NJ Writer roughs up the Knicks...
>>Knicks: New game plan should start here
05/06/01
BY DAVE D'ALESSANDRO
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
PURCHASE, N.Y. -- Latrell Sprewell, shooting from the lip and taking no prisoners, has told them all what time it is. It's high noon, and it's time to bust it all up. Easy for him to say. He doesn't have to stay up every night for the next four months worrying about the Knicks' mediocre chemistry and an intractable salary-cap problem.
That's Scott Layden's job, and the diligent general manager claims he recognizes the job ahead of him this summer. His vision for the team could not be expressed yesterday, just one day after it was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, but he was very good at issuing the usual management platitudes.
"When you go out in the first round, obviously that doesn't cut it," Layden said. "But we certainly don't make decisions after tough losses, so what we need to do is evaluate and look at our team in its entirety and then make decisions accordingly. As we said all year, we felt very good about our team and still do. But we're going to be very busy and were always looking to improve the team -- whether that's through trades, free agency, draft, whatever the case may be. We're focused on making this team as good as possible."
You were expecting something enlightening, perhaps? Not a chance. But he was willing to admit that there is a lot of work ahead. The needle, as they say, is stuck. Here is what should be on Layden's list of Things To Do this summer:
1. Make the right call on Allan Houston: He will undoubtedly opt out of his contract (with two years and $21,000,000 remaining on it) to maintain his leverage and ensure that he plays in the city of his own choosing -- which he insists is New York. His agent, Bill Strickland, has confirmed this many times.
And while the Knicks say all the right things out of fear that Houston will split from the scene outright, they know this to be true: He and Latrell Sprewell don't enjoy each other's company as much as they used to, Sprewell was clearly blaming Houston for the team's inconsistency and early exit this season, and Houston can be convinced that another team might be the best thing for his career as he begins life after 30 -- because even he is sick of all the yammering Spree has done in the last two months.
So it's time to be imaginative, and get the most they can for their investment. Whether Houston can max out is irrelevant, for now: If Chris Webber or Rasheed Wallace or Shareef Abdur-Rahim is the target, the Knicks will need some help. In order for the Knicks to bring in the star-quality player they need up front, they will have to come up with a third team for Layden and Sacramento (or Portland or Vancouver) to do business with. They will have to find out where Houston wants to play, and work out a multiple-team trade that can make everyone happy.
Houston has been one of the great Knicks of the last 20 years, but the time to change is now. Once he moves on, it will allow Glen Rice (who is untradable) and Sprewell return to their natural positions, where they have flourished before and can flourish again.
2. Find a stud: Webber will be on Layden's speed dial as soon as Sacramento's season concludes, and the jewel of this summer's free-agent market can be acquired in a number of ways -- none of which is going to be easy to pull off. The hope, of course, is that Webber can be patient and accept the $4.4 million middle-class exception, with the promise of a bigger payday next summer. How willing he is to do this is uncertain, because there will be other teams that he likes -- the Rockets, among others -- that will give him his maximum contract this summer. All he has to do is ask.
Wallace will also be on the market, but the Knicks would have to gut half their roster to acquire him, because he would automatically become the best center in the East, and Portland knows that. Abdur-Rahim is a star who could also be had at the right price, and the Knicks could probably offer enough live bodies, cash and future considerations to make the deal enticing for the Vancouver/Memphis franchise. Memphis, after all, is close to Louisville, which is Houston's hometown.
3. Upgrade the point-guard spot, pronto: Mark Jackson finally said what everyone has known to be true for some time: The two-headed point guard doesn't work. "In an ideal world, somebody has to be your guy," he said, somewhat sore over sitting out the fourth quarter of Game 5. "I can remember only one team winning a championship with (two) -- Houston, with Sam Cassell and Kenny Smith. I think you have to have somebody that's your guy. And if it's not me, so be it. You have to have a group of guys you're willing to live and die with."
What he didn't say was that neither he nor Charlie Ward is "Our Guy" quality, and that both have too many flaws in their games to justify playing either one for 35 minutes per night. Jackson could have helped this team more, if Van Gundy allowed him to push the tempo and get more out of Sprewell and Camby. But the Bataan Death March Offense the Knicks ran limited Jackson's impact offensively and could not offset what he gives up defensively, which is plenty. Besides that, he's 36.
Over the past two years, Ward has become better known for being a misogynist and an anti-Semite than he is for anything he's done on the court. He has become an embarrassment to the organization in a market that is supposed to be more enlightened than most, and if his coaching staff is ever willing to admit the truth, his influence on certain teammates is considered borderline dangerous.
The problem the Knicks face is that there are very few quality point guards available. The great ones are all young and untouchable (Stephon Marbury, Andre Miller, Steve Francis, Baron Davis, et al.), the middle-aged ones are too polished to part with (Cassell, Terrell Brandon, Jason Kidd), and the available ones either have baggage (Rod Strickland, Mookie Blaylock) or won't come East (Gary Payton). But if they try hard enough, the Knicks might be able to spring Damon Stoudamire or Mike Bibby loose from Portland or Vancouver/Memphis. The best point guard in the free-agent draft, Alvin Williams, isn't going anywhere.
4. Find a coach who will let the talent show: Van Gundy, who bends with the best of them when he feels the political winds, has decided to latch on to Sprewell as his soulmate, effusively praising him as the team's most courageous player, the guy with the most right to speak up, and, as he repeated in his most cloying manner yesterday, "the biggest person of influence in this organization."
But there are numerous facts that still need to be pointed out to Sprewell, who has made a conscious decision to ignore his coach's flaws: Van Gundy plays too many people out of position, he has run an inefficient system that doesn't get the most out of some of the best offensive talent in the East, and he -- not Layden, not Dave Checketts -- is the one most responsible for constructing what has been a flawed roster. For some reason, Sprewell hasn't recognized any of that yet, because he is still in "Anyone But P.J." mode and appreciates Van Gundy for not sweating the small stuff, such as showing up at 6:15 on game nights.
"There's no player I've ever felt closer to ..." Van Gundy said. Of course not. And you better keep him close, or you're a goner.
Meanwhile, Layden is eternally grateful that Van Gundy helped him get his job and a $7.5 million contract by refusing to recommend Ed Tapscott in the summer of 1999, so he's a broken record. "We're a very well-coached team, we're very well-prepared," Layden repeated yesterday. "I think Coach Van Gundy is certainly our most consistent performer."
He is consistently stubborn, actually, and refuses to adhere to what has become an irrefutable basketball truth ever since Phil Jackson and Mike Krzyzewski produced dynasties in their respective sports during the last decade: Players are only as good as their coaches believe them to be, and the better the player, the more that freedom and trust and control should be bestowed on him. That's a dangerous notion to coaches such as Van Gundy, who has more than enough talent to win with, but who believes the NBA will always be a director's medium. |
