Tag / NY Knicks

by Frank Maduri

Knicks Trade With Dallas: Brilliant Or A Blunder?

My unfailing loyalty as a fan of the New York Knicks has inevitably led people to ask me about my opinion of the trade the team made last week with the Dallas Mavericks. The interest level of my friends and colleagues from my perspective as a writer, who at one point in my career, published many articles in sports writing.

The move by the Knicks front office was a bold one sending a once beloved rising star, Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas. New York also packaged Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee, and Trey Burke to the Mavericks in this deal. The Knicks received point guard Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, and Wesley Matthews from Dallas.

The methodology behind the trade was clear: Porzingis requested a trade in a meeting the Knicks had with him the day before the trade, the team also needed to clear salary cap space, and the Knicks had a logjam at the shooting guard position they solved by moving Lee and Hardaway, Jr in this transaction.

Lee was saddled with a big contract and did not have a defined role with the Knicks in Coach David Fizdale’s system. Hardaway Jr took far too many shots and was also very inconsistent this season while carrying a huge salary. Porzingis has not played at all because of the ACL injury to his knee and has been injured often in the early stages of his NBA career.

My opinion of Porzingis is that he was not a team-first player. He was acting like he was an All World player and he has never won anything or taken the Knicks to the playoffs. Porzingis has always been preoccupied with one thing: himself. I am not a proponent of players who act that way and I am not sorry to see him shipped out of New York.

The press conference held yesterday in Dallas officially confirmed that Porzingis will not be playing this season. The rumor mill was buzzing around NBA circles because apparently the Knicks were pushing for him to return this season. The Mavericks decided not to press the issue because their team is not going anywhere this season and Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, is going to play the “long game” here with Porzingis.

The rumor mill was also speculating that Porzingis did not want to go to Dallas and that the Knicks made the best deal that they could for their franchise regardless of the desires of their former star player. The rumors persisted that Porzingis was planning on not signing long-term with the Mavericks; a topic that Mark Cuban quashed in the press conference by stating that Porzingis would be paired with his other European star player, Luca Doncic, “for the next twenty years”.

The media then asked Porzingis if he was on board with that plan and he replied very softly: “we are on the same page”. So the Knicks basically sent this guy packing into a situation that he was not on board with, and now he is stuck on a Mavericks team in a very similar stage in their rebuilding as the Knicks.

However, I would argue that the Knicks are better positioned to get significantly better in a shorter time frame than the Mavericks will after this trade. New York also received draft picks from Dallas that brings them to eight draft picks under their control that they can use as pieces in a trade for a star player.

The Knicks also have close to $75 million in salary cap space for next season after this trade which will allow them to get two max-level contracts and they can trade for that third star level player. The team already has some good young talent on the roster that they can develop this year, and they will have a very high draft choice based on their finish in the standings this year; potentially the first pick in the draft.
New York could have the best chances for the first overall draft selection if they finish with the worst record (which they are on pace to do so). The consensus top pick for them could be Zion Williamson from Duke. He would fit their roster and their style of play very well.

The free agent class this summer is tremendous and loaded with star players in their prime production years: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Kemba Walker, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, and Al Horford. The Knicks are poised to land two big name free agents and could trade for a star like Anthony Davis, who requested to be traded out of New Orleans two weeks ago.

I have read the accounts that the Knicks have been told by back channels that Durant is coming to The Big Apple in free agency. In my opinion, whether they get Durant or two other big-time star level guys, either way I do not care. The fact is that they can get these guys now that they traded Porzingis.

The past versions of the Knicks would have kept Porzingis and tried to get one or two other mid-level star type players to try to pair with him and be a middle of the road team that might make the bottom half of the playoff tier in the East. The Knicks dumped a lot of salary and any chance of being even remotely competitive this year in order to have a “clean slate” to build a team starting with the 2019 free agency class and the draft.

Some feel that the trade was a blunder and that they did not get enough in return, especially in light of the fact that they are trying to move Wesley Matthews by the Thursday trade deadline or buy him out of his contract. There are fans and media analysts alike that feel that the Knicks made a bad trade, that Durant will not end up with the Knicks, and that the whole thing will be a blunder in typical Knicks fashion.

My view is different as I never thought Matthews would fit or actually play in any games for the Knicks. The acquisition of Matthews allows the team to clear even more salary cap space for next season, which could become a major factor in getting that third star to play at Madison Square Garden.

