The Frozen Envelope

If we are going to have a debate on whether Isiah should be the Knicks' GM, let's do it on the substance and not on the allegations of sexual misconduct. Innocent until proven guilty.

On the merits, real questions exist. Look at some of his bigger moves:

-- Jerome James smelled of desperation and the need for a headline. He is now a real cap killer.

-- The price paid for Curry will haunt the Knicks. The draft pick and switch are huge and we've seen little from Curry to justify all we gave for him.

-- The QR trade is a bust too. Wouldn't you prefer to have Kurt Thomas on this team?

-- Other than drafting Frye, what's been his best move?

Isiah fails on the merits, not on what's been written in the NY Post.

Here is the article.

He was on the board when we selected Weis.

Yesterday's reports were premature and apparently the Kings don't want Artest afterall. It seems that they were spooked by his demand to meet with team officials before the trade went through.

Given his nuttiness, maybe the Knicks longshot odds of landing him for Pacer cap relief improve. Still a pipe dream, but with this team, we need pipe dreams.

The Knicks idea of trading expiring contracts for Artest was never going to work (but that does not mean you don't try).

It's being reported that Artest has been traded to the Kings for Peja Stojakovic. At first blush, that appears to good value for the Pacers. But Peja can opt out of this contract at the end of the year. Unless the Pacers think he'll opt to stay (which they obviously do), the deal may mean that there were few real takers for Artest.

In the short term, Artest has been on the inactive list, so the Pacers just got better. It also means that Kings have gotten much better on defense as Peja was something of a matador (in my opinion).

Would've loved Artest as a Knick, but this trade does not change the Knicks' view of the world one iota. We're lottery bound without the lottery prize.

Yours truly was a Freshman at Georgetown the last time that the Hoyas beat a #1 team. In that game, Coach Thompson donned a copy of Lou C.'s lucky sweater as an ice breaker to a win over a St. John's team with Mullin, Mark Jackson and Walter Berry. (1985 if you're scoring at home)

Gotta love a win against Duke wherein a major college program ran the Princeton offense so precisely that the Hoyas had multiple layups and dunks off back door cuts. Jeff Green led the team in assists.

JJ Redick's 41 points was astounding -- the Hoyas have some of the best mid-size defenders in the Big East and they couldn't come close to stopping him. I've seldom seen someone shoot that well with a hand in their face. Anyone who thinks he can't make it in the NBA is just wrong.

This win will be what the committee looks at when (and if) Georgetown is on the bubble. Given the strength of the Big East, Georgetown is looking at being somewhere between the 5-9th team from the conference going to the dance. Hence, the bubble. A January win over Duke makes the resume look much better.

Given this weekend, does anyone still think the ACC is the premier basketball conference?

The Knicks could use Jeff Green.

No question, Marbury carried the team during the recent winning streak. No question, Marbury could not be expected to log that type of effort/minutes for the rest of the season. He deserves respect from pulling the team back from the abyss. He obviously sacrificed to do it. Wally's pick was dirty, no question.

But if Marbury is out for a few games, it is not a bad thing. Show the team that they cannot rely him to be superman every night. Force some adversity on the team and see how the young guns react. It is Brown-101 to rely on team defense in these sitations, and we see if his lessons have sunk in.

Don't get me wrong, we are not better off this season with Marbury on the DL. Had he gone down before these last wins, it would have been a disaster - the losses would start to effect the individual players' psyches. But after those wins, a little adversity can be a good seasoning tool.

And as this blog repeats, this year is all about seasoning.

Get well SM, we need you in the mix.

Again, forget the hype of a 5 game winning streak. Remember the big picture.

Antonio Davis is teaching the young crew the lesson on hard work and hustle. When they see an old-timer splayed out on the floor for a loose ball and fighting for every rebound, they hopefully get the message. I guess the best reinforcement is that all that effort leads to a quality win by a bucket in OT against the Mavs.

The other positive is that Curry's minutes and contribution are rising. He is getting back in shape and getting into the flow of the game.

Down sides:

• Apparently Isiah can't give QR away -- not even for a 3rd string PG
  
• JC is becoming shot happy again -- something that always ends badly
• We rely on Davis too much for rebounding, others need to get to it
• We're reminded that Nate's size really is an issue: he ends up guarding Dirk N. on a pick and roll -- 5'9" versus 7'0" -- bad things have to happen

I don't care about the 5 game streak. I care that the team is improving. While much work remains to be done, at least the direction is positive.

Don't believe the hype that there is significance to the last three games and how Marbury has been showing a better attitude. Too many GMs have been suckered in by SM only to be embarassed soon thereafter.

In the same vein, don't fall in love with Lee or out of love with Ariza. LB works in mysterious ways. It may well be that Ariza's current stay in rotation siberia is meant only for motivation. Lee is doing well, but the season (and his career) are too new for judgment. (That said, we're seeing enough (with consistency) from Frye to say to judge him a real keeper for now).

We're still not going to make the playoffs and the Bulls are still getting our (high) pick.

If you are looking for positives, look to see what happens to Curry's waistline and how many minutes he logs per game. (His other stats are immaterial at this point).