THE Knicks’ extinct three-game win streak just about clinches my prediction regarding how long Larry Brown would stay as their coach. I said he was going to last four seasons, and it now looks as if he’s going to make it through summer, fall, winter and spring.
I wonder if there’s any connection between their runoff and the fact the Developmental League playoffs begin Saturday?
Thank goodness Brown’s been coaching since the mid-’70s; otherwise, who knows how many season-ending injuries to guards it would’ve taken before dawning on him that Jamal Crawford is a scoring stylist.
Magic management (assistant GMs Dave Twardzik and Otis Smith, with concrete input from coach Brian Hill) made but one personnel miscalculation in the last few days prior to the Feb. 23 trade deadline – not insisting Crawford and Pat Garrity be included in the Penny Hardaway/Steve Francis/Trevor Ariza deal.
By all accounts, the Magic voided that segment. If that’s indeed the case, even in Isiah Thomas’ upside-down, inside-out, back-to-front rebuilding plan, why would the Knicks take on a fifth shoot-first, pass-as-a-last-resort guard – on steep decline and on the books for $48.5 million over the next three seasons?
For those too numb to keep score at home, Camp Cablevision’s sudden surge, a full fathom five into the season, has leapfrogged it past Portland and Charlotte in the Race to Avoid Worst Record Disgrace.
At the same time, Crawford, regularly stuffing stat sheets and downing game-winners, has just about made the faithful forget Edmund Sherod.
Who accused some of these Knicks of being quitters? Starry-eyed to a fault, I’m looking forward to James Dolan furnishing Thomas with more money to burn on rectifying his mistakes and committing new ones.
Never a fatalist, I can’t wait for Slow Draw to give Brown more rope to hang Thomas and stabilize his “unbalanced roster.”
Ever the optimist, I’m excited Brown will be assigned another season to mismanage, and be presented with additional players to bury, bench, waive, trade, out and identify as delusional – and then blame himself for all the problems.
No defeatist, I’m unconcerned about Brown’s track record. This time I’ve done my homework; proper authorities assure me, should Next Town skate, it won’t be because the Knicks are about to be placed on probation.
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Asked by the Sacramento Bee to name this season’s MVP, Ron Artest cited himself.
Asked to disqualify His Humbleness and pick someone else, Artest credited Chauncey Billups, then Rasheed Wallace or Ben Wallace or Rip Hamilton, “one of those guys.”
One of those guys, of course, Ben Wallace, of course was the Piston who violently shoved Artest after Ron fouled him hard, and then flung a towel at him that ignited The Malice at the Palace.
Clearly, Artest doesn’t have a begrudging thought in his consciousness. Or a lot of other thoughts, either, it’s widely argued. In this case, underlines column castigator Frank Drucker, “Once you get by his first sentence I thought he was pretty logical.”
I happen to feel Artest’s initial belief isn’t that farfetched, not that the voting members of the media figure to sprinkle more than token support on him. Yet, if you go by sheer numbers, compile the won-lost record in games played for the Pacers and the Kings, a case certainly can be made to back his boast.
Before Artest was deactivated for campaigning on TV and in the newspapers to be traded, the Pacers were 10-6. They were 11-12 with him sidelined. They’re 16-22 since swapping him for Peja Stojakovic, 37-40, overall, seventh in the East, crumbling and cracking from coach on down, last night’s decisive win over the Knicks notwithstanding.
The Kings currently are 41-37, deadlocked with the Lakers for seventh in the West, a far cry from the Humpty Dumpties when Artest showed up and put them back together again. Since his arrival, the 18-24 Kings have gone 23-13. It appears their season has been salvaged.
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Andrew “Fuzzy” Levane is 86 today.
Let’s see, he’s uniquely pictured with three championship teams at the Hall of Fame: the ’38-’39 James Madison PSAL champions; the ’42-’43 St. John’s NIT champs; and the ’45-’46 Rochester Royals NBL champions.
He’s enshrined in the St. John’s University Athletic Hall of Fame. Won the ’42-’43 Haggerty Award. Is inducted in the New York City PSAL Hall of Fame and NYC Basketball Hall of Fame. Played professionally with the Rochester Royals, Syracuse Nationals and Milwaukee Hawks. Coached the Milwaukee Hawks (’52-’54), the Knicks (’58-’60) and St. Louis Hawks (’61-’62). And was scout forever and a day for the Knicks.
Other than that, he has spent his whole life loitering around Port Washington.
Happy Birthday, Fuzzy.