You know if this news came out years ago, the Knicks fans would be going bonkers.

The news this time is dealing with Patrick Ewing Jr. not Senior.

Ewing Jr. hasn’t shied away from his father’s legacy. He started his collegiate career at Indiana before transferring to Georgetown, where his father led the Hoyas to three Final Fours and the 1984 national championship.

The 24-year-old Ewing averaged 6.1 points and 4.2 rebounds last season, winning the Big East Sixth Man of the Year award.

source

Ewing Senior

Patrick Ewing Sr. dominated basketball, first at Georgetown in college and then with the New York Knicks in the NBA.

Ewing joined the Knicks as the No. 1 pick in the 1985 draft, and is the franchise’s career leader in points, rebounds, and blocked shots, among other categories. He was voted one of the league’s 50 greatest players, and will be inducted into basketball’s Hall of Fame next week.

source

A lot of people will not give Ewing Sr. his due, because he never won an NBA title in spite of being close several times and having to play during the Michael Jordan era.

Hey, the guy won an NCAA title, was a member of the dream team, and took the Knicks to the Conference finals or title game more than once. Ewing ruled the paint.

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High flying Derrick Rose holds the keys to the draft mania, but where is the basketball?

Image details: UCLA v Memphis served by picapp.com

This is going to be one crazy draft.

First let’s set the table. The Western Conference finished as tight in the standings as a conference could. There were barely any games separating first place from 9th place. What does that mean? Wheeling and dealing will take place, because each team that finished behind the Lakers and Kobe Bryant thinks it will just take one solid deal to move them up to first.

In the Eastern Conference, Orlando, Miami, Chicago, and especially Detroit are also ready to deal.

Just to add to the mess, this draft is loaded with point guards and other than Rose and Beasley; it just seems to have a lot of equal appearing players.

How about we just pick out a few scenarios from the mock draft by Chad Ford at ESPN.com.

Miami Heat #2

Go no farther than the Miami Heat at the number 2 pick.

We continue to hear that the Heat will probably trade the No. 2 pick if Rose is off the board. The latest talk has the Sonics and Heat discussing a swap that would send the No. 2 pick and Mark Blount to Seattle for Chris Wilcox and the No. 4 pick. The move would give the Heat a huge amount of cap space in the summer of 2009. (Wilcox is in the last year of his contract, while Blount has two years and $16 million remaining.)

source

Seattle seems to be in everyone’s plans. With the number 4 pick and so many needs, they could pull off all kinds of deals.

Memphis Grizzlies go cheap

The Memphis Grizzlies at the number 5 pick are also looking to wheel and deal, but for a different reason.

Even stronger are rumors that the Grizzlies are talking to a number of teams, including the Knicks, Blazers and Suns, about deals that would send the No. 5 pick to whomever is willing to take Brian Cardinal’s awful contract (two years, $13 million left). The latest buzz has the Knicks talking to Memphis about a deal that would send David Lee and the expiring contract of Malik Rose to Memphis for No. 5 and Cardinal.

In other words, it sounds like GM Chris Wallace is, once again, being pushed by ownership to cut payroll.

Milwaukee Bucks get tough

It is going to be real fun following the Bucks up in Milwaukee. Think about the combination of tough former Michigan State University All American point guard, current NBA assist record holding, and former Chicago tough guy coach Scott Skiles with former Detroit advisor to Joe Dumars, now turnaround expert John Hammond. These are two guys that believe in toughness and have shown that before.

Alexander is a high-energy forward who impressed GM John Hammond and new coach Scott Skiles with his toughness and grit. That’s exactly what the Bucks are going for right now. Hammond wants to change the culture in Milwaukee, and Alexander has that capability. He also fits a need. The Bucks will be shopping Bobby Simmons (along with just about everyone else) hard this summer.

If Joe Alexander is what they say he is then he is going to love being a Buck.

Cleveland LeBron’s seek age insurance

At number 19 the Cavaliers are talking about Georgetown 7′2″ Center Roy Hibbert. LeBron James desperately needs players around him and Coach Mike Brown would love the big guy for his defense and shot blocking. Cleveland has to be concerned with an aging Ilgauskas and an aging Ben Wallace. It would be a great pick, but LeBron still needs points from other players inside.

