Fuck Yea[h] NBA

By now you’ve heard the Knicks extended Mike Woodson’s contract another 3 years (worth $10-12 million according to Isola) and replaced interim with future as they look towards Woodson to coach them past their 1st round eliminations over the last two seasons.

Personally, the fact Dolan and Grunwald didn’t even talk to Phil Jackson as every writer has mentioned, makes me uncomfortable. If they had been unable to entice Jackson, who still isn’t sure he wants to coach agian, they could have done a lot worse than the former Hawks head coach, Woodson. His selection isn’t sending us all into a tizzy with expectations, like the Zen Master’s hiring might have. I wanted that excitment, but regardless, Woodson was 18-6 to end the regular season and we did get that game 4, the first Knicks playoff victory in more than a decade; although, their one-dimensional offense around ‘Melo is awful to watch and was easily thwarted by Miami. Some of those gripes fall on Woodson and his iso-heavy Melo preferences. 

Here’s what some other New York writers had to say about the deal.

• I already mentioned Frank Isola at the New York Daily News
• Howard Beck at the New York Times where he’s tongue-in-cheek about Woodson’s recent change in reprensentaiton to CAA, the preferred agency for Knicks employees and one that’s not above the whims of Dolan and also represents Melo. It appears it’s gonna be Melo’s team on the executive level as well as on the court.
• One of my favorite Knicks writer’s Seth, at Posting and Toasting wrote about his “qualms” with the move and they mirror some of the mine own from above (namely Jackson never getting a call, and the Knicks stagnant offense against Miami).
• Harvey Araton, the other guy that gets delivered to my grungy BK apt, wrote that the Knicks made the right move in going with Woodson over Jackson.
• Marc Berman in the Post explains why the Knicks didn’t even bother reaching out to Jackson (Woodson was just that impressive in his interview—really?).
• And Mike Vaccaro in the Post writes what we all know anyway: the pressure on Woodson to win will be higher than you’d think. 

The specter of Phil Jackson still hangs heavy in the MSG raftors (as well as the Staples Center and the United Center), and you can be sure he’ll become less ethereal with every loss under Woodson’s watch. If you thought D’Antoni went through the ringer earlier this year, just think if Woodson gets under Melo’s skin at practice and he stops giving a shit like he did during much of D’Antoni’s time this sesason. Woodson doesn’t have the fall back position afforded D’Antoni that he never wanted ‘Melo brought in for his Marxist ball-rotation heavy offense (Jack McCallum should have talked more about early 20th century prole politics in Seven Seconds or Less :).

We’ll see if Woodson can handle the pressure and scrutiny. Many larger personalities have failed, so maybe his “company man” moniker will work?

ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The New York Daily News has a poll up for every member of the Knicks, including the “infamous” fire extinguisher that beat-up Amar’e, James Dolan, Mike Woodson, Amar’e, ‘Melo and basically every Knicks player or executive, asking whether Knicks fans would “keep ‘em” or “dump ‘em” if they were the General Manager (unfortunately, they also ask whether Glen Grunwald should be kept or dumped failing to realize the failure in logic when asking fans to pretend to be general manager then vote on whether Grunwald should be general manager). Anyways, I voted and have the screen captures for the results above. Enjoy, and remember we here in New York support J.R. Smith’s peccadilloes more than most; he reminds us of ourselves :)

Anyways, it was interesting to see the results: predicatably, Chandler had the most overwheming percentage to stay , with 96%; who those 4% in favor of dumping him were probably included all of Jerome Jordan’s extended family; the second most popular decision to stay was Iman Shumpert—proving, once again, Knicks fans love a fiesty wing defender that’s not afraid to take a shot with Melo and Stoudemire on the floor. Knicks also—overwhelmingly—agree that Owner James Dolan should go; 81% want him dumped, and even that felt low.

I was aligned with the majority of Knicks fans when it came to every position or executive except Mike Woodson, Jared Jefferies and the fire extinguisher, which (OK, I’ll play along) the team should dump to avoid psychologically scarring Amar’e more than when ‘Melo first told him it was “his team, so step the fuck off,” when they both approached a Victoria’s Secret model at an underground club in SoHo. 

I made that last part up, but you were’t entirely sure, were you? 

It’s gonna be a long off-season, but—for the most part—the fans agree with where this “company team” is headed. More on Woodson’s contract extension and the reaction in the New York, later.

I hope you’re enjoying the beginning to your Memorial Day Weekend. I passed up my gf’s pool to blog for y’all ‘cause I just love you that much (also air conditioning! cigarettes! and hash!). Take care today and remember there’s gonna be a torrential downpour in Manhattan/Brooklyn soon, so hopefully you remembered your rain gear.

