We start today with a public service announcement from YOUR NEW YORK KNICKS! Jeff Hornacek has been fired along with the rest of his coaching staff including Kurt Rambis (thank goodness). It barely got a mention – guess everyone assumed it would happen. As we all know, if you don’t have the players, you are not going to win. Both Hardaway Jr. and KP missed a ton of games and the Knicks also lost a number of close games which is usually a reflection of the coach. SU had no major issues with Hornacek other than not starting Trey Burke until the end of the year. Mark Jackson’s name is floating out there along with other NBA re-treads. It’s a tough spot for anyone – if you select an up and coming assistant, he will fail with this roster that isn’t going to win for a couple of years.
SU says keep your eye on Doc Rivers.
OK, back to professional sports talk. I know: it’s April; it’s cold; it’s damp; it’s early; blah, blah, blah. If you don’t hit, your team looks lethargic. The team looks tight but wait! You have the great communicator in Aaron Boone at the helm who will keep things loose. SU gets all of that but notes the following:
- Amazingly, Tyler Wade looks over-matched in 2018 just as he did in 2017 and made a bad throwing error to boot last night. Who would have thought that? Torreyes is a solid hitter and also provides a spark. SU says please play him until you decide to promote Gleyber Torres at which point, you demote Wade. SU says Wade will bring you a starting pitcher mid-year in a deal for prospects. Trade him now while his value is still reasonably high.
- Porcello easily navigated the line-up last night. There literally were no hard hit balls until Judge’s double. The Yankees were swinging on the 1st pitch as if they had a plane to catch or wanted to warm up in the dugout. Unfortunately, we have seen this before in the post-season against the better pitchers. Question: do you have a line up that can manufacture runs against the aces?
- Sonny Gray must be the most inefficient pitcher in baseball. He throws so many pitches to get through every inning. Overrated? 3 wild pitches last night and you really can’t blame Sanchez. He is all over the place.
- Stanton is showing signs of life. I guess that’s a positive. Hicks is back – key guy. The injury to Drury really hurts as Andujar is struggling. SU says keep Torreyes in the line up somewhere and take some of the pressure off Andujar who may need a few weeks in the minors to get his confidence back.
- Note that in the Boone era, with basically the same players, the base-running and defense have both been pretty bad. SU asks: why is that? Are players more relaxed under a more relaxed manager? Or is there less attention to the details now?
The reality is that the manager in baseball is less important than coaches in the NFL and the NBA. Girardi was very solid in SU’s opinion. This is Boone’s first go-round and he faces adversity right away. Better hope the home runs are coming,
Sports Update Intergalactic 
A few things;
1. Our two best players on the Knicks are injury prone. That will continue, as a result to keep us far away from being a legitimate contender.
2. I agree with you about Tyler Wade. Sonny Grey is not the answer. We will need another dependable arm come July. Getting what we got out of CC last year was a surprise and a big bonus. He will come back to being his age this year.
3. In 2009 when the Yanks last won the World Series we were 12-10 in April.
4. Talking about 2009… that’s 9 years ago. We were 53… still young and restless. You had a regular tennis serve and I believe it was before all your surgeries. Our boys were Seniors in college.
5. Agreed on the coaching needs when comparing all 4 major sports. Besides putting out a lineup and making sure their are no OBJ types interfering with the karma of the locker room what else do MLB manager’s do. Chew some tobacco, kneel on the dugout step, say a few words to your dugout coach and watch the game.
Interesting thought on Doc Rivers. Gives the Clippers a chance to move on and brings in a new approach for the Knicks. I would think that the fans would embrace him. I still want to see what David Blatt can do as an NBA coach with a roster he can lead rather than having the coach/GM on the floor running the show. I don’t see them choosing a college coach… but I am sure there are a few out there who would be intriguing.
The rumors are that they will look at former coaches of the Memphis Grizzlies, Magic, etc. I agree on the college coach option – don’t bother. I expect they will lean towards Mark Jackson as he has a Knick pedigree but he was a control freak in Golden State and threw a lot of religious stuff at the players – inappropriately so. Rivers would be fine and is very accessible with the media which is half the battle. Blatt should wait for a better roster as this team is not going to win for a few years.
Look out for Jeff Van Gundy. he will set the right tone in the locker room and demand tough defense. A youthful group that has lack of offensive skills need to step up in other areas. Gee… what a concept… defense…. Will the Garden ever chant that “holy” word again from the late 60’s thru mid 80’s…. Marv Alpert Days.
Sonny Grey was not terribly impressive last year and hard to expect much more.
Boone does not seem to have this group playing clean baseball. Will give him a bit of a pass because of injuries and moving people around the field and lineup. But dealing with this stuff is a big part of the job.
Stanton should be fine. He had a monster year last year but if you look closely he hit 30 HRs and 60 RBI in July and August. That’s about half his production right there. It’s not uncommon for power hitters to be streaky and Cashman and the sabermatricians have determined that a lineup full of these types of hitters is the way to go. We will see.
There must be something about Torreyes that keeps managers from going to him more often. Players seem to love him and he does everything you could want from that type of player. But it was the same with Girardi who played him with regularity only when injuries left no other options.
Looking like Torres will be up soon. Exciting. But another right handed bat.
I like Doc Rivers. I’m not sure why Rivers would want to come here and live though a complete rebuild. I think I’d rather see Mark Jackson because I think he’ll be a more entertaining personality. There are things wrong with the Knicks that don’t seem to get corrected by the head coach. They’ve had a lot of them lately. Some had success elsewhere. I still thing they need a full cleanse…but they never follow through. They almost had cleansed themselves of Isaiah Thomas and then they poisoned themselves with Carmelo Anthony and then Phil Jackson. It’s going to take another few years to cleanse themselves of the effects of those two.
I was always a Jeff Van Gundy fan as he seemed to have a good perspective of the strengths of the players on the roster and play to their strengths. Doc Rivers seems like he would be a solid option as well. I’m not overly opposed to Jackson but not overly impressed by him either. He had the Warriors before Kerr and certainly did not over achieve with what looks like the most stacked roster in the NBA in hindsight.