Detroit Pistons look to surprise

Finally, how about my Pistons. Chad has them taking 6′6″ Bill Walker and they might, but most of us expect some kind of deal from Joe Dumars. There are just too many teams looking to move up or down for Joe D to miss this opportunity. Even though Boston showed you can win with old guys, it is time for the pot to be stirred on the Pistons, they need to get younger. Bill Walker would not provide a whole lot to the team and most likely would be included in any trade.

Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince are two likely candidates. Rip Hamilton could go if they replace him with a scorer.

This draft is all mixed up.

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Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain knocked down 100 points in a single game in 1962.

The Warriors won, 169-147, setting what was then a record for the most combined points in a game by both teams. But the game is most remembered for the 100 points scored by Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain, who demolished the NBA single-game scoring record. source

How good was Wilt?

In the following night, Chamberlain got the permission to travel back to New York with three Knicks players. According to Cherry, Chamberlain drifted in and out of sleep and got a kick overhearing the NY players talk about the “S.O.B. who scored 100 points on us”.[8] Another night later, the Warriors and the Knicks squared off again in Madison Square Garden. This time, Imhoff played all 48 minutes and got a standing ovation for holding Chamberlain to “only” 54 points.

Yeah, baby, only 54 points. Way to hold ‘em.

Kobe and the 81

In 2006, Kobe put up 81 on the Toronto Raptors.

Bryant scored all but 15 of the Lakers’ 42 points in the third quarter, shooting 11-of-15 including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Six of his points came during a 12-0 run to finish the period, giving Los Angeles a 91-85 lead. source

Is it possible to compare the two games? Kelly Dwyer at Ball Don’t Lie seems to think so.

First, number of possessions.

First, the context of the era: there were, way, way, way more possessions in an NBA game back then. This was a running league, much more than any NBA-style track meet you may have seen in any of the last 30 years. Not only did Wilt’s Philadelphia Warriors score 125.4 points per game, they gave up 122.7. A team featuring Wilt Chamberlain (50.6 on field goals) shoots 43.9 percent from the floor, and scored 125.4 points per game. Think about that.

Second, Wilt’s team tried to foul to set up the record.

I didn’t, but earlier this winter I read Gary M. Pomerantz’ Wilt, 1962. It’s a compelling account of Wilt’s life, that night, but it also details the ways in which a bemused Warrior squad tried to help Wilt pad his stats in blowout win: namely, they fouled the heck out of the Knicks in the game’s final quarter in order to get the ball back in Wilt’s hands.

Third, the defense.

They didn’t, but they had less of a chance than the Knicks team Wilt scored on. Starting center Phil Jordan missed the game suffering from equal parts cocktail and legitimate flu, and rookie Darrall Imhoff was forced into action against a player that was a good half-foot taller than and three times better than most centers in the NBA; Imhoff included.

It is always hard to compare era’s in any sport, but there is no denying that both of these accomplishments are unbelievable.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will anyone ever score over a 100 in a game?

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Ok, don’t take this the wrong way, but that was an easy 50 points if there ever was one.

LeBron James is awesome. There is no question of that and he is the front runner with Kobe Bryant for MVP of the National Basketball Association.

But come on. The Knicks?

Happened to catch the Sports Center Highlights of the 50 point barrage.

What was that the Knicks were playing? You could not call it defense. One gets the feeling that LeBron could have scored all the points if he wanted to. It looked that easy.

The Knicks are so bad that rumors began that James is coming to New York to play for the Knicks, rather than worry about how sad their team is now.

“Because how bad New York [teams are] and they’re looking for a guy who can help change things around and because how close I am to Jay-Z [part owner of the Nets], there are questions about that every day,” James said.

James said the rumors will continue until — and after — he becomes a free agent. source

Just how does Isiah Thomas keep his job?

How does David Stern keep his lunch down watching one of his biggest markets stink up the joint night after night?

Anyway, not to denigrate James, but maybe he felt sorry for New York and that is why he did not get 60!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will LeBron win the MVP over Kobe Bryant?

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Superman had 26 points and 22 rebounds against the New York Knicks.

The Orlando Magic beat the Knicks 118 to 92 on Saturday night.

