An Embarrassment of Bitches

The onset of Spring usually means the excitement of March Madness, followed closely by some nail-biting NBA Playoffs action. But not this Spring, not for New Yorkers at any rate.

What a wasteland has been this 2007-2008 basketball season for New York fans. Every New York area men's basketball team is mediocre to bad, whether you're talking professional or college teams. That would include the Knicks, Nets, Seton Hall or Rutgers.

While other cities teams can boast of long winning streaks, such as Houston, or tough-minded do-everything types of competitors, such as Manu Ginoboli of the Spurs, the New York fan can only wonder what happened. How can the Knicks manage the salary cap after Isiah? How can the Nets replace Jason Kidd? How can Bobby Gonzalez compete in the Big East? How can Rutgers do anything?

The Knicks season has been an arithmetic anomaly, 5 plus 1 somehow did not make 6. Power forward Zach Randolph's acquisition did nothing for the team as Eddy Curry all but disappeared. The photo above left says a lot about Curry. It seems that Nate Robinson is lending him support, much as coach Isiah Thomas has been doing for too long.

Curry couldn’t handle having another scorer to help him in the post. He never could play defense. So a one-dimensional player was left with no dimensions. I’m hoping he’ll be the first player to go under the new GM . Curry defines soft. He doesn’t rebound, doesn’t block shots, doesn’t steal the ball. What he does is watch opponents drive by, much like a “lookout block” in football.

The Knicks are loaded with one-dimensional players. Even my favorite Knick, Jamal Crawford, is very often lost on defense. Even David Lee, who rebounds like a crazy man, doesn’t have the quick feet needed to stay with his man. Even some of the alleged defensive specialists on the Knicks, such as Jared Jeffries and Renaldo Balkman don’t seem quite up to the task.

You have to wonder whether Isiah is capable of teaching defensive basketball, although such a notion is hard to believe of a “Bad Boys” alumnus. Either that, or he has simply acquired players who won’t play defense. Maybe that’s what drove Larry Brown over the edge.

It hurt this Knicks team a lot, though, to lose Stephon Marbury. Another one-dimensional player, at least he helped drive the offense, often so much so that the team could overcome its defensive liabilities. Nate Robinson shows promise but he’s no Marbury.

Jamal Crawford has played too many minutes this season. Recently, he’s lost any spark he could, more often than not, provide. Of course, he’s hurt now too, nursing a bruised hand, rough on a shooter. Lee, Richardson, Randolph, they can’t do it by themselves.

There is a recent report that Marbury may be going to the Pistons. Another report says that Curry has torn cartilage but will continue to play. (Oh joy…). That’s a nice display of toughness from someone who hasn’t shown much of anything, but with only about 3 more years left on his 6-year 60 million dollar contract, perhaps Eddy is beginning to see the end, especially in light of the fact that he’ll be losing his strongest supporter.

The Nets at least have a shrewd GM, Rod Thorn, who brought us Kidd for Marbury so many years ago. And then picked up the young and talented point guard Devin Harris to take the point. But that move, while a good one for the long haul, will not salvage this season. Not with Vince Carter seeming to have abandoned his breathtaking moves to the basket and Richard Jefferson playing inconsistently at best. Not with a team that’s lost its reason for being, that seems to have given up in mid-March.

Lawrence Frank needs to kick some butt. He’s beginning to remind me of Jets coach Eric Mangini, so logical, so calm, so “professional”. Give me a break ! These guys are just showing up. Give me a coach who’ll get mad ! Give me a coach who’ll run these gold-brickers into the ground !

I’m probably jumping the gun here but I’m very tired of watching lifeless basketball. And a lifeless coach. (Lawrence did at least pick up a technical this night). The Nets have talent; they just don’t appear to be really trying. I know it’s a team game, and the Nets are assimilating new players, but at least give the appearance of effort !

Yes, the Nets too are playing soft. Very soft, like a Carvel double-dip on hot Bayonne asphalt on the Fourth of July. Complacent, all of them, they can’t compete with the Ginoboli’s of the world, or Bowen, or Duncan, or McGrady, or Parker, or ANYBODY who’s trying.

Then there’s college ball. Seton Hall, I must say, always plays hard but they seem to be over-matched in the Big East. Ranked 11^th for the Big East tourney, maybe they can turn it around but it’s pretty unlikely. They’ll face 6^th-ranked Marquette in their opener tomorrow, the winner to take on 3^rd-ranked Notre Dame. Although nothing is impossible in college basketball, Marquette beat the Pirates by six in January and by about 26 a month later. It’s almost inconceivable that the Golden Eagles will falter in March.

All is not lost for the Pirates, however, as they successfully recruited one of the finest point guards in the country in the person of Jordan Theodore of Paterson, NJ. Theodore is said to be very quick, while able to knife through traffic and make spinning moves to the hoop. That should bode well for 2009 and beyond but won’t help them tomorrow night.

Rutgers of course couldn’t even qualify for the tournament. They have trouble in every aspect of the game, from shooting to rebounding to defense.

Things can only get better, New York fans. The 2007-2008 season is just about over. The Nets are our only hope. In the NBA East, they could possibly surprise.