SB Nation User Blog: Anthony Masons Haircut

Mase says RELAX...

Anthony Masons Haircut — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:15:51 -0000

(I usually hate referring to myself in the third person, but I needed an attention-grabber).

In case you didn't realize the season started, the Knicks are 0-2. A blowout loss in Miami was followed by a double-overtime loss to the putrid Bobcats. Here we go again.

Yet, a lot of you (some newbies to the site, which is great) are screaming for Mike D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh's heads on a platter.

Not to sound too blunt, but who cares?

Is it frustrating that this team is pathetic? Of course. But, there's nothing that Walsh or anyone else could've done about it this season. I mean, what's the difference between winning 20 games and 35 games? In either scenario, the Knicks don't gain anything. I hate to see this team be a last-place punchline, but it's not like the Knicks can become even more of a joke than they already are, even if they went 10-72. The only thing that makes me want to punch the wall and mercilessly stomp on the heads of woodland critters is the fact that the Knicks don't have a first round pick this year. There is no silver lining to winning 20 games.

I hate you so much.

What happened to said first round pick (of the unprotected variety)?

Isiah Thomas (drink!) sent it to Phoenix, who then sent it to Utah. In a hilarious chain of events, the Jazz will have acquired a potential top-five pick for Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten. (Cue squirrel head-stomp)

Try blaming that on Walsh or D'Antoni.

It's silly to blame the new regime because no matter what they did via the draft or free agency, the Knicks wouldn't have improved enough to climb over Orlando, Boston, or Cleveland this season. Hell, I doubt they could've even surpassed Atlanta or Chicago. Would Jason Kidd have made that big of a difference? How about Grant Hill? Hey, maybe if it was 1997, the Knicks would've been one of the top teams in the league with that dynamic backcourt.

The focus is on the future as it should be. The biggest mistake this franchise made was not rebuilding at the end of the Ewing era***, and trying to piece things together by throwing money all over the place. The current regime seems to have some sort of plan in place which is a lot more than I can say for either Scott Layden or Isiah Thomas (drink!) and their whole Hire-a-Coach, Fire-a-Coach merry-go-round.

***isn't it ironic that after all the Ewing-haters wanted him run out of town in late 90's, the Knicks haven't won a single playoff series since he was dealt? 2-7 playoff record and 7+ losing seasons since Ewing's departure - that was after fourteen straight years of making the playoffs and eight straight seasons of reaching at least the Conference Semifinals. Guess what Bill Simmons? Your Ewing Theory is fucking bullshit.

As for D'Antoni, it has to be tough to run SSOL with a bunch of guys that can't shoot the ball (outside of Gallo). I'm going to hold off judging him until he has someone other than Chris Duhon starting at point. At least he seems to be the best coach this team has had since JVG, even though that isn't really saying much.

I've sat through this entire decade of bad basketball and even worse management. I'm almost numb to it. The most surprising thing to me is that people are actually shocked to see this team struggle. Any realistic fans knew that this was a group that on paper was going to struggle to win 30 games.

April 29, 2001 is the date of the last Knicks' postseason victory (not to be confused with April 26, 1992 - the Sublime song). That was almost nine years ago.

I'm frustrated just like all of you, but one more year of sucktitude isn't going to bother me.

Give Walsh and D'Antoni a chance to right this ship.

$10 million per for Nate?

Anthony Masons Haircut — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:54:29 -0000

$10 million per for Nate?

Knicks' beat writer and Eddy Curry lover Marc Berman is reporting that the pro team Oilykmpkiakoiks (extra k's and i's added for Greek emphasis) is offering Nate Robinson a package that translates to $10 million (!) per season.

Also, Lee has an expiring five-year offer from Donnie & Co.

Knicks offer Hill one-year deal

Anthony Masons Haircut — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:28:30 -0000

Knicks offer Hill one-year deal

Editor's Note: Thanks to Mase for snaggling the story while I'm at work. One year and half the mid-level (around $3 mill) seems perfectly reasonable to me.

via Celtics Blog via Sporting News via New York Post.