Surprising Orlando continues to lead the Southeast Division. Yes, there is a Southeast Division. It is very weak, with the Wizards, Hawks, Bobcats, and Heat, but the Magic do lead the division. Orlando, by the way, is the only team above .500 in the Division.

It was a super performance by Dwight Howard playing for the shorthanded Magic.

Missing injured guards Jameer Nelson and Keyon Dooling, the Magic used only eight players until the last 4:50. All five starters scored in double figures, and three topped 20 points. Hedo Turkoglu had 25 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds and Rashard Lewis had 22 points and seven rebounds. source

Get this, Howard has 52 double doubles. Fifty two! That is amazing and leads the NBA.

Even more incredible are the seven 20/20 games (20 points and 20 rebounds). Do you how hard it is to even have 20 rebounds?

Dwight’s game just keeps improving. If he can add a consistent mid-range jumper to his game, then you will have to start talking MVP possibilities.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Can Dwight add the mid-range jumper to his game?

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LeBron James All Star MVP – Time to get out of Dodge err Cleveland!

With David Stern happy to have NBA Marketing Icon LeBron James as the MVP of the 2008 All Star game, the world can move on.

If you had to lay odds, it had to be James as MVP.

The NBA is a marketing organization, not a sports organization. Right now the future of the NBA seems secure, with possible expansion out of the USA and many stars in the league, but it can change fast and David Stern knows that.

Don’t get me wrong, LeBron is so good he probably would win the MVP of the All Star game anyway, almost every year.

It wouldn’t be long until these pulsating final minutes of this fabulous All-Star Game ultimately belonged to the genius of its Most Valuable Player with 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. It wouldn’t be long until commissioner David Stern passed him his second trophy at 23 years old, and the world would see who the star of stars was again at New Orleans Arena.

“LeBron is a freight train when he goes to that basket,” West coach Byron Scott sighed. “He’s so big, and so strong – so quick and so powerful. It’s hard to stop him when he gets the momentum going like that.” source

Now it is time to plan for LeBron to leave Cleveland.

The Cavaliers will have a hard time putting together consistent teams in Cleveland.

Over the summer, LeBron, Bryant and Jason Kidd were grumbling teammates with Team USA. Bryant wanted out of Los Angeles. Kidd wanted a trade to Cleveland. And James just wanted someone to share the burden with him. Well, the two point guards whom Cleveland GM Danny Ferry had tried to obtain for two years – Kidd and Mike Bibby – are on the way to Dallas and Atlanta.

The NBA needs to keep LeBron on the highest stage possible. That stage would be the NBA Playoffs and probably at least the Conference Finals. Hopefully the Championship series itself.

You can’t market Tim Duncan.

As much as it hurts your intrepid author (a huge Pistons fan), the League does not want anymore San Antonio Spurs vs. Detroit Pistons series. To fans outside of those teams, it is boring. They play defense.

Think of Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics vs. Kobe’s Lakers.

Think of Steve Nash and the Shaq bringing the Suns in to play LeBron James when he is on the Knicks (without Isiah).

Kobe is flat out a great scorer

The Bulls have got to be wondering what they were thinking.

Hold on to Luol Deng and pass on Kobe Bryant?

Luol Deng. Now how many votes for the All Star team did he get? Hmm, there was that one from his mother. And that one from his agent.

Oh well, Luol is going to be great, right? Right?

Kobe is great and has been since the day he stepped on the court.

GM Mitch Kupchak should get more credit for not pulling off any deals.

Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports has compiled some first half of the season awards with the MVP being one of them. Let’s look at Adrian’s awards choices and why he feels that way.

Your intrepid author’s comments will be in italics.

Most Valuable Player: Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

Sometimes, there are superstars due to win the Most Valuable Player Award. It is the year owed them. No one wants to hear this, but it’s true. Kevin Garnett has an MVP trophy. So does Dirk Nowitzki. Steve Nash has two. Once Shaquille O’Neal left, Bryant was considered an unworthy candidate because the Lakers were still losing. source

Adrian goes on to support his argument, by stating that LA winning in the West is far harder than Kevin Garnett winning in the East.

He also states that LeBron will win several MVP’s but this is just not the year for him to get support from his team.

It will be a great MVP race. Not like in past years where you arguable could have just handed the trophy to Shaq every year. In fact, it got to the point that someone had to get smoking hot to take the trophy away from Shaq.

