So I had some problems with my hosting service (forgot to renew my subscription - whoops!) and so that messed with password cookies (why are they called cookies anyway?) or some such.  I’m no tech whiz so I don’t know.  But I’m back now and this should be up and running again in no time.

I’ll start again with the observation I had after watching some NBA games over the past few weeks: Nate Robinson was right when he said something along the lines of “no one boxes out.”  Seriously, no one in the NBA, especially guards, boxes out.  I can understand this somewhat, as not a lot of teams crash the boards in order to prevent fast breaks, but seriously, I saw no one boxing out.  A lot of players would just turn and watch the shot, exactly what they teach you not to do.  Then again if you’re 6′6″ and freakishly athletic, I’m sure the fundamentals mean a little bit less.  Again, just something I noticed.

Few things to look out for when watching this video of the Knicks game against the Wizards. Firstly, the coaches don’t do anything for the entire huddle. They talk amongst themselves while the team falls apart. Second, Nate Robinson will scrap with anyone, especially bigger players. Most notably Yao Ming.

So on Deadspin this morning, I saw a link to MSNBC from last night saying that the Suns and Heat were talking a Marion for Shaq deal and I immediately thought ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!!? Look, I know some of these Western Conference teams feel they have to respond in some way to the Lakers getting Gasol (and, admittedly, they should be a little worried given how he played last night against the Nets - then again, it was the Nets), but it would help to make deals that make sense. John Hollinger (should be free Insider shit) does a pretty good job of breaking down why this is the stupidest trade the Suns could make: he’s older, out of shape, doesn’t fit in with an up tempo style, has gotten lazy on defense, will complain more about his role on the team than Marion, and generally is probably the worst player for any type of fast break game. Hell, he doesn’t even rebound as much as Marion. And on top of this all, HE’S INJURED!

A larger point though, if you’re gonna let Marion go, or if management truly feels that his attitude is detrimental to the team, that’s all fine and good, but get a player who fits the system and, dare I say, is of equal value. Shaq is far below value for Marion especially considering everything the Suns do offensively. I’d have to think there are other teams out there that are interested. Maybe you don’t get a big man, which for some reason the Suns seem to be looking for (after trading a perfectly serviceable one - Thomas - this offseason). Marion for Kirlenko (sp? don’t feel like checking) especially since he’s come back to form this season or maybe some of Portland’s young pieces along with Pryzbilla (not as likely a trade given that Pryzbilla is sort of Portland’s only five at the moment and Portland’s on a roll) or maybe Jersey’s wings or if the Mavs are looking to shake things up maybe something down there could be worked out or if you have to go to the Eastern Conference then, let’s see, maybe to the Pacers for Danny Granger or if you want an injured O’Neal, Jermaine even fits better, or shit, I guess my point here is that there’s gotta be other teams out there willing to consider Marion deals. But if the Suns are only looking for 7 foot, 300+ center then I guess they only have one place to go.

More from Deadspin in the grand search for answers on this one.

That’s right 97.5 million people watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. That means 97.5 million people may or may not have been really weirded out by that talking Etrade baby who vomits after making a trade. That was just weird. And oddly, Naomi Campbell cannot dance it seems.

To speak of the game for a second: FUCK YEAH! 18-1 baby! Go Giants! That shit was just sick. It was everything you could’ve wanted from a game really (except maybe some more offensiveness). Close all the way through, both teams playing fairly well, the Giants front four mauling Brady, good things all around. And best of all, the Giants won. Also, at the beginning of the game, I said and I quote, “It would be funny if Eli Manning orchestrates a game winning fourth quarter drive,” and IT HAPPENED! Who would’ve thunk it? Great stuff.
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1. I have been to China and back.