No specifics on the deal, it only says "a portion" of the team's MLE. The Celtics could only muster $1.9 million, which wasn't good enough.

Update: "Contrary to a published report, the Knicks have not made a formal offer to Hill, but, according to a source, Hill's agent, Lon Babby, did discuss parameters of a potential deal with Knicks president Donnie Walsh." - Seth

ACTUAL Radioactive Fallout from Z-Bo/Q-Rich swap

Anthony Masons Haircut — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:04:45 -0000

P&T member and easy to remember nicknamer nyknickerbocker just posted his thoughts on the Z-Bo/Q deal and what it meant for the Knicks potentially keeping David Lee. Memphis is all hot and bothered by our resident double-double machine, and reportedly offered him a 4/5 year deal in the $10 million per range. But, with the acquisition of Randolph, maybe the Grizzlies will back off.

However, nyknickerbocker outlined this very well (check out his post), so I won't address it.

What I did want to address is the ACTUAL potential radioactive fallout from the Zach Randolph/Quentin Richardson swap. We've seen really bad deals orchestrated by former team president Isiah Thomas - two first round picks for Eddy Curry, Trevor Ariza for Steve Francis, MLE's for Jerome James, Jared Jeffries, and Vin fucking Baker - but have we ever seen two former Isiah trade acquisitons get traded FOR EACH OTHER?

Could there be dire consequences when one terrible trade chip (Quentin Richardson) gets shipped out for another (Zach Randolph)? Floods? Locusts? Pissed-off Baikal Seals?

Randolph only cost the Knicks Channing Frye, and ~~Steven Francis'~~ the-haunting-soul's expiring contract. Plus, Spike Lee discussing the trade did give us (pause) - one of the fondest memories in P&T's short history. You could actually make the argument that the Richardson deal, despite his ridiculous contract (almost $9M), worked out for the Knicks because it included the draft pick that eventually became Nate Robinson.

My thinking is that because neither the Q-Rich nor Z-Bo trades were necessarily terrible (at least by Isiah standards), that there may only be an 5.2 earthquake or some lighter shit like that (be prepared).

However, what if Jared Jeffries ever got traded for say Tim Thomas... armageddon? The same could apply for coaches. Could planet earth handle Lenny Wilkens replacing he-who-must-not-be-named in Charlotte? Both of these theories pale in comparison to my biggest feat - an Isiah-era acquisition getting traded for a Scott Layden-era acquisition. If Eddy Curry ever got traded for the still-not-expired Keith Van Horn contract and a fresh-out-of-retirement Shandon Anderson...

...then we'd all be totally screwed.

Q: Who is Mike Taylor?

Anthony Masons Haircut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:13:36 -0000

A: He was a 2nd round draft pick out of Iowa State who now plays for the Los Angeles Clippers.

via cache.daylife.com

Fun with Numbers involving Mike Taylor

157 - the number of points scored by Mike Taylor this season entering Wednesday night's game vs. Knicks.

35 - the numbers of points scored by Mike Taylor in Wednesday night's game vs. Knicks.

22% - the total percent of Mike Taylor's season points scored in one night by Mike Taylor against the Knicks.

454 - the number of points that Dwyane Wade would have to score in one game in order to reach 22% of his season total (2,064).

4/12/2009 - the date of the next Knicks/Heat game in Miami.

2 - the number of times Al dumbass Harrington has had a technical foul in the final minute costing the Knicks' potential wins this season.

2 - the number of times Al received said technical against the Los Angeles Clippers.

33-107 - the combined record of the Kings and Clippers, both teams the Knicks have lost home games to in the past week.

cue Francis the Vomiting Man...

Sessions vs. Nate

Anthony Masons Haircut — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:09:58 -0000

To continue the discussion from last night and today's recap, I decided to try to make the argument that going after Ramon Sessions and letting Nate walk may be more beneficial than signing Nate to a long-term deal.

