Via The New York Times

NEW YORK (AP) -- Dick McGuire, a basketball Hall of Famer and longtime member of the New York Knicks organization, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 84.

The Knicks said McGuire died at Huntington Hospital in Long Island. McGuire still worked for the Knicks as a senior basketball consultant.

McGuire was a part of the Knicks' organization for 53 of its 64 seasons.

''Dick McGuire was the epitome of what it means to be a Knickerbocker: pride, tradition and class,'' Knicks president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. ''It was an honor to watch him play for our hometown team and I consider myself very lucky to say I worked alongside a man who shaped the National Basketball Association for parts of all eight decades of its existence.''

A Bronx native, McGuire was a five-time All-Star and led the Knicks to three straight NBA finals from 1951-53. He went on to serve the team as a coach, assistant coach and scout. His No. 15 was retired in 1992 and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame a year later.

McGuire still ranks third on the Knicks' career list with 2,950 assists.

Nicknamed ''Tricky Dick,'' McGuire was born Jan. 26, 1926, in New York, part of a famed basketball family. His younger brother, Al, also played for the Knicks and later won a national championship as coach of Marquette -- before being himself inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.

Dick McGuire played collegiately at St. John's and was picked by the Knicks in the first round of the 1949 draft. He played eight seasons for the team before he was traded to Detroit on April 3, 1957, for a first-round pick. McGuire spent his final three seasons with the Pistons.

''Dick was one of a kind,'' former St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca said. ''He was a great ballplayer and coach and a better human being. All of basketball is going to miss him.''

McGuire is survived by his wife, Teri, four children and seven grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.

From the depths of the low, Isiah Thomas just won't quit trying to get back up, even when his critics try to bury him in revisionist history. Just weeks after the death of his mother, Mary Thomas, Isiah was recently interviewed on WFAN's "Boomer & Carton Show."  As recaptured in the Post, Isiah discussed his fall from grace as New York Knicks President and Coach and laid out a cogent argument for why the team was on the right track personnel wise and how he was absolutely derailed by the Anucha Brown sexual harassment trial.

Several Fanatics have argued over the last couple of years that Isiah was a lousy coach but that no man would have done well under the national scrutiny and public animus of the trial.  However, his legacy as a President with a plan to rebuild the team's asset base could not be fully evaluated until his players began to develop. And look at many of his selections now: Channing Frye is the staring center and a three point specialist for the  Suns; Zach Randolph is an all-star with the winning Grizzlies; Jamal Crawford is the leading sixth man for the playoff bound Hawks; David Lee is an offensive force under serious all-star consideration; Wilson Chandler has become the promise of a forlorned franchise; and Jared Jeffries has turned out to be the defensive anchor responsible for the wins of a team that can barely play defense. (Nate Robinson has shown us what he can do in spurts, but D'Antoni has no idea how to exploit his talent.)

To the dismay of some current Knicks fans, Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni can't seem to do much better, record wise, than Isiah even without the spectre of a trial.

Isiah, who is still very good friends with James Dolan, laid it out better than our man Modi could while publicly hoping that Walsh's strategy for attracting LeBron will work,  The following excerpts are courtesy of the Post's transcription:

His tough time in New York: "I would read The Post ... and I would say, ‘I know they aren't talking about me.' Because it was such a terrible time for my family and me personally and the things that they were writing and saying, you know they weren't true. You just have to be strong and try to get through it."

Why things didn't work with Knicks: "As strange as this may sound, I thought we were really on the right track. When I got there, the cupboard was pretty bare, we were pretty depleted in talent, there weren't a lot of people showing up at the arena, even though season tickets were bought people weren't coming to the Garden anymore. We made some trades, the first year we made the playoffs and then we hired Lenny Wilkens, who did a great job. Then we brought Larry Brown in and things were getting better. We were drafting good, we had a good stock of players coming in, made trades that turned out to be pretty successful. We had a turbulent year with Larry, but for the most part we were headed in the right direction. We were gathering talent. Then the (sexual harassment) trial hit and we were coming off a year when we were five, six years out of the playoffs then at the end of the season everyone got hurt."

