SU says enough of the Knicks drama with Carmelo and Phil Jackson. It’s not interesting. Flashback: he took the money to stay in New York. Jackson had the opportunity to move the team in a different direction but decided to give him the new max contract. End of story. He is not going anywhere, he has kids in school here and his wife likes it here. Stop the rumors and stop the conversation.
More importantly, Jeff Hornacek has indicated that he will likely move Porzingis to center now. Now, this is interesting and will make the team better. You lose Noah’s passing ability but he is a bad fit for this team and this style offense. Why? Because the point guard, Derrick Rose, is really a short 2-guard. This dude has no interest in passing the ball. SU has watched enough games now. He is an excellent driver and can create his own shot. But he is a shoot first player and when paired with Melo who is also shoot first, well you have a boring team. SU watched the Golden State Warriors the other night. Wow. They all make the extra pass and they all benefit from that style of play. That is what the best teams do. They pass the ball and then cut and move. What a concept. But let’s move Porzingis to the 5 position and see what happens. They are still just a few games out of the playoffs and SU still likes the young guys on the roster.
SU’s crack research department dug up this career stats comparison:
- Adrian Dantley: 24.3 points per game
- Carmelo Anthony: 24.8 points per game
Dantley was a prolific scorer who finally won a championship late in his career. A shoot first, isolation style player. Anthony is just like him. And he will not win a championship in NY and will need to be traded to get there.
SU lost some respect for Antonio Brown on the Steelers. He embarrassed his coach, his team and himself. For the fans, it’s great to have the behind-the-scenes look but it needs to be done in the open as they do with the HBO series each season, not in secret. This is an unneeded distraction going into the championship round. Btw, SU’s Super Bowl prediction of the winner of the Green Bay/Giants game vs. Pittsburgh is still in play.
SU caught the 2nd half of the Wisconsin – Michigan game last night. Michigan, which never fouls, had 9 fouls in the first 6 minutes of the 2nd half. I am not going to whine about the refs but when you talk about Wisconsin’s great home court record, one might think that the refs could be a factor. If Wisconsin is the best team in the Big Ten this year, you have to conclude that this is a down year for the conference. SU says watch out for Northwestern – could be their year to make the NCAAs. Michigan is NIT bound.
And with that, we need to start getting excited about pitchers and catchers reporting next month. There are still a lot of free agents out there unsigned and waiting for the call. SU continues to monitor Cashman and the Yankees which are going into 2017 with a lot of youngsters in the rotation and bullpen. I am guessing the plan is go all in for 2018 but if they commit to the youngsters this year, could be a fun season. For SU, baseball cannot come soon enough.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
+1 on pitchers and catchers.
The Anthony thing is ridiculous and frustrating when you think about how we got here. Donnie Walsh did not want him. But pressures from ownership, talk radio and Isaiah Thomas brought him here at too high a price, particularly given his upcoming availability in free agency. We then endured a number of tough seasons, some meaningful injury time, disagreements with a few coaches and talk about how Anthony’s game doesn’t mesh with players ranging from Amar’e to Lin. Then Jackson didn’t want to re-sign him but pressure from talk radio and management resulted in the team doubling down on failure. Since then we’ve seen more issues with coaches and other players along with the foreseeable injuries and decline in skills. None of this has been a surprise. it’s been clear as day and there have been people in management who were overruled or forced to make decisions against their better judgement.
And all along we hear excuses. About how many coaches Anthony has had to play for. About how many different teammates he’s had to adapt to. As if he has nothing to do with this. I actually do not find him to be a bad guy. He’s pretty likeable. But he’s not an all-time great player (as the Dantley example demonstrates) and treating him as one has hurt his teams.
As for the suggestions of a trade; as you said, forget it. It’s a distraction and an impossibility. It’s not the no-trade clause or the salary. Nobody wants him on their team because his record shows that he will not make any team better. In fact, he’s likely to make any team worse.