Music to my Ears

I don't reprint media stories unless they really ring a bell with me.  This one created a virtual Festival of the Carillons in my underutilized mind.

Sam



By Chad Finn, Boston.com Columnist

New York City's basketball soul is beyond dispute. And maybe -- probably -- Madison Square Garden really is the mecca of basketball that New Yorkers assure us it is.

But the mecca of championship basketball, at least in the NBA, is not up for debate. It is of course that other Garden -- and by lineage, its lesser successor -- in our driving-and-kicking city.

That doesn't stop New York NBA fans and media from carrying themselves with exaggerated importance and accomplishment. New York treats the Knicks like they've made the history that the Celtics have made.
You almost want to point out that their last championship was a direct relation to a John Havlicek injury. But then you realize. That was 1972-73, so many seasons, so many Micheal Ray Richardsons and Bernard Kings and Patrick Ewings ago. And that was their last championship. You might sympathize, but they did put an official end to the new Big Three era last spring. So you snicker instead. The Knicks want admiration for their lore.They can't have it. They get pity for their lack of any real lore in the last 40 years.

I suspect I don't have to explain in rich detail, with diagrams featuring Pat Cummings and Ken Bannister and other Knicks of non-championship vintage, as to why I'm bringing this up now. So the synopsis: Phil Jackson, a dependable forward on their last great teams whose real NBA legacy is as the superstar-whisperer as the coach of 11 championship teams, is punctuating his career where the first sentence of his story was written.
He's back, as the Knicks president, and if you listened closely during his introduction/homecoming Tuesday, you could almost hear the Knicks media humming "Glory Days'' in unison.

Oh, there's no doubting that this is a fascinating story. It's almost worthy of the coverage it has received. Jackson is as compelling as he is successful, and all facetiousness and snark aside, those early-'70s Knicks teams are entirely worthy of the sepia-toned admiration with which New York hoops nuts remember them.

But a deeper reality seems to have been lost in the Celebration of Phil, Who Played With Clyde and Willis, You Know:
He's not going to turn it around. Actually, let me temper that: if he even comes close to doing so, it will be the greatest accomplishment of his career.
The Knicks' current roster doesn't have much. No one is confusing J.R. Smith with Bill Bradley, you know? Tim Hardaway Jr. is doing a decent job carrying on the family name, and Iman Shumpert, who tortured Paul Pierce in the playoffs last year, would be a fine role player on a good team. But Jackson has famously picked his spots in the past, taking over ready-made rosters and pushing them over the top. Here, there is no Jordan. No Kobe. No Scottie. No Shaq. And not a hell of a lot of hope. The Knicks don't even have a first-round pick this year or in '16.

I'm a fan of Carmelo Anthony. He's a joy to watch when those rainbow 20-footers are falling. But his approach to basketball -- shoot first, shoot last, and pass only out of desperation or pity -- comes straight from the '70s. World B. Free, meet Carmelo K. Anthony. The only thing I'll guarantee you after his stint with the Knicks is done is that Jackson trashes Melo with the Kobe treatment in his next candid book.
Anthony is a free agent after the season, and with millions coming off the books next season, the Knicks will have space to sign a prominent free agent or two in the summer after next. There's talk of the usual big-ticket acquisitions -- Kevin Love, maybe Rajon Rondo -- and New York seems to be setting itself up to gets its hopes jilted by LeBron James again.

But as they learned when LeBron headed to Miami instead of New York, counting on an NBA superstar to choose your cold city is an uncertain way to salvage a franchise. Maybe if Jackson were the coach, his presence would have an effect. But as a front-office executive who may not have the patience to build? It's hard to figure who he might lure there.

Know what I thought while watching the Knicks desperately fete Jackson? Thank goodness the Celtics aren't making such a desperate lurch at respectability. With Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens and a stockpile of first-round picks (potentially 10 over the next five years), they've already taken major steps in a proper rebuilding process, less than a year after their last championship core was dismantled.

Jackson suggested the Knicks, lacking those picks, will build out the roster by mining under-appreciated talent from around the league. That sounds like a fine way to end up with a backcourt of fringe players familiar to Phil. Hello, Jordan Farmar and Devin Ebanks.
Meanwhile, the Celtics' future is right there on your television screen. Spend even a little time watching the NCAA Tournament through the weekend, and you're certain to see a Celtic or two of the near future.

