ESPN: Marc Stein Awards MVP Thus Far

via ESPN.com

East MVP of the First Trimester

 One thing we should all be able to agree on: This is the toughest call on the board after 30-something games.

You can accept LeBron James' publicly issued invitation to delete him and Dwyane Wade from consideration because they allegedly neutralize each other in the MVP race … which was actually a thinly veiled/pretty sly way to try to force voters to do the exact opposite.

You can also notify Dwight Howard that we'll check back in during Trimester 2 after we've had a longer look at the Magic's extreme makeover … since all of Dwight's undeniable offensive improvement to go with his peerless command of the paint can't change the fact that Orlando started so poorly that management felt it had to shake things up dramatically with two big trades.

You'd still have to find a way to separate Stoudemire and Derrick Rose after all that.

Good luck.

If you can pardon the Bulls for Wednesday's deflating crunch-time failure in New Jersey, Rose has the Bulls on a 55-win pace even though Carlos Boozer has missed 15 games and Joakim Noah has missed 10. That's the stuff that should wow you even more than Rose's gaudy statistical production (23.8 points, 8.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds per game) and how he's hiked his success rate from 3-point range to a robust .394.

Stoudemire, however, is the guy who was undaunted by the prospect of being painted as New Yorkers' consolation prize when the Knicks didn't get LeBron, fully confident (delusional?) that he could single-handedly lead the Knicks back to prominence … and actually has them pointed that way faster than anyone imagined. The Knicks have little depth, play little D and started 3-8, but Stoudemire leads the league in fourth-quarter scoring (7.4 ppg) and has quickly hushed all of us media mavens who said his numbers would drop off dramatically without Steve Nash spoon-feeding him. No Nash? Amare simply formed a successful new partnership with Raymond Felton instead.

I know you're probably wincing as you brace for the inevitable speech about how much team success always plays in the MVP thinking here, but the standards are actually a little looser at the first-trimester pole. Stoudemire has little to apologize for anyway with the Knicks at 20-14, which computes to a 48-win pace, with No. 7 Indiana sitting four games under .500 and five games back.

Common sense says the Knicks won't maintain that pace as the schedule gets tougher and the regular-season grind starts to wear on Mike D'Antoni's tight rotation. But that likelihood -- along with the well-worn stat about how we haven't seen an MVP from a team that won less than 50 games since Moses Malone in 1981-82 from the 46-win Houston Rockets -- only helped break this Amare/D-Rose deadlock.

Translation: Rose can probably count on factoring heavily in the MVP race all season. I wanted to make sure, since Stoudemire doesn't have the same luxury, that he's properly feted now for delivering in the harshest media glare in the league.

Raymond Felton Is Taking Off

via YahooSports.com

Of course, Raymond Felton(notes) has been in the league since 2005. But has he really?
This is incredibly cruel to fans of the Charlotte Bobcats, because it smacks of the usual nonsense that fandoms outside of major-major-MAJOR markets have to deal with, consistently. That their finest players cannot wait to get out of town, and into a metropolis where parking is something you plan out a decade ahead. That time spent building a franchise or a rebuilding process up from square one is just a stepping stone spent toiling before you move onto another more prominent team that happens to be several squares ahead. That Charlotte doesn't count.
And I'm telling you, as someone who saw the fans fill that stadium 20 years ago, and saw the locals put headbands around statues downtown a decade ago, Charlotte counts.
It was the Bobcats that didn't count. And while Raymond Felton is a professional who should be relied upon to provide spirit and spark 82 games a year, he's also a human who played as if he knew better. And stuck on a middling team with no long-term plan working for coaches who loved to walk it up and call 197 plays per 100 possessions, Ray was stuck.
In New York? He's killing it.

Mike Lupica Agree's That Amare has Been The Best Free Agent Thus Far

via NYDailynews.com

Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony Ejected, Takes NBA Technicals Lead

via FanHouse.com

The Denver forward didn't make it out of the first quarter last Sunday against Phoenix when he was done for night after three minutes due to flu-like symptoms. He didn't make it out of third quarter Wednesday against Milwaukee when he was ejected with 2:40 remaining.