This is now a weather blog.

Some afternoon links for this Friday before Memorial Day Weekend. A Friday with no basketball, even as the Clippers/Spurs and Lakers/Thunder played back-to-back at Staples last weekend. Well done Stern.

—Chris Bosh is still out indefiintely, according to Spoels

—Speaking of Bosh, Gregg Doyel at CBS thinks the Heat might be better off without him. Umm, no.

—Wade and LeBron post-game presser after ending the Pacers series. The one with the hot pants.

—Dwight’s claiming he had nothing to do with Stan Van Gundy getting the axe. Even if he didn’t, the perception is that he did, and perception is reality in the world today (just ask the commenter that called me a “passive misogynist,” but I digress)

—Henry Abbott on the “unthinking brilliance” of Tim Duncan. The piece includes a comparison to tennis champion Novak Djokovic and M. Galdwell’s best-selling Blink, if you’re into that sort of thing.

—Sam Amick on Jerry Sloan’s return to coaching (h/t Mr. Ziller). He’s interviewing for the Bobcats slot, which as ESS noted on Twitter, means he’s been living as an eremite for the last year. Seriously Jerry, go talk to Paul Silas before making any final decisions.

—NBA.com’s John Schuhmann on the history of game 7’s between the Sixers and Celtics for the Hang Time Blog.

—More Popovich and Duncan love via Trey Kerby.

—Ian Thomsen on the Celtics’ hopes that experience will trump youth in tomorrow’s game 7 at the Garden (the new Garden, not the old one. Sigh.)

—Adrian Wojnarowski on the Heat’s dominance rolling into the Eastern Conference Finals. Queue eyeroll.

—The always entertaining and adroit Beckley Mason at Hoopspeak on the Miami Heat’s “Occam’s Offense.” If you’re not familiar, Occam refers to Occam’s Razor, a bastardized form of Ockham’s Razor. It’s a philosophical pragamatism named after William of Ockham, a 13th and 14th century logician and Franciscan Friar that birthed, according to Wiki, 

“a principle urging one to select among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect.”

Don’t worry, a lot of people get confused by it. Basically Beckley explicates the simplification of the Heat’s offense: Isolations for Wade and James and shooters to spread the court (Mason goes into much greater detail that simplification and writes a lot more fluidly than I’m doing here, so go check it out). This probably should have been it’s own post, but whatever. 

—Shoals and a premature Conference Finals Preview for GQ (not Esquire)

[Pic Via]

About those pants, read Dan Devine’s take at BDL, where he breaks down the progenitor of Wade’s playoff style steez. It’s in reaction to Rachel Nichols’ tweeted convo between Wade and LeBron when ‘Bron first saw the pants. To wit:

LeBron: “Damn, for real, those are close-out pants? And the finger sleeve?

Wade: “You gotta coordinate.”

LeBron: “You look like Eddie Murphy in the 80’s.”

Wade: “Eddie Murphy wishes he looked like me.”

So what do you think readers? Does Eddie Murphy* wish he looked like Wade? Or does his perference for all-leather jumpsuits** trump Wade’s fashion faux pas?

Pic via Getty

*You might not be old enough to remember Raw or Delirious

** “Really no dick control at all…”

I didn’t know David Stern was a Sigma Alpha Mu ‘Pledge Master’ at Rutgers University, but it shouldn’t have surprised me. 

J.R. Smith was arrested in South Beach last night for a prior warrant involving his failure to produce a valid license, reports Marc Stein in the New York Post.

Miami Beach police say Smith was arrested last night on a bench warrant for not having a valid driver’s license.

Sgt. Bobby Hernandez told The Post that Smith was recognized on famed Washington Avenue in South Beach. Police originally said that Smith was pulled over while driving a scooter, but after reviewing the arrest report have now said that is not the case. The warrant stemmed from Smith, 26, being cited last year in Miami for driving a scooter without a valid driver’s license.

Smith has until June 26th to opt out of the final year of his contract with the Knicks worth $2.6 million. He’s had a tumultuous time with the Knicks since arriving from China in February. He was fined $25,000 by the league for an inappropriate tweet involving an indiscrete picture of his then-girlfriend Tahiry (former flame of rapper, Joe Budden). He’s also battled with Mike Woodson over his inability to act and dress professionally.

So basically, this quick arrest is just J.R. Smith being J.R. Smith. 

Shaq is too busy enjoying retired life to be a GM.

(via artyucko)