It's both amusing and reassuring when you think about it. The team with the higher banner count -- the Celtics have won six of their 17 championships since the Knicks last won one -- is starting fresh, preparing to build the foundation of their next great team.

Meanwhile, the franchise that should rebuild from scratch doesn't have the assets to do so properly. The Knicks must hope against hope that a marquee free-agent chooses them in a couple of years. But for now they must turn to their distant past, one so much less impressive than the Celtics', to find any shred of hope.

There's so much to be determined, yet I can't help but believe Celtics fans should like where this rivalry is headed. Because right now it sounds a whole lot like where it has been.

My Comment: Ding Dong Ding Dong

You gotta love articles about the Knicks written by a Boston columnist....
Virtually everyone that I have heard talk about the Phil Jackson signing has felt that Phil has a huge challenge in front of him. New Yorkers aren't dancing in the streets thinking they will soon be championship contenders.
Phil needs a couple of years to see what progress he can make. I suspect players like Jordan Farmar and Devin Ebanks aren't the best players that Phil will be able to sign to play for NY.

I gotta give one thing to Phil Jackson. Nobody can accuse him, this time, of cherry-picking his team.


bob


.

It's going to be fascinating watching how long it will take for Knicks owner James Dolan to tire of his latest expensive toy.

The Knicks have become a laughingstock under Mr Dolan but according to Forbes magazine the team is still the most financially valuable franchise in the NBA.

This is Dolan's bottom line.

tjmakz wrote:You gotta love articles about the Knicks written by a Boston columnist....

And the NY writers do the same about Boston, do they not?

tjmakz wrote:Virtually everyone that I have heard talk about the Phil Jackson signing has felt that Phil has a huge challenge in front of him. New Yorkers aren't dancing in the streets thinking they will soon be championship contenders.

Phil needs a couple of years to see what progress he can make. I suspect players like Jordan Farmar and Devin Ebanks aren't the best players that Phil will be able to sign to play for NY.

The Knicks have spent the past several years making very bad decisions with respect to the players they've added and the contracts they've signed them to, not to mention mortgaging their future by squandering draft picks in bad trades. I'd agree that Jackson has his work cut out for him.

And I believe the Ebanks/Farmar comment was purely sarcasm and not to be taken at face value as "truth."



KJ

Sloopjohnb wrote:It's going to be fascinating watching how long it will take for Knicks owner James Dolan to tire of his latest expensive toy.

The Knicks have become a laughingstock under Mr Dolan but according to Forbes magazine the team is still the most financially valuable franchise in the NBA.

This is Dolan's bottom line.

Dolan has been a complete disaster as an owner.
Phil has $60m in guaranteed money coming to him from Mr. Dolan over the next 5 years.
It seems like Phil needs to burn it down then rebuild quickly.

Something tells me that Dolan doesn't view it that way. The Knicks are currently worth 1.4 billion dollars, the top market value in the NBA.
http://www.forbes.com/teams/new-york-knicks/

Just think how much the franchise would be worth if the team was a contender. But it seems that ownership has its eyes on the short term.

If it requires tearing down to build up Dolan might not be on board.

Sloopjohnb wrote:

If it requires tearing down to build up Dolan might not be on board.

Its hard to tear down an already barren wasteland.



KJ

Depends on what you mean by "tear down." Dolan seems to be of the view that New York being New York, the franchise needs a glamorous big name star even, or especially, if the team doesn't win. How else is the team going to continue to sell out despite being horrible?

News Flash: Phil Jackson took this job not to enhance his reputation, not for the glamor, not for the prestige - but for the money. $12,000,000 a year to do what? Evaluate draft talent, make a few phone calls, hire a coach, and schmooze free agents? I guarantee you this, unlike Danny, Phil will NOT have a heart attack if one of his star players goes down with an injury.

This is not a knock on Phil, just an honest appraisal. New York can be a great place to live with a million dollars coming in every month for 60 months. Hell, I enjoyed it on $1000 a month in the 70's.

worcester wrote:News Flash: Phil Jackson took this job not to enhance his reputation, not for the glamor, not for the prestige - but for the money. $12,000,000 a year to do what? Evaluate draft talent, make a few phone calls, hire a coach, and schmooze free agents? I guarantee you this, unlike Danny, Phil will NOT have a heart attack if one of his star players goes down with an injury.

