For this week's song of the week, we got to Kid Cudi, "Simple As..."
And that song, from one of the most unorthodox hip hop stars of this era, goes to Rajon Rondo. Kid Cudi: is he a rapper? A singer? Just someone that smokes a lot of weed? It's sort of unclear. And the same goes for Rondo, as he continues to boggle the mind with his success. He's like one, big thought experiment: what would it be like if a star point guard had no jumpshot? Players sag off him on almost every play. Last night in the fourth quarter, Antawn Jamison literally gave him a 15-foot cushion, and he still didn't shoot.
Yet, despite all the disrespect, Rondo consistently manages to make plays and dissect defenses. On that play with Jamison, he took two hard dribbles inside the key, drew the defense out just enough, and then put a soft lob right under the basket, and into the hands of Kevin Garnett. What more do you want? He's been doing this for a few years now, and even as the league's conceded to his brilliance and afforded him more defensive attention, he still manages to be successful. It's head-scratching stuff, but like Kid Cudi, you're just glad he's here. The NBA--and hip hop--is more interesting with these guys around. Simple as that, for your simple ass.
Till the next week....
7 comments
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Dec 11
8. Song Of The Week: Kid Cudi And Rajon Rondo
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Dec 11
Comments
Yeah the Knicks strategy of being under the cap is really stupid....
Since you’re such an expert what would you have done if you were Donnie Walsh? This team has been over the cap this entire decade taking crippling contract after crippling contract for players barely worth the mid-level exception. So he came in and dumped Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford, both contracts people said were untradeable for cap flexibility. Unless you think those guys are franchise players that’s exactly what you should have done.
He didn’t want to break the bank for David Lee and Nate Robinson so he signed them to one-year deals giving him more time to evaluate them and an opportunity to cash them in at the trade deadline if a promising trade comes along offering draft picks and expiring contracts.
He drafted Gallinari who is currently shooting 45% from three point range and leading the league in made three pointers. Jordan Hill was drafted as a big man with potential and they bought the Lakers’ first round pick to acquire Toney Douglas who’s been a solid backup combo guard for especially on the defensive end where we have struggled the past 10 years. So let’s see he’s trying to create a young core of players and create salary cap flexibility to sign free agents and also allow him to make trades to take on salary and acquire draft picks.
How is it a bad strategy to create cap space to get a chance to sign a free agent in perhaps the greatest free agent class of all-time? He’s doing exactly what the media criticized Isiah for not doing. Stop perpetuating stupidity by spouting off what you read from idiots in the media that lack any kind of patience and foresight in building a team, especially in New York.
If you can lay out a feasible plan that you would have attempted in Walsh’s position I would be surprised. Also if you think he doesn’t care about trying to win now, why would did he turn down a deal last year at the trade deadline from Sacramento for Jared Jeffries and Nate Robinson (remember he was averaging 17.4 ppg for us off the bench last year) in exchange for their 1st round pick (ended up being No. 3 overall) and Kenny Thomas’ expiring contract? Well we still had a shot at the eighth seed and he didn’t want to disrupt team chemistry, which was actually his worst move so far as GM.
by aramnath on Dec 11, 2009 2:44 PM EST reply actions
(Deep Breath...) Okay let's go
First of all, Donnie Walsh has been open that the Knicks are waiting until 2010 to take this whole “winning” thing seriously, and that’s been the case since he took over. In a general sense, that’s not a good message to send to fans, your team, or your coaching staff. It’s terrible, actually.
The reason it was accepted—welcomed, even—by New York fans and media was because Isiah had been so, SO irresponsible over the previous 5 years, trying to win immediately. At that point, it actually sounded reasonable to wait multiple seasons to try to put together a winner.
And yeah, no question there were a lot of bad contracts that he took on. But at the same time, the Knicks have arguably gotten worse since he took over, and still have no foundation. Gallinari may be shooting 45% from three-point range, but Walsh took him over Eric Gordon, who’s a better player in every conceivable way. If you’d like to build around Gallo, be my guest.
As for Jordan Hill, that pick’s pretty obviously been a disaster. Even if he didn’t take Brandon Jennings, getting a point guard—Ty Lawson, perhaps—would have been the better move there. Jordan Hill was a C+ of a prospect, and he’s playing like a D+. Again, the “young core” in New York doesn’t exist; do really think Toney Douglas will ever start for a playoff team?
And finally, I’m not “such an expert” but if it were my job—like, something I pay attention to every day for 8 hours-a-day—then yeah, I’d have some better solutions than what Walsh has produced thus far. Basically, he’s conceded two seasons, so that he could pin all hopes of improving the franchise on a pipe dream that they’ll land Lebron or Wade, both of whom would be idiotic to sign in New York.
by Andrew Sharp on Dec 11, 2009 3:25 PM EST up reply actions
In what conceivable way is Gordon better? He plays in a guard dominant system run by Dunleavy that puts the ball in his hand and has no ability to distribute or ever run the point. He’s exposed constantly on defense by shooting guards because of a sheer size mismatch, it’s like having a bigger, more mature version of Nate Robinson. Not exactly anything to write home about.
I mean give me one trade, one signing that you think was better than tearing this team down and building them up. Ok let’s assume they sign not one player next summer, you build around a small forward in Gallinari who’s shown way more potential than a guy like Eric Gordan who’s peak is another Ben Gordan, a one dimensional scorer.
