Yes, they can’t build any momentum, nor can they close out games, but the Knicks still have a legit chance to earn that last playoff spot.

So let’s not lose sight on that fact. I am a relatively positive person, but let’s keep in mind that we’re talking about playing “well” enough to win 10-12 more games.

It’s the sad state of affairs that comes with being a Knick fan since the millennium.

Let’s take a closer look at the schedule coming down the stretch:

Tue 10	@ Milwaukee	8:00pm	MSG
Wed 11	@ Detroit	7:30pm	MSG
Fri 13	@ Minnesota	8:00pm	WPIX
Sun 15	@ Cleveland	6:00pm	MSG
Wed 18	vs New Jersey	7:30pm	MSG
Fri 20	vs Sacramento	7:30pm	MSG
Sat 21	@ Orlando	7:00pm	MSG
Mon 23	vs Orlando	7:30pm	MSG
Wed 25	vs LA Clippers	7:30pm	MSG
Fri 27	vs New Orleans	7:30pm	MSG
Sat 28	@ Charlotte	7:00pm	MSG
Mon 30	@ Utah	9:00pm	MSG
Tue 31	@ Denver	9:00pm	MSG
April	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Sat 04	vs Toronto	1:00pm	MSG
Sun 05	@ Toronto	6:00pm	MSG
Tue 07	@ Chicago	8:30pm	MSG
Wed 08	vs Detroit	7:30pm	MSG
Fri 10	@ Orlando	7:00pm	MSG
Sun 12	@ Miami	6:00pm	MSG
Wed 15	vs New Jersey	8:00pm	MSG

Granted, the team hasn’t shown you the ability to make you feel that they can win 12 games, but is it out of the realm of possibilities that these hard-fought games recently that have ended up in losses may be character builders?

Again, I’ll be the first one to actively scout players and get the inside scoop as to who the Knicks may draft, but I’m not there yet.

Not until it’s over.

>

>

According to Newsday, Wilson Chandler will be available for Wednesday’s opener against the Heat.

“…Wilson Chandler (knee) returned to practice yesterday and is on track to play in tomorrow night’s season opener against the Heat at the Garden. Said D’Antoni: “He’s ready to roll…”

No word, yet on Danilo Gallinari, who could be a game time decision.  Maybe the team thinks his first taste of action should come on the road, instead of a possible hostile Garden, with the team’s first road game Friday night in Philly.

Hoopsworld’s Joel Brigham recently did his annual predictions for the upcoming season, and took the opportunity to highight your Knicks.

Among his league-wide opinions, Brigham notes:

• The New York Knicks will win over 30 games this year (compared to 23 wins last season).
• As much as the Knicks would love to trade Zach Randolph, nobody’s going to want to eat his contract. As a result, he’ll still be on the roster by year’s end.
• Danilo Gallinari is going to look more and more like a bad pick as the season progresses. My best guess is he’ll float somewhere in between injury and mediocrity.

Like all predictions, even ours, take them with a grain of salt. But I take exception to the Gallinari one. A bad pick? Because the organization is taking their time with him he’s already considered one? Plus he’s 19, so geez, why not just say “Gallinari will struggle during his rookie season.” Don’t ALL rookies struggle one way or another? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but there isn’t ONE rookie in this draft who would add to the Knicks’ win column this season.

In fairness, Brigham did hold himself accountable. He managed barely over 50% last year so like all predictions he’s right or wrong half of the time, which is the equivalent of a coin toss.

“Oh, Lebron will win MVP (flip)…Sweet!”

“Uh, Gallinari stinks…(flip)…Doh!”

With the news that Ewing Jr. has been officially cut, Internet forums everywhere are buzzing with dejected fans confused by the decision.

Fans believe this should not have been an issue about money, since none believe Jerome James deserves to be in a Knick uniform. And poor Anthony Roberson, I hope the kid gets to play a few minutes to see what he can do.

Clearly Donnie Walsh isn’t concerned about the fans reaction, afterall he could easily have dumped James by telling Jim Dolan that he wasn’t his problem. But we know Walsh is a patient man, and thus is allowing James to waste another year rotting on the bench.

But the question most fans have is why would the team trade Renaldo Balkman?  Logically trading Balkman and adding Ewing made great sense, but to lose them both (granted neither were going to be in the rotation this year) has fans scratching their collective heads.

And pounding their fists…

So I guess I’m about to be shocked.

It appears, based on several reports, that Donnie Walsh has decided to keep Anthony Roberson at the expense of fan favorite Patrick Ewing Jr.

Clearly, this move makes little sense on the surface, based on the performances of the two, Roberson couldn’t hit a shot and barely played, but Walsh must feel a 6th guard makes more sense than cutting Jerome James or keeping the project in Ewing.

The other night MSG’s John Rothstein said on ESPN Radio that sources close to the team considered Ewing a Matt Barnes-type who may find his way into the rotation at some point during the year.

