With Wilson Chandler seeing more playing time, the Knicks’ defeat of Zero-less DC Friday night left Mike D’Antoni’s squad with a winning record for the first time since Lenny Wilkins was patrolling the sideline and further reports have emerged that a number of Isiah Thomas-era fixtures might finally be moved. Despite allegedly reporting to training camp at over 300 pounds, Newsday’s Allan Hahn suggests San Antonio “is the right kind of environment for (Eddy Curry) to get into.”
First of all, the Spurs need to get younger and need to get bigger. Curry wouldn’t be the man there, he’d have the kind of coaching he needs out of Pop and he could fit quite well next to Tim Duncan. The Spurs would get the big body needed to bang with Shaq and Andrew Bynum and Greg Oden, et al without having to wear down Duncan.
The problem is, as usual, money. The Knicks could ask for Kurt Thomas (above) , whom the coaching staff loved when he played for D’Antoni in Phoenix and who has a two-year contract. But the capped-out Spurs would have to send a second player to make the trade work and that would mean the Knicks would have to cut a player first.
Somehow, every story brings us back to Marbury….doesn’t it?
Appropriately enough, the New York Daily News’ Mitch Lawrence can also envision Stephon wearing silver and black, which isn’t the craziest notion considering the recent injury to Tony Parker.
Several GMs doubt that Stephon Marbury will eventually make his way to Boston because he could mess with the chemistry. “They™d be risking too much,” said one executive. But the Spurs, struggling to score without Manu Ginobili, could use Marbury and might have strong enough leadership to take a flier. “Remember, they once brought in Vernon Maxwell,” said an Eastern Conference GM. “Marbury isn’t that bad.”
(ADDENDUM : Knicks 107, Jazz 99. That the Knicks are suddenly two games over .500 for the first time in nearly 5 years is less remarkable than the way they’re doing it. Granted, Utah were without the services of Deron Williams, but D’Antoni has these guys showing more effort on the defensive end than we ever saw under Thomas, Brown or Wilkins. That’s on a team starting Zach Randolph, mind you. No one has ever suggested that Chris Duhon (16 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds) was the No. 1 Point Guard or even the No. 10 Point Guard in the NBA, but he’s been mostly solid through his first few weeks as a Knick. For the team to raise itself to a mere level of competency shouldn’t be cause for massive celebration, so I’ll settle for mild. What’s a bigger surprise, that D’Antoni’s beating playoff teams with Duhon running the show, or the Miami Dolphins approaching relevancy with Chad Pennington at QB? Probably the latter, but again, it’s been so long since it seemed like anyone with a modicum of credibility was in charge at MSG, such modest success feels like a hallucination).