If you take a look at the stats, Sessions PER numbers this season are nothing to scoff at:

16.7 ppg, 6.4 ast, 4.4 reb, 1.4 stl, 45% FG

Those numbers are pretty much a wash when compared with Nate's:

17.9 ppg, 4.0 ast, 2.7 reb, 1.5 stl, 45% FG

PROS: Sessions turns just 23 in April and only made $424K this year. He's 6'3, and can play defense. Not that Nate is the worst defender in the world, but his height is certainly a glaring flaw.

CONS: Sessions is NOT a three-point shooter. In fact, he's just 6-33 for the entire season (Nte probably shoots 33 three-pointers a week). Also, his dunks aren't as cool.

Considering that he made $427K this year, i'm assuming (emphasis on "assuming") that Sessions shouldn't demand much more than about $6M on a short deal, maybe three years or so at $2M per. That's a big drop-off from Nate, who should command anywhere from $5-7M per year. I'd like to re-sign Nate, but the organization has to keep the blueprints for 2010 intact. If you can get a player with similar production for one-third (or even one-fourth) of the cost, it makes sense.

It's at least something to consider.

Opposing players and standing ovations

Anthony Masons Haircut — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:32:40 -0000

I thought I should try my best to make a clarification on a disturbing trend that has happened at Madison Square Garden since the Knicks franchise has gone in the tank: standing ovations for opposing players.

Kobe Bryant's 61-point effort earned him a standing O from the Garden faithful last night. Knicks' fans have a great appreciation for basketball, and under certain circumstances breaking the Madison Square Garden all-time scoring record would warrant such a response. However, Knicks fandom should trump any kind of acknowledgement for a special performance like Kobe's 61.

Kobe's standing ovation was completely unacceptable for several reasons:

A) the streaking Knicks had won 8 of 11 and were just one-half game out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the East.
B) the Knicks have also been playing much better at home of late, and would've gotten a huge boost with a victory over the Lakers.
C) last night's game was arguably the biggest regular season game for the Knicks since February of 2006, and if you want to go back further, to the 2003-04 season.
D) Kobe is annoying and seeing former Knicks fans with his jersey on in attendance makes me throw up in my mouth.

Kobe is embarrassing your team, and you're applauding?!

All of that being said, there are times when a standing ovation for an opposing player IS acceptable:

A) the Knicks are 10 or more games under .500 and out of the playoff race.
B) said player is playing his last game at the Garden and you're really happy that he's never coming back (i.e. Reggie Miller).
C) said player is going to eventually become a Knick, and you're pre-cheering for how awesome he's going to be when he's on your team (i.e. LeBron James).
D) said player prevents David Lee from achieving a double-double (borderline impossible).
E) Isiah is still the coach and you want said player to be kicked in the face and/or groin area.

Just my two cents.

Knicks 122, Pacers 113

Anthony Masons Haircut — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:52:09 -0000

(Editor's Note: Our very own Mase attended last night's win over the Pacers and was kind enough to recap what he witnessed. Enjoy.)

Yes, Sir!

Morning, space cadets. I got to catch our streaking Knicks live at Indy last night for another win over a team that totally got bitch-slapped by SSOL.

Before I start, I noticed that last night's game thread had a picture of Jonathan Bender on it. He was drafted out of high school by the Pacers in 2000, after they traded Antonio Davis (fuck him) to Toronto for the 5th overall pick. His career was halted because of chronic knee problems. In 2004, I was told by one of the Pacers' beat writers that Bender used to jump off roofs for fun with the neighborhood kids in his youth. A) Jumping off roofs, seriously? B) how pissed is/would be Donnie Walsh about that? C) NOBODY tell Nate...you know he'd try that shit.

Game-time attire: Yankees hat, Larry Johnson road jersey that I got for my 14th birthday, $7 Starburys that are absolutely hideous.

Side note: I have some pictures but I was having some trouble uploading them. I'll try to do that soon.

On to the game...

PREGAME

- During warm-ups, Al Harrington was greeting a lot of his former teammates. He was laughing with Danny Granger when Jeff Foster came over. Al clenched his fist for a pound and Foster went for a hand-slap. He readjusted and kind of grabbed Al's fist and shook it. You think being around mostly non-pasty white NBA players during his 12-year career that Foster would learn the proper hand-shaking techniques. Awkward.