This may not be the last the team has seen of Ewing, there’s reason to believe that Walsh has an agreement with Jr. to return to the team as soon as a roster spot opens up, which will assuredly happen throughout the course of the year.

Ewing Jr.’s not sold on the idea of joining the Knicks D-League team…yet.

“…There’s been talk of Ewing Jr. possibly playing for the Knicks’ D-League affiliate in Reno, Nevada. When he was asked about that, he said: “I really just have to look at my options first before I would sit here and commit to one scenario or another. If they decide not to keep me, then I’ll sit down with my agent, discuss what possible scenarios would be and we’ll go from there…”

Video courtesy of realknicks.com

So today’s the day for final cuts, a reminder of the days when your coach would post the names of the team on a piece of loose leaf taped to the gym door then run for the parking lot.

As I said before, it will be no surprise for Ewing Jr. to make the team, and his performance the other night against the Nets had the Garden buzzing.

It sounds as if no deals are in the works so unfortunately Eddy House Anthony Roberson is on the outside looking in, and frankly his campaign has been rather underwhelming. But like they say I guess timing is everything.

From Chris McCosky at the Detroit News:

“You might have read in some of the New York papers that the Pistons were keeping an eye on the Knicks to see how Zach Randolph fits with Mike D’Antoni’s system. The presumption being that if the Knicks look to move Zach, the Pistons would be interested. Trust me, the Pistons are not interested — not now, not later. The Pistons’ scouts have known Zach for a long, long time and they know his talents and warts as well as anybody. Bottom line: There’s too much baggage and too much contract for the Pistons to take that risk.”

Well, I know one team that is interested in how Zach Randolph can help them win games – the Knicks. Donnie Walsh is clearly intrigued by Zach’s talent. If he wasn’t, he would have GIVEN him away to the Clippers. As for his baggage, I think that it might be time to give that a rest. Following Zach on a daily basis last season, I never got the feeling that his “baggage” was hurting the team. Some reputations never die I guess. Sorry Zach, but I guess you made your own bed on that one.

The bottom line is that the Knicks will progress this season with Zach Randolph donning the orange and blue. Walsh will not give him away and thus will only deal him in the right deal. Donnie Walsh understands that he was brought in here to win basketball games. If he believes that Z-Bo will help, then Z-Bo will stay. If the Pistons will never have interest in dealing for him, then so be it.

Investopedia.com defines a sunk cost as “a cost that has been incurred and cannot be reversed.” When making decisions for the future and deciding on whether to invest in a project, generally sunk costs are ignored as they cannot be recovered. Therefore, they should not affect management’s decision making.

Jerome James has two years and close to $13 million left on his current deal. In my opinion, James is also the 16^th man on a roster that must be cut down to 15 by tomorrow. Barring any other moves by Donnie Walsh, James should be cut by tomorrow, nearly three years too late. His contract is the equivalent of a sunk cost.

Now before I get questioned by all of the financial wizards out there, I understand that the Knicks have not incurred the cost of James’ final two seasons as those two seasons have not been played yet. I also realize that James has the potential to provide value to this team (honestly, the only value I see him having is being an expiring contract at next season’s trade deadline). So don’t take my comparison of James’ contract to a sunk cost literally. But in any case, the Knicks owe that money to James, whether he will be sitting on the bench or home on his couch.

James has not been in shape since he was brought in here. His signing was a mistake in the first place. Last season, James played in two games and logged a total of five minutes, or in other words, less than the amount of minutes that Pat Ewing Jr. and Anthony Roberson each played in this pre-season alone. Speaking of this pre-season, James did not play a single minute. I can go on for hours about this, but simply put, Jerome James does not have a spot on this team. Contract issues aside, this debate over who will fill out the roster would never even be mentioned. In the future, Roberson, a shooter, and Ewing Jr., an athletic swing man who brings passion and good karma to a team that desperately needs both, will each add value to this team. I am not sure how much value, but I can assure everyone that they will each provide more than James. Now it is not my money, so it is easy to say this, but I hope that Walsh makes the best roster decision for this team in a basketball sense, not a financial sense. Walsh may make a trade in the next day which will alleviate this roster glut…. but all else remaining constant, I think it is time for James to go.

Kudos to Bob Raissman of the News for noting that Mike D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh have seemed to break owner Jim Dolan’s policies that caused, among other things, the firing of Larry Brown. Raissman wonders if the practices are proof that Walsh and D’Antoni have the keys to the basketball kingdom at the Garden.

“…The arrival of Mike D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh may already be changing the “culture” around the Knicks. Either that, or James (Guitar Jimmy) Dolan has yet to begin paying attention to his basketball property.

The regular season hasn’t even started and D’Antoni already has singled out players (Eddy Curry could fill two uniforms) while Walsh is talking publicly about David Lee‘s contractual situation.

