBOY,

See my posting at Berman's, a site that you have desecrated.
With all your grammar & spelling errors, it does not take a genius to figure out that you're the one who's been making the personal attacks on Heri under various names. That's why I seldom post there anymore.

* got any more life changing sneaker incident, BOY?
* got any more 9-11 stories, BOY?

You destroyed Berman's site, trashed Isola's, got banned at KD. Pretty soon they'll kick you out of your protective silo, The Fantastics. Got that BOY.

PS:
It's just ironic that whenever go at it, when I'm slapping you around, you start hurling ethnic slurs. This from a BOY who cries 'racial' all the time.

I'm not too familiar with football.... I only see 1 game a year, SuperBowl.

Is the Brett Favre signing comparable to the Celts signing KG?
Just curious.

Orange and Blue: We could do worse than being owned by Checketts' group. He did a great job when he was here before and his is a business of running sport franchises. If not Checketts, than some other corporate group that knows the industry. Its rare that you get a single owner like a Mara with the Giants, or Kraft with the Patriots who understands the game, is only interested in building a title contender, and is not distracted by side issues other than the game.

Cuban has done a decent job with the Mavs, but has had his personality issues with coaches and the GM that can be bad for the team. Owners should never insert themselves in the hierarchy of GM - Coach - Players. I think the Kidd trade was a problem of his making and of course we have the Phoenix ownership to thank for D'Antoni's change of venue.

As we have learned to our great sorrow, it always ends and begins with the ownership. The Knicks deserve, and the NBA needs, a serious hand at the helm in New York.

Geez the quality of the post are going down.

Willis

I would love to see competent ownership take the reigns over MSG. Currently I think MSG's bottom line, under the Dolans, is to make the Knicks an entertaining playoff team. That's all. Defensive emphasis isn't our coach's fortay. No shotblocker added, one of the teams few, if only, defense and hustle guy gets the boot, and the teams best rebounder and consummate pro is the object of trade talks. Yet, running and going for them TV ratings oohs and aahs is what their selling, you need to stop someone and secure them bounds in order to do that [ ]'antoni Seven Seconds Finnese hoopla!

Till then the best we can expect is some playoffs showing but no legit strides towards a championship contender

Blue,
Its going to take a while to turn this thing around. while I am reasonably assured that Dolan is allowing Walsh to do his job, one wonders for how long.

I'm not bothered by the incremental changes Walsh has made so far. We have to keep in mind that basically none of our players have much value now, and any large change we make would require us to take on another teams headache along with whatever prize we initiate the trade for. This logic is clear to us here at the Fix : alot of guys are ready to part with our one desirable player (Lee) in order to sweeten the deal in order to move an undesirable contract (Randolph). That's the kind of thing we'd be getting back in any trade (a bad contract or malcontent) if Walsh attempted to swing a Zeke-patented, multi-player, big splash trade. So we might get a shot blocker (We need one bad) but we'd also add another bad contract and/or knucklehead as ransom. Think Penny Hardaway and Jalen Rose with three year contracts coming along with say, a Sam Dalembert, to make the deal palatable to the team trading Dalembert. Yeah, we get 2 blocks a game, but we eat 26 million a year in non-performing contracts for three years. No thanks.

Due tot he current market, Walsh is pretty much confined to creating flexibility for future deals right now - he's not going to make bad deals, but he is doing what he can. And it is positive stuff I believe.

1. Recognizing you have to have a point guard. Duhon is not the best ever, but he plays D, Has a 4 - 1 assist to turnover ratio, and despite a down year in Chicago, historically can hit the 3. We currently do not have an NBA caliber point guard on the squad other than him. Marbury is done with this team, so he is out of the consideration, Nate, no, Crawford, no, Collins, no. D'Antoni is a real coach with real plays - he needs a real pg to run them for him.

2. Making a real statement about talent. No more ambiguity, no more favoritism - Balkman goes to get the roster down to 15 and gets us a pick. Chandler and Gallinari are the guys, Balkman would not see time - good luck to him.

3. Flexibility. Roberson is a cheap shooter who allows us to move Nate or Jamal or Q (good luck) and still be able to spread the floor. If we want to make changes, trade for shotblockers, etc..., some of these guys are going to have to play well and become attractive to other teams. Players most likely to have their stock go up under D'Antoni are Crawford and Robinson, therefore we need depth at the shooting guard position should they be traded.

That is my optimistic view.

Willis

Read your post will reply later.

Can't match that multipronged response at this hour.

Ya feel me?

Blue - I hear you Brother,

Just some thoughts, probably more about my philosophy than Walsh's, but time will tell. lemme know what you think.

Willis, nice post, as usual.

Willis - just read your posts about the possibility of the Dolan's selling MSG. I wonder how likely it is. I'm afraid to even think about it for fear that I might jinx it.

