Chip - I admire your optimism - I sincerely mean that....but I think it is legit. to be underwhelmed at this point without all the sturm und drang
oh, and I see we re/signed Elf - is that logjam our savvy move, so hard to tell? it's neither really, but it is underwhelming (there's that word again)...
CAA - of course...
Dear PRUDENCETThank you for the kind thoughts, Brother Straw.
I'm not sure if I am innately delusional, easy to pimp or simply innured to PAIN.
Probably equal parts all of the above.
Bo D is an old brother of mine in pain, and jazz and movies. He once very kindly sent me a box of vintage movie DVDs from his outpost in China.
So I FEEL HIS PAIN.
I do not SHARE it, but I FEEL IT. And it's not as if I didn't swallow hard when I saw all of those sugar plums which dropped to us at #8. As we say in Yiddish, it was a
mitzvah.
And I am on the record where MY FIRST CHOICE was Haliburton, then Vassell.
I NEVER EXPECTED IN MY WILDEST DREAMS THAT
BOTH Devi and Obi would be sitting there at #8.
Why am I so compliant?
Good question, Straw Man.
I've been conscious of the Knicks since the early 60s. I was at the Old Garden for a game while in the Cub Scouts where the Knicks jumped all over the Cinncinnatti Roylas in the first quarter...in fact, it was Brother BoD himself who sent me a BOX SCORE from that game. I forget, but I think the Knicks, with such bad asses as Richie Guerin, Jumpin Johnny Green and Willie Naulls all had 20+plus, and jumped to a 43-21 first quarter lead.
However, the Royals had this OSCAR ROBERTSON fellow, who as I recall finished with 34, and lead the Royals to a 104-103 win. YOU DIG?
The Knicks have come tantalizingly close a couple of times....the Hubie Brown BERNARD-MISTER BILL KNICKS, the Pat Riley EWING-OAK-STARKS-HARPER KNICKS, the JVG LJ-CAMBY-SPREE-HOUSTON KNICKS, the last gush of hope being 20 years ago.
God bless RED HOLZMAN Willis and Clyde and Barnett and Dollar Bill and The Pearl and Jerry Lucas...but the Knicks NEVER WON before DAVE DEBUSSHERE and NEVER WON AFTER. Okay, so, THE PRESENT.
And being UNDERWHELEMED?
The message I get from the return of Elfrid on a one year deal, is that the Knicks are giving Dennis and Frank every opportunity to conclusively make a case for themselves. Can they rudder the ship, or least ways, build up their value as assets going forward? Signing Coach Johnnie Bryant is certainly a message that the Knicks are trying, OH BUT THEY ARE TRYING, to redeem the #9 and #8 draft picks, Dennis and Frank, vis a vis the legacy of the dear fucking price we paid in the Porzingis trade, and the legacy of Phil picking Frank on the way out the door, even as he blew off one Donovan Mitchell (selected and nurtured by former Jazzers now KNICKS, Walt Perrin and Johnnie Bryant, and now bellyingup to the bar for a MAX EXTENSION).
We know that Payton can board and distribute and defend. Can he, like Dennis and Frank, be more effective with Toppin and Quickley, Bullock and Burks, Bradeikis and Knox hitting, PRESUMABLY HITTING, threes.
Well, we are going to fuckikng find out.
Clearly, while we have all been sold on the THIBS WANTS TO WIN RIGHT FUCKING NOW NARRATIVE, just as clearly, this coming season is about RECASTING OUR TEAM CULTURE and player development.
Been there.
Done that.
BORING.
But maybe necessary. And possibly even
PRUDENT.
Find out who is chicken salad and who is chicken shit.
Obi, RJ, Mitchell and Immanuel would appear to be building blocks moving forward.
Julius, Dennis, Frank, Kevin, Ignatz are on the clock.
Reggie and Elfrid, Davis and Burks are placeholders.
And prepping for a far sexier 2021 free agent class, when more marquee players beckon who probably don't want to be Knicks, either. Exciting?
I'll settle for sticking to a plan for more than one season, actual player development, recasting the Knicks kulture, and defense, Defense, DEFENSE.
Gee, Chip, you're a dipshit...well, let's be charitable and say...I'm a Knicks fan, and have been saying Wait Till Next Year FOR SIXTY FUCKING YEARS.
To Be A Knicks Fan Is To SufferSuck it up NY.