Both men would seem to be in violation of Cablevison’s media policy. The company always declines to discuss employee contracts. And remember the “trouble” Larry Brown got into when he decided to bash some of his players to open notebooks and live microphones?

Could it be Dolan has given the keys of the car to D’Antoni and Walsh and is actually going to let them drive it? Or is this just a preseason joy ride?…”

Well, the answer to that question, for me, would come if Dolan allows Walsh to buy out Jerome James, who’s clearly not going to play at all for this team. That said, remember that David Stern was rumored to have suggested Walsh to Dolan for the job, and there’s no way Donnie would have taken it if he didn’t have autonomy.

We’re with Alan Hahn on this one, it just makes sense that Donnie may pull the trigger on a deal that opens up a roster spot allowing for both Anthony Roberson and Ewing Jr. to make the team without having to buy out Jerome James. So Mardy Collins may be the guy, based on the fact that he’s been playing so much (and pretty decently) during preseason. We’d think Malik Rose‘s contract has some value, but the team needs him based on the painfully lame effort of Eddy Curry thus far.

“…I’m holding out for a trade here before Monday night. Donnie Walsh has to have one move up his sleeve to free up a roster spot…”

It may be as simple as Collins for a second round pick, or for a late first, although what team(s) would be in need of his services?

New Orleans- They’ve yet to replace Jannero Pargo, and may be happy with Mike James as CP3′s backup, but they are rather thin at guard. Not sure they part with an assured late first round pick for Collins, but Mardy would be a good fit in the Big Easy.

Utah- With Deron Williams out for a few weeks, and ankle sprains can take a while to fully recover from, does Utah look to add backcourt depth? They have Ronnie Price and Brevin Knight, but Collins could be seen as an insurance policy. No way they’d give up a first, but may be willing to part with a 2nd rounder.

Golden State- Rumors swirled that they would have interest in Stephon Marbury, maybe they find Collins a cheaper option. There isn’t a team in the league more desperate for guard help than the Warriors and the timing might work because Don Nelson has scrapped Marcus Wiliams opting for two guard DeMarcus Nelson to man the 1.

We’ll see what happens, but I’d be shocked if Walsh doesn’t try to make a move over the next 36 hours.

So it appears that the Cavs and Pistons are keeping close tabs on the development of Zach Randolph and a future deal with the Pistons makes far too much sense.

We’ve talked about this one before, but let’s revisit it.

ZBo’s biggest issue is his contract, but there are two reasons why this deal could happen before the trading deadline.

First of all, the Pistons are in great cap position, but need to make a decision on how much longer they want to go with the core of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, all of whom have trade value. Should Joe Dumars concede that this team still has a championship run in it, they’ll need an upgrade from Rasheed Wallace and ZBo’s post presence would be a nice fit. Plus he’s a Michigan State kid, and  that doesn’t hurt either.

Secondly, Donnie Walsh and Wallace, whose had an awful preseason, share the Carolina connection, something I believe strongly in. Wallace was a knucklehead before Larry Brown toned him down enough and the Pistons went on to shock the Lakers. With Wallace’s contract expiring, making a deal of that nature would allow Walsh to sign Sheed to a one-year incentive heavy deal, or simply let his contract expire.

The combination of Sheed, Steph and Malik Rose would be some $42 million off the cap.

If the Cavs have interest in Z-Bo then getting the two teams to compete would have Walsh in a great leverage situation, I just don’t understand why the Cavs would take ZBo and help the Knicks in their salary cap rut, knowing it’s a possible destination for Lebron.

Just something to keep an eye on.

First of all a thumbs up goes to a guy called Ken, a loyal season ticket holder since the 1969 who I met at the game last night, and his nice comments about what we do here at TKB. This thing will turn around soon enough my man, keep rooting and thanks for reading…

Two plays in particular last night validated what I’ve always thought about guards playing defense. Great defense turns into offense.

Jamal Crawford, who broke out last night for 30, made two plays that allowed him the ability to generate his offensive game.

I’ve always said, no coach will ever bitch at a player for taking a shot if he plays hard on the defensive end. And I’ve always preached that if you are having trouble getting your shot off, as Crawford seemed to in D’Antoni’s half court sets, rebound the ball. Then it’s yours to do whatever you want with it because you’ve earned the rite to have the ball in your hands.

In the first quarter of last night’s game, Crawford got a rebound and took the ball on a nice drive in transition and got to the basket, made the layup and got fouled. The ensuing free throw allowed for him a free opportunity to get feel for his jumper. The next possession he made a three. So in essence, that one rebound translated into 6 quick points.

In the second half, Crawford stripped CDR, and nailed a three from the corner. Next time down he was found in the corner again, and in rhythm since he just made one from there Craw hit another triple.

So two solid defensive plays led to 12 points on 4 possessions.

That, my friends, is the meaning of having defense translate into productive offense.

Let’s hope we see more.