New York also received a young point guard in Dennis Smith Jr, who could become a more dynamic playmaker than any guard they had on their roster. The center position is upgraded with them gaining DeAndre Jordan, who in my view has always been undervalued by the media and fans of the sport.

The Knicks will emerge from this trade and be rid of a guy in Porzingis who complained more than he did anything meaningful for the team. They will have the opportunity to play all of their young players this year with Hardaway and Lee off the roster. That will be an invaluable period of evaluation of these players to determine how they will shape their roster for next season.

In the end, I believe that this bold move will pay off and that whether the Knicks get Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving or not, they will be in a much better position to win than if they kept Kristaps Porzingis and had less salary cap flexibility. The next seven or eight months will tell whether my position on this trade will be correct or whether the Knicks will swing and miss on remaking the franchise into a championship contender for their long-suffering fans.

by Frank Maduri

Showtime: Can Magic Johnson Rebuild The LA Lakers?

The Los Angeles Lakers shocking move to reshuffle their front office to put Magic Johnson into the captain’s seat, so to speak, has come at a point where the franchise is truly at a crossroads. This type of shake up of the basketball operations of a team at this time in the season is unusual. The Lakers brought in Johnson as an “adviser” about three weeks ago, and now he is running the show.

The rationale for the decision is pretty clear: the Lakers, who are a storied NBA franchise, have been struggling for the past few seasons. The team has some young players that are talented on their roster, but they need a significant amount of work to get from the bottom of the standings back into a championship contender.

The Lakers are currently 19-39 and are spinning their wheels trying to find their identity in the post-Kobe Bryant period in their franchise history. The 2016-17 Lakers resemble a similar narrative to other teams in NBA history in the years immediately following the transition from a roster dominated by a megastar level player.

The challenging factor in the scenario is developing the right strategy to rebuild the roster and rejuvenate it back to contention. The Lakers are going to make some big, bold moves to improve this team, but they will also do it in a calculated manner.

The more pressing impetus for the move to shake up the front office on the basketball operations side of the house, is to get the core fans excited about the future of this franchise. The change to Magic Johnson certainly will create a sense of hope for the fans that the future in L.A. should improve in the near term.

This decision was a bold one from Jeannie Buss because she had to move her brother, Jim, out of the basketball operations role and back to being a co-owner. She had to separate her family ties to look at the situation as to how it relates to what the best path forward for the team would be at this point.

This decision to move forward with Magic Johnson, who won so many titles with the Lakers during the “Showtime” years, will most certainly be compared with the decision that the New York Knicks made to turn over their basketball operation to Phil Jackson. It is even more ironic that Jackson played a huge role in the success of the Lakers as their head coach and is the former fiancé of Jeannie Buss.

The fans in New York are largely dissatisfied with the tenure of Phil Jackson, and the relative lack of progress shown on reshaping the Knicks to be a successful basketball team. The Lakers fans have to hope that Magic does a lot more to shape the Lakers up than Phil Jackson has done so far with the Knicks in a similar role.

Magic Johnson obviously knows the essential elements in building a successful basketball team from the player personnel side, and he is also a successful business man, so his skill set seems very well suited to his new position within the Lakers organization. Nevertheless, it is a steep challenge taking this roster and reshaping it into a championship contender.

I think the cache that is the Lakers brand and reputation will certainly help Magic in this endeavor. The Lakers may even have some good fortune in attracting free agents because the Knicks have created so many issues for themselves between the Charles Oakley debacle and the Carmelo Anthony botched situation. The situation in New York is so bad that one current player remarked recently to the media that “nobody will go to the Knicks”.

The Lakers have been linked to current Indiana Pacers guard, Paul George, and although they could not get a deal done at the trade deadline, it is largely expected that George will join the Lakers as soon as he is able to within league guidelines.

The expectation throughout the league is that similar situations to those of Paul George will also transpire in the summer months of the offseason. The name of Russell Westbrook has been linked to the Lakers for some time now, and that speculation will probably only ratchet up further with the injection of Magic Johnson into the situation.

Some of the talent on the roster such as Nick Young and D’Angelo Russell could be the building blocks for the next version of the Lakers. The new perspective that Johnson will bring into the job will be fascinating to see as the months move forward.

There is one certainty especially if you ask a Knicks fan: Magic would be hard pressed to do much worse than Phil Jackson has done in the same role in New York. The Lakers need to get back to their championship pedigree, and Magic Johnson is just the right person to take them there.

by Frank Maduri

Defining Moments

Over the past few weeks I have watched several episodes of a series on MSG Network called “The Garden’s Defining Moments” which focuses on the back story to some of the most iconic events in the history of Madison Square Garden in New York City. The series has featured the visit of Pope John Paul II, now Saint John Paul The Great from the perspective of both the attendees and the event organizers as well as Garden employees.