Anthony became upset when Bucks forward Larry Sanders blocked his shot, and Anthony believed it should have been goaltending. He was given a technical by official Eric Dalen. Anthony continued to bark, and was whistled for another technical by official Jason Phillips for an automatic ejection.

"I didn't talk to Melo about what happened,'' Nuggets coach George Karl said after his team's 105-94 win. "But I asked Jason and he said, 'I'll get you next time.' And I never got an explanation.''
Anthony, who has taken over the NBA lead with seven technicals, declined comment about the ejection to FanHouse after the game. Asked about his health, he did say, "I'm alright.''

It didn't look quite that way on the stat sheet. Anthony shot just 4-of-13 for 14 points.

"I didn't think he was 100 percent,'' Karl said. "I think he was sluggish. I think he was a little bit trying to find ways to get enough energy to put himself in the game. ... But I think he'll be better Friday night (at home against the Clippers).''

Anthony said before the game he was feeling better but during recent nights has "been tossing and turning,'' and has still been "just drained the last few days.'' Anthony has been ailing since the Nuggets played Nov. 22 at Golden State. He felt very bad last Friday against Chicago, but still hit a game-winning jumper at the buzzer.

Donnie Walsh feels 'good' after hip surgery

via NYDailynews.com

"I feel good, it's good to be back at practice," the 69-year-old Walsh said. "We haven't had a lot of practices here, haven't missed a lot of practices and I liked what I've seen on TV with the team since I've been out."

"I can make phone calls and I've done that," Walsh said. "It's not like being there, but you can get a lot of work done."

"I think they are grasping our style, so they are playing better," Walsh said. "I think they've played some really good games."

"There are a lot of reasons why, but whatever it is we've got to find the answers and make this our home court," Walsh said. "We have one of the best home courts in the whole league and we haven't taken advantage of it."
"It's sometimes scheduling, it's sometimes letting down when we get home, because we think we're home and we don't focus as much," Mike D'Antoni added. "It's just something that happened and hopefully starting (Tuesday) it's something we'll turn around."


Read more:  HERE

ESPN Thinks The Knicks Are a Playoff Team

via ESPN.com

Laugh if you want. But it's true: The New York Knicks are a playoff team.

For most in the NBA, that isn't a big deal, since half the league makes it to the postseason. But in New York, where the Knicks have given a new face to awful the past decade, there is finally hope of playing meaningful basketball games in March and April, instead of simply playing out the string.

What triggered all this optimism? Well, the Knicks, in a flat-out gutty performance, beat the Detroit Pistons 125-116 in double overtime at The Palace on Sunday afternoon.

In seasons gone by, there would have been no way, no how the Knicks would have won that game, especially coming off a matinee loss to the Atlanta Hawks at the Garden on Saturday. The Knicks had every reason to succumb at the end to the Pistons, who enjoyed a comfortable Saturday at home on the couch.

But this isn't just about beating the Pistons, who are a shell of their former selves. Even the harshest Knicks critic has to admit things are changing. No, it's not the change most fans envisioned in the summer. Then again, that's when the city was all about LeBron James coming to the Big Apple to rescue a franchise that has been drowning in losses.

But as the calendar turns from November to December, the Knicks (9-9) have as many victories as the Miami Heat's James Gang. The Knicks are in second place in the Atlantic Division behind the Boston Celtics.


"It's a long year and if we continue to improve as the season goes along then we have a great chance at [the playoffs]," Amare Stoudemire said. "We have to make sure that we continue to improve."

And if they do, and there's no reason to believe they won't, they should be position to secure a spot out of the East. Honestly, when you look at the other teams in their division, excluding the Celts, you would be hard-pressed to pick a squad better than the Knicks right now. And other than Boston, the Knicks are the only team with a winning record on the road. At 7-4 going into Sunday night, they had the most road victories in the entire NBA.

Yes, more than the Los Angeles Lakers.

Laugh if you want. This stuff matters, and it tells you a lot. Good teams win on the road. Period. The opponent doesn't matter, just the getting the win.

The Knicks have won five straight games on the road. It's a sign, a building block. "We are just showing the sort of composure that we have and that we are growing since Day 1," said point guard Raymond Felton, who had 23 points and 11 assists.

