Waste not. Want not.
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- January
- 12
There was so much ammunition here tonight, and I simply couldn’t fit a lot of good quotes in my print story. Whoever invented blogging is a genius. It’s a great place for leftovers.
And by all means, chime in. Drop me a punch line.
Here’s the best quote from the pregame chat with Thomas, who is quickly running out of cliches:
“We need to build a culture here. We need to build a foundation. That’s our job, that’s this group’s job. I’ve told them we’re kind of the concrete-layers, we’re the cement-layers. When you move into your house, the guy who poured the concrete never really gets a chance to live in that beautiful house that he built. Our job right now is to make sure that we lay the concrete and that we lay it correctly.”
I’m sure the guys in the locker room appreciated that one.
Leave it to Eddy Curry to drop a little truth in the conversation. He admitted the Knicks often ignore the game plan and go solo:
“Every now and then people try to do it by themselves. The NBA is too hard. You’re not going to be able to do it by yourself. It takes a whole team to win a game.”
Thomas came up with another gem after the game when asked how long it might be until the Knicks move into that beautiful house:
“How long will it be? I really can’t answer that. I know what we will continue to try to do here throughout the remainder of the season is set the standard for work ethic in terms of who plays out on the floor and how hard we play. If we can continue to try to build on that and find players and people who want to give all-out effort on every single play, the future generations coming in here and putting on a Knick uniform, we may not be around to see that, but the future guys who reap the benefits will reap the benefits of this culture that we’re trying to build here, hopefully there will be a championship that follows that, but we have to build a culture.
“Our next game is against the Detroit Pistons. I remember how difficult it was there and how many years it took until we finally built the right culture and got the right people coming in. It starts with one, two and three, and eventually you end up with 12.”
David Lee was paying attention. He took notes during media training and is really good at heading off controversy in the locker room:
“With that strange lineup (Toronto) plays, I think coach was trying to find a lineup that worked. I don’t think there was any disrespect to anyone.”
And from shoot-around, here’s why Thomas isn’t sending Randolph Morris and Wilson Chandler to get some real minutes in the D-League:
“I just like the practice time and what they get here, and the hands-on we get to have here. They get to learn our system more, the way that we want to play. I just think the on-court time they get playing against the pros we have here is better for them. There are times and opportunities when you can send a player down to the D-League, but most of the time you want to keep a player in your system doing the things you do every day so you know when you need them, you can put them in a game. There’s a couple of games where Wilson came in and did a nice job for us only because he’s been here within our system.”
Now really, if you had a young and impressionable player, would you want them learning from this group?
Enough said. Sleep tight.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 12:07 am by Mike Dougherty.
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How bad is Randoph Morris seriously if he can’t get 5 minutes behind these clowns.
but he’s like a bonus first rounder, remember?
Not necessarily a punch line but rather an analogy.
I’ve always viewed Isiah Thomas as a woman. A woman who is seeking the man of her dreams. A woman who finds a man with faults but does not see a man but rather a lump of clay. A lump of clay that she can freely shape into the man of her dreams. A man she can then fade happily into the sunset with.
Isiah Thomas is that woman and the clay are the players he trades for.
The only way that the Knicks can get out of this rut is if they start showing some aggressiveness. This you could teach & practice.
Clearly, the players need to be more assertive and more athletic. They can start right now by doing the following now:
•Q Rich to practice strangling Isiah Thomas (8 reps) to improve Q’s hand/eye coordination;
•Zach to kick Zeke in the nut (10 reps) to build Z-bo’s leg muscle and foot speed;
•Skunkbury to choke Zeke (unlimited reps) to build stronger hands;
•D. Lee to pick up Lord Vermin and body-slam him (12 reps). This is to strengthen General Lee’s upper body;
•ECurry to stomp on the ‘profit’ Isiah (5 reps, left then right). This is to help Lard Butt with his lateral movement as well as jumping motion;
•Happy rook Chandler to treat Mr. “great eye for talent� like a punching bag to enhance his eye/hand coordination and his stamina (10 minutes then rest and repeat)
All of the above can help improve the player’s competitive spirit as well as their athleticism.