<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Karma:</div><div class="quote_post">^ It's a totally different situation. New York has always been the place were players that have been considered conacerous or ego-centric have entered and that's the team that Isiah Thomas compiles each and every year. Last year, the Knicks had Marbury, Robinson, Crawford, Jerome James, Eddy Curry, Steve Francis, hell, even Q-Rich, all of whom are immensly talented (minus Jerome James IMO) but thier attitudes prevent them from being recognized. On top of that, they are all viewed as egotistical and cancerous by other GMs around the league.</div>
You have definitely fallen victim to the media if you think Crawford, Q-Rich, James, or Curry have “attitudes”. No one on the Knicks with the exception of perhaps Nate Robinson has an attitude. They also don’t demonstrate any selfish, egotistical, or cancerous traits. Most people believe these personality platitudes the media spews out about Knicks. I don’t know what you mean by “prevented to be recognized”, but the main reason why the Knicks amassed that 33-49 record, was mostly due to injuries. It’s funny you mentioned how immensely talented they were, but failed to acknowledge the fact Francis and Richardson didn’t even play 50 games and Crawford missed the final two months of the season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Add to that list Zach Randolph (and take away Francis) and you have the recipe for a talented team that's confident (every year with the Knicks, it's always the same thing) but in the end chemistry problems or basically a lack of cohesiveness is what makes the team miss the playoffs. I don't doubt that Isiah Thomas is close to his players, no. I doubt the attitudes of the players he assembles. It seems they are more concerned about storking thier own fragile egos than winning an NBA championship, and that is not something I can say for the Boston Celtics.</div>
What are you talking about? Everyone on the Knicks has been willing to sacrifice for the betterment of the team. Marbury especially. Marbury throughout his entire career has been his team’s first option. However, when the Knicks wanted to build the offense around Curry, he didn’t object at all. In fact, he embraced it and told Curry “this is your team.” That was one of the reasons, according to Curry himself, for his breakout season. Marbury shot a career low 12.8 shot attempts per game last season, so clearly, there was no “ego” to stroke. Francis, who averages 38 MPG through out his career, only played 28 minutes last season and didn’t even start every game. He didn’t complain once about it and was very professional throughout the season.
I can’t say too much about Zach Randolph since I haven’t exactly followed him closely throughout his career, but I know he and Curry have been good friends for years so that will only speed up chemistry. Randolph has definitely had his fair share of issues in the league, but it seemed as if he has cleaned up his act as of late. Last season, for example, he showed some solid leadership skills and called a team meeting:
Link. It also must be mentioned, Zach is well-respected by his teammates, despite his shenanigans at times. I mean, does this seem like a bad guy:
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I know you probably aren’t too impressed with the above videos since this isn’t new for an NBA athlete, or any athlete for that matter, but it just shows another side of this man portrayed by the media as selfish and narcissistic.
I also think many locker room problems can be attributed to losing. In fact, there was an incident in Minnesota where Garnett punched Wally.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kevin Garnett has not gone beyond the first round ONCE in his entire career. He has never been in the East, and has not been to the playoffs in 2 (or 3?) years.
Paul Pierce has not tasted playoff success since 2002.
Ray Allen has not gained any significant recognition since the Buck's 2001 playoff run (hell even the 50 win Sonics team from two years ago didn't get that much recognition).</div>
Kevin Garnett, in 2004, reached Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. What is this “recognition” thing you keep talking about? Shouldn’t Ray Allen be more concerned with winning (as he did in Seattle in 2005) than garnering “recognition”? That would be pretty selfish to seek recognition, wouldn’t it? And while we’re on the topic, Ray Allen was one of the most ball-dominant players in the league last season (and the season before that).
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">All of these are hungry veteran players who are respected by everyone and who all have a point to prove. The players I listed have a point to prove as well, but it always seems like they have thier OWN points to prove before the team's. And that's the difference between the Knicks and the Celtics. As for Marbury not being scared of Boston, we'll see about that come the regular season. I would bet all my money that the Celtics end up with a better record, you can quote me on that.</div>
I don’t doubt any of the aforementioned players’ desire and this isn’t a Knicks versus Celtics debate either. Marbury didn’t even say he wasn’t scared of the Celtics—he said the Celtics have to prove themselves on the court first, which they do. You see, by Marc Berman’s title of the article, you already got the impression Marbury said he didn’t fear the Celtics.
