OFFICIAL NEW YORK KNICKS OFFSEASON THREAD: TRAINING CAMP

[harlemtothebronx]

First he was going to build the Knicks around Marbury. Then it was Eddy Curry. This week he was ready to bench them both. Soon the cornerstone of the franchise will be Zach Randolph.
Damn, that's spot on.

Change GOTTA come.

 

[woodside718]

Originally Posted by FlatbushFiyah23

Originally Posted by Woodside718

good post FlatbushFiyah23, I can't wait to hear the crowds reaction tomorrow during lineups at the garden. As soon as isiah's name calls up i want to hear crazy boos

Yeah man its funny how I am anticipating that as well. I hope Isiah gets booed so badly..... Seriously I was considering going to a game this month but I am so disgusted with management I don't even feel like giving MSG my money. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't even support MSG by watching....however I live and die with my team. I support them (team) but I cant support Isiah and Dolan. Is anyone else that disgusted that they dont feel like going to the Garden either?!

Bwood,

Change better come soon!! Honestly I just want some more wins....and Isiah fired!!

same thing happened to me last year

, i was reluctant to purchase knicks tickets because they were just an up and down team and i wasn't havingthat. i was close to purchasing some tickets earlier in the season due to the hype but now im def falling back and waiting for at least after all star break.seats ain't cheap so yea they definately do not deserve our hard earned money if they are not going to play hard and win real talk

 

[Mister Meaner]

The Knicks have been a team of many faces for the past many seasons. Faces ranging from big-time-aging-superstars to$$*% were you thinking 'contractsuperstars." The end result, basically bull #!$%. I'm seriously ready for the Knicks to be the losing squad they are without the names to make you go"why the %%#+ are we losing?" A ten year spell in the dulgrums (sp?) is on the horizon, and with each and every big signing, the light at the end oftunnel gets harder to see. New York has been expecting a good squad for years, and %%#+ it, we don't have #!$%.

But as many here have agreed, and so have I, I cannot give up on this team yet. It is way to early to give up hope at least. I'm actually confused on whatto think of this team.

 

[andrew630]

You guys ready for 2m?

 

[flatbushfiyah23]

Woodside718 wrote:
same thing happened to me last year

, i was reluctant to purchase knicks tickets because they were just an up and down team and i wasn't having that. i was close to purchasing some tickets earlier in the season due to the hype but now im def falling back and waiting for at least after all star break. seats ain't cheap so yea they definately do not deserve our hard earned money if they are not going to play hard and win real talk


Yeah I hear you man....its a shame because I feel like I should be going to more games. We need a Team Knicks summit so we all can go and boo Isiah! LOL!

 

[woodside718]

speaking of isiah

@ him blocking that little kid

 

[bwoodfolkgd74]

-season ticket holder

ya just decide what game ya want to go to and i'm there.

 

[eddiehouse5]

i would love to see 24K in a knick uniform.

let's get it done.

 

[viiheaven]

Did we trade away this year's draft pick?

 

[flatbushfiyah23]

Woodside,

LOL @ those vids. If I was one of those kids I would want to know why Isiah Thomas is so happy when his team has yet to win a playoff game.

SMH @ Isiah. This man wants to hold players accountable...I think it is time he is held accountable for the signing of Jerome James!!!

 

[diceloveme]

Something Has got to give, NYC is the mecca of Basketball and this is one of the most storied franchises in NBA history and they got us looking a expansionteam

 

[true 3 blue]

tomorrows game can't come any sooner. im anxious to see SOME sort of turn around.

 

[the gr8]

Originally Posted by VIIheaven

Did we trade away this year's draft pick?

We officially done with the Eddy Cuury trade picks to the Bulls. Thank god. Boy i would love to see great hustle players that i loved in college like TyrusThomas and Joakim Noah in NY. They would be perfect to us. Hustling shot blockers that play with energy and passion. Especially a dude like noah who is a bornwinner.

But this year we have a lottery protected pick to Utah, meaning that if we miss the playoffs and get into the lottery we keep our pick but if we do make theplayoffs it goes to Utah. So its kinda win-win i guess. I would gladly give up a late rd 1 pick for the playoffs (especially with our depth already) but if wedont do good, at least we can have a shot this year at a potential Franchise changer with a top pick.

I'm ready for tomorrow. Idk why but i am becoming optimistic. Too much negative energy. Like i said before, i have riden with this team fro years now, whatmakes you think i will jump off now. Right now i am in the same situation as last year. Either we make the playoffs and im happy or we do bad but than we startto change %@*! up. But right now im optimistic. We down but we not out. We play hard, and we are the toughest team in the league. Lets turn this %@*! aroundyo!!!!

