NY Knicks - Lights Out, Tight Jeans, Drag Queen!

New owner doesn't promise any championships; I'm puzzled
posted by Knickerbocker, 08/12/2008 10.13 p.m.

Happy to put the disastrous 23 wins-season behind me you probably noticed that I didn't feel the need to blog very much about our New York Knicks the last couple of months, or about basketball in general actually, even now while the very enjoyable Olympics tournament is going on, but the news of a takeover being at hand at Madison Square Garden is simply too loud to ignore. I am torn between excitement and despair about this and I just have to get it out of my system. First of all, could it get any worse than what we have right now? I guess not. That's the excitement part. We've all been hoping and praying for a new management with the right vision and means to get us back to the top of the league (or the playoffs at least) for a long long time. So that's good. But we've all seen new owners around the league making ridiculous promises and not following up on them, not to say they f*** it up entirely differently. Which is allright as long as it's not the Knicks. The strange part about this takeover though is that there is no protagonistic rich guy promising championship after championship or even promising that he WILL land LeBron in 2010, instead it involves a seemingly introvert undisclosed European guy and well, that is just equally scary to me if not more. A European guy??? Come on this is not a soccer 'club' for God's sake! And anonymous??? I want somebody I can hold accountable for the mess we're in (sorry, it just seems to always be that way). At least if we would have the protagonist kind we'd have those few months of naïveté where we could childishly fantasize about all those promised championships with LBJ as the glorious MVP in the middle until a few crushing defeats would snap us out of that fairytale again. And I think it's just un-American to be so secretive.

So I'm not so sure as whether to get excited about this one. But there is some news that does excite me about it though. According to the NY Times the Knicks are close to offloading Stephon Marbury. With his huge contract and ineffective play - not to mention the detrimental effect he has on the team chemistry - that would be good news. And we have too many damn point guards anyway. If the new obscure owner keeps coming up with deals like that I might change my mind about him, whoever he is.

NY Knicks Roster 08/09:









Head Coach:



Disclaimer:
Unrealistic trades coming up.

Also a couple of heavy defeats.

I actually started playing Association mode immediately and I was just experimenting a bit but I kind of just went with it and am still playing this one. Don't expect it to be realistic at all.

Last edited by Hedonist on Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

The guy with the souft touch
posted by Knickerbocker, 08/29/2008 5.17 p.m.

Who would think the Lakers give him up? Wow, what a great acquisition. He's been criticized for not showing up in the Finals but he definitely can play. If you watched Team USA take on Spain in the Olympic final last week you know what I'm talking about. But as much as I love the idea of Gasol coming to New York I hate the fact that the Knicks traded Nate to LA for him. He may be the biggest talent we had. Sure it's great to see Marbury go - especially his $21 million contract - and get a top player back and the Lakers aren't going to do this for nothing, heck I don't know, it's just that you don't want to see the best talents go anywhere, especially not to a contender. Ofcourse the Lakers insisted on Robinson as PG was their weak spot. So I understand that, but throwing in the two draft picks was just crazy if you ask me. That's talent down the drain for you. Especially with our win %, we're bound to get great picks. I say they should've gone for the deal with Fisher instead of Vujacic, that would have saved a first round pick straight up.

Gasol said he's thrilled to sign with NY because of the prospect of with whom he would play, amongst other things (him being the star of the team I guess). I wonder what he means because I can't imagine him saying that because of Eddy Curry or Chris Duhon. Maybe about Harrington or Lee but they play the same position as he does so that would be weird too.



NY Knicks get:
Pau Gasol, PF
Sacha Vujacic, SG

LA Lakers get:
Stephon Marbury, PG
Nate Robinson, PG
1st round pick 2010
2nd round pick 2010

El Hermano Mayor
posted by Knickerbocker, 09/09/2008 3.25 p.m.

The bigger brother. You could say that about both Marc and Pau. If you were looking forward to seeing these two match up against each other in an NBA game I have to disappoint you. It ain't gonna happen. They are united in the front court of the New York Knicks. That is special which ever way you look at it. First being traded for one another and just six months later ending up in the same team. Hard to believe. "It was very difficult to keep quiet about this," said Pau, "but yeah obviously I knew it already when I agreed with the trade from LA. I never would have left that great team if it wasn't for the chance to play with my brother and the belief that Knicks would and will again become a great team also. It was excruciating to wait for the good news of the deal with the Grizzlies, I couldn't believe they didn't seal the deal sooner after everything that I have done for that franchise. They did agree to this transaction in principle almost a month ago already."