- Despite being an Indiana native, winning Indiana's prestigious Mr. Basketball award in high school, playing college ball at Indiana University where he was an All-American and led the Hoosiers to the 2002 Final Four, and starting an Indiana-based charity called "Jared Cares" for children with irregular eyebrow growth and mouth deformities, Jared Jeffries didn't get much love from the Pacers' crowd.

For only pennies a day, you can prevent this (above) from happening

- 32 oz. Bud Light, Pretzel, Nachos: $11.00 - this is why I live in Indiana and not NYC/Connecticut.

- The Pacers are doing this team-unity thing of all growing out mustaches (did you know they have like six white guys on their roster?) Troy Murphy and Travis Diener have both given up, but unfortunately Mike Dunleavy is still going strong.

FIRST QUARTER

- Both teams had to have been thrilled to be playing each other. The Knicks and Pacers are both in the top five in the NBA in scoring offense (good) and scoring defense (bad). The Pacers are especially pathetic, giving up 120 points EIGHT times this season (make it nine now).

- Nate gets a steal and goes on a breakaway. I get up and yell "Do something cool!" He proceeded to lay the ball in ala Mike Dunleavy. Talk about a buzz-kill.

SECOND QUARTER

- Cock sighting: Gallo enters to start the quarter.

- Q hits three three-pointers in the span of about five possessions. After each one I yelled "QQQQqqqq......!" which is loud in the beginning and then fades out at the end. I tried to be annoying as possible, but seriously: 5-8 3-pt FG? "QQQQqqqqq.....!"

- Cock sighting II: Gallo nails a three in transistion to put the Knicks up 53-37 and force a Pacers' timeout. I almost yelled "COCK!" but there were lots of kids around. I chose to stand and applaud approvingly instead.

HALFTIME

- I walked around the main concourse of the Fieldhouse to meet a friend at halftime and I got all of zero comments about my LJ jersey. I think it shows how apathetic Pacers' fans are about the team at this point. I love this town, but it's a big adjustment living in a city that is so fairweather about their sports. Less than four years ago, the Colts still weren't selling out the 55,000 seat RCA Dome, now everyone has Peyton's face tatooed on their asses.

- High school cheerleaders was the halftime show. I think that I'm old enough now (25) to officially be creepy for watching it.

THIRD QUARTER

- Danny Granger takes an ice pack off of his right knee at the scorer's table before coming in. Supposedly he's had a nagging tendon injury, but the dude looks like he's in really bad shape. Knicks picked a good night to play Indy, in the 2nd night of a back-to-back. This is probably a different game if Granger is healthy.

- Cock sighting III: A guy in a throw-back Reggie Miller jersey instructs Roy Hibbert to punch David Lee. Not cool.

- Third-quarter sequence: Stephen Graham drives on Richardson (?) and gets a lay-up, Stephen Graham hits a step-back three, Stephen Graham hits a 15-footer. They say these types of abnormal things come in threes, so I got really worried that the lights were going to explode and Conseco Fieldhouse would burst into flames while Stephen Graham ascended to the rafters laughing.

FOURTH QUARTER

- I keep waiting for the Pacers to climb closer than 8-12 points but they just can't. Granger is on one leg, Dunleavy is off, and one of their primary scoring options is Stephen Fucking Graham.

- Pacers got it down to 10 (for like the 15th time) and Nate lobs the ball to Wil for a nice reverse layup. Wil (16 pts) was relaitvely quiet, but that was a big play.

- Pacers cut it to 8 with about two minutes left and during a timeout they do this big elaborate thing where the mascots are doing the slow-clap and fire truck sirens are screeching and the scoreboard says "GET LOUD!" Everyone is on their feet, and Al steps back and calmy nails a three. Onions!

FINAL THOUGHTS

- Knicks are only two wins off of last season's win total and it's still two weeks before All-Star Weekend.

- 31 points for Al. I'll be honest, I was kinda upset with losing Crawford but I would go back and do that trade again 1,000 times out of 1,000. Not only is Al more versatile than Craw, he can also flourish under D'Antoni's system. Now, if only they had gotten anything (fish tacos?) in return for Zach Randolph...

