D’Antoni talks about tomorrow’s game in Boston…

Jared Jeffries, Marcus Landry and Jordan Hill putting in some extra work after practice.

The pace was fast and furious. A lot of players, mixed combinations, but the message from Coach Mike D’Antoni was clear. 

All I ask is that you put the effort in to try and get better.

And they did. Granted, shots weren’t really falling on the wire-tight rims and turnovers were rampant, but Thursday night was all about pushing through and focusing on improving on mistakes.

David Lee got his mid range shot blocked by the long, left arm of Darko Milicic, but later attacked the basket with a Lee-esque reverse . Milicic, who missed a chippy off a beautiful pass from Danilo Gallinari, continued to try and hit the mid range and asked for the ball in the post. Notice I said “asked” and not “begged” or “pleaded” like Al Harrington did before finding Lee on a beautiful post pass to Lee flashing in the paint. When you want the ball, I mean really WANT the ball in the post you make sure you get it. 

Gallinari’s legs weren’t into his jumpshot, but believe me that’s got nothing to do with his back. And it was a great sign that he was missing a few jumpers because it allowed him to show off his tremendous passing skills on drives off shot fakes.

Say what you want about Chris Duhon but be careful. Hahn and I joked that you may see him in your beer league when you get older finding spots, finding teammates, and just making plays.

Nate Robinson was being Nate. Explosive and chatty, getting instructions on defense from a relatively frustrated Dan D’Antoni and shooting shots from half court in his down time. But, man is he impressive.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, was the play of Jared Jeffries who finished with both hands around the rim. I was impressed. Granted, I think if Jeffries were a $3 million dollar player on the Spurs, he’d play 20 minutes a night and play until late May or June. Get used to him, the coach likes what he does.

 The outside-looking-in guys? Joe Crawford impressed that’s about it. Sun Yue (sorry bro, mistook you for Yi in my tweet) can shoot, but is a little too for me frail on the perimeter. Toney Douglas really locked him up.

Anything else you’d like to know follow my Tweets, or leave a question below. I’m here for the rest of the week. 

Oh, and the video? Being produced- will be up in a few…

Obviously, it’s way too early to be thinking about the draft, but yours truly puts his scouting knack to use from day one of the college basketball season. So after the first week-to-10 days here are some thoughts about who Donnie Walsh could be keeping an eye on already.

Before we get into the “who” let’s give an accurate guess-essment today as to where the Knicks will be drafting since we have no idea. It’s a foregone conclusion that they won’t be relinquishing their 1st round pick in the Marbury deal as it’s “Top 8 protected” meaning they’d have to finish with the a top 8 best-record in the NBA in order to have to give it away to the Jazz.

So as it stands right now the team is in 16th place and if you know the draft, players vault themselves back and forth as the year goes on. But here are the guys I think fit D’Antoni’s system and would be great additions to the Knicks. We know about Jennings and Rubio, but they may not be there when the Knicks draft. We’ll do plenty of these throughout the course of the year so that when you see a game on TV you can check out their skills and conclude if you like them as future Knicks. One of them probably will be.

Stephen Curry 6-1 180 G (Davidson)

No secret here. The kid burst on the scene last March and has simply gotten better. His 40-plus performance at Oklahoma last week proved that he’s got the range and he’s beefed up enough to be an NBA player. Imaging this kid with space in D’Antoni’s offense? Yes, he’s a tweener, I’ve got him as Juan Dixon with range, but I imagine that he’d be Anthony Roberson 2.0 because he’s better now and create off the dribble. When he’s hot the kid just doesn’t miss. The interesting thing will be where does he go? Is he a lottery pick or do teams shy away because of his size?

Raymar Morgan, 6’8 225 F (Michigan State)

A bruising forward is not exactly what the Knicks need but this kid is someone to keep an eye on. He’s strong, explosive and can score with limited touches, yet we’d like to see him a little more before we call him a good shooter. Can’t wait for Big 10 season.

Gani Lawal, 6-9 233 PF (Georgia Tech)

This kid has the chance to be an animal on the boards and in blocking shots, but he is a horrid free throw shooter (less than 50%). He has a 7’1 wingspan and is very raw and his lack of fundamentals kept him out of last year’s draft.