ESPN commentator Jalen Rose reported that Grizzlies stretched the deal, forcing the Knicks to eventually throw in their 2nd round draft pick. A spokesman of the Knicks organization confirmed that they didn't want to lose any more draft picks but they simply had no other option. He added that they owed it to Pau Gasol to do whatever it took.

Marc Gasol appeared to be the happiest person at the press conference. "This is a dream. To play in the NBA was a dream in itself, to play for the Knicks is more than I could have hoped for and to play next to Pau is just beyond my wildest dreams. During the Olympics we talked about the possibility, and it is incredible, I never thought it would happen for real. Now I only wanna do everything I can to make this team a winning team so my brother won't miss out on his chance to win an NBA-title because of his move from the Lakers."

For the first time Pau Gasol commented on this as well. "I had my chance to win with the Lakers last season. It didn't work out and I don't want that second chance. Not as much as I want this chance anyway." On questions about reasons to move away from L.A. rather than moving to N.Y. he was short but clear. "No, Kobe doesn't blame me for not winning the Championship. And if Phil Jackson does, than he is just a bad coach."

I had the chance to ask one question myself. To Pau, "Do you think your brother has a chance to step in your shoes and become the Rookie of the Year like yourself in 2002?" "Ha that's a tough call to make. I'm not sure how many great rookies will debut in the NBA this season, but I'm confident that he will be in the running. My brother is an excellent player for his size and for his age. Let's not say that he will get the award period, he has enough pressure on his shoulders already with his last name as it is."

"You know (serious), I don't want to be that family member that speaks highly of all that and how good he is and stuff like that, you will see and everybody will see and he will just play. But I do wanna say, if you think that I am a good player then you will see that Marc is a great player."

Can't be sure if that was about size. But he's clearly the bigger brother.


The happiest guy in the room.

NY Knicks get:
Marc Gasol, C
Marko Jaric, SG

Memphis Grizzlies get:
Eddy Curry, C
Jared Jeffries, SF
Tim Thomas, PF
2nd round pick 2009

This will never happen:

Liking the Gasol-Gasol frontcourt Nice trades.

Disclaimer:
Unrealistic trades coming up.

Got that right Got rid of your bad contracts for the Gasol brothers. Nice work in that department!

It's not realistic but the idea of have both Gasols teaming up in the NBA would work for me.

I actually did that in my association with the nets only with Brook and Robin Lopez. I called them the twin towers.

Thanks guys, hopefully you'll like the backcourt too.

Takeover makeover
posted by Knickerbocker, 10/15/2008 11.30 a.m.

The season has yet to start but already the New York Knicks have set two new NBA records. Almost all of last year's Knicks were traded away and literally all of their replacements are born in Europe. Pretty curious records to say the least. On both counts center Jerome James is the odd man out. The cynics say because he's untradeable. Probably true.

On the excessive trading there's two ways to look at it. We got hammered last year. Except for Jamal Crawford who was already traded away and Nate Robinson I can't think of any player that really contributed to his potential. David Lee had a pretty good season as well. But it makes sense to trade them regarding the circumstances, the Lakers insisted on Robinson in the Gasol deal and the Raptors deal works out because Bargnani can play second fiddle to Gasol and Lee can grow to become a starter in Toronto. I like the Magic deal even better. Turkoglu is a real clutch player, extremely versatile if you ask me and Pietrus is a very dynamic attacking player who can hit the three and play hard defense when called upon. Tall guys for their position as well. I don't know about Görtat but he probably won't play much. As for the Magic, they needed a strong PF to back up Howard on defense on crucial parts of the game, they were looking for an extra back-up point guard behind the injury proned Jameer Nelson and the extra 1st round pick might turn out to be very effective as they are still on a long-term strategy building a great young team around Dwight Howard.