Continue Reading

(Editor's Note: As we were monitoring the Knicks' blogosphere to gauge the temperature of Knick fandom, we ran across a dynamic post in the comment section of The Knicksblog from someone we had not heard from before. But with the arrogance confidence and fire of a Fanatic, he laid out his position which I thought was worth sharing in the Fanatic Penthouse.  But, this time I didn't steal the comment, I asked permission and it was granted.  BigDaddyBluesMan even stopped by earlier to lay some hands on us.  Give him a Fanatic greeting.  This post will come to you in two parts, as it was revealed when it was a comment abroad.)

OK the party is over and the Koolaid has worn off.

Part One:

D'Antoni is an overrated and egotistical in an Isiah sort of way by thinking he can take any 5 guys and teach them to be great players at any position.

From the start of the season you could see dissension and that was D'Antoni's fault, lack of leadership from his end first. Lack of discipline. He does not discipline his players, he does not demand things from his players. That's why they all love the guy and say such nice things about him.

With his last team he was blessed with a talented roster who didn't really even need a coach. They knew how to play and Nash ran the show. Do you really think LeBron or Kobe need a coach....LOL....or Jordan, Ewing or any other true great player of any era. By the time they were great they had literally out grown needing to be coached. That's what made them great. That's what makes Kobe and Lebron and KG great. They don't really NEED to be coached.

Knicks 91, Timberwolves 112

Final

Recap | Box Score

"I definitely don't have any answers." -- David Lee

"We got soft on defense. They got deep post-ups, got easy layups and we fouled them too much."-- Jared Jeffries

"They just played with more energy. They wanted it more." -- Chris Duhon

"We just want to get back and try to do it better. They care. They're trying. No excuses, but we're playing a little short-handed. Playing 8 o'clock last night, flying here and playing at 6 o'clock doesn't help any. We had a tough schedule last weekend and this weekend, and our guys are showing a little bit of it." -- Mike D'Antoni

Knicks 96, Wizards 106

"I don't think we had our focus and energy and the atmosphere wasn't the greatest either."-- Mike D'Antoni

"You roll the dice a little bit, and this time it [playing zone] got usi said. I just didn't have a good feeling about us guarding them man-to-man."-- Mike D'Antoni

"Tonight was a big letdown for us as far as a game we needed to win.  No matter the record, we needed to win."-- David Lee

What is there to say? D'Antoni continues to coach by feel[ing] instead of common sense.  Hence, Mike Miller burns the zone for 25 points including three tres. We have absolutely no perimeter defense which of course is exacerbated by the zone because the players can not move as fast as the ball in a zone.  And as Miller said, the zone is great for a shooter a/k/a "zone buster."

How is it that we get outhustled by a team in emotional turmoil playing the tail end of a back-to-back after a close win?  How?  The Wizards had 59 rebounds to our 40. 

Does anyone wonder why we don't have the best three point shooter on the floor most nights? Jared Jeffries who shot 2 for 4 from the arc had a better 3-point shooting percentage than Gallo who went 3 for 10. At least Gallo had 10 boards.  He tends to disappear adn holds the ball too long while thinking about how to make his move to the basket.  He'll get better, but now he is a disappearing act.

Of course, as far as disappearing acts go, Duhon remains the headliner with 8 points and 6 assists in 37 minutes.

This team, playing this way will not make the playoffs.  Does Tracy McGrady make us better and more likely to reach the playoffs?  Doubt it, unless he can and will coach defense.

In anticipation of tonight's game against the Twolves, we teamed up with CollegeWolf of Bloguin's TWolves Blog to exchange some knowledge about our respective teams.  In this wonderful Q&A, CollegeWolf breaks down why the TWolves may be headed in the right direction and why Rubio is not headed in ours .  Our Q & A, featuring my answers can be found at TWolves Blog.

Knicks Fanatics: Is Kurt Rambis the right coach and the triangle the right system for this team?

CollegeWolf: For the most part, I think Rambis is the right guy.  His rotations have been "iffy" lately, but I think he's trying to teach some lessons and get everyone to do things the "right way."  He seems to know what he's doing, and likes coaching.  He's definitely a breath of fresh air from Randy (Dim)Wittman and Kevin McFale.  He also seems to enjoy and relish the task of teaching and fostering these young players.  I hope his vision turns out to be true.

With that said, the Triangle is NOT the right system for this team as currently composed.  We just don't have the athletes or players for it.  You can't force existing players to fit into a certain system, but rather you need to go out and get the personnel.  That is where this experiment has failed thus far.  We have no dominant wing player.  We have perhaps an average-at-best wing player, in Corey Brewer.  Flynn seems lost in the Triangle.  Al Jefferson as the important offense facilitating post player... well, lets just not go there.  Love is the best fit for the Triangle, but its not really working too well when he has no one else around him that fits the system.  The system needs to change, or the roster needs (yet another) near complete overhaul this off-season.