Should he shine in the ACC this year and improve his shooting mechanics and basic footwork fundamentals, he could go anywhere from the late lottery to mid-first round.

Ty Lawson, 6-0 195 PG (North Carolina)

The thing that bothers me about Lawson is that everyone has concluded he is Ray Felton. He isn’t. Granted he needs to shoot it better, but I’ve never seen anyone faster with the ball…ever.

Imagine him in D’Antoni’s offense? Plus he is a ball-hawking defender, and by year’s end he’ll establish himself as a top point guard prospect, should he stay healthy.

Several reports abound about this Isiah Thomas situation:

Via WCBS-TV in NY..

“…Harrison police were sent to the home of former Knicks president Isiah Thomas early Friday morning in response to a call that he had overdosed on sleeping pills, a source confirmed to CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City.

Thomas’ condition or whereabouts are not yet known.

Other reports confirm that police did arrive at Thomas’ home shortly after midnight in response to a 911 call from a cell phone, but they would not confirm why.

A source, however, told WCBS that Thomas’ condition was being classified as an overdose…”

Google News reports:

“…Harrison Police were called to Isiah Thomas’ house last night around midnight for a report of a possible overdose.

Police confirmed they were at the home, but refused to discuss any details.

Published reports say the call came in just after midnight, describing a 46-year-old male at the Azalea Circle home. It was not indicated whether drugs or alcohol were involved. Thomas is 47.

New York Knicks officials would only say that Isiah Thomas is fine, which was reiterated by Mike Dougherty, whose paper The Journal News is in the neighborhood…”

The Knicks will hold an open practice this Sunday at Pace University in Pleasantville. Doors open at 10 and practice starts at 11. Yours truly will be on hand so stop by and give me a pound.

Click here for directions to Pace.

“…D’Antoni’s connection to the Raptors’ front office goes back nearly 20 years, to when he coached in Italy and his boss was Maurizio Gherardini, , who works under Raptors president Bryan Colangelo. Colangelo gave D’Antoni his big break in Phoenix following D’Antoni’s brief and unsuccessful run as coach of the Denver Nuggets.

Gherardini could emerge as a possible GM candidate in New York. Team president Donnie Walsh is not ruling out adding another executive to his staff. Walsh and Colangelo met before Wednesday night’s game.

Music to my ears Frank.

Last season, I had Gherardini on top of my list of presidents after Isiah Thomas, and mentioned it in an article I wrote for RealGM.com. Dolan chose Walsh, which I think was very wise, but adding the man who owns Europe from a basketball standpoint would help the Knicks tremendously.

“…Basketball is different now in Toronto, however, thanks in most part to Colangelo, who has twice been named NBA executive of the year himself, in 2005 and most recently, last season after leading the Raptors to nearly 50 wins. Perhaps Colangelo’s best move over the last few years, aside from trading Charlie Villanueva for T.J. Ford, was to hire Maurizio Gherardini.

For those in the basketball know, Gherardini is the most influential voice in European basketball. Upon returning to his native Italy following a visit to the United States as an exchange student, Gherardini began the organization of basketball camps as well as clinics and also prepared the first ever coaches clinic in Europe. That coaches clinic brought such NBA legends as Bob McAdoo, Hubie Brown and Bill Walton to Italy. Gherardini turned Benetton Treviso into a European superpower, captaining them to four league championships (1997, 2002, 2003 and 2006), three Italian “Supercups” (1997, 2001 and 2002), made four appearances in the Euroleague’s final four.

His knowledge of the game ranks among the world’s best, and as one NBA executive put it, to have Gherardini, means to have Europe. The question now becomes, is the NBA ready for a European executive. Well, it almost was in 2003 when Gherardini was interview for the GM position with the Charlotte Bobcats, finishing second to Bernie Bickerstaff.

All you have to do is open your eyes to see that around the world the game has changed. United States-born players have their hands full during International competitions and the production of European talent is just getting started. Let’s face it, if a European player can be taken first overall in the NBA draft, European executives are soon to follow and the Knicks can’t pass up an opportunity on one. And judging from the success that the Spurs have had since adding Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, in addition to the successes of Dirk Nowitzki, Yao and Pao Gasol, it’s easy to see that there is talent around the world- not just in the inner city of Chicago…”

Needless to say this with the direction the game is headed, this would be a superlative move by Donnie Walsh.

From Mike D’Antoni’s perspective, he had to be pleased by his team’s effort, despite the fact they were clearly out of shape to run his system. D’Antoni prides himself on having his team in supreme condition, yet he has to wonder if that will happen with some of the players on his team.

It’s a young man’s system, except if your name is Nash, and the combination of David Lee, Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson accounted for 53 points as the team battled a very solid Raptors team to the buzzer.

What did the team in were sloppy mistakes and bad habits, combined with poor 3- point shooting. Chris Duhon and Stephon Marbury, who along with Robinson and Chandler helped erase an early 6-point 1st-quarter lead, combined for 12 turnovers. The team as a whole shot just 8-34 from behind the arc in D’Antoni’s shot-friendly system.

Despite his horrendous number of turnovers, Duhon played well defensively, and can help this team in many ways fans haven’t seen, but it was Robinson who constantly got caught under screens, which allowed for open looks that killed the team down the stretch.

Chris Bosh, a free agent in 2010 who would fit D’Antoni’s system to a tee, led the Raptors with 20 points.

In addition to the young legs, by far the most impressive Knick was Lee, whose work on his outside shot, something he prided himself on during the offseason, was extremely evident. Fans have heard about improvements like Eddy Curry, (who did not play) learning to block shots, but Lee’s work is obvious and should take his game to another level.

The Knicks return to action Friday night against Elton Brand and the 76ers.

With restricted free agents David Lee and Nate Robinson ready to bust out in Mike D’Antoni’s system and take the league by storm, it reminds me of another pair of NY athletes on the cusp of stardom who had their own contracts to sort out.

Back in 2006, both Jose Reyes and David Wright were ruling the National League, on their way to helping the Mets to their first division crown in almost two decades. GM Omar Minaya wasted little time in keeping the two, locking them up to 4- and 6-year deals, respectively, in early August.

Turns out it wasn’t that hard, as the two wanted to be here. So much so, that they inked the extensions on the same day. It was your classic home town discount.

Now the Knicks, as has been heavily documented, have similar decisions to make. Lee, a close friend of Wright, has also professed his love for this city. TKB reported that Walsh has taken Lee off the trade table and wants to sign him, and the reports surfaced in the papers last week. On the other hand, Nate, who may have been the most impressive player in camp in Saratoga, has stayed surprisingly quiet. But he’s ready to assume the Leandro Barbosa role in D’Antoni’s system. Barbosa’s success earned him almost $7 million a year.

With the Knicks salary cap woes, can the team afford to sign both Lee, who’s market value is sure to be in the 5-year-35 million dollar range (if Udonis Haslem is getting between $6 and $7 million per) and Nate?

Would the two take hometown discounts? Maybe one-year extensions with the idea of sitting down after 2010? I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.

Figuring how to keep both in Knick uniforms will be one of the main story lines to watch this season.

Here’s an absurd/semi-laughable admission…I truly believe that I could do a credible job of coaching the Knicks.

Let me start by saying I’m a pretty godawful basketball player. I may be short, but I’m also very slow, can’t jump (apologies to Woody Harrelson) and I’m not really that good at…well…getting the ball to go in the basket. (I’m also an asthmatic smoker so I tire easily, natch).

So where does this hubris come from? I’ve been a Knicks fan since the tail end of the ’79 season. My first distinct memory of which is crying myself to sleep upon learning that the ‘Bockers had traded Bob McAdoo, Spencer Haywood and Lonnie Shelton (my 3 fave players because they all had such cool names) had all been traded on the same day. And McAdoo was shipped to the hated Celts! (I don’t know why/how I hated the Bostonians at such a young age. It was just hardwired in my DNA, I guess).