 

The series has also included classic sports moments such as Larry Johnson’s unforgettable four point play for the New York Knicks, the incredible hockey playoff series between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils, and the unbelievable college basketball game between Syracuse and the University of Connecticut which needed six overtime periods to be decided.

 

I viewed this series as a trip down “memory lane” in my own life, though I was too young to remember the visit by the Pope back in 1979, I found that episode in the series particularly poignant and inspiring. This episode took on increasing significance when you consider that last week we remembered Saint John Paul II because it has been 10 years since he passed away. This holy man was beloved throughout the world but particularly in America, which was demonstrated by the reception he received in the Garden in an event geared toward the youth, which essentially served as the precursor to what would become World Youth Day in the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Four Points

 

Another episode in this series on Madison Square Garden’s history focused on the improbable and stunning four-point play converted by New York Knicks forward, Larry Johnson, during a playoff game in the 1999 push by the team to the Eastern Conference Championship. This episode coupled with the before-mentioned Devils vs. Rangers playoff series were the two episodes that evoked the strongest memories for me.

 

It was Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals with the Knicks and the Indiana Pacers in a series tied 1-1 setting the stage for a pivotal third game at the Garden. The Knicks would be without Patrick Ewing who sustained an injury at the end of the previous game, so the team needed Johnson to have a big game to replace the scoring they were going to lose with Ewing on the bench.

 

I watched that game, as I did so many other big Knicks games, with my mother. My mother enjoyed watching the games with me, especially basketball, and like all other things she did, she made it feel like a special event. She made sure to prepare dinner early so that everything was wrapped up and the kitchen was cleaned up by the time the game began. The playoff games helped because they generally started a little later in the evening.

 

I remember that series well, and being a Knicks fan, I was always preparing for the worst possible scenario. I recall thinking that the Knicks were in trouble without Ewing, the Pacers were a tough team, but I remember my Mom being optimistic that they would win because, as she explained: “it was at the Garden”. My mother made a bunch of different “game day” type snacks, and of course she had a nice dessert made too.

 

The game was dramatic, close, and the Garden crowd was raucous throughout the action. The Knicks and Pacers were like two heavyweight boxers exchanging blows, going toe-to-toe in the center of the ring, each team matching the other: basket for basket, dunk for dunk, and rebound for rebound. The Knicks kept the score close with Indiana largely due to the ability of each player utilizing their strengths and through a standout offensive performance by Larry Johnson.

 

In the closing moments of the game, the Knicks trailed by three points and the prospects of victory seemed bleak. Larry Johnson attempted a three point shot which he made successfully and a foul was called on the shot attempt giving him a trip to the foul line for one shot. The three point field goal tied the game at 91 and Johnson stepped to the foul line and time seemed to stop too. Johnson knocked down the free throw to give the Knicks an improbable 92-91 lead which would end up being the final score.

 

The roar of the crowd after that four point play was palpable even while watching it at home on television. My mother and I were elated that the Knicks were able to come from behind and win a pivotal playoff game without their best player and in front of their devoted fans. Of course, my mother also had to basically say “I told you so” and joked that I should have known also that the Knicks would get the much needed win.

 

The Road Ahead

 

New York would go on to win the series with Indiana in six games to advance to the NBA Finals to play the San Antonio Spurs, the top seeded team in the Western Conference. The Knicks would lose the series to San Antonio in five games, including losing twice on their home court and by one point in the deciding game 78-77. The Spurs have gone on to win multiple NBA titles since that series, while the Knicks have largely struggled for the better part of the past fifteen seasons.

 

It was a “defining moment” for MSG, the Larry Johnson four point play, but it also was a defining moment in my own journey. A month after that Game 3 victory in June 1999, my mother would be diagnosed with cancer. The four long years of fighting the disease took us to Philadelphia, where she received treatments. That was during the Allen Iverson days of the 76ers in Philly when they made their own run to the NBA Finals. My Mom and I would watch those games together when we were staying in Philly, and we would debate whether the Knicks teams from the mid-90s could have beaten that Sixers team.