A colleague blogger of mine wrote in his Magic-blog that that was exactly the reason Orlando agreed to the transaction. Stan Van Gundy: "It might makes us a little weaker in the short run but we'll benefit at least double from this in a couple of years. Hedo is expiring and will no doubt look for a raise after his Most Improved Player Award from last season, and rightfully so. Pietrus is a very good player but sometimes you have to make a choice. I have chosen for the future of this franchise and that is why I'm going with Courtney Lee. He is at least equally talented and much more disciplined, he'll get his chance to establish himself as a starter. We have never had so much options at the point and that is a great fit for our outside game. We are definitely hurt on the small forward position but with Malik Rose as an extra option up front I'm thinking of using Rashard Lewis on that position if the situation calls for it. But again, we'll be scouting the draft class a little bit more closely on the small forward position and fill that spot with the extra draft pick, that's a no brainer.
On the long term it looks great." ( http://www.thirdquartercollapse.com/ )

So, no argument from me there. But as for something called continuation? You can't just put a bunch of new players together and expect them to play as a team can you? "No you can't. You have to grow some familiarity between the players. But take a closer look, they're not only familiar, some of them are family! Our front court has played basketball together all of their lives and on the highest international level in the Spanish national team with our new point guard José Calderon. They know each others play. With Turkoglu and Pietrus completing the starting five you get two team-mates from the Orlando Magic team as well. We just got to find a way to get those two tandems to work well together." D'Antoni had thought about it, I'll give him that.

But what I can't get over is the fact that he's gonna play with European players only. And apparently the reporter that interviewed him couldn't either. "I am a European myself. But I am an American too. You can say that about all of my players as well. They are true Americans, they live the real American dream and they have come here to stay. Do you know what Marc and Pau Gasol's parents are doing right now as we speak? Let me tell you, they are over in Memphis trying to sell their house, which is hard enough these days, because none of their sons is gonna live there anymore and they will look for a house here in the great state of New York. If you have not just your children living under your roof but also you take your parents here with you then you can really call this country your home."

"But Mr. D'Antoni, don't you think that New York fans will be turned off by this? Surely they want American players on their team?"
"New Yorkers are great people. Also very international by the way. They are more New Yorker than American. It's special. New Yorkers will understand what I mean. They want to be the best. They want the Knicks to win and to be the best. And that is exactly what is my goal."

D'Antoni went on to say that he wasn't done trading yet. "I'm still looking for a sharpshooter."

NY Knicks get:
Hedo Turkoglu, SF
Mickaël Piétrus, SG
Marcin Görtat, C*

Orlando Magic get:
Chris Duhon, PG
Anthony Roberson, PG
Malik Rose, PF
1st round draft pick 2009


NY Knicks get:
José Calderon, PG
Andrea Bargnani, PF

Toronto Raptors get:
Al Harrington, PF
David Lee, PF
Wilson Chandler, SF


NY Knicks sign:
Vasileios 'Vassilis' Spanoulis, PG


Projected starting five:



* Görtat was actually a PF with C as secondary position but imo it should be the other way around.
I edited this just before the last game I played when I was looking to change his jersey # from 3 to 13 which he wears irl.

You might notice Marc Gasol wears 33 in the picture, which is ofcourse retired and I will change that back to 14 which the CPU chose him to wear. He only wore it the last game I played. Just did a check-up on the jersey numbers actually, I liked 14 better anyway. Turkoglu was given # 43 by the CPU. 15 is retired and Gasol has 16 which I honestly to my shame thought was his actual number. I'm thinking of changing his jersey to # 8.

Wow. You really changed the whole team!

I like the whole Euro feel but I htink you need to add Aussie-Croat Andrew Bogut.

Yeah I just wanted to see what I could end up with you know.. I didn't really plan all the transactions out beforehand.
It turned out to be a pretty balanced team/roster I think. Especially with the 6th man who I will present in my next post.

Definitely better than what I had. (Cost me 4 draft picks, so it better. )

@ Sit: I couldn't get him if I wanted without having to give up one of my starters and he wouldn't be happy as a role player behind the Gasol-Gasol frontcourt so that is no option as I don't want to disrupt that. If I had any leverage for an expensive center he wouldn't be my choice btw, I did try for Big Z and even Nowitzki just to see if you could pull it off.
I was really just getting acquainted with the game and trying things out.

Sorry I can't help you out on the chauvinism department. I can't help myself out on that part either as there is no fellow countryman of mine on the roster although I did try for one (Fernando Elson) but that was when I really had nobody to trade for him without having to sacrifice a useful player while he wouldn't be useful at all to be honest.

Lights Out, Tight Jeans, Drag Queen!
posted by Knickerbocker, 10/19/2008 5.17 p.m.

Coach Mike D'Antoni has found his sharpshooter. Predrag Stojakovic. The former FIBA World Champion,
3-time NBA All-Star and back-to-back winner of the NBA All-Star Weekend 3-Point Shootout Contest wants to finish his NBA-career in New York and not in New Orleans, leaving Hornets-fans shocked.

