(Monday, September 03, 2018 3:00:00 AM)
Welcome to the fall of TV shows you’ve already seen before.
A disappointing crop of new shows looks awfully familiar, mostly because they are. Peak TV has devolved into any number of spinoffs, sequels, remakes and reboots, leaving little room for original programming on networks and streaming services….
(Monday, September 03, 2018 3:00:00 AM)
Look for the union label…on medical marijuana.
A new deal launching on Labor Day provides exclusive discounts on the drug from Vireo Health of New York to more than 2.5 million members and retirees of Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW.
“This program is designed to make our products more affordable and to educate…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 3:00:00 AM)
Dan Patrick’s latest show is unlike anything he’s ever done before.
The veteran broadcaster and longtime radio voice of “The Dan Patrick Show” — who has covered Super Bowls and Olympics, anchored NBC’s “Football Night in America” and ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and emceed the game show “Sports Jeopardy!”…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 2:00:00 AM)
Here’s a Labor Day quiz:
Most Americans support unions, but just over 10% are union members. What gives?
Business leaders claim that American workers don’t want or need unions anymore. But the Gallup poll reveals that Americans’ support for unions has been increasing — from 48% in 2009 to 62% today.
…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 2:00:00 AM)
Many obituaries have been written for labor. The anti-union Janus vs. AFSCME Supreme Court decision is already being followed by a dark money campaign to convince workers to quit their unions. In the private sector, employers evade the reach of workplace-based union contracts by off-shoring, sub-contracting…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 2:00:00 AM)
Labor Day is meant to honor the contributions of American workers, not robots. So with more and more labor being automated — not just in factories but in retail, health care and pretty much everywhere — what does this day still mean?
A cynical answer might be shopping and sales. But in fact, there…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 1:10:00 AM)
On this Labor Day, which most everyone has off for rest, recreation and especially travel, the 40,000 people who keep JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports running are working, like they do every day.
And doing so without long-overdue raises they were promised by political muckety mucks.
This is a…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 1:05:00 AM)
Congress granted no ifs, ands or buts: The massive 2010 Dodd-Frank bill that swept clean Wall Street created an independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and within it a student loan ombudsman.
That ombudsman, Seth Frotman, is now striding out the door after penning a letter that the leadership…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 1:05:00 AM)
The following is an expanded version of the second item from my “Albany Insider” column from Monday’s print editions.
ALBANY —Gov. Cuomo faces more than just running with a candidate he doesn’t support if Jumaane Williams wins his upcoming Democratic lieutenant governor primary.
Assuming Cuomo…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 1:05:00 AM)
Congress granted no ifs, ands or buts: The massive 2010 Dodd-Frank bill that swept clean Wall Street created an independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and within it a student loan ombudsman.
That ombudsman, Seth Frotman, is now striding out the door after penning a letter that the leadership…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 1:00:00 AM)
ALBANY — Actress Cynthia Nixon has been routinely described as trying to become the state’s first lesbian governor.
But Nixon actually doesn’t self-identify as a lesbian. She considers herself queer, campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said.
Queer — one of the Qs in the LGBTQ movement, along with…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 1:00:00 AM)
ALBANY — Attorney General wannabe and city Public Advocate Letitia James is taking heat for recently appearing at a Long Island church whose self-proclaimed “ex-gay” pastor has said God can save people from the “curse” of homosexuality.
James on Aug. 20 appeared with pastor and gospel singer Donnie…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 1:00:00 AM)
One of our correspondents travels to and from the office via the Atlantic Ave.-Barclays Center subway station. Brooklyn’s busiest, it is home to 10 lines, along with commuter rail.
As our correspondent noticed on morning after evening after morning after evening after morning after evening, the…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 1:00:00 AM)
If the late John Gotti’s long-jailed brother finds the 21st-century Mafia unrecognizable later this month, he knows where the blame lies.
Gene Gotti, behind bars since 1989 for running a multi-million dollar heroin distribution ring, is set for a Sept. 15 release from the Federal Correctional Institution…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 12:55:00 AM)
ALBANY — State Republicans will look to take advantage of Cuomo’s recent comment that “America was never great” by offering bumperstickers highlighting the issue.
“Hey Cuomo, America is great”, the bumperstickers say.
“It’s something that we’ve clearly seen a lot of passion about and it’s a great…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 12:50:00 AM)
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo warns that progressive legislation may not sail through the state Senate even if the Democrats win control in this fall’s elections.
“It will still be hard,” Cuomo said during a meeting last week with the Daily News Editorial Board. “Whoever is in the minority, it’s always…
(Monday, September 03, 2018 12:00:00 AM)
Dems should embrace intellectuals
Manhattan: Things took a Trumpian turn during the second Democratic primary debate for attorney general when Public Advocate Letitia James appeared to repeatedly put down her progressive opponent Zephyr Teachout by calling her “professor.”
Teachout does indeed…
(Sunday, September 02, 2018 11:30:00 PM)
A pair of shootings in Brooklyn left one man dead and two others wounded over the span of an hour Sunday afternoon, cops said.