 

My mother would pass away four years after her diagnosis. Now, when I watch Carmelo Anthony drop 45 points on an opponent I will say to my wife, “Mom would have liked that game” to which my wife will reply, “She did, she saw it with you”. The seasons move on and life moves on, but the memories remain.

 

The MSG series “Defining Moments” was really enjoyable and well produced. It took me on a trip back through time, into some defining moments in my own life, not only regarding sports, but in bringing me back to some events in my life that I had forgotten about in the busy nature of recent years.

 

I am grateful for that introspection, for eliciting the memories of nights watching playoff basketball with my Mom, and of times we shared together when life was different than it is today. The NBA regular season ended last night, and while the Knicks failed to make the playoffs, I will be watching the playoff games, and as my wife will remind me, my Mom will be right there watching them with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Frank Maduri

New York Knicks News: J.R. Smith out 10-14 weeks / Metta World Peace returns to NYC

The recent news as reported by CBS Sports, is that the New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith recently underwent knee surgery and will be out 10-14 weeks. The team also announced it has reached agreement with small forward Metta World Peace (a.k.a. Ron Artest) on a 2 year contract (www.cbssports.com).

 

The fact that Smith had to have these knee surgeries done is a concern to me as a fan on a couple of levels. First, the injuries to Smith’s knees have been chronic and what if these procedures do not fix those problems?

 

Now, the Knicks have signed him to a 4 year contract, and he could hypothetically miss extended periods of time due to nagging injury.

 

However, Smith has battled through injury his entire career and has shown toughness and resilience in the past, but I do think that the injuries have an effect on his shooting capability. It could help to explain the long scoring drought he had in the playoffs this past season.

 

Who is going to help Melo?

 

The second area of concern I have regarding the absence of Smith is that he will miss training camp and the beginning few weeks of next season. That timetable, of course, is if everything involving in his rehab goes well. What if he has a setback?

 

In the absence of Smith, who is going to be the secondary scoring player to help Carmelo Anthony (a.k.a. Melo)?

 

The Knicks are going to need some scoring help from one of the other guards on the roster. I would look to Iman Shumpert as a potentially capable source of that offense.

 

I know so far Shumpert’s calling card is his ability to play lock-down defense, but the Knicks sent him to play Summer League ball in Las Vegas specifically to work on the offensive aspects of his game.

 

The other option is that secondary scoring might have to come from the front court with Andrea Bargnani. He has a very well rounded offensive game, as I covered in a prior post here on “Frank’s Forum”. Any seven foot guy who can shoot the 3 pointer, drive to the basket, and shoot mid-range jumpers is difficult to defend.

 

The opposing team will be looking to stop Carmelo Anthony, so that may open up some shots for Bargnani to knock down.

 

Outside of those two players, I do not know where the Knicks are going to find the points that Smith would normally contribute. In his absence, they need to put together a game plan to figure that out.

 

Metta World Peace: return to NYC

 

It was widely speculated that following the Los Angeles Lakers using their amnesty buyout on the contract of Metta World Peace, he would come and play for the Knicks.

 

The rationale behind that rumor was because he would still be paid by the Lakers the remainder of the money on his contract with them, the Lakers just eliminated those dollars from the salary cap and the luxury tax figures.

 

The Knicks have very little money left to spend on free agents but figured to offset the money he was receiving from the Lakers with half the mid- level trade exception which is around $1.6 million.

 

The Knicks used the other half of the mid-level trade exception to sign Pablo Prigioni recently to bring him back after his successful first year with the team last season. Prigioni will fill an important role in the Knicks backcourt in the upcoming season.

 

Metta World Peace (a.k.a. Ron Artest) figured to resume his NBA career with the Knicks because they are a potential title contender (he has played 14 years in the league so he was not going to go to a bad team at this point) and he is from New York City. The Knicks have a need at small forward, so this is a good move for all sides.

 

I know that World Peace has had a checkered past history, but I believe in redemption and second chances. He has grown into a solid defender and rebounder as well as a locker room leader which Kobe Bryant wanted back with the Lakers. This is a guy who used to drink beers before games when he was with the Indiana Pacers.

 

Then, he famously changed his name and thanked his psychiatrist after the most recent Lakers championship series victory a few years ago. He will fill an important void for the Knicks in their frontcourt and in the locker room. I think Coach Woodson will get a high caliber of effort out of him as well.

 

So, Knicks fans, we have a bad news and good news type of day. The team still has a couple of smaller roster moves yet to make, including the continued negotiations to bring back Kenyon Martin, which I think is imperative for them to do moving forward. Stay tuned.