I agree with your take on the current plan to incrementally get the payroll under control and see if any of the underachievers can improve their value with a real coach. One thing I would have liked to see (not going to happen with 15 players signed) is for the Knicks to try and pick up a low cost prospect. Shawn Livingston was the player I had in mind, but it doesn't have to be him - it would just be nice to have some more youth on the team. Someone with some upside who has either battled injuries or hasn't really bloomed, and has been given up on. The thing with a player like that is if they pan out, its a nice low cost piece, and if they don't, the salary doesn't hurt. Maybe Roberson has a little of that.

I agree with you again Pete..Lets dump Jerome James or Marbury and bring in a couple of minimum contracts young guys we can hope to grow over the next couple of years.

Then trade Zach, Q, Jeffries,Curry, and jamal

Keeping 2010 alive
with some Bulljive

I agree with everything WIllis except that Duhon is an NBA starting PG. He couldn't even start over a struggling Hinrich on a bad Bulls team under two different coaches. I may be a hater but I think I can and have legitimately shown we overpaid for him to our detriment. I also think Chandler's value is the most likely to skyrocket under D'Antoni if he continues to improve his J.

A one-dimensional shotblocker can't be that hard to get. Mutombo, Diop, Williams (nets), Camby, Boone, Moore (Kings), Rasho Nesterovic, Melvin Ely, Adonal Foyle, Tony Battie, WIlcox, Steven Hunter, Joel Przybilla and Dorsey are all guys we should consider. I know that Rasho and Battie have bad contracts but I think they both expire before 2010 and those teams need wing players which we have an abundance of, and don't need them. All of these guys also have experience in an up-tempo system and should be available. They can all block shots and rebound and can give you 20+ minutes a night when healthy.

I didn't mention Dalembert because IMO the sixers would ask for too much for him, and his salary is too big for what he produces.

Does this mean there are possibilities to move Zbo?

From ESPN chat:

Chad Ford: (1:10 PM ET )
Virtually everyone in the Central Division has the same issue. The Bulls biggest hole is at the four. Ditto for the Pacers and Bucks. The four isn't the strongest position for the Cavs either. Really only the Pistons with Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson have it covered. I think that means they're going to go small with Charlie Villanueva there. Bucks have a lot of offensive weapons, but does anyone on this team play defense?

and further:

Orlando gets no love for their summer moves. Are they going into the season underrated once again?

Chad Ford: (1:29 PM ET )


I don't think they addressed their two biggest needs. They still lack depth on the front line with no real legit power forward on the roster (Rashard Lewis is much better suited to play the three) and I think they went backwards at the point replacing Carlos Arroyo with Anthony Johnson. They'll still be somewhere between a foruth and fifth seed in the East, but I wouldn't put them on the level with Boston, Detroit or even Philly.

I just looked at the rosters for all the teams in the Central. Who would you want from any of those teams ?

@ JohnQ . . . um . .. . Lebron James.

JohnQ - I'd want a player whose contract expires sooner than Z-bo's. That's all I'd ask for.

Life - I hear you, Duhon's talent is not great, I really haven't watched him enough to say anything about him, you guys have that scouted for me. What I meant to say is that he plays point guard, the position, at the NBA level. And of the other candidates on our squad, Robinson and Crawford are not pg's and there is no danger of their ever becoming so, and Mardy is nowhere near a starter, which leaves Duhon - the only point guard we have that is a starter compared to the rest of these cats.

The thing is, D'Antoni and Walsh are on the same page of building a TEAM (notice, no "I"). What I mean by that is they are getting guys to play roles, in a real scheme, playing real basketball - not getting guys that looked good one night in February. So Duhon is not the best, but he fits the job description. Its somebody else's job to be amazing, he just has to get the ball to amazing guy and not get beat by his man. Sounds simple, but surprisingly few players have the skill set or the mid set to do that these days. Fer Chrissakes, GMs run after Tyrone Lue!

I'm reminded of the deadpan I got from a friend when they announced the signing - "Welcome back Charlie Ward." Not a bad thing, certainly not Chris Paul (but there's only one of him currently) but I'll take ordinary if it plays D, doesn't turn the ball over, runs the squad, and hits the open shot. The problem is for the other 8 guys of the rotation to fulfill their roles. Ward with one superstar, a rebounder defender at the 4, a streak shooter at 2 and a sprung kneed power forward at the 3 made Mr. Jordan earn his paycheck every spring, almost won one, and certainly would have won more if Jordan had stayed retired. Against Houston, replace Charles Smith with Robert Horry, and the Knicks win.

Oak - I think there is hope. By the time the trading deadline looms, and these teams are only scoring in the 80's and 90's in jump-shooting offenses, Z-Bo's gonna look very sweet to them and then Walsh will have something to work with.

I haven't seen anything stupid yet from Walsh and D'Antoni, and that's good. No panic moves. I'm satisfied they are taking the right course so far.

K4Life,

I meant realistically. The Cavs aren't giving up LeBron for Zach are they ? I guess I should have said who do you want off of any of those rosters who could actually be had ?

i went to st.a's with atkinson and that dude made watching friar hoops exciting. he played pg for us and we had 3 - 7 ftr's on the team. kid had hops. he was about 5'10 or 11 and was dunking. class of '87.