Over the years I’ve seen about 1200 or so games. At 2.5 hrs/game that comes to approximately 3000 hours watching the blue and orange (and I think they dumped the ball into the post and stood around on offense and watched King/Ewing/Curry for at least 113 of those days). I don’t know if that’s impressive or sad or frightening or all of the above, but after that much time in the belly of the beast, you can tell what’s going to happen. You know when the other team is about to go on a run. You can smell a turnover coming like a fart in a tiny room. You can just feel which off-balance, turnaround three w/the 24 second clock expiring is gonna be the nail in the coffin

So no, I can’t diagram a play for shit or teach Eddy how to box out (though I’m not sure even Holzman could do that). But I certainly sense the flow and/or structure of a game. I’d certainly know when to bench a player and when to stick w/the hot hand. And I’d get some nifty assistants who could do things like organize practices and set up some drills, while I smiled, Buddha-like in the stands and doled out the appropriate reading material (take that Big Chief Triangle!).

And more importantly, I’m a theater maker. (Stop laughing. This is relevant). The same things that make for great basketball – rhythm, tempo, timing, discipline, and unselfishness – make for great theater. The director’s role is to get the ‘team’ to focus on something greater than itself, to realize that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and to get a group of individuals w/differing skill sets and levels of ability And while you may say that dealing with a bunch of sensitive NY actor-types is a different kettle of fish from the NBA, the stereotype for both is uncannily similar — egotistical, whiny divas.

Which leads me to the Dunning-Kruger Effect…

Dunning-Kruger Effect (dun’-eng kroo’-guhr e-fekt’) The phenomenon wherein people who have little knowledge or skill tend to think they know more or have more skill than they do, while simultaneously overlooking or underestimating the knowledge and skills of others

The guys over at Basketbawful.blogspot.com were scribbling about this the other day w/r/t Marbs’s “Best PG in the NBA” statement et al. My immediate reaction was to start hollering, “SARAH PALIN! SARAH PALIN!” After a mild sedative, I was reminded of my own delusions of coaching grandeur and like a splash of cold water, I realized the idea that I could patrol the sidelines is complete and utter horseshit. And since I’m a good liberal and we/I have to analyze eeeeeeeeeverything, I thought about the converse to the above theory – that people of great skill and/or knowledge tend to underestimate their own abilities, mainly because they see and recognize all the things that they don’t know and all they ways in which they are inadequate to the particular task at hand. Which returned me to DK syndrome and balling. Maybe, to be a successful athlete (or politician or businessman or actor) you have to have a kind of blind determination/confidence/faith in your abilities, facts be damned. It’s why you don’t see too many “cerebral” basketball players. It’s not that players aren’t smart, it’s just a different kind of wisdom. Call it Zen, if you will. In the end, thought and doubt and contradiction (all the things one might value in another person) will always impede performance.

So boldly forth I go, back to my original thesis. I can coach this team. And if ya tell me I’m wrong, eff all y’all. God bless.

Editor’s note- The opinions of The Animal do not reflect those of the editors, but, you have to admit, the guy’s got, um, hootspa…

Rookie Danilo Gallinari‘s back issues has caused some concern with the Knicks and their fanbase. I am no doctor, but history should serve (along with advancements in medical treatments/technology) as a barometer for just how serious a bulging disk is. So before you jump off a cliff in anger over a draft bust, keep the following in mind.

Clearly, a 19-year-old with back problems is disturbing, as is the fact that bulging disks did go undiagnosed for a long period of time, so one has to wonder how closely Gallinar’s physical was monitored or if the team had any reservations. I’d assume they did not.

As stated above, the hit by Tractor Traylor did not cause the Bulging Disk, it was something Gallinari had played through for some period of time.

Most importantly, however, is the difference between a Herniated disk and a bulging disk. Knick fans will remember Larry Johnson’s struggles with a herniated disk, where the disk ruptures and pushes outside its normal boundary. LJ went from hi-flying Grandmama to grounded post player and three point shooter, but willed himself to be the heart and soul of those late 1990 teams. His workout regimine allowed him to continue playing, but LJ was forced to hang it up at the age of 32. Same for Larry Bird, whose career came to a close way too soon because of dibilitating disk injuries.