Quote from Nate Robinson: "We believe in Isiah," said Nate Robinson, the member of the Knicks who is ridden the hardest by Thomas. "He's notthe one out there playing, it's us. So it starts with us. He gives us a game plan; we've got to go out and execute. That's something we'restill learning how to do."

Although i do believe that Isiah is #*+!+%# us up WITH his gameplan, but whatever. if ma boi Nate and the rest of the Knicks are still going to believe in himand play hard, imma be right there with them. Too much negative %@*!. There is enough Knicks haters, us Knicks fans, we need to stay optimistic! Thats reallyall there is to do right now. We cant let the haters win. We are only 2-7 thats #*+!+%# nothing, lets do this.

 

[flatbushfiyah23]

^What does Nate believe Isiah can do? Thats what I want to do know.

I personally don't think Isiah is the worst coach. Although it baffles me that a former Bad Boy can't get these guys to play defense. I believe he isan excellent evaluator of young talent. Do I believe he can lead this team to the playoffs? Yes. Championship? No.

But seriously what do the players believe? What is his "philosophy" that they believe in?! What should we really believe in Isiah?!

 

[harlemtothebronx]

The main reason I was fine with Isiah still here was that the players seemed to get up from him.

Now it seems like he's lost their respect.

 

[allen3xis]

Rose or Beasley...give me either one

 

[woodside718]

@ the fire isiah avys now HTTB starting the movement lets go

 

[harlemtothebronx]

Originally Posted by Woodside718

@ the fire isiah avys now HTTB starting the movement lets go

 

[flatbushfiyah23]

You know I had to get down with the movement!

 

[255forlife]

from nymag.com..

What happened to the pride of Coney Island?

* By Tommy Craggs
Nov 18, 2007


Weeks before his coach benched him and his organization scapegoated him, before he deserted his team in Phoenix, I watched as Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury, sitting on a bed in a Charleston, South Carolina, hotel, demonstrated how he stays closer to God.

"I go like this," Marbury said. He began weaving his hands in and out, rolling his shoulders, and casting his eyes skyward.

His assistant, Gaylord, chimed in. "Givin' your praise to the Almighty Lord," he said.

"That's it," Marbury said.

"That's what it's all about."

"That's how we live our lives."

It was the eve of the first day of Knicks training camp. Marbury was registered at the hotel as "JCIMS." The initials stand for "Jesus Christ Is My Savior," which contrasted with the self-aggrandizing travel monikers Marbury used to give himself, variations on his "Starbury" nickname. He seemed genuinely excited about the Knicks and his own rebirth. "This is the most I've ever looked forward to playing a season in the NBA, by far," he said. We spoke for two hours, and Marbury was by turns effusive, defensive, and simply bizarre. We talked about the day this summer he was born again, June 29. We talked about the Bible. "I'm in Genesis," he said. "I'm reading from the front of the book. Genesis is hot." He invited me to church with him in Canarsie.

We never made it. Marbury soon told me he was cutting off access because I'd contacted his assistant without his permission. Which seemed backward, of course, but given that he was apparently not really as happy about the Knicks as he indicated, maybe keeping me away was a good idea. Last week, just five games into the Knicks' season, Marbury heard he was being benched. After confronting coach Isiah Thomas on a plane to Phoenix and allegedly telling teammates he couldn't be benched because he had dirt on Thomas, Marbury skipped the Suns game. There was immediate speculation that the Knicks would get rid of him somehow, and it continued even as he rejoined the team in L.A. on Wednesday. He's due to make the league-maximum $42 million through next season-but his skills are in decline, and there's little chance another team will trade for him. It's possible the Knicks could buy him out of his contract for a lump sum, which would allow him to sign a new contract with a different club.

The situation was unexpected, even given the Knicks' turmoil-filled recent history. Marbury was Thomas's first major acquisition as team president. Bringing the Coney Island product home had earned him instant credibility with Knicks fans, and Thomas stuck with Marbury over the ensuing years of disappointment. The two were further linked during the Anucha Browne Sanders sexual-harassment lawsuit. In testimony, Marbury described an extramarital tryst with an intern outside a strip club, admitted calling Sanders a "%%+!+," and then left the courthouse singing.

The case revealed the Knicks to be an organization given over to nepotistic unemployables and the cast of Porky's, and it appears Marbury is the fall guy. That's too bad-he doesn't deserve the blame nearly as much as Thomas and Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, the very two people whose meeting Sunday night may have led to the decision to bench him.