For the first half of the season you have to go with Kobe.

Least Valuable Player: Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets

He has stopped going to the rim, stopped risking life and limb and declared his new four-year, $62 million contract fit for a suburban jump shooter.

Have never understood why Rod Thorn thought the Nets could win with a 6′ 4″ ball hog that played no D.

Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant, Seattle SuperSonics

Adrian brings up what could have happened with a healthy Greg Oden.

Kevin Durant is instant star power in a franchise that is floundering. He will be a star for his entire career and hopefully will leave town to play for franchise intent on winning.

Oden has the power to bring back the true center into the NBA. But at this point, Greg is just potential and Kevin is doing it.

Rookie Bust: Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls

no one can live with the insubordination that he showed with assistant coach Ron Adams prior to getting a two-game suspension in mid-January. Maybe his chatter will be entertaining when he’s considered a good player, but until then, Noah needs to grow up.

Just be glad you are not a kid in an adult world where everything you do is told to the media and printed the next day or shown on the internet. Noah will make it in this league. He will mature as well.

Executive Disaster of the Year: Isiah Thomas, New York Knicks

This is a career achievement award for Thomas. Kevin McHale has been a different disaster, but he does have a blossoming young star in Al Jefferson, No. 1 picks and cap space on the way. Odds are, he’ll do nothing with it, but at least you know Thomas has no chance with the constitution of his team.

All the Isiah Thomas stuff just stuns me. As a long time Piston fan it is so hard to fathom.

Did Isiah ruffle feathers as a Piston? Absolutely.

Did Isiah turn people off, in spite of his cherub smile and youthful energy? Absolutely.

Did Isiah move beyond all that and get the job done? Absolutely, positively.

Try two rings as the team leader of a franchise that had no belief in itself for decades.

And, like now, Thomas told everyone that he would do it!

Let me leave you with this thought, no matter how ludicrous. What if the Knicks start to win?

Adrian gives us some other awards, so be sure to check them out!

NBA Basketball Fan Question What other MVP candidates are out there?

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Isiah Thomas continues to believe

Isiah Thomas holds two jobs.

Isiah is team President of the New York Knicks.

Isiah is also Coach of the New York Knicks taking over the coaching duties after Larry the wanderer Brown was fired by the Knicks.

Now if you are the coach and you stink up the place, then the President will fire you. In this case, though, it may be the owner, Jim Dolan.

It is kind of hard to get the President to fire you when you are the President.

It is time for the owner, Jim Dolan, to step and do the right thing. Put the Knicks fans out of their misery and double fire Thomas.

He tried and did not get it done.

The New York Post, citing an unidentified source, reported Saturday that Thomas told a friend he was considering stepping away from coaching to concentrate on the team presidency.

“That was a lie,” Thomas said. “That was just a flat-out lie. I would never, ever, ever quit. Ever.”

Of course, he could eventually be fired, and even Thomas seemed to acknowledge that. Asked about the idea that he could be removed, he responded: “When that happens, we’ll all know.”

The Daily News, citing an unidentified source, reported Saturday that Dolan is leaning toward making a change before the end of the season. source

All the signs of getting fired as coach are there. It is not just the losing record of 9 – 26. It appears he is losing his players. When a coach has lost his players that spells doom.

Still, the speculation that Thomas may be in his final days could make it difficult to deal with his players. In Friday’s 99-90 loss to Toronto, Thomas had his second incident in three weeks with a player on the sideline.

Last month, it was a heated exchange with Quentin Richardson during a loss at Charlotte. On Friday, forward Zach Randolph chose to sit toward the end of the bench when he was pulled, seeming to refuse Thomas’ request to sit next to him.

Considering the poor job Isiah has done in collecting players, could he also be soon fired as the President as well?

And this from an owner that recently rewarded Thomas with a multi-year contract extension. Might be kind of tough to do that.

Thing are getting hot in Knicks land.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Would you fire Isiah?

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Man, oh man. What is Isiah thinking now? He talks about winning championships in New York. He talks about staying and winning with some of the guys he has now.

What is he thinking?

Now as a long time Piston fan there is a soft spot in my heart for Isiah. He came to the Pistons as a small guard leaving Indiana early. He talked about winning championships. Isiah won championships.

