Tuesday, February 22, 2011

SPORTS: Karma And The Knicks

Here's hoping Karma has a heap of ill luck awaiting Carmelo Anthony, James Dolan and Isiah Thomas.

Break a leg Carmelo. As I once wrote to Baron Davis, the author of a similarly distasteful exit from a team, REALLY, BREAK A LEG. You're a jerk and a stupid one at that. Do you REALLY think your 'handling' of your selfish trade demand TO the Knicks was better than Chris Bosh's polite (but ultimately dishonest) refusal to re-up with the Toronto Raptors last year. Then I apologize to all stupid people. You aren't even that bright. But we know that. Despite a great offensive game and incredible god-given athletic ability, you laze about on defence to the point where NOBODY outside of family members thinks you are all that special. Carmelo's certainly not amongst the real basketball stars of the NBA. An offensive weapon and a defensive dud. Shame on you. In so many ways. Like I said, break a leg ... and/or a foot ... or whatever prevents you from playing.

Cuz James Dolan and his unofficial aide, Zeke 'The Sneak' Thomas, the killer of pro basketball teams AND leagues, deserves every bit of bad karma that can come their way. They already made the Knicks the laughing stock of the NBA for a few years in order to afford to buy really great players from poorer teams. Amar'e Stoudemire turned out better than expected, but they failed to pair him with anything better than Ray Felton and a rookie named Landry Fields, who were each far better than expected. That was Donnie Walsh's doing. Pretty good compared to his predecessor, who amidst lawsuits, turned a once-great franchise into a joke. That would be Zeke the Sneak. But of course, Dolan, who has a man-crush on Thomas despite all it's cost him, discarded Donnie this past weekend and made the deal. And it's a deal that will add a point or two to the average Knick offensive total ... and probably cost three or four at the defensive end. Net gain? Not!! And I'm not even talking about the inevitable Walsh departure and the seemingly inevitable return of Thomas as GM from his purgatory as a coach of a second-level college basketball team.

As a Raptor fan, I should be thrilled with Dolan's immediate destruction of the Walsh's rebuilt, and still rebuilding, team. The fun of watching Anthony frustrate Stoudemire by taking lots and lots of shots and treating an assist as a disease, will be a regular story on the rumour circuit for the next while. But, like many, I think the NBA needs a Knick team to offset Boston and Miami. And this incarnation of the Knicks is headed for implosion, not competition.

Lastly, there is nothing that can happen to Thomas that hasn't already. Alleged suicide attempt, lost power struggles, embarrassing (or should have been) lawsuits from women he ... made feel uncomfortable, poor results from EVERY team he's ever been involved with, folding a league with a long history that he bought and ran badly, etc. The list goes on and on. As a player, Thomas was a star. As an executive, Thomas has Peter Principled his way to the top an incredible number of times. Outside of a decent job coaching Indiana, he's been an abject failure each time. So, HE's the guy life will have the hardest time catching up to. Karma will have to work overtime to do whatever it has to do to get Thomas his just due, so that we can enjoy a little schadenfreude. Afterall, if what's transpired so far has kept the bad down, what can?

There's some collateral damage to this Tiresome Threesome. Chauncey Billups has to spend the next year and a bit in New York (if he doesn't retire as he once intimated, if he was traded out of Denver). The timing of the end of his contract are going to drive the Deron Williams/Chris Paul to New York rumours into overdrive. Williams is already proclaiming, NO, not me! The first Paul to NY rumour since the trade took about 13 seconds to start making the rounds. Some very productive Knicks this season, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallanari and Felton won't be helping Stoudemire and Fields any more. Even Timofey Mozgov, the KEY (sic) to the deal, will be experiencing a bit of culture shock, moving from the bright lights of NYC to the bright star-lit sky of the mountains. How many of the ex-Knicks are still Nuggets come Friday morning is anybody's guess. A U-Turn back to the tri-state area for Felton and Mozgov is being bruited about. It'll all shake out for the shaken-up teams in the next four days.

After that, the Karma watch is on. Here's hoping schadenfreude makes an appearance.

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