This is not a knock on Phil, just an honest appraisal. New York can be a great place to live with a million dollars coming in every month for 60 months. Hell, I enjoyed it on $1000 a month in the 70's.

On top of the $1m per month, Phil is supposedly getting and extra $20,000 per month for personal expenses.
Getting suits dry cleaned and paying for extra snacks on cross country airplane trips really makes the expenses add up quickly...

If I was 69 and could earn another $60m over the next 5 years, I would have a hard time saying no too.

Phil sure has come a long way from the countercultural hero who rode his bike to Madison Square Garden on game days.

Not to mention the Albany Paltroons coach who drove the team van to road games.

I seriously doubt that Phil needs the money. He has his ranch in Montana, he has his house in L.A., and he doesn't live an opulent lifestyle. He's taking the job for the challenge of rebuilding the franchise he loved as a player.

In David Halberstam's book "Playing for Keeps" he writes about how Phil Jackson impressed college recruiters when playing high school ball in South Dakota:

Phil's coach would tell him to show the recruiter the "car trick" and Phil would climb into the middle of the car's back seat, extend his arms and open both doors using the outside handles.

When he played it always looked like he had a coat hanger grafted below the skin of his freakishly broad but boney shoulders.

TJ,

Many sports writers in numerous cities actually write about teams in other cities.  Some of the treatments are favorable, some unfavorable, and some relatively neutral.  Some use poetic license in the form of hyperbole, in full knowledge that readers ought to be able to recognize deliberate hyperbole.
The multiple New York cultures combine to exude so many qualities I admire, including (among many others) their indefatigable spirit, their resilience in times of adversity, their kindness to out-of-towners, and a certain je ne sais quois that defies description.  I have personally experienced all of these traits on numerous occasions.  Out in the harbor resides a symbol of inspiration that brings me to tears each time I see it.  I do, indeed Love New York.

New York in general tends to have a larger-than-life aura about it.  New York sports fans are not immune to this "over the top" mentality.  You're far too intelligent to interpret the "dancing in the streets" remark as literally as you might suggest.  But many New York sports fans do exude a certain affectation of superiority that far outstrips  the modest accomplishments of all of its sports teams except the Yankeees and, during the past decade, even including the Yankees.

Add the natural antipathy of Bostonians for Phil Jackson, who we feel is a pretender to the Red Auerbach "Earn it!" school of coaching superiority, and Boston scribes could well be complimented for their restraint in any New York bashing.

Yes, it could be argued that Boston fans have similar tendencies to New York fans, although not to the extremes practiced by their New York counterparts.  But a major difference is that, especially in the most recent decade, the rationale of Boston fans has been buttressed by the performances of its four major pro sports teams.

All the best to the Apple and its inhabitants, and Go Celtics!

Sam

Sloopjohnb wrote:Depends on what you mean by "tear down."  Dolan seems to be of the view that New York being New York, the franchise needs a glamorous big name star even, or especially, if the team doesn't win.  How else is the team going to continue to sell out despite being horrible?

In this day and age in the NBA, you DO need a star on your roster. In fact, you probably need 3. That is, if you want to win titles.

I am under the assumption that the Knicks would love to win their first title in 4 decades. I was mostly being snarky towards the Knicks in my earlier post. In either case, they need to clean house. Getting rid of the bad contracts is where I'd start.



KJ

In any age of the NBA you need multiple stars to contend. My post was intended as a criticism of James Dolan. He hired Donne Walsh to clear the roster of bad contracts and get the stars whose talents would complement each other.

Walsh cleared much cap space but did not want to build the team around Carmelo Anthony. Getting Carmelo was a Dolan thing.

Dolan is now paying Donnie Walsh not to work for the Knicks.

It will be interesting to see whether a similar scenario repeats itself with Phil Jackson.

Phil probably wanted to roll his eyes last night sitting in the Staples Center watching his Knicks give up 87 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters as his Knicks were embarrassed by the Lakers.

I remember vividly, right after they won, Walton walking across the parquet, hands raised yelling "Chief" and high-fiving him.

I'm pretty sure that details the relationship, and mutual respect they had for each other. Nothing more needs to be said.

Pete