It also tells you the Knicks finally have a place to go with the basketball when it matters. The days of playing hot potato with the ball at the end is over. Stoudemire wasn't exactly what Knicks fans wanted, but he's exactly what the Knicks need.

Against the Pistons, Stoudemire had a monster game with 37 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. "Because of Amare, because of Raymond giving us good leadership, it's easier to win on the road," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "You kind of know where the ball is going and you're going to get pretty good shots. And when that happens, you have a chance to win any place, home or away."

Yeah, yeah. We know how poorly the Knicks have played at home so far -- a lousy 2-5 record at the Garden. Still, you have to believe the Knicks will play better there.

For sure, the Knicks have gotten fat early against teams under .500. With their victory over the 6-11 Pistons, the Knicks are now 7-4 against the also-rans. There's no need to apologize. That's how good teams become good -- by beating bad teams.

"We have to beat the teams we're supposed to beat," Stoudemire said. "That's how the game is played and that's what we've been doing so far."

Now, don't get it twisted. The Knicks aren't going to the NBA Finals this season. They are still a few pieces away. But clearly, they are finally moving forward.

Read More HERE

Amare Happy With The Team's Fight

via NYDailynews.com

"I was never concerned about the players, just the effort and, are we really going to step up and become better players and a better team? And we did that," he said. "We showed how good we can be. Offensively, we're starting to figure it out. Defensively, we have areas where we can get better. But it was a great trip for us."

"We're showing winning qualities," he said. "Our chemistry is now starting to come together."

 

Read more: HERE

 

Toney Douglas gets going again

via NYPost.com

Last night, Douglas, the scrappiest Knick, fought through it with his best outing in two weeks, scoring 14 points in the Knicks' streak-busting 113-106 win over the Kings, coming off the bench to help the club rally in the second quarter after falling 15 points behind.

Douglas is a major key and played sensationally during the Knicks' 3-2 start on both ends. In Denver on Tuesday, Douglas did not score -- he was 0-for-4 from the field, 0-for-3 on 3-pointers -- and had no steals in 16 minutes.

In the past five games before Sacramento, Douglas has scored just 27 points total and gotten to the foul line just once.

Douglas told The Post his back has been wrapped in tape for recent games and his all-out, diving-to-the-floor game has been compromised. Douglas said he's been undergoing a tremendous amount of treatment.

"I don't want to use it as an excuse," he told The Post before the contest. "What do you think? Obviously I haven't been the same player the past three, four games."

The Knicks have kept the injury quiet. When coach Mike D'Antoni earlier in the night was asked about Douglas' struggles, he said only his errant shooting had affected his defense.


Read more: HERE

Peter Vecsey: Knicks still viable option for Carmelo Anthony

via nypost.com

"I'm just like LeBron," Anthony emphasized in the Nuggets' locker room following Saturday's practice. "It's all about winning. That's all I care about. I want the chance to compete at the championship level. All the other stuff is irrelevant."
In my scrawny mind, that quote instantaneously eliminated the Knicks from contention for his revered services. The last five times I snuck a quick peek at their lack of knack, they were all about losing coyote ugly and not built to win now, the year after now or seemingly ever.

A ‘FREE’ WORLD: Peter Vecsey says he is convinced the Knicks are not only on Carmelo Anthony’s list of potential teams to sign with as a free agent, he believes they might be near the top.

Others may have the time and tolerance to join a recurrent reconstruction project but count out Anthony, who had 20 points and 22 rebounds in the Nuggets' 100-94 loss to the Suns last night. He's 26 and already troubled by his failure to frequent a single Finals.
I'm admittedly slow on the uptake, but Anthony gave me the impression he's singularly interested in playing for a team in the habit of inhabiting first place and bedding championships -- you know, like the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs.
So, I was not all that surprised when Anthony revealed to The Post he has not expunged any of those three teams from his bottomless pit of gaping options.
However, I must confess to being a bit floored when Brooklyn's gift to Baltimore (the borough's 18-year-negotiation for Skip Wise as compensation is rumored on The Corners to be almost resolved) again divulged to The Post he has not ruled out his home team as a possible landing zone.
Don't reach for your spectacles, you got that right; the Knicks remain a viable option. I repeat, a viable option.
Ask me how Anthony defends those colliding concepts after I speak with him a fourth time in private.
For the moment all I can do is pretend to be able to read his rationalization, but must start with the Nets, if for no other reason than to give them some pub and then quickly obliterate their once lofty hopes.