Many players have experienced bulging disks and have watched their careers decline almost instantaniously, mainly because the disks manifested themselves later in player’s career.  Charles Barkey, played the last 6 years of his career with a bulging disk, and he wasn’t exactly the model of heath. It appears Gallinari, with the right treatments can delay or hopefully avoid the disk from coming herniated. Gallinari has a few things working in his favor. First is his age. Time is on his side, and with anti-inflammatoriesCrohn’s disease
Inflammatory bowel disease
Ulcerative colitis and physicalPhysical activity
Physical exam frequency
Physical examination therapy treatments, the disk can shrink significantly. Gallinari also is a perimeter player who can go the basket, but he is not a high-impact leaper like LJ or Barkley was.

The point here is that a bulging disk is no death sentence, but it isn’t a great sign. Fans will have to be patient and wonder game in and game out what is going on with his back, which they shouldn’t have to with a rookie. But I don’t think there is any reason not to think, again, based on what we’ve seen, that Gallinari won’t have a long and productive career in NY.

“Private Marbury reporting for service, SIR!!”

I’m sure it hardly went down like that, but Marc Berman is reporting that (hold on to your hat folks) Stephon Marbury has come to grips with the idea of coming off the bench just shortly after holding firm on his Gary Templeton-esque statement that he will start or depart.

Clearly the refreshing Saratoga Springs water has cleansed Steph of his bitterness, now he is leveraging himself as the ultimate team player.

We’ll see how long this lasts.

“I don’t want to go through any more distractions,” Marbury told The Post. “I want all of us to concentrate on winning and not if I’m going to start or not. I want us to be able to go forward. If the Knicks want me to come off the bench, that’s what I’m going to do. I just want to win a championship in New York because we as New Yorkers deserve a chip.”

You may recall at media day last week Marbury held court in front of a dozen of reporters, including yours truly, and his comments ranged from head-scratching to prophetic. He told reporters he doesn’t need their business advice, “You all are the LAST people I’d ask for business advice” and that all he wants to do is win a championship in NY. But in the same breath he adamantly stated that he’s the starting point guard.

Steph has shown up in camp lighter and ready to rumble. I agree with D’Antoni’s assertion to play him off the ball, but the three? I can’t wait to see this innovation.

Sure it makes sense to hold onto him until Gallinari proves he’s ready for the rotation. That could explain why the sudden shift. However, if Steph doesn’t mesh at the 3,  I can’t logically see how having him in the lineup as essentially the 4th guard makes any sense. He’ll be gone next year, so what loyalty does he have to a coach he doesn’t have to look at 8 months from now? I maintain that great teams utilize a 3- guard rotation with the fourth getting spot minutes. Why would Nate or Chris Duhon, the team’s only distributor, settle for 15-20 minutes a game? Take a look at the best guard tandems in the NBA last year. (* Players combined minutes because of mid-season trade)

Hornets        MPG
Chris Paul      38
Mo Pete         24
Pargo            19
Bonzi/           19*
Jackson

Celtics
Rondo           30
Allen             36
Tony Allen    19
House/         19
Cassell

Pistons
Rip               34
Billups          32
Stuckey        19
Murray/       16*
Afflalo

Suns
Nash            34
Barbosa        29
Bell              35
Giricek/       16*
Banks

Maybe we should take Marbury at his word that he’s NY to the bone, a trick that, I myself, have fallen for before.I just have no idea how happy he’ll be being the 4th guard in the rotation.

Maybe this time will be different.

Sorry no sound but the video is pretty solid.

This is a few days old but enjoy anyway. Houston looks to be very content and I really think he’s going to make the roster if he remains healthy. Also, TKB will be covering the second week of camp so stay tuned for daily updates and commentary.

The following piece was submitted by TKB reader Myles Mills. As always we encourage readers to send in their submissions.

The Knicks tip off their new season on October 29th, equipped with a new coach, a new style of play, a new general manager, and an array of interesting acquisitions. Chris Duhon, signed to the full mid-level exception this summer, has career averages of 4.7 ppg and 2 apg, but he may be a player to watch during the 2008-2009 season. Duhon has always shot the three with accuracy, but never got a chance to shine in a crowded backcourt including Ben Gordon, Larry Hughes, Sefolosha, and Kirk Hinrick. In Mike D’Antoni’s “run n’ gun” system Duhon might finally get an opportunity to duplicate some of the success he had at Duke, winning a national championship in 2001.