The shootings took place in Bedford-Stuyvesant, about two miles apart from each other. Cops have not determined if they’re linked.
At about 3 p.m., a gunman shot a 37-year-old…
(Sunday, September 02, 2018 11:00:00 PM)
A 15-year-old girl plunged five stories to her death during a party in a Tribeca apartment building late Sunday, police said.
The teen was attending a party at a building on Reade St. at W. Broadway at about 11 p.m. when she went out onto a fifth-floor fire escape and plummeted to the ground below,…
(Sunday, September 02, 2018 9:55:00 PM)
Chaos erupted when a man fired a gun into the air before the start of a concert by rapper Ice Cube Sunday night at the Del Mar Racetrack in California.
According to witnesses and concertgoers, the crowd was getting impatient entering the venue for the performance that was to follow the races.
A…
(Sunday, September 02, 2018 9:00:00 PM)
General Horoscope for September 3, 2018
We play well with others while the reflective Moon visits friendly Gemini; differences of opinion just don’t seem to matter as much. We’re more congenial now, even if we don’t agree with someone’s conclusion on an important subject….
(Sunday, September 02, 2018 8:05:00 PM)
WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says she has “no intention of taking any action” regarding any possible use of federal funds to arm teachers or provide them with firearms training.
DeVos’ comments came Friday after a top official in her department, asked about arming teachers, said…
(Sunday, September 02, 2018 7:30:00 PM)
There are definite advantages for Sloane Stephens as an American star defending her title at the U.S. Open.
Raucous cheers on every winning shot. Collective groans on every miss. Shouts of encouragement ringing through Arthur Ashe Stadium whenever her level of tennis drops just a bit.
Stephens…
(Sunday, September 02, 2018 7:15:00 PM)
A band of marauding motorcyclists and ATV riders knocked a bicyclist off his bike in Queens, fatally injuring him, then pulled a similar stunt on another cyclist minutes later, cops said Sunday.
Eucario Xelo, 65, of Brooklyn, was riding his bike west on Seneca Ave. in Ridgewood, toward the intersection…
(Sunday, September 02, 2018 6:35:00 PM)
A 200-year-old museum in Rio de Janeiro is being engulfed by flames.
Firefighters were working late Sunday to put out a large blaze at the esteemed National Museum in northern Rio. It wasn’t immediately clear how the fire began.
News portal G1, citing the museum, reported that nobody was injured…
22 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.09.03)”
I think there is a good case for Kareem as GOAT, despite all the talk about Jordan and James
Oh, no doubt. You can’t really compare players across decades. The GOAT continuum is basically Wilt to Kareem to Michael to LeBron. There are sound arguments for all, it boils down to opinion. No one else belongs in the discussion.
I never saw wilt play but he doesn’t seem like he as respected as Russell. These guys are before my time but it seems like Russell is more respected than wilt.
Wilt was dominating and freakishly large like shaq.
Maybe Shaq-Duncan is the modern Wilt-Russell debate.
One physically dominant guy who put up awesome stats but didn’t win as much as people think he should have, vs the boring fundamentals guy whose teams were always in the championship mix.
Russell’s greatness is hard to quantify. He was definitely the most “respected” of his era, and maybe ever, but that was about his character and leadership more than his all-around skill. Other than rebounding, none of his stats jump off the page. Obviously he was an all-time great defensive player and could score when his team needed him to. I think he suffers in discussions about translation to modern times due to his relatively small size for a C and his questionable shooting from distance. So I think you can argue that he is worthy of mention as the GOAT, but it’s a losing argument IMHO.
Here’s an interesting tidbit that often gets overlooked in the Russell-Chamberlain argument. Chamberlain has been mocked as one of the worst FT shooters in NBA history at .511. But Russell was nearly as bad, with a career mark of .561.
I think “peak Bird” belongs in the discussion. His bad back derailed his peak or he probably would be in the discussion more widely.
He could score very efficiently in every way imaginable. That includes making 3s from everywhere on the court before the league fully realized the value of better spacing and the greater efficiency from shooting out there instead of midrange. He was also a great play maker and an excellent rebounder. Typically the knock has been defense, but that’s nonsense. He was all NBA 2nd team on defense 3 times. So it’s not like he was a liability on defense. He was a plus defender. He just wasn’t an elite DPOY type defender because he wasn’t super quick or long.
Chamberlain was the better player on offense, but Russell was the better defender. So it’s really a matter of what your team needed. If you needed a #1 scorer, you wanted Chamberlain. If you already had 2 solid scorers and you added Russell to the mix, you were going to win championships.
To me peak Bird is clearly a step below peak LBJ or Jordan . Heck, LBJ’s BPM and VORP this season at 33- let alone what he put up in his mid-20s- would have been career bests for Bird. I think Bird is absolutely in the top ten discussion but absolutely not in the GOAT discussion.
