Ever since the report came out about Mike D'Antoni being the new Knicks coach, all I've heard is how exciting this team will be next year and it could generate interest in the franchise while Donnie Walsh works to clean the roster.
Excitement is all fine and dandy, but all I want from D'Antoni and Walsh's first season is progress. Under Isiah, other than a couple of decent draft picks (David Lee, Renaldo Balkman, etc), there was none. In fact, the Knicks have only gone further backwards to the point where Scott Layden seems like an upgrade!
I also think it has become so bad in Knickerbocker land that the fan base could be patient if they could at least see a ray of hope. If there is something - anything - to hold your hat on with this team that D'Antoni and/or Walsh can introduce during their first season at MSG, then maybe we've got something here. The Knicks fan will probably be patient, but skeptical about getting things fixed under Walsh and D'Antoni.
However, initially, I'm not sure how much the coach really matters for the Knicks. Job 1 is cleaning this roster of the dead weight somehow and hit a couple of home runs in the draft over the next few years. There is no franchise player on this team right now. While not every player on the Knicks should be tossed out with yesterday's trash, there is nobody you would want to build a winning franchise around and maybe that guy is either in this year's draft or playing college or high school basketball right now, but he isn't playing for the Knicks yet and Walsh needs to find him. Of course, you listen to some Knicks fans and they already have the LeBron Knicks jersey on reserve and maybe the franchise player for the Knicks is playing for another NBA franchise, but I wouldn't be so quick to assume it's a foregone conclusion that LeBron is the savior.
Melanie Fitzpatrick
Hilary Rhoda
NFL Fantasy Studs Week 11
Back in Time: November 23
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