Read more: HERE

Walsh Isn't Ready To Judge D'Antoni

via newyorktimes.com


They Knicks lost seven of their first 10 games, a slightly better mark than last year’s 1-10 beginning. After Sunday’s loss to Houston, Amar’e Stoudemire, the team’s marquee free agent signee, bemoaned the team’s attitude and lack of urgency. But Walsh said he had l not made any opinions on D’Antoni as the Knicks departed for a four-game trip that begins Tuesday against the Denver Nuggets.
“I’ve made no judgment on Mike in the first few years, basically because I didn’t think he had the personnel to compete because of what we were doing,” said, Walsh, who is expected to be away from the team as he recovers from hip-replacement surgery this week.
“This team is a young team that has to be brought along a certain way. He’s trying to do that. In the first 10 games, I expected that we would be up and down, and we have. So I don’t think it’s time for me to make judgments on Mike.”
At Monday’s practice, Stoudemire said he is confident in his teammates, but that they need to buy into D’Antoni’s system. Both D’Antoni and Walsh said the players are not in the mindset to run on every possession — a key component to D’Antoni’s offense. And so, the Knicks have been blown out, they’ve fumbled leads big and small and have been outhustled and outplayed.
“It takes a while for guys to really get comfortable and really have confidence in the system,” Stoudemire said. “Everybody’s used to playing a different way, so it takes a little time. But I think now we understand that we have no choice. It definitely wasn’t a great start to the year, but we have a long season and we’ve got a chance to turn things around.”
D’Antoni said he did not expect to alter his starting lineup in Denver. Against Houston on Sunday, D’Antoni started Timofey Mozgov and sent Wilson Chandler to the bench to serve as a spark plug. But he started the second half with Chandler in for Mozgov. Ronny Turiaf, who is expected to return from a sprained knee against Denver, may soon evolve into the starting center.
“I’m always concerned, when you’re 3-7,” D’Antoni said. “And again, we could have won a couple games and then you’re 5-5, you’re a little less concerned. But I do think these guys will get it. I hate it that we’re in this spot.
“I’m not pushing the panic button. I’ve got my juices flowing, and we’re trying to get this thing solved.”

Read the rest HERE

Jared Jeffries wants to return to the Knicks?

via NYDailynews.com

Jared Jeffries nearly negotiated a buyout with the Houston Rockets that could have resulted in the veteran forward returning to the Knicks.

Jeffries would only acknowledge that his goal is to play either for the Rockets or another team but would not confirm the talks of a buyout. However, a source says that Jeffries rejected the buyout because the Rockets' offer was in effect too low.

Jeffries was traded to Houston last February in the Tracy McGrady deal after flourishing under Mike D'Antoni. Jeffries struggled in his two seasons under Isiah Thomas but found a role in D'Antoni's system and didn't want to leave.

The Knicks have the maximum 15 players under contract but could conceivably create a roster spot if Jeffries were to become available.

"I did love playing here," Jeffries said before Sunday night's game. "Who knows, maybe one day I'll be back."

Jeffries did not play Sunday night and has appeared in just three of the Rockets' nine games and has played just 29 minutes.


