And now Deep Thoughts...with Jack Handy

[Eggcentric at aol.com]

< C'mon Egg. Pretty underrated and deepest bench? Really?

That's a decent offensive team, but there isn't a one of them that plays
a lick of defense. Add to that being maybe the most selfish team ever
assembled (which goes to your hoodlum point) and I hold the same thought
about the Knicks I always do: about a .500 team, makes a huge
(money-wise) trade at the deadline to try and make said postseason, and
just barely miss the playoffs when all is said and done. > 
     - Pat Ryan

No way am I fond of the Knicks, Pat.    But, yes, I do think they have 
a talented, underrated team.   Isiah has done a good job of drafting 
some very nice players including David Lee, Balkman, Collins, etc. 
He also obtained Randy Morris for peanuts.   (See Vecsey column below).

Also, thought you might enjoy these -

< The Celtics were scheduled to practice twice yesterday, but the 
second session (a walk-through at the team hotel) was canceled, 
team spokesman Jeff Twiss said> - Globe 10/2

< There will be days where he {Tony Allen} will be sore, and then we’ll 
decide if he’s just sore or if he’s hurt.” > - Doc

Typical Doc, eh?
-------------------------
GARDEN OF HOPE
 by Peter Vecsey, NY Post 

October 2, 2007 -- CHARLESTON, S.C. - The last thing I wanted to hear late 
yesterday afternoon as column deadline closed in fast was that the Isiah Thomas 
sexual-harassment suit jury reached a verdict. Who needs that kind of pressure 
on my second day back to work!

The bad news is, y'all, in light of yet another adjournment, I must apologize 
for being forced to 86 the trail and actually deliberate your Knicks' 
tribulations (or not) as they launch training camp today in one of my top five 
(Paris, Scottsdale, Seattle and Sag Harbor) favorite cities.

First things first: While many Knicks fans remain doubled over in anguish 
from the Celtics' acquisition of Kevin Garnett ("If only I'd hung out with Kevin 
McHale instead of Bill Walton," Larry Bird must be thinking) I'm here to ease 
their pain a bit.

Guess which team comes into New York to kick off the season? That's right, 
the K.G.-less Timberwolves. If that doesn't make you twitch excitedly, brood 
over this: The last time the Knicks won an opener at the Garden was Oct. 2001, 
Michael Jordan's first game as a Wizard.

They've lost five straight since - Boston, Milwaukee, Boston again, 
Washington and last season Indiana, Thomas' former team, made him stumble and fall out 
of the coaching blocks.

How important is it to hit home base winning? It's no big deal, of course, if 
you're the Spurs or the Suns or the Pistons. But it's unimaginable how 
meaningful it is to the psyche of team whose players and franchise and environment 
are afflicted with negativity and bogged down by a losing mentality. Which is 
why four of the Knicks' first five are in New York.

Last season the Knicks stuttered to a 4-9 false start, then 5-11, before 
coagulating to some extent and playing .500 ball until three (Jamal Crawford, 
Quentin Richardson and David Lee) of their top six donned business casual due to 
various injuries.

Even those who've tuned out the Knicks or have been turned off by them, if 
forced to be objective, would have to admit they had it reasonably going on 
during a particularly solid January/February stretch at the Garden. After nearly 
beating the Suns, they took out six out of seven (OK, so the Lakers were 
without a suspended Kobe).

Then suddenly Crawford needed knee surgery. Then Richardson needed back 
surgery. Then Lee suffered a mysterious stress reaction knee injury and didn't 
regain his health until the summer.

The point is, even I veered off on a positive tangent regarding the Knicks. 
Even I had to concede Stephon Marbury was scoring and defending better than 
ever.

While Marbury's shameless, unwholesome off-the-court attitude makes it 
impossible to wish him well (unless blinded by orange and blue), there's no doubt 
he's a force when not gimping around and playing within the limits set for me by 
Thomas. And he just turned 30.

Put Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, Richardson, Crawford and Marbury out there at 
one time and it's hard to fathom a team being able to defend them. Having Lee 
and Renaldo Balkman and Jared Jeffries and Malik Rose and Mardy Collins and 
Nate Robinson in reserve makes the Knicks one of the deepest, if not the 
smartest, or halfway decent defenders, teams in the league.

Defensive delinquency, especially on the perimeter crucial injuries, lack of 
early chemistry - in part because Isiah was new and so was his system - were 
the reasons the Knicks dug a hole and finished fatally. The lone adjustment 
this year is the addition of Randolph, whose 10 rebounds per only enhances a 
category the Knicks finished fifth last season.

Except for the defense, the Knicks' abject inability to make a stop at crunch 
time with the result up for grabs, all of the above shouldn't be a problem.

Their biggest question marks are Curry's weight (he seemed to add ounces last 
season running the court), whether he can deal with sharing the ball, if not 
the paint, with Randolph and how well Zach behaves after hours.

"I might not represent all Knick fans," says a particularly fervent one I 
know, "but I don't see where Eddy and Zach are going to get into each way on 
offense.

"I don't understand why everyone is concerned. Why can't two excellent big 
men coexist? Robert Parish and Kevin McHale did rather nicely in tandem.

"I'm just worried that this trial is going to drag on forever. You don't 
suppose there are a couple Celtic fans on the jury?"



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