Although his offensive game is war as they come, Patrick Ewing Jr. already has the ability to be a lockdown defender in the NBA. He is long, athletic, and has lateral quickness. He won’t get much playing time, but in the future, he could become the quintessential lock down defender for the Knicks. Allan Houston isn’t close to the player he was when he retired three years ago, but he remembers the days when the Knicks were refutable, and the Garden was roaring every night. Houston is the leader this team needs, and it looks like he can still knock down the open jumpshot, something every player is expected to do in D’Antoni’s offense.

Walsh’s inactivity this summer has been frowned upon by many, but with the Knicks surging youth movement, top flight talent may not need to be acquired. The Knicks have abundant home-grown talent, and under the tutelage of Mike D’Antoni, the youth of this team are expected to make major strides. Wilson Chandler, Nate Robinson, David Lee, and Danilo Gallinari are allowing Knicks fans to be more optimistic than they have in years.

Wilson Chandler started getting minutes at the right time, when Donnie Walsh was sitting in the stands. His season averages of 7.3 ppg and 3.6 rpg are impressive, but it’s a string of games he put together towards the end of the season that showed glimpses of the future. Wilson Chandler showed up to play in Orlando on April 6th, and when right at Rashard Lewis. Chandler finished with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, and 0 turnovers. The Knicks defeated the Magic 98-94. Two nights later, Chandler had his best performance of the year. Against a persistent Detroit Piston defense, Chandler had 19 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 assist, and shot 8/9 from the field. Chandler followed this outstanding performance up with 12 and 6 against Charlotte and 18, 8 and a block against the Hawks. I was convinced.

Donnie Walsh recently said, “Nate could be the most unique player in this league…I’ve never seen a guy his size with his talent and athletic ability.” Nate Robinson will take on the role of Leandro Barbosa this year, and he should have a career year. His three point shooting has improved every year, and he drives to the basket fearlessly. If Nate can pressure the ball 94 feet, he will be force to be reckoned with in this league. Nate Robinson’s game best fits Mike D’Antoni’s fast-paced offense.

David Lee rebounds, hustles, and is a natural leader. Selected 30th overall in the 2005 draft, Lee is the ultimate steal. With a jumpshot, he is an all-star. Jamal Magloire made it averaging 14 and 11, and with a midrange game, David lee has potential to exceed even those numbers. David Lee wants to be a Knick when things turn around, so expect a contract extension, with Lee getting paid around 8 million a year, and worth every penny.

Danilo Gallinari is raw, but filled with potential. He led 30-year-olds, at the age of 19, in a league in which Derrick Rose couldn’t survive. He has great touch, and size, but defense is and will be his Achilles’ heal. He lacks the lateral quickness needed to guard NBA small or power forwards. Yet, at 19, the Knicks have years to harness Gallinari’s potential and turn him into a great NBA player.
All four of these players are 25 or under, and have yet to enter their primes. Finally, they have a coach to help them take their games to the next level. Knicks fans recognize that a youth movement is here, and there is reason to be excited.

Editor’s Note: Our thanks to TKB reader Sean Cronin for informing us that the Daily News, not Vecsey, scooped incorrectly about the Fratello hiring. Our apologies.

And our league source has not confirmed the reported Tinsley-to-Denver deal for Atkins and Hunter.

So I almost spilled my coffee on the train this morning reading Peter Vecsey’s column in today’s Post where the Man of Misery took a swipe at Newsday’s coverage of the Marbury and Randolph situations over the past few weeks.

“How can Marbury possibly still be an active member of the Knicks? Unless my short-term memory, too, is a shambles, I swear I read a couple weeks ago in Newsday, that the Knicks were days away from outright releasing him or agreeing to a buyout of this season’s $21.9 million guarantee.

How could several sources that the author claimed confirmed the report all be mistaken?Weeks prior to that exclusive, Newsday broke another story; within days, readers were notified, Randolph and a trade-maximum $3M to defray 1/18 of his $48M, 3-year obligation, would be dispatched to the Grizzlies for Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric. The holdup, we were told, was the inclusion of a New York number one pick in exchange for either point guard Kyle Lowry or Javaris Crittenton.