Read more: HERE

Knicks Honeymoon is Over

via bleacherreport.com

After my embarrassing predictions from my last post I’ll quickly get my prediction for tonight’s game out of the way: Minnesota 104 New York 92.
Not only do I predict a New York loss but I can give you a solid game summary before the game takes place.  The T’Wolves will jump out to an early 16-6 lead and build up an 18 point lead by halftime.  The Knicks will claw their way back and cut it down to four before they go ice cold the final three minutes and lose to one of the worst teams in the league.
Just for the record this isn’t an attempt at a reverse jinx, this is my true belief after watching this team play the last three games (Fun fact: Knicks castoff Darko Milic will have his best game of the season).
The honeymoon's over folks, I don’t care that we’re the fourth youngest team in the league, I don’t care that up until last game we’ve been starting two rookies and I don’t care that 85 percent of this roster is new.
We’ve been dismal for the last decade and I honestly can’t take it anymore.  We have a so-called offensive “genius” in Mike D’Antoni who’s making $6 million a year, a new star power forward in Amar’e Stoudemire making $100 million and we have an underachieving sixth overall pick from the 2008 draft that refuses to do anything but shoot pull-back three-pointers.
Mike D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns were one of the most fun teams to watch in the NBA.  Mike D’Antoni’s New York Knicks are one of the worst teams to watch in the league.  I know Phoenix is more talented but I have yet to see this team run an offense scheme that is at all productive.  The only reason they put up a decent ppg average is because they put up about 20 more shots per night then most teams and shoot around 30 three pointers a night.  It’s comical.

There is plenty of talent on this roster; the blame at some point has to fall on the coach.
Every now and then Raymond Felton will penetrate the lane but other then that rare occasion you’d be more likely to see Barry Bonds turn down some steroids then to see a Knick player attack the basket with authority.  When your three offensive plays consist of swinging the ball around the perimeter and hope somebody makes a contested three point shot; isolating Amar’e 25 feet away from the hoop and wait for a turnover (I’ll get to that later), and attempting to run a pick n' roll, you're not going to win many games.
I never played professional basketball but when I was 10 I did learn that picking away from the ball and sharing the ball tends to be pretty effective.   Mike D’Antoni even went as far as to make this quote.
“He needs to cut sometimes. But he’s cutting all the time. You have to understand when it is to cut and when you don’t,” D’Antoni said yesterday. “Because otherwise you cut right into Amar’e [Stoudemire] and you mess Amar’e up.”

Really Mike?  You want the only player in your starting lineup that seems to have a high basketball IQ to dumb down his play just to help the others around him?  It’s not that hard. The Knicks of the early 90’s had five offensive plays tops but they seemed to do just fine.
There’s also the whole point that D’Antoni has a history with Amar’e and should know  how he can be effective.  Amar’e isn’t Dirk; he isn’t going to beat you off the dribble.  Giving him the ball 25 feet from the basket is only going to lead to turnovers and an offensive genius should know that.  Whatever happened to a good old fashion low-post move?

Landry rising in NYC

via espn.com

Landry Fields would not be starting for the New York Knicks if not for a fateful decision made 25 years ago by his father, Steve, who had been selected in the seventh round of the NBA draft by Portland in May 1975, but was waived by the Trail Blazers late that summer.

Steve Fields was close with Cavs forward Jim Cleamons, now an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers, and arrangements were made to have Fields come to camp in Cleveland to try out for a spot on that Bill Fitch-coached team.

But Fields also had an offer on the table from an ABA expansion team, the Baltimore Claws, and he chose the land of the red, white and blue basketball over the NBA.

"Like an idiot," he said, "I said, 'No, I think I've got a better chance going with this new ABA team.' Little did I know."

The Claws ended up folding before playing a single game in what would be the ABA's final season, and Steve Fields wound up playing semipro ball for Armstrong Cork (now Armstrong Floors and Windows), a job that entailed doing 14 weeks of training in Lancaster, Pa., before he was assigned to Bellevue, Wash., where he played pickup ball in a crew that included Slick Watts, John Brisker and Fred Brown of the Seattle SuperSonics.

Steve moved from there to California, where he met his wife, Janice. They went on to raise three children, putting a hoop up in their driveway in Long Beach where their two sons, Evan and Landry, would spend countless hours shooting with their cousin Cameron Jones, now a senior playing for Northern Arizona.

"When the kids were young they'd say, 'Gee Dad, why didn't you stay in NBA?'" said Steve Fields, who played in the summer pro-am leagues in Los Angeles alongside Michael Cooper and Lorenzo Romar. "And I said, 'You better be glad I didn't, because you wouldn't be here if I did.' So I guess fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it, has brought us to where we are now."

Where we are now is a situation in which Landry Fields, the 39th overall pick in last June's draft after leading the Pac-10 in scoring and rebounding at Stanford, is one of only four rookies from the draft class of 2010 starting for their NBA teams. (The others are Washington's John Wall, Minnesota's Wesley Johnson and the Clippers' Eric Bledsoe, who is temporarily replacing the injured Baron Davis.)