There are only a few viable GOAT contender in my mind:
Wilt
Kareem
Magic (7th all-time in
Jordan
LeBron
Then there’s a host of guys who were great for a long time, but never had the sustained peak like those above:
Bird
West
Russell
Duncan
Chris Paul
Robinson
Barkley
Garnett
Stockton
O’Neal
Malone
Dr. J
Oscar
Hakeem
Pippen
Durant
Kidd
There’s nothing wrong with being in the second group (an arbitrary distinction if there ever was one). Duncan is probably my all-time pick for PF, and that’s beating out incredible talents like Barkley and Malone. Chris Paul and John Stockton are guys who are perennially on excellent teams, but they never quite had the impact that Magic did, with his superhuman size and court vision. And Bird: the best player on a legendar(il)y (annoying) dynasty, but would you ever take him over LeBron if you had to pick a SF from the above list for a 7-game, winner-take-all series?
@9, Jowles. How about Clyde and the Cap’n? This is, after all, a NYKs site 😉
@Jowles, What about Rodman?
I like both of Jowels lists except:
Oscar was a player that could be on the first list.
Bob Petitt has to be there somewhere….9 times first team all nba in a 10 season career. He was a mobile and good shooter whose game would translate to today’s game.
But good extensive lists.
If I had to pick one guy….it might be Magic. He could and did play all 5 spots on the floor and made every teammate a lot better.
I would take PEAK Bird over Lebron but career wise it’s not close. Lebron has been super elite for a very long time despite the mediocre outside shooting.
Bird became super elite when he realized shooting 3s had a lot of value to himself and the team and he decided he would be better than everyone else at it. At that stage, he could do everything. Then his back went out and he was never the same.
As great as Magic was, I am the one person on earth that thinks he was a hair below the other guys. He was a matchup nightmare, an all time great playmaker, and an excellent rebounder. That what’s made him great. But he could not shoot and he was weak on defense He was smart enough to limit his usage to where he had an advantage (which is very important), but shooting matters. The value is just not a stand alone boxscore metric and should be (as should many other things).
I would have a hard time not putting both bird and magic on my all time great starting 5
Stats matter, but those are not the stats that measure how good a player is.
Those are the stats that more or less measure how productive a player was given the rules and knowledge at the time, his teammates, the system he played in, the defense he faced, and the role he had on his team. Even there they are incomplete. Also, since they all the common models weight the various factors differently, it’s hard to use them beyond a rough guideline for what they measure.
I’d add him to the second list for his otherworldy production. He’s not nearly the all-around player that you see above, but he’s extremely valuable. If I had to make a starting five to win a single playoff series, Rodman could very well be on the list.
Also I’d add Curry to the 2nd list for his extreme value over the last four years. Definitely not a GOAT contender (I’ll add him to the list when he makes eight consecutive Finals), but had arguably the greatest offensive season ever.
@9 Where’s Kobe?
Bill Russell was probably the most impactful defender in the history of the sport.
The year before he came to the Celtics, they ranked 6th out of 8 teams in defensive rating. Then he joined the team and they led the league in defensive rating every single year that he played except one, and they finished second that year. Then when he retired they sank to 8th out of 14 in defensive rating despite returning almost the exact same roster minus Russell. They didn’t keep track of blocks during his career, but Russell probably blocked over six shots per game in his career, and maybe more than that. If that sounds like a high number, consider that he also averaged 22 rebounds per game.
I don’t know if that makes him a GOAT candidate, but he was an extremely valuable player in the NBA of that time, which was played mostly under the rim and of course had no three-point shot. He pretty much singlehandedly wrecked opposing offenses. You can make the case that he was such a monster on defense that he was more impactful than Wilt. I personally wouldn’t make that case, but the case can be made.
It’s kind of silly to say Magic couldn’t shoot. He had a career .610 TS% and was over .600 year after year after year. And you can’t really say his “inability to shoot” shrunk the floor or hurt his team’s offense or something, because when he wasn’t scoring efficiently on you he was picking you apart with ridiculous passes. He also shot 84.8% from the line for his career, and if he came along in today’s game he would have probably developed his three-point shot just fine.
He was not a great defender though. That is a legit criticism of him.
From RealGM
If the Wolves are really interested in Noah, it makes sense for us to try to work some deal where we eat most of his upcoming salary but get something back. But I don’t know if there is any mechanism for some team getting something back from another team in return for stretching and waiving a player. There doesn’t seem to be any reasonable player for such a trade on the Timberwolves
But I will say this makes the Knicks look smarter than the Lakers (and I hope saying this doesn’t jinx us). The Knicks aren’t waiving Noah instantly, but the Lakers are waiving and stretching Deng right away. I don’t see the need for waiving either of them unless you really want the roster spot.
I agree that Magic deserves consideration for GOAT. And peak Bird is certainly in the argument as far as being the most valuable MVP of them all. And I think that Russell understood defense better than any player ever (Wilt probably blocked more shots, see the video I posted yesterday.)
If you are creating an all-time great team and had as first pick any of the guys on the list in his prime, it would be hard not to pick Kareem, Jordan or LeBron. I could see not taking Wilt, if only for the ego and FT shooting issues, even though the record books say otherwise. But taking prime Bird or Magic certainly wouldn’t be a blunder. And who knows with Russell? Or Duncan? Or even Hakeem?
I think the Wolves are probably “interested” in those two castoffs specifically because they are castoffs.