Good points. I agree that D’Antoni is not above criticism and deserves his share. In fact, in a vacuum, considering the roster and the performance of the team only (no trades allowed), I think firing him was the right choice. If anything, it will clear up the question of whether this team can win as constructed.

I guess what I meant by “those who lack imagination” was the people who live off clichés like Stephen A. Smith and, based on his decisions, James Dolan. Obviously Dolan is just a goof who likes to meddle. It’s the NBA. No lives are at stake. But that was the conceit of the piece, I guess — imagining that this was a country, and Dolan was its dictator, and losses actually caused legitimate suffering. In that alternate world, his ignorance and his meddling make him as evil as quirky but awful dictators like Gadaffi or Kim Jong Il.

Z: It’s 3:20 am and Jeremy Lin is the #1 trend on Yahoo right now. Linsanity lives on!

School’s out in China.

massive:
KG played 37 minutes tonight. It’s looking like Boston is gonna overwork their starting 5, so I’m expecting them to slump.

Yeah will be interesting going into April what these older and less deep teams look like. If you look at Miami – LBJ has been AVERAGING >40 min/game since the ASB. They’ve been pacing Wade at about 34.5 min/game, but if you ask me, LBJ looked very tired in the finals last year – hopefully he gets tired a series or two before that if/when we play them.

By comparison, our older guys (Amare, Melo, Tyson) have averaged 32, 32, and 31.4 MPG respectively since the ASB.

JK47: Denver’s defense let them down again, as they surrendered a .595 eFG% to Dallas. Their schedule is pretty soft the rest of the way though, seven-game road trip notwithstanding.

Wait, Faried didn’t have 30-30 on a .999 TS%? :)

Dolan is not evil, that would require him to be calculative, “shrewd, clever, slick”. He’s just another in a long list of meddling franchise owners who usually, royally, fuck things up. The D’Antoni experience is just not above criticism. With Phoenix AND New York the numbers suggest a flux of top third Offense, bottom two-thirds Defense. Thats’s very OK. He’s uncommunicative, yet has a big ego- hence his rigidity when it came to his system. Doesn’t seem to pay much attention to detail, and yet he’s supposed to be a leader demanding exactly that from his players. + and -’s add up to mediocrity or good with potential depending on who you ask. I don’t see anything that screams greatness. Strictly basketball, D’Antoni and a great moustache are not martyrs.

P.S.:
Walsh was good, but Grunwald seems to be better. D’Antoni was OK, Woodson/Phil Jackson/ another good FO move seem better. Gallo is not, even if maybe not yet, better. Personally I don’t spend much money on the Knicks.

jon abbey: we could also use that guy, amazing how much quicker he looks there.

He’ll be back.