"I had my eye on him all along. When he gets hot he's still the best pure shooter in the league."

"New York is a big stage. The big city stage is what was still missing in my career." He didn't mention a ring or anything.
"I liked it at the Hornets but this is a chance for me to reinvent myself. Coach D'Antoni has talked to me. He told me about his plans with this team and how he sees me as a perfect fit for that system. It was an inspiration."

You couldn't tell by the look on his face if he really was inspired. The smile wasn't fake, that was for sure, but I doubt if he still has the hunger to produce his A-game. For all we know the Knicks expect way too much from another overpaid veteran again. Stojakovic is 31 and has a three year $42 million-contract under his belt. With his numbers going down I can't blame the Hornets for letting him go.

D'Antoni: "I followed this kid. His shooting has always remained pure beauty. That's talent, it doesn't go away with age. Stojakovic has the potential to win NBA games for at least five more years if he takes care of his body well enough. He won't be as quick and he won't get as many shots, but he'll still drain the ones he'll get. It's all about focus. I didn't retire until I was 39 and I was a point guard. It goes without saying that guards rely much more on their quickness than forwards. Peja's problem is not his quickness but his focus. That's what I talked to him about."

The coach had a special take on whether Stojakovic is not too good a player to put on the bench let alone too expensive.
"We lacked a scorer on the bench. Bargnani can't do that on his own. Stojakovic is a terrific weapon to put on the court when you need it the most. And him sitting on the bench watching other guys miss shots will antagonize him and feed the hunger to get his hands on the ball and aim for that shot again. It will bring back his A game. He'll get enough minutes and plenty of rest, these are all things we discussed. For me as a coach it's a great situation. There is one less thing I have to worry about now; who's ready to take the next shot if the team's having trouble finding the hole..."

Meanwhile, fans in New Orleans are outraged. They want his head.


Basketball-fans in New Orleans protesting the departure of their shooter.




NY Knicks get:
Predrag 'Peja' Stojakovic, SF
Devin Brown, PG

New Orleans Hornets get:
Sasha Vujacic, SG
Quentin Richardson, SF


NY Knicks get:
Kyrylo Fesenko, C

Utah Jazz get:
Devin Brown, PG


NY Knicks Bench Players:

6th Man:


Role Players: (in order of importance/projected minutes)

Görtat started out as a bench warmer (default) but he moved up the ranks. Spanoulis down.

Bench Warmers:


Depth Chart:
PG: 11. Calderon / 18. Spanoulis
SG: 20. Pietrus / 55. Jaric
SF: 43. Turkoglu / 6. Stojakovic / 8. Gallinari
PF: 16. P. Gasol / 7. Bargnani
C: 14. M. Gasol / 13. Görtat / 44. Fesenko / 23. James

Last edited by Hedonist on Sun Jun 14, 2009 3:28 am, edited 6 times in total.

NY Knicks get:
Kyrylo Fesenko, C
Utah Jazz get:
Devin Harris, PG

Man, are you serious?

NY Knicks get:
Kyrylo Fesenko, C
Utah Jazz get:
Devin Harris, PG

Man, are you serious?

Yeah that was a mistake. I could have gotten a better player for him probably. I was looking for a back-up C, Görtat was PF officially. I didn't even know that editing during the game was possible then. I just wanted to finish the trading off and go ahead with the game. Got fed up searching for potential trades, not so many cheap European C's left to find I think. And I figured Fesenko might develop some skills.

EDIT: Another rectification! It was Devin Brown, not Harris.

Last edited by Hedonist on Sun Jun 14, 2009 3:31 am, edited 2 times in total.

I love how Jerome James is the token black guy... now trade him!

I love how Jerome James is the token black guy... now trade him!

Actually I was thinking of changing his first name and edit his skills a bit. Gave him #23 for a reason.

Any suggestions? He gets $ 6.2 million and all of his skills are F except Post D and Reb. (C+ & B-)

Don't forget Pietrus, he's the real token black guy.

He gets $ 6.2 million and all of his skills are F except Post D and Reb.

Why trade for Odom when I can trade for Jerome James for my association?

Man, you really love your pasty white boys, eh?

I love how Jerome James is the token black guy... now trade him!

Actually I was thinking of changing his first name and edit his skills a bit. Gave him #23 for a reason.