Fields won the Knicks' starting spot at shooting guard when coach Mike D'Antoni decided Wilson Chandler would be better utilized to provide some scoring punch off the bench, and Fields has played well through the Knicks' first six games. Heading into Tuesday night's game at Milwaukee, Fields was averaging 8.7 points (seventh among rookies), 5.5 rebounds (sixth among rookies) and shooting 56 percent (third among rookies). In 150 total minutes, he has committed only 11 fouls and just three turnovers.

"He's not making mistakes, he's an efficient shooter and player, doesn't turn the ball over," D'Antoni said. "When you have guys who are going to score, Amare [Stoudemire] and those guys, you need someone who's efficient."

"If [Fields] does something, it's positive. There's not a lot detracting from what he does. He's a heady basketball player that'd be good anywhere if you're looking for chemistry things, what glues which five guys together."

Read more HERE

Knicks Fans are going to need patience

via NYPost.com

So just how patient are you willing to be?

Is it enough, this early in the season, for Madison Square Garden to feel the way it felt last night late in the fourth quarter, for it to sound the way it sounded, a 19-point deficit erased, the Knicks two points to the good, the Garden thick with electricity? Is it enough that the Knicks somehow made a game out of what promised to be a massacre?

Are you still at the point where you’re willing to forgive a 122-117 loss to the Warriors, where you are willing to overlook the fact that there still are wide swatches of games in which the Knicks essentially refuse to play defense; that they still are far too reliant on the 3-pointer; that Raymond Felton — for all the positive energy he has brought — still seems to have no earthly idea how to run the pick-and-roll with Amar’e Stoudemire?

Are these still forgivable offenses? How patient are you willing to be?

“I think we all believe we’re better than what we’ve been showing the last week,” guard Toney Douglas said. “Now it’s a matter of showing it to ourselves and proving it to ourselves. We need to close these games better at home.”

The Knicks are 3-5, have blown three winnable home games, and are staring at the kind of West Coast trip next week that has carved the guts and the soul out of teams of recent vintage.


Read more: HERE

Dime Mag:Top 5 NBA Players Taking Their Sweet Time To Adjust

via dimemag.com

Amar’e Stoudemire
As the Knicks’ premier acquisition this offseason, Amar’e had expectations of messianic proportions. His numbers however, are less than stellar for a guy brought in to single-handedly turn around a franchise that has struggled for almost a decade. He’s averaging an astronomical 4.67 turnovers a game, and is shooting a dismal 42 percent from the field. Without Nash as his trusty sidekick, it almost feels as though Amar’e sometimes tries to do too much by himself. There seems to be chemistry lacking between he and Raymond Felton, which is to be expected after being spoiled by Kid Canada for so long. I’m sure the comfort level between STAT and Felton will increase as the season progresses, but as of now, his decision-making skills need to be improved and he needs to reduce the cough-ups.

Read more HERE

A Look Inside an Old Knick’s New Numbers

via msg.com

On Wednesday night, the Knicks host the surprising 5-2 Golden State Warriors and a familiar face: New Warriors forward David Lee.

Though Knicks fans seem excited about the team’s new era, Lee’s departure remains bittersweet. He was a fan favorite in his five seasons in New York and unquestionably the team’s top performer for at least the last two, earning his first All-Star Game appearance in 2009-10.

Substituting statistics for sentiment though, Lee has clearly struggled with his new team, at least offensively. Over his last two seasons with the Knicks, Lee averaged 18.1 points per game and 24.1 points per 48 minutes. So far, those numbers are down to 12.3 and 17.4, respectively. This is hardly surprising since Lee was usually expected to be the primary scoring option for the Knicks, whereas in Golden State, Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry bear most of the offensive burden. But while Lee’s drop in per-game and per-minute production is predictable, his diminished percentage and rate stats are not.