How can Randolph possibly be jacking up jumpers for Mike D’Antoni as he did for Isiah Thomas . . . when sources confirmed to the author Zach would be in Graceland by that weekend?”

Granted, both players are still here, despite my own notion that they would be gone, and who better to point that out than the master of inaccuracy himself? But before I get into his pedigree, as if I need to, smart basketball fans have tuned Vescey out for a while making him almost completely irrelevant, I mean I’m still waiting for Ron Harper to become a Knick, and for Fratello to coach them. The bottom line is that these two players are not in the Knicks’ future plans. Marbury will not be on the team next year and in order for the Knicks to get under the cap Randolph needs to be shown the door. You don’t need “sources” to tell you that.

Remember, we reported before Newsday, that a first round pick was involved, and it was. I stand by that. I’m assuming Vecsey’s “Memphis source” may be Chris Wallace himself, or some yahoo at a Memphis juke-joint. Wallace’s agenda was to fleece Walsh, in an attempt to replace Pau Gasol, whom the Grizz gave to the Fakers. Walsh was not going to be duped.

I’ve been at this journalism thing for a while, and I’m new to this beat thing with the Knicks, but I’ve learned a lot in a short period of time. I think the two best qualities a writer can possess is logic and good sources. What I’ve learned is that if you have a solid source, you have to go with it, because if your instincts are right and you don’t go with it you’ve missed a great chance. If it’s wrong or things change, which they often do several times a week, you live with it. It’s part of the game.

I think Newsday did a great job this summer, and the fans did too, and this is coming from someone who, until last year, never read the thing.

But they don’t need me to defend them, my beef is purely with Vecsey. Here’s a guy whose smug humor is a nice niche, especially for the Post, of which reading is part of my daily routine. Vecsey’s trash-talking today would make his former coach at Archbishop Molloy, Jack Curran, cringe. Especially based on his what he’s done. At this point, based on Newsday’s coverage, Vecsey’s column is the equivalent of getting the better of the player guarding you in a game, and then having them talk smack after finally scoring in the 4th quarter of a game your team’s winning by 20.

Vecsey has often been accused of writing fiction, as well as just simply not paying attention. Just this past April he wrote that he expected Sam Mitchell to be fired by the Raptors because a “whispering campaign” said Mitchell was:

“not a hard worker or on top of the league’s current events. A few months ago, before the Raptors were to play the Lakers, he addressed the team by telling them, “We’ll worry about the guy who got 81 in a second, but first I want to talk about Andrew Bynum and how he killed us last time.” A hush engulfed the locker room. “Hey, coach,” Chris Bosh interrupted. “Bynum’s been out for weeks with an injury.”

But according to those in the room, said incident never took place. Imagine that.

Vecsey also lambasted Jeff Van Gundy for something he never said on a telecast about Rafer Alston. The story had a lot of legs, including an interview with Alston’s mother, who was miffed at the piece.

Except Vescey got the whole thing wrong, if you had watched the telecast, that is.

From NY POST March 16th

“IN Jeff Van Gundy’s studied opinion, Rafer Alston was identified during last Sunday’s ABC telecast as being near peerless at the point this season, second only to Chris Paul.

No disrespect to my Queens homie who’s enjoying his most productive and poised extensive stretch of success since being branded Skip To My Lou, but was Van Gundy serious or delirious?

In all likelihood, neither; like many in the media Van Gundy no doubt was trying to draw attention to himself by stating something demi- controversial.”

WRONG! Actually Peter, what Van Gundy said was that “Alston is playing like a top 5 NBA point guard,” meaning that he was performing at an elite level during a stretch that saw the Rockets win 19 straight games. Never did he say Skip was “second to Chris Paul” or “better” than the NBA’s elite. Van Gundy wondered this aloud to Mike Breen and Mark Jackson, who were surprised at the coach’s notion.

“What’s a point guard’s job? To help your team win… who’s doing that better than Rafer Alston right now? Of course he’s not better than Chris Paul or Deron Williams, but he’s PLAYING on that level right now.”

Clearly, Vecsey was mistaken, and has been plenty of times in his career. Again, it’s part of the game.

Finally, and for good measure, should Allan Houston make the team, it will be the biggest comeback since Mr. Vecsey’s hairline.