October 14, 2002

McDyess goes down.: Antonio McDyess went down with a fractured kneecap Saturday night -- the same knee that he had surgery on last year. He came to New York to be the low-post presence the Knicks had been lacking since Patrick Ewing was good.

Are the Knicks cursed? Do they stand a chance of making the playoffs? Or is this just punishment for making the rest of the league watch boring 82-79 games where Kurt Thomas is treated like a Hall of Famer?

posted by jmevius to basketball at 09:34 AM - 7 comments

They aren't cursed, the brass is just stupid. Overpaying marginal players, overstocking at the 2 and 3, point guard by committee when none of them would be starting on any other team in the leauge, and no true big man. They need to dump contracts and start over.

posted by corpse at 09:49 AM on October 14, 2002

How is the injury of an oft-injured player the sign of a curse? I agree with corpse--the Knicks brass is just plain stupid. They shouldn't have gone after McDyess in the first place.

posted by herc at 09:55 AM on October 14, 2002

It's true in every sport: players that have been injured are more likely to be injured again. They had to dump Camby, though. It was a risk that didn't pay off.

posted by djacobs at 10:17 AM on October 14, 2002

The curse I was referring to was the every-year promise that Camby was finally healthy and then watching him hobble to the bench.

posted by jmevius at 10:28 AM on October 14, 2002

The Knicks management has certainly made some dumb moves, but I'm not sure McDyess was so bad a gamble -- I don't think they could have gotten a better player for Camby. I do wonder, though, if you were to make the health/injury resistance of players (and maybe law-abidingness, too) a top priority in putting a team together, how good a record you'd end up with. Probably better than you'd expect....

posted by ajax at 11:33 AM on October 14, 2002

Pencil in John Stockton and Karl Malone at 1 and 4, respectively. That's a playoff team right there. Who else belongs on the health/injury resistance all-star team?

posted by jmevius at 12:34 PM on October 14, 2002

I just moved from the NYC area. Yes, the Knicks management is shameful. Yes, the Knicks are cursed. It's too bad because the Garden is such a sweet arena, and the fans are loyal, and the jerseys are classic. All they need is a team. (When will they decide to trade Sprewell or Houston?)

posted by jacknose at 08:38 AM on October 15, 2002

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