Lee has always been a highly efficient offensive player, with a career field-goal percentage of .554, a true shooting percentage of .597 and an Offensive Rating of 119. (Year-to-year, a 119 Offensive Rating usually is good for top 15 in the league.) In the early going of the 2010-11 campaign, those numbers are down dramatically. Lee is shooting just .425 from the field, with a true shooting percentage of .473 and an Offensive Rating of 102. His career lows in those respective categories are .545, .584 and 116.

It’s likely these poor numbers are largely a product of a small sample set, but if they don’t improve it will be alarming for the Warriors, who certainly didn’t spend $80 million on a .425-shooting big man.

Where Lee has remained consistent is his rebounding -- an area in which he has long been one of the league’s top players. His rebound percentage for the season is 18.4%, which is right around his career mark of 18.2%. A particularly welcome sight for Golden State is his offensive rebound percentage of 13.7%. Lee’s offensive rebounding has declined in the last two seasons, dipping to the 8-9% range after he was consistently in the 11-13% range in his first three seasons. That’s key for the Warriors, who desperately need to improve their brutal rebounding stats -- a year ago they were dead last in both offensive and defensive rebound percentage.

Read more HERE

Madison Square Garden 3Q earnings nearly double

via cnbc.com

Madison Square Garden Inc.'s third-quarter net income nearly doubled as revenue rose in its media, sports and entertainment divisions, easily beating Wall Street's view.

The company's shares climbed 95 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $21.94 in Friday morning trading. Over the last year, the stock has traded between $16.35 and $23.04.

Madison Square Garden's namesake building is set to reopen Friday night for the New York Knicks' game against Washington after an asbestos scare that forced the postponement of a game Tuesday night. Debris dislodged during a cleanup of an attic space triggered two air quality detectors, but subsequent testing revealed that the particles did not contain asbestos.

The company also owns the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and other professional sports teams. Its entertainment division produces shows at numerous major East Coast venues, and its media business operates sports and music television networks.

Madison Square Garden's net income surged to $19.3 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with $10.1 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue for the three months that ended Sept. 30 rose 18 percent to $190.8 million from $161.8 million.

Analysts on average expected earnings of just 15 cents per share on $175.9 million in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters. Analysts typically exclude one-time items.

League closing doors on Isiah Thomas’ iffy return

via YahooSports

As the clock ticked down in the New York Knicks’ draft room in late June 2005, Isiah Thomas wanted to choose Pittsburgh’s Chris Taft over Florida’s David Lee. Sources say that all around Thomas front-office elders and scouts begged him to change his mind. No one believed Lee would become an All-Star, an $80 million man, but they knew this: Taft was terrible.

Only one of Thomas’ oldest confidants, Brendan Suhr, had a voice strong enough to sway him. Before the Knicks president finally backed down and submitted Lee’s name to be picked with the 30th selection, Thomas snapped, “You’d better be [bleeping] right.”

As it turned out, they were bleeping right, and Thomas could keep proclaiming himself some kind of talent evaluation guru. He’s running out of material, and out of time to sell it. Thomas keeps talking about turning down NBA jobs, but these are make-believe offers. No one has offered him a job, and he’s gone to great lengths to make sure no one ever will. Thomas isn’t delusional, but desperate. He’s speaking to a one-man audience – Knicks owner Jim Dolan.

Only now, it appears Thomas is losing Dolan, too. Dolan has come to understand the severity of the NBA’s investigation into the Knicks after Yahoo! Sports reported apparent illegal draft workouts under Thomas’ regime, sources say. And Dolan’s been livid over it. Rodney Heard, the Knicks scout at the center of the investigation, was Thomas’ guy all the way, and Heard is still involved with Thomas’ Florida International University program.

The NBA has enlisted an outside law firm to probe the circumstances of the workouts – including one in which Indiana Pacers guard Brandon Rush said he suffered a severe knee injury – and sources say more tips keep flowing in from around the league. Several teams want severe sanctions for the Knicks, because these charges dig to the heart of competitive balance and fairness. Beyond monetary fines and forfeiture of future draft picks for Donnie Walsh’s regime, league sources say any uncovering of Thomas’ possible complicity in potential violations could result in a suspension to be tacked onto his future return to the NBA.