2. The Knicks have a three game win streak going (without Stephon Marbury, I might add. Coincidence? I think not.).

3. I learned about the half man, half tree thanks to Deadspin’s NBA Closer.

EVERYTHING IS OKAY THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC. That’s basically what Isiah has to say about his self-evaluation as coach of the Knicks. This is why coach-GM combos can be troublesome (though I would say that they sometimes work out beautifully as the coach can get the players he wants for his system - but when there doesn’t seem to be a system in place and the coach has loaded up on large contracts of me-first players then there’s a problem). Also, it seems that Isiah is convinced that players similar to his own playing style are best. That is shorter guards with a knack for scoring. Isiah wasn’t exactly a shoot-first point guard (he averaged over 9 assists/game), but he will be remembered more for his scoring than his passing (including a game were he scored 16 straight in 94 seconds). If you look at his career averages, they’re similar to Stephon Marbury’s. Here’s the problem with trying to build a team that way, you have to have guys surrounding that scoring guard who are willing to run through a wall essentially, to bust their ass, to get the garbage buckets and do the small things so that it doesn’t fall on that one guard. Philly never really got it right with Iverson and it seems that no one got it right (maybe can’t get it right) with Marbury. Isiah’s Detroit teams had Rodman, Lambeer, Mahorn, Dumars, and on and on. Guys remembered for their hustle as much as anything. Sure the Knicks have a couple of people like that (Lee, Balkman perhaps), but other than that it seems like they’re surrounded by quite the opposite - guys clamoring for the ball, PT, and shots without wanting to really work at it.

Another thing: Isiah was a motivator. As a player, he was able to motivate his team and inspire confidence in them. For some reason, he doesn’t seem to be able to do that from the bench with these Knicks (Chuck Daily may have had something to do with it in the Detroit days, too) and there’s no one on the floor doing it.

But hey, at least Isiah himself thinks he’s doing a passable job. Uch, ug, ach, mleh, mshesh, huch, hlech, bah, beh.

While there’s more news out that the Knicks organization is in shambles (not to mention their most recent loss - 8-20 people, wooo! Absolutely no reason to boo!), I can take some solace in knowing that it’s not just the basketball team in MSG that is the problem, it’s anything housed in that building. Apparently, there are sexual harrassment charges coming from the Rangers side of things, too. So basically the whole thing is just a giant Mesopotamia. The Rangers, however, have a 37-18-15 record currently good enough for sixth in the East while the Knicks are battling for the worst record IN THE LEAGUE.

Uch.

After the Knicks beat the Cavs rather soundly on Wednesday, some people thought this might be the sign of a turn around, and I really just can’t take this seriously. While the Cavs do have LeBron James and have resigned Varajao and all that stuff so maybe they’ll get back to the form they were in last season when they went to the Finals, but they’re 11-15. Their starting point guard is a man who’s mother calls him “Boobie” and who had 1 assist in the game. Ira Newbie (IRA NEWBIE!!!) played 17 minutes for them.

But here’s the thing, it’s not just that the Cavs didn’t play all that well, there were some signs that the Knicks weren’t playing that great either. The Knicks just happened to shoot a ridiculously high 56.2% from the field. But look at the rest of it 17 assists (on 41 field goals I might add) and 15 TOs. Malik Rose had 3 turnovers by himself (to match a stellar 12 minutes and 2 points). So who looked good? David Lee (who we all like), Jamal Crawford (who strangely seems to be our best point guard), and Randolph and Richardson looked decent as well. These are all players I am fairly found of and this gets me closer to my overall point. If the team is going to lose, I would rather it lose with lovable characters. I mean, after the whole sex trial, we learned more about Marbury than I’d like to know. I’ve already chronicled my feelings about Curry (don’t get me started on his line from Wednesday). Malik Rose is a waste of space. Jared Jefferies…well…I don’t know what I can say about Jared Jefferies. And don’t get me started on Jerome James.

Just take a gander at the Knicks depth chart and tell me you wouldn’t want to basically see that team sans say Jared Jefferies, Jerome James, Malik Rose, Eddy Curry, and Stephon Marbury. You keep Randolph because occasionally he just becomes a beast and can rebound MUCH better than Curry. Now I realize you’re short on players but how ’bout we keep Dan Dickau and Demetrius Nichols from the summer team. You’ve got 12 players right there. You definitely would need to pick up some sort of big man, a Joel Przybilla type (basically a rebounder and shot blocker who doesn’t need shots really), to patrol the paint (though Randolph Morris could be an incredible shot blocker for all we know). Then the starting lineup could look like some variation of the one from Wednesday with either Morris or Lee put in place of Curry. Now I’m not saying we would win any more games than we do now, but it would be a more likable team (on paper at least - it would seem like they’d hustle more) and it gives the team a chance to play and develop younger guys for the future.

I know there’s a win now mentality in New York, but right now I’d settle for a team that just looks like they actually want to play the game, that they want to work at it, a group of guys that don’t seem like complete asses, and a chance that two-three years down the line we could have some nice, young pieces. With our present cap situation and players, I just don’t get that feeling.

Sorry to keep griping on these Knicks, but not only did they lose last night, they lost and seemed to want to blame the fans even if just a little bit. Randolph seemed to have the biggest problem with the fans booing (he must not be used to it because no one used to go to Portland games, otherwise I think they would most definitely have heard the boo-urns). From the MSNBC report, it seems the Knicks’ fans saved their special treatment for Curry and Thomas. Let’s see what’s going on with Curry and Thomas this season. Thomas recently settled a lawsuit with Anuuuuuuuuucha Browne Saunders for 11.5 million after almost a full summer of legal battles and an impending appeal. Let me remind you that despite the fact that Anuuuuuuucha was suing for a large sum of money to start with (somewhere between 8-10 mill - I forget), she was willing to settle before the trial started for a cool million. That means that Dolan and Thomas cost the Knicks 10.5 million. But hey, at least they saved the team 100 g’s because Anuuucha was awared 11.6 million! And what do the Knicks fans get for that 10.5 million? A couch that’s led them to a 6-14 record to begin the season.

Onto Curry. Eddie Curry right now is averaging a little over 15 points, 5.5 boards, and .63 blocks per game (.63!!!) from our starting center. Now it should be noted that he only plays 30 minutes a game. So let me put this in some Knicks perspective. Quentin Richardson, our 3, plays about the same amount of minutes (1 more) and averages 1.1 more rebounds. David Lee averages 5 LESS minutes and grabs 2.2 more rebounds. Zach Randolph plays 2 more minutes and averages almost 5 more rebounds. For perspective on his blocks…wait a sec…he’s the Knicks leading shot blocker!!! At .63 a game! That means 2 out of three games he gets ONE block! There is no truer testament to our lack of interior D than the fact that our starting center leads the team in blocks at .63 and that our starting power forward (Randolph) has the same blocks average as our starting point guard (Marbury). That’s what I call protecting the paint!

More fun (read: depressing) Knicks facts: Our shooters (if you consider Quentin Richardson, Jamal Crawford, and Nate Robinson our main shooters) all shoot below 40%. We average almost as many assists (17.1) as we do turnovers (15.8) while our opponents have about a 9 assist advantage over turnovers in games against us.

All in all, Randolph is right. There is absolutely, positively no reason to not like this Knicks team. Oh, AND we have the highest payroll in the league! WOOOOOO!!! Go Knicks!!!

The Good: I caught Juno this weekend and I thought it was a really great movie. Besides being simple broad characteristics such as sweet and funny, it was also an incredibly well put together movie with great dialogue. This movie must have been somewhat golden from the get go because you can tell from watching it that the screenplay must have been great. Diablo Cody wrote it (here’s a little Jezebel information on her - and of course you can find out what you can about her from imdb), and it’s really really good especially considering it was her first screenplay. It’s not just the dialogue, which I’ve already mentioned as great, but the story itself is well rounded. It does a good job of completing the circle of these people’s lives. There were some problems I had with Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman’s story arch (mostly pointed to me by my mother), but it wasn’t anything major that I thought detracted from the movie as a whole, especially when Cody does such a good job of juxtaposing the conclusion of their relationship with our general feelings towards the characters throughout the piece. So good job. Thumbs up. Go see it.

The Bad: The New York fucking Knicks. Not only did the Knicks lose back to back games to the Sixers (THE SIXERS - one of a select few (I believe its only 2-3) teams with a worse record than the Knicks), but James Dolan is standing behind Isiah with his full support. WHAT?!?!?! How does that make any sense? Only one team is worse than the Knicks in the entire Eastern Conference after this weekend. Only three teams in the whole league are worse! And two of those teams are in the midst of intense rebuilding overhauls (Seattle, Minnesota). Uch. Ugh. Mlech. There are no words. Just disgusted sounds.