That isn't to say Marbury hasn't gone around the bend. His courthouse performance and deteriorating play were only part of the problem. "I think he's lost his mind," says Jeffrey "Slice" Morton, an old friend who lived with Marbury during his rookie year in Minnesota until the two had a falling-out and who now speaks with him only intermittently. "He says he's seen the light, but people that are saved don't act the way he acts. I think he's confused."

Marbury may be crazy, but he's no one's fool. As Morton also observed, in reference to Marbury's "Coney Island's Finest" tattoo, "Stephon is gonna do anything in his power to be the finest, manipulating, destroying, conniving-whatever he's gotta do." It may be distasteful, it may be incredibly selfish, and it may be conveyed verbally via non sequiturs, but his style does get a certain kind of results. Marbury himself had admitted as much. In the midst of our upbeat Charleston conversation about religion and the new season, he raised the subject of his reputation for selfishness.

"If I didn't play the way how I played, I wouldn't have gotten no max contract," he said. "They can talk about whatever they wanna talk about me, because I got maxed. I'm a max player. Don't get mad at me, because I'm telling you what's real. One plus one is two, all day long, and it's never gonna change. And that's factorial."

 

[flatbushfiyah23]

^Interesting read....personally I have always liked Steph. But after seeing his behavior change this summer I think dude may have lost it a bit mentally. ThatBruck Beck interview spoke volumes....dude definitely has a screw loose. I don't care though as long as he goes out and wins games for my team and does notcause problems off the court.

 

[woodside718]

 

[flatbushfiyah23]

^Praise the Lord!!!

That vid cracks me up every time....dude has to be on something or just off his rocker.

 

[thestephzone]

Isiah kicking everyone out of practice..


A desperate Isiah Thomas kicked his entire team out of practice Monday. The Knicks' embattled coach was unhappy with their work habits.

The move comes on the heels of a six-game losing streak and amid increasing speculation that Thomas is on the verge of being fired. According to a sourceclose to the team, Thomas tossed his players off the court at their practice facility in Greenburgh after he became frustrated with their lack of hustle andfocus.

The players eventually returned but not until Thomas had made his point. It is unclear if the assistant coaches ran the workout, but the players were in asomber mood when practice ended.

"It is a three-ring circus," said the source. "It's getting worse."

The Knicks are back at the Garden tonight to face the Golden State Warriors before heading back on the road to play in Detroit tomorrow. Tonight's gameis the Knicks' first at home since Stephon Marbury was demoted from the starting lineup last week and went AWOL for 24 hours.

It is likely that both Marbury and Thomas will be the target of boos tonight as the Knicks enter the night with a 2-7 record. Marbury attendedyesterday's practice but had already left the gym when the media were permitted to enter the room. There are unconfirmed reports that Marbury left quicklyafter learning that a relative had died.

Marbury should be available tonight and likely will be used as a backup for a fourth straight game. The Knicks' season was thrown into chaos last weekwhen the point guard and Thomas got into a heated argument on the plane to Phoenix after Marbury was informed that he wouldn't start against the Suns.

Marbury returned to New York, only to rejoin the team on Wednesday in Los Angeles, where he played 34 minutes against the Clippers. An unidentified Knicksaid that Thomas asked the players to vote on whether Marbury should play and even though the team felt unanimously that he should be benched, Thomas put himin anyway.

That decision came on the same day the Daily News reported that Marbury had threatened to go public with unsavory information he claims to have on Thomas.Jamal Crawford, who reportedly was in charge of polling the players, dismissed the idea that the Knicks are a divided group.

"We're good," he said. "There is no turmoil. Teammates get into it on every team. But we haven't had that here."

Yesterday, Thomas reiterated that he would not have changed the way he handled Marbury's demotion and its aftermath. He also repeated that he is notworried about his job security.

The Knicks are 6-22 since Thomas received a contract extension last March, believed to be worth $24 million. He revealed that he had a conversation withGarden chairman James Dolan "the day before yesterday (Saturday)," but he declined to elaborate.

There is a group of players that believes that Thomas is acting like he wants to be fired.

Thomas, however, is smart enough to know that he does not want to fight Dolan for his contract. Dolan refused to pay Larry Brown because he felt that theformer coach had violated the team's sacred media policy.

Thomas apparently has learned from history and is careful not to say anything even remotely derogatory about the team, the organization and especiallyDolan. But Dolan is upset over the daily leaks concerning the state of his team and likely will hold someone accountable.

 

[blackmagnus514]