Knicks Fanatics: Is the verdict in yet on the impact of D-Kahn drafting so many point guards last draft and will he go after John Wall this year?

CollegeWolf: I can't say the verdict is in yet.  It hasn't even been a season.  On top of that, we really only have one PG playing for us from the draft, so what is the issue there?  I don't see one.  With that noted, I'd have loved if we went a different direction with Flynn (but still drafted Rubio), and then kept Ty Lawson at #18.

Even better, this could have all been different (and more successful) if the stupid Kings would have just taken Rubio. The Wolves with Ty Evans and Lawson + Flynn/Curry/DeRozan/whomever would be much better off.

Best case scenario would have been Harden and Evans.  Wow.  Drooling.

TGIWeekend.  Man, it was a busy outer-Blog week.  Probably was for most Fanatics because we were a little short on news and views this week.  So much so, I decided to visit some other blogs and steal some comments just to get a feel for what the blogosphere is thinking about the Knicks. (Not a lot of thinking going on out there.  Maybe I need to check Twitter.). This is what I saw and it is not necessarily the best of the best -- some of it is just noise being silent.

Apparently, Gallo is also going to be Robinson's assistant for the dunk contest.

I can just see it now: Gallo stands in the corner, Nate taunts him by pretending to pass to him but instead opts for a no-look pass to himself off the backboard for a dunk. The crowd goes wild. -- Mulligan @ Knickerblogger.net under  Gallinari Called For Sophomore Team.

I officially hate the press. They have no integrity when it comes to players and immediately fall in love with the entire roster of the leagues best and "most surprising" teams. A year ago Z-Bo and Crawford were anti-Christs and now they're media darlings.

Diatribe over. -- DS @ Knickerblogger.net under Gallinari For Sophomore Team

News Flash.... The 2010 Knicks play great defense. D'Antoni is for real and one of the best coaches in the game. -- Jonny B from Maine @ Knicks @ Knicks City.com under The Things I Disliked About The Knicks For The Last Ten Years.

From what I could tell, Nate wasn't impeded from coming down at all. He could've just let go and there was no one close to being under him. Even Nate admitted last night that he broke it. http://twitter.com/TommyDeeTKB/status/8349499448

Now, he wasn't celebrating excessively up there or anything. But he just held on for a tick or three too long.

As Dan says, the issue isn't whether the rule is stupid, or whether it's consistently enforced, or even whether it's consistently enforced with the particular player that got whistled for violating the rule. The rule is out there, Nate knows it, and there's always the potential that the official is going to blow the whistle on you if you break it.

Even worse, he broke it at a critical point in a close game when the Knicks were getting some momentum going. Whatever you think of the rule, Nate was really dumb to break it, especially then and there.

Nate is just a careless guy. And last night was a case where that carelessness cost his team. -- Jon @ Knicksfanblog under Lee>Bosh

WOW ............. I DID NOT WANT TO WRITE ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT I READ , BUT AFTER I SAW THE COMMENTS....

BERMAN, YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN WHEN YOU WRITE , BECAUSE THE RACIST IN SIDE YOU COMES OUT WHEN YOU DONT THINK. IM NOT SAYING YOU DID IT ON PURPOSE... BUT TO GIVE THE 2 WHITE GUYS ON THE TEAM AN "A".... IF IT WAS LARRY BIRD AND KEVIN MCHALE I COULD SEE, BUT THIS IS A ROOKIE THAT IS NOT, NOT, NOT, BETTER THAN THE SMALLEST GUY ON THE TEAM, AND A GUY WHO IS GOING TO BE AN ALL-STAR BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH.

DANILLO IS NOT BETTER THAN NATE , MABEY A TIE WITH CHANDLER, BUT NOT MORE IMPORTANT TO THE TEAM THAN NATE (NOT RIGHT NOW AT LEAST)

SHAME ON YOU BERMAN..... TAKE YOUR TIME ...THINK

ITS NOT YOUR FAULT YOU THINK THAT WAY , BUT JUST TRY TO HIDE IT FROM THE PUBLIC. -- Knicologist @ New York Post under Knicks Mid-term Grades