You can’t call a guy like Jordan Hill, who started playing ball in his junior year of high school, a bust 20 games into his career. Actually in limited minutes he’s been active defensively and on the boards and a decent touch from mid-range. He runs the floor well. I’m not saying the guy is Amare but I think patience is a virtue especially with young big men, who it is widely recognized develop slower than guards.
I’ll agree that I’d prefer a guy like Lawson, but hindsight is 20/20. There’s a reason Jennings dropped to the bottom half of the lottery and Lawson all the way to No. 18. You rank Jordan Hill as a C+ shows you don’t watch college basketball at all, because almost every team had him ranked as the No. 2 big in last year’s draft behind Blake Griffin.
I never said Toney Douglas should be a starting guard, but when you can get a solid rotation player that can play minutes at both guard positions late in the first round, that’s a pretty good pick-up. You don’t normally find superstars there. There’s a reason why we benched Nate played Douglas and have now won 4 out of our last five. If you even go back 4 games before our winning stretch here, we lost to the Celtics in OT, Magic in OT, Lakers on the road and a surprisingly good Kings team on the second night of a back to back. In all games we were competitive but came up short.
Not saying we are world beaters but I think our crew has some good talent and more importantly they have been competitive. Also for you to claim the Knicks are an unimportant franchise demonstrates a lack of understanding. If that was the case why do so many of the league’s great players love playing at the Garden? Comparing the United Center and MSG is just plain stupid. They are both great arenas and last I checked your claim Chicago is a top-3 market is right, but I think NYC is a bit bigger.
Please just provide a few moves you would have made that would have provided a better platform to build upon. It’s easy to simply say this is a stupid idea, but what is your alternative or are you just armchair quarterbacking because it’s easy?
You’re right that we overpaid for D’Antoni, but Dolan’s got deep pockets, it doesn’t count against the cap and if we didn’t he would have gone to the Bulls. I’m not sure if there was a better possible coach that summer, but I don’t really remember so I might be wrong.
By the way I hope you don’t think I hate you. Just trying to debate a point I think your wrong on.
by aramnath on Dec 11, 2009 4:35 PM EST up reply actions
Jumping in for a second
I don’t think there’s anything crazy-wrong with the Knicks’ plan because they were kind of boxed in, but the execution has been pretty bad. Everything from Walsh basically admitting they’re tanking the next two seasons (not exactly giving your current group much incentive to play) to the botched draft picks (if you think Eric Gordon is not better than Danilo Gallinari, well then, I think this conversation isn’t going to get anywhere – besides, it’s pretty laughable to say Dunleavy’s system is guard-oriented (it isn’t, ask Baron Davis) and Mike D’Antoni’s isn’t is … uhh … yeah) has not gone well. Even re-signing David Lee and Nate Robinson was pointless – they know what they are and they aren’t keeping them beyond this year, so what’s the point?
Things would be better if they had Eric Gordon and Brandon Jennings/Ty Lawson instead of Gallinari/Hill. If you want to talk about one move, there’s your move – that would improve their situation tremendously. The “hindsight is 20/20 argument” is silly – GMs are paid to have foresight. Walsh saying he had “no feel” for Jennings’ game is pretty deplorable, and him trying to pass blame off to his scouts is even worse.
Anyway, the point is, Jennings + Gordon or anyone other than Hill + Gallinari (maybe Lopez + Jennings? Lopez + Lawson?) would have really helped. There’s your “one move they should have done differently.”
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
by Mike Prada on Dec 11, 2009 5:08 PM EST up reply actions
No doubt D’Antoni’s system is made for guards, but it’s best for a point guard, something Gordon does not have the ability to play. Also drafting Gordan would have made a crowded backcourt even more packed. Rememberer that at that time we had Duhon, Q-Rich, Nate, Mardy Collins, Crawford and Marbury.
Luckily we were able to trade away most of the trash, but at the time draftin yet another shoot-first guard was definitely not the way to go. Instead they went with a small forward that can stretch the floor, a pre-requisite in D’Antoni’s system and a kid that has shown a lot of potential. I’m not telling you he’s going to be an eventual All-Star but it’s not difficult to imagine him giving you 20-7 in a couple of seasons.
The kid straight up knows how to ball and has shown his willingness to play within the system rather than force the issue. His scoring efficiency is pretty ridiculous for a player that’s 21 and is in essentially his rookie season in the NBA.
Jennings was passed on for the numerous character issues that came up for a lot of teams in their pre-draft scouting and interviews with the kid. It’s not like the Knicks were the only team passing him up, but yeah I would definitely rather have him then Hill and Walsh shouldn’t be blaming scouts. Lopez would be a terrible fit because he’s a better halfcourt player, completely the opposite of what we are looking for.
Anyways as the season progresses we’ll have a better feel for what kind of job Walsh has actually done.
by aramnath on Dec 11, 2009 5:40 PM EST up reply actions
If you don't draft someone you think is good...
….because you already have Richardson, Collins, Crawford, Marbury and even Robinson, you’re not smart.
In the past 10 years, just four team owners have not paid a luxury tax and are not on pace to pay one this year: Donald Sterling, Jerry Reinsdorf, Chris Cohen (Golden State), Bob Johnson (Charlotte).
Two owners’ teams averaged an operating income of over +$10 million per year while their teams have lost over 60% of their games: Donald Sterling and Jerry Reinsdorf.
by tyger1147 on Dec 13, 2009 5:29 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah because Gallinari isn’t good. Try watching basketball.
by aramnath on Dec 14, 2009 2:31 PM EST up reply actions
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