Any suggestions? He gets $ 6.2 million and all of his skills are F except Post D and Reb. (C+ & B-)

Don't forget Pietrus, he's the real token black guy.

I think you need to trade Jerome for someone. That or you can just waive him cause he will be off contract soon!

Man, you really love your pasty white boys, eh?

Yeah man don't you? I like 'm best with blonde hair and blue eyes.

That's a joke (u can't be clear enough these days).

I'm actually Jewish if you must know (by descent, not religion), and I have a Muslim in my avatar.
How do you like me now?

I'm aware of the fact that my roster is controversial.
It will generate media coverage in this story, hopefully providing for some funny writing.

A few considerations of mine regarding this game:
- I'm big on realism (otherwise I wouldn't have looked for this forum in the first place), but I have often ended up spending more time updating/editing a variety of sports games than playing the game because of that; a 'fantasy' team creates a new interesting 'sim' situation that takes away a lot of the little nuisances you might have because of the differences between the game and real life. I already created a new situation so the small differences are easier to accept.

As far as realism goes, the roster is not but that is the only thing. I play 82 games & 12 mins p.q. and I don't sim.

(Ironically I am going to sim my next game, or should I say previous... I got a well deserved and much needed hard fought win yesterday but I didn't save it. Left it open to make some caps & to keep the game recap available but for some stupid Windows-update reason my CPU decided to reboot when I was doing something else... )

Furthermore on realism & rosters, note that I did go for a 'European Dream Team'-ish roster but only within the margins of what I could get with what I started out with. Acquired by 'fair' trading. I wouldn't wanna play with too good a team, i.e. Dirk, Pau, Turk, Gordon, Parker + Z, Marc, Peja, Deng, Calderon, (Rubio) ...

I tried not to screw up the other teams in the league too much. Gasol from the Lakers was my first trade and doesn't fall in that categorie maybe (that's when I got the idea for the team, after the trade; Lakers is default trade screen btw if u play with the Knicks) but they did get a great point guard in Nate Robinson (30 GP 30 GS averaging 30.5 MPG 16.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG 4.9 APG 1.4 SPG 2.2 TOPG .444 FG% .378 3P% .780 FT%. Lakers with a 20-10 win record right now ).

I'll post more about the Euro-controversy and issues of race later, as a storyline and from myself as well.
I think this post is long enough as it is for now.

Last edited by Hedonist on Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:09 pm, edited 3 times in total.

I think you need to trade Jerome for someone. That or you can just waive him cause he will be off contract soon!

Believe me I tried. I guess I should have gotten rid of him via a multi-player trade earlier.
I even tried to trade him for players in their 30s with long contracts to teams that are just over or under the cap.
I figured they could use the extra $ 6 million on their budget next season.

What's the use of waiving him? Don't I still have to pay him the whole contract that way?

[quote=]and the only multiple winner the NBA All-Star Weekend 3-Point Shootout Contest in NBA-history[/quote]

That's not true. Larry Bird, Craig Hodges, Mark Price, Jeff Hornacek and now Jason Kapono have all won multiple times.

If you like white boys, acquire Korver I think you should keep Jerome, and work with his salary which comes off your book in the summer.

If the crowd reaction in 2k9 would be realistic this team would get booed every night. I'm just sayin'. The knicks' fans booed the hell out of Gallinari and Nene when they were drafted.

and the only multiple winner the NBA All-Star Weekend 3-Point Shootout Contest in NBA-history

That's not true. Larry Bird, Craig Hodges, Mark Price, Jeff Hornacek and now Jason Kapono have all won multiple times.

I stand corrected. Guess I read the wrong source or misinterpret something. My bad. Changed it.

If you like white boys, acquire Korver

He's American. It's not about black or white.

I think you should keep Jerome, and work with his salary which comes off your book in the summer.

He has a player option. Does that mean I'm stuck with him for another year?

I will be under the cap this summer (if the options aren't lifted) but only slightly. I don't think I can target any free agents.

If the crowd reaction in 2k9 would be realistic this team would get booed every night. I'm just sayin'.

I know.. & on some nights it's been pretty realistic then I might add.

The knicks' fans booed the hell out of Gallinari and Nene when they were drafted.

Why?

I googled for it and I read that Gallinari is considered a wasted pick, but I don't understand the reason to boo Néné and even Yao Ming. Is that because they're not from the States?

I guess. Pretty racist if you ask me. Steve Nash nearly got booed out of the building when he was drafted.