- One of my Pacers' fan friends texted me "Lee is going down" before tip-off. I texted texted back "25 and 15...bank on it." 23 and 17 for Lee. Did I mention there's a margin of error of +/- 2?

- Tim Thomas: 1-3 FG, 2 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 0 turnovers. That doesn't seem like much, but I like my Tim Thomas quiet and irrelevant.

- Knicks only make one trip to Indy this year, which is total bullshit. They seemingly play 90% of the non-division Eastern Conference teams four times.

- Here's where we see what this team is made of: Lakers, Cavs, C's all at home this week. I'm still hoping for 1 of 3. If you include the following road trip: Blazers, Warriors, Clips - I'm thinking 3-3 would be perfectly fine, 4-2 would be awesome, 5-1 would be .500 going into the All-Star Break which may induce a pleasure-overload coma (at least for me).

Just for kicks: Steelers 24, Cardinals 10 - but I'm a Giants fan and could really care less.

Enjoy the Super Bowl kids. Go Knicks.

All-White American NBA All-Stars!

Anthony Masons Haircut — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:44:35 -0000

The other night in the game thread we were having the discussion of the top white American players in the NBA. I was talking it over with a few co-workers, and here is the starting five that we came up with:

PG Kirk Hinrich, SG Mike Dunleavy, SF Mike Miller, PF David Lee, C Chris Kaman

Since Kaman played for the German National team in last summer's Olympics, Seth said that he should be disqualified. In that case, I'd put Spencer Hawes as the starting center.

It's unfair to put Lee on this list because he transcends race

Bench: PG Steve Blake, SG Jason Kapono, SF Joe Alexander (??? find me another good white American 3 - and I refuse to put Adam Morrison here), PF Kevin Love (because Troy Murphy sucks), C Jeff Foster (hey, he hustles...)

Someone at work asked me today if this was 20 years ago, what the starting five would be. Here's what I came up with:

PG John Stockton, SG Chris Mullin, SF Larry Bird, PF Kevin McHale, C Bill Laimbeer (yes he did play center).

The bench would be: PG Mark Price, SG Danny Ainge, SF Kelly Tripucka (career-high 26.5 ppg in 1988-89 season), PF Tom Chambers (of Game Boy's NBA All-Star Challenge fame), C Mike Gminski.

Before I let you go, Nate would've never allowed this to happen...

Poor Mark Jackson.

Thoughts on Lee

Anthony Masons Haircut — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:23:49 -0000

NOTE: This was originally going to be a comment in the "Bell/Diaw" thread, but then I went way overboard and turned in into a fan post.

as good as David Lee is, and as much as we all like him, is it in the Knicks' best interests to sign him to a lucrative extension in the offseason? if not, then they need to deal him before the deadline in order to sweeten the pot to shed Curry's ~~fat ass~~ ridiculous contract.

like i've said before, the ultimate goal should be to get as far under the cap as possible for 2010. having already axed Z-Bo and Craw, getting LeBron plus another player (Bosh/Nash/Stoudemire/Wade/...?) is well within the realm of possibility. though Diaw's contract goes through 2012, losing Curry would still free up an extra $2M (according to reports) for 2010.

Fat guys can be cool/talented. Curry is neither.

what i like about this deal is potentially getting Raja Bell. he seems like the perfect fit for this team and fills a huge need: a guard who can actually defend and consistently hit from three (41% career). Bell is 32, but he's not in the long-term plans anyway - his $5M comes off the books after next season - and he could help this team sneak into the playoffs this year. i've already talked about Diaw. his contract sucks, but anybody is better than Curry.

what i don't like about the deal is parting with Lee, but i don't think the Knicks should give him $10M per season or anything like that. i'm really curious as to what he would get on the open market. if it was $10-12M, i would say pass, but if the Knicks can lock him up for four or five years at $6-8M then i don't have a problem with that. Lee is a guy worth keeping around, but Wilson Chandler is the only player that i would label as untouchable.

what does everyone think?