Almost immediately he made the team better back then. He was full of fire and felt unstoppable. Every year he added something to his game.

As better players surrounded him, he played even better and took over the leadership role of the team backed by Bill Laimbeer.

Now with the New York Knicks, Isiah is still talking Championships.

I believe in (the team) and I believe that this is also the time that you can make serious mistakes with your roster that could set you back another three, four years,” Thomas said. “We have good talent, we have good players, we have young players.

“We have a good nucleus and we just (need) them to play well together. It’s not about breaking them up or tearing them down, it’s about getting them to play better as a team.” source

Do we believe him?

Thrown out

Remember, the Pistons Bill Davidson, the owner, threw him out. Later his backcourt mate, Joe Dumars got the GM job of the Pistons and turned them back into a powerhouse.

Remember that arch rival Larry Bird threw him out. Larry is the GM of Indiana and Isiah was the coach.

How can James Dolan, the GM at New York not throw him out.

Train wreck

Isiah has consistently picked up overrated selfish players, including my all time favorite Stephon Marbury, who admits he plays for the money! Then he overpays them!

The team is a wreck heading for a bigger wreck.

But do we believe him?

That must be the question that haunts James Dolan, because Isiah is still there. Still going at it.

To hear Isiah is the hear the same contagious confidence he displayed in Indiana and in Detroit.

Plenty of New Yorkers would disagree. Fans routinely chant for Thomas to be fired during Knicks games, and last month a group held a giant pink slip during a rally to express those wishes.

But Thomas said he wants to be remembered in New York as he is in Detroit, where he led the Pistons to two NBA championships during a Hall of Fame playing career.

“I don’t necessarily just want to win a championship. I want to leave something that’s going to stand for a long time. I want to leave a legacy, I want to leave tradition,” Thomas said. “I want to leave an imprint, a blueprint in terms of how people play, and how they coach and how they respond when they put on the Knick uniform.

But do we believe him?

NBA Basketball Fan Question How is Isiah keeping his job?

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Sports can really suck sometimes.

As fans, you often forget about a man’s character if he can help your team win. Admit it.

Isiah Thomas knows that if he can win, all will be well in New York and the NBA.

Tuesday the Knicks beat the Nuggets 119 to 112.

Fans are already beginning to love Isiah again.

It was the Denver Nuggets and George Karl, where things really began to spiral downward for Isiah.

Just a year ago, these Nuggets and Knicks had been co-conspirators in a night of sucker punches, suspensions and damaged public personas. Since the brawl, Thomas’ New York life has been one public humiliation after another. Karl called Thomas “an ass” and “full of (expletive)” after his Nuggets lost Carmelo Anthony for 15 games, and Thomas never did respond.

Ever since, Thomas has been backpedaling as Knicks emperor, a tumultuous tenure that has turned him inward, even bitter. For so long the subject of the tabloid’s back-page lampoons, this summer’s sexual harassment trial worked him to the front of the papers. Since losing the case, he has still tried to sell himself as the victim, not the perpetrator.

The front line of Eddie Curry and Zach Randolph is helping to transform the Knicks into a formidable team and make the winning possible to leave the fans thinking only of victory. Isiah knows how to survive.

Before those things can happen, there is the matter of Thomas’ last stand with his reshaped roster. Give Thomas this: He is a survivor. He doesn’t go down easily. Michael Jordan has long been reputed to have shunned him from the Dream Team in 1992, and Pistons owner Bill Davidson chose Joe Dumars over Thomas to run his franchise. And yes, Larry Bird fired him as Pacers coach in 2001. Always, Thomas has gotten up again. He still sees himself as the little kid who survived Chicago’s west side to turn himself into the game’s greatest little man ever.

That trial against a deposed Knicks executive seemed to hit him the hardest, though, because nothing devours the human spirit like going through the ringer in New York. In this preseason, Thomas has done a lot of feeling sorry for himself. Around the league, he is isolated. Even within the Garden, his power has been marginalized. Everywhere, it’s open season on Isiah Thomas. Before the game, someone asked Karl if he had apologized to Thomas for the nasty names he called him last December, and the Nuggets coach rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh.

It seems Isiah has worn out his friends and co-workers and is left with only the winning.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Knicks be able to win enough this year?

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