IF Channing Frye isn’t hurt, in foul trouble, exhausted, unambiguously awful or delusional, he should play every possible minute of every game. Same holds true for Eddy Curry, Stephon Marbury, David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Trevor Ariza and Nate Robinson.
This is the Knicks’ crux for many seasons to come. To hell with mistake acquisitions on the roster being bequeathed treasured time because they’re along for the ride.
After 30 games, Isiah Thomas’ odds of trading Quentin Richardson and Jerome James cannot be helped by further exposure, whereas Maurice Taylor’s stained reputation lingers like an incurable cough. New York’s barely breathing hope is that the less these guys are absent with leave the more it’ll make rivals’ hearts grow fonder.
Lots of luck!
As for the expiring contracts of Antonio Davis and Penny Hardaway, they are what they are, tools to exchange for genuine articles or a means to lop $29.5 million off the organization’s obscene NBA high ($125M) salary cap at season’s end. That doesn’t mean they (Penny’s got the right idea by distancing himself from the team) should be allowed to cut into the kiddies’ dance of daylight.
Yet, for some bizarre reason known only to Larry Brown and his travel agent, he continues to do exactly that. Curiously, the maddening method man can’t resist the urge to mess with the minutes and the minds of his young men. Buried on the bench or the inactive list one day. Discovered or rediscovered later that day.
Frye is a perfect example. Not that long ago he was getting honorable mention throughout the league as the top rookie behind Chris Paul and Charlie Villanueva. Almost overnight he went from prime time to part-time. In fact, despite scoring in double figures in the last three games (12, 15, 10) prior to Friday night’s award winning performance at the Garden, the 6-11 forward only witnessed 24, 18 and 15 minutes, and he wasn’t remotely in foul trouble in any of them.
Even against the Wizards, when Frye racked up seven rebounds and a game-max 30 points (misfiring once in eight free- throw attempts and twice in 13 field-goal tries), Brown only saw fit to play him 26 minutes.
Coaches are so freakin’ weird, though apparently the Knicks didn’t need a new one, after all, just a new calendar.
Far be from me to disparage Friday’s festival, but Camp Cablevision has not exactly been the only outfit to put a spell-check on the Wizards, 4-10 in their last 14 prior to last night’s hosting of the Celtics. Moreover, they’ve permitted 364 points in their last trio (121.3 per) and began the weekend giving up nearly 102 ppg, the third-most porous posse (Seattle, Philadelphia) in David Stern’s precinct.
Pretty sad, I submit, when the person with the best exit strategy in Washington was Michael Jordan.
Afterthought: Don’t get me wrong about Richardson; he can ball, inside and out, plus his board scores are impressive per minute. But it’s rather challenging to deal someone whose discs are uninsured, is owed $33 million over the next four seasons, and keeps suffering from back spasms.
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Bob Weiss was hired for three reasons:
First, he came relatively cheap, $1.8M and $2M for two seasons, the cheapest short term of 30 head coaches. This is what happens to your value when you idle for 13 seasons at the same place panting for a promotion. Management saw no need to invest beaucoup bucks in anyone but the departed Nate McMillan after Ray Allen got opulently rewarded ($80M) to re-sign for five years. The feeling within the organization is the team greatly overachieved last season when it captured the Northwest Division and came within a trifecta by Allen of extending the Spurs to seven games in the western conference semi-finals. In light of their center-by-mediocre committee and defensive deficiencies management believed the Sonics were still very much a work in progress.
Second of all, Allen, Rashard Lewis and others campaigned covertly and overtly for Weiss. The appreciated his style, low key and low profile all the way. McMillan never stopped pushing and prodding and demanding. All of the leftover players appeared to look forward to softer critiques, painless practices and easier living. In training camp they celebrated the radical change. For the most part, that lasted until it became obvious several weeks ago their bout with inconsistency couldn’t be reversed, when it became plain Weiss couldn’t get through to the players, couldn’t extract a professional effort on a nightly basis.
Lastly, team president Wally Walker and GM Rick Sund hoped to preserve as much continuity as possible within their control. McMillan had bolted to Portland, Antonio Daniels was recruited by Washington and James suckered Thomas into favoring him with a five-year, $29M deal. In addition, three players opted for one-year pacts that guaranteed some strife. Vladimir Radmanovic, who amazingly rejected a $42M, five-year extension, didn’t disappoint; he staged an open revolt, heavy on the light work.
(One of Bob Hill’s first command decisions, if not his first priority, upon succeeding Weiss was to replace Reggie Evans with the long distance dialing Radmanovic, to spread the floor and the defense. Now we’ll find out who was dumber, Radmanovic for turning down $42M, or management for giving him an opportunity to seize such a windfall).
In other words, after 30 games, 13 of ’em wins, essentially the same three reasons that got Weiss hired got him fired.
Afterthought: Far be it from me to suggest Weiss didn’t get a fair shake, but Danielle Pigtails’ whimpering episodes last longer than he did. . . .
So, I’m watching the Pacers-Warriors Thursday night and listening to TNT’s Doug Collins analyze a poorly executed second half fastbreak that resulted in Danny Granger aborting a layup but getting fouled in the process. The camera then showed the rookie listening to some advice courtesy of Anthony Johnson.
“That’s the second layup Granger has missed tonight” Collins explained. “That’s a sign of youth. He has to learn how to take the bump, regain his balance and finish strong. Johnson is telling him he has to make those layups.”
I beg to differ. You don’t have to have played or coached in the NBA to know Johnson, Granger’s running mate on the 2-1 break, was doing nothing of the kind. I guarantee you what he told Granger was, “Had you given me the ball like you’re supposed to, I would’ve given it back to you for an easy dunk.”
And TNT actually pays Collins for his special insight.
peter.vecsey@nypost.com