In the end, that could be moot for this simple reason: Thomas may never work in the NBA again. No one in the league has done more for Thomas’ post-playing career than Walsh, and yet Thomas has gone out of his way to undermine his benefactor and try to get the GM job back for himself. If that’s how Thomas treats the man responsible for his $20 million coaching contract with the Pacers – the man who treated Thomas with dignity upon replacing him in New York – what chance of loyalty would someone else have with hiring Thomas?

After his recent interview with ESPN New York’s Ian O’Connor, where Thomas described himself as a visionary, it was suggested by many that Thomas sounded delusional. There’s no delusion. He’s too sharp, too tactical. This is a plan of attack; a foolish one, but a plan nonetheless. Thomas wants to redirect the narrative of his Knicks years, revise the history and redirect blame on his failures.

Pity those poor kids at Florida International, because it’s clear Thomas sees the job as beneath him – just as he would a scouting assignment in the NBA or a player personnel position. All this tells potential NBA employers is that Thomas will never be satisfied with a low-level rehab post until he’s undercut everyone on the masthead and taken over the franchise. There are more qualified front-office executives who would offer far more trust and far less drama. Thomas is fading fast with Dolan, and the rest of the NBA is already done with him.

Now, Dolan and Walsh are cooperating fully with the league on an investigation that’s been taken out of the office of Stu Jackson, the NBA’s vice president of basketball operations and an old friend and Vancouver Grizzlies boss of Heard. Thomas hired Heard to the Knicks, and Walsh regretfully extended his contract. There are witnesses to corroborate Rush’s story of blowing out his knee as a Kansas sophomore in a Knicks workout, and witnesses to tell about the weeks that Wilson Chandler spent in private sessions with Heard prior to the Knicks drafting him in 2007.

The long arm of the NBA law is bearing down on Thomas, and the league’s most unemployable executive is digging himself deeper and deeper. Dolan had to pay $11.5 million for Thomas’ sexual harassment case, and it’s possible he’ll have to pay more in fines and draft picks for the alleged violations that started under Thomas’ regime. Here’s some advice for Isiah Thomas: Stop thinking about the jobs you’ll never get, and get to work on the one you’d better keep at Florida International.

Knicks wanted David Lee alongside Amar'e Stoudemire

via NYDailynews.com

The deal allowed Lee to get the money he wanted - $80 million - but the Knicks felt he wasn't worth such a big contract, not when they needed to address several other positions after losing out on LeBron James and signing Stoudemire to a $100 million max contract. Now playing for another team that is rebuilding, Lee has said he could have played with Stoudemire.

"He probably could have," team president Donnie Walsh said after practice Monday in Greenburgh, when the 3-3 Knicks prepared for Tuesday night's game in Milwaukee against the struggling 2-5 Bucks. "But he wanted what he got. And we couldn't have done the same things if we did that. And that was, fill out the whole team. We needed more than just one player."


Read more: HERE

Knicks' Stoudemire has good day, bad finish

via NYPost.com

Stoudemire scored a game-high 21 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. But he could have had more if he hadn't missed those two free throws.

"That doesn't bother me at all," Stoudemire said of those misses. "We lost the game in the third quarter. A lot of fouling put those guys on the line. . . . That's where we lost the game."

Stoudemire's misfires from the line weren't the main reason the Knicks lost, and he did make some big plays earlier in the fourth quarter. But he might have been able to change things if he had come through at the line.

When he was fouled with 1:46 to play, the Knicks were down 102-94. Hitting both free throws would have made it a six-point, two-possession game. Stoudemire, however, hit only one.

Thirty-three seconds later, Stoudemire with the Knicks down seven. Again, he only went one of two, cutting it to just six, 102-96. That was the last point the Knicks scored.

Earlier, Stoudemire threw away a pass with 3:13 to go and the Knicks trailing by four. The errant toss was picked off by Sixers rookie Evan Turner, who converted it into a fast-break layup and a 100-94 Philadelphia lead.

"I think we did a very good job on Amar'e today," Sixers coach Doug Collins said.

Should the Knicks have looked for Stoudemire in the post over the final minutes?

"We've got to figure out what the plan is as far as down the stretch," Stoudemire said. "We're a young team, we're just really together for the first time this year. . . . We're still learning about what type of team we are and what we can do down the stretch."


Read more: HERE