“11, 11, 11…”
“I see. Most of the amps go up to 10, does that mean it’s louder?”
“Well it’s one louder isn’t it?” – This Is Spinal Tap
There’s only two times the noise level goes up to 11, when Spinal Tap is involved or when an overhyped New York sports team is underperforming. The New York Knicks lost to the previously winless on the road Milwaukee Bucks Friday night and as New York Post writer Marc Berman points out, led to the first “Fire D’Antoni” chants of the season (with a few “Phil Jackson” chants sprinkled in).
“I don’t blame the fans,’’ D’Antoni said afterward. “Half my family probably is [chanting, too]”
Berman went on to say the blame for how bad the 6-9 Knicks are shouldn’t fall squarely on D’Antoni’s shoulders. He even quoted one person close to Donnie Walsh who reiterated that the former Knicks president wasn’t a fan of the deal that brought Carmelo Anthony to Gotham.
“They traded chemistry for celebrity,’’ one Walsh confidant said. “It wasn’t a basketball trade.’’
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Mike D’Antoni, but Berman is right. This isn’t all D’Antoni’s fault. It’s a lot his fault because he either doesn’t care about or can’t motivate his teams to do much on defense (though they do rank 13th in defensive efficiency). They’re also a team that was supposed to be a high powered offense that only averages 93 points a game despite having the league’s third fastest pace. Part of the problem is they don’t have a true point guard to distribute the ball, which also partially explains Amar’e Stoudemire’s offensive struggles. And we all know Tyson Chandler is only effective on offense when he has someone to get him the ball. How Baron Davis will help matters remains to be seen.
Another problem is depth. A guy nicknamed “Jorts” is their first big guy off the bench. They probably could use Timofy Mozgov as their first big off the bench. He’s someone they probably could’ve held on to had Knicks owner James Dolan not demanded Walsh make the Melo trade three days before the deadline. Maybe they can convince Aaron Brooks to sign there when Jack Bauer rescues him, J.R. Smith and Wilson Chandler from China.
The last problem is more psychological. As I am not doctor, please take this one with several grains of salt. When Amar’e Stoudemire was in Phoenix it was clear he wasn’t ever completely comfortable not being the number one guy on the Suns. When he signed with New York he totally bought in to being the guy in the biggest market in the league. Now Melo is the guy on the Knicks and one has to wonder how that has affected STAT.
Something needs to change in New York and personnel wise I’m not sure what it will be. The Knicks traded away all their depth (and other trade chips) to get Melo and are 20-27 since that trade. Do they need to trade Amar’e or Melo (would either team do a Paul Pierce for Melo trade)? It will probably end in Mike D’Antoni getting fired and it probably should, but it’s not all his fault.
