Redsarmy.com advises us that "Life Isn't All Bad For David Lee," by showcasing his girlfriend Sabina Gadecki (see SabinaGadecki.com), host of World Poker Tour. Now I bet you Mr. Lee doesn't play matador defense when somebody steps up to try to score on his honey.  Then again, he doesn't have to rely on team defense to keep this bonus.  I don't feel so bad for the brother who will probably fail to make the playoffs and the $1 Million bonus that reportedly comes with it.  (BTW, message to Dolan.  That bonus money you save because Nate and David fail to make the playoffs should be given to the fans as part of a ticket recall program.  Your product stinks.)  Anyway, David Lee still deserves a Fanatic "You Go Boy."

Read more?  Not really.  Sometimes more pics are better than a thousand words.

JURY FINDS ISIAH THOMAS OFFICIALLY CLEARED OF WORST-DOING AS 2009 KNICKS GET OFF TO AN HISTORIC START

Warriors 121, Knicks 107

"It's bad, there's no doubt about it," -- Mike D'Antoni

"If we continue playing the way we're playing now. It is obviously just not working." --David Lee

"We should be pissed. We're not playing to our potential. We're not this bad of a team. . . .None of us were prepared for this." -- Al Harrington

Hawks 114, Knicks 101

"We're just not getting enough good plays. We're just not playing well enough." -- Mike D'Antoni

"It doesn't matter if I start or come off the bench. Either role, I know whenever I'm in the game, I have to make an impact to help this team." -- Toney Douglas

"The most disappointing thing is I came into this season with high hopes and I still have them. It's disappointing." -- David Lee

The theme of this game is simply a continuation of the last one: Knicks moving closer to a new starting point guard in Toney Douglas. Toney Douglas is a rookie meant for the NBA game. We don't know if he is a starter, but he is now the best point guard  on the team as Duhon seems resigned to be lousy -- a little bit worse than he usually plays. Dukiehon is showing little effort as he watches his job slip away. Still, D'Antoni is rightfully reluctant to totally bench his poor point project.

Why? Hopefully, we'll talk about this more later, but despite Duhon's deficiencies, D'Antoni built his team around Duhon as a leader. Now D'Antoni finds himself in the very difficult position of not just changing rotations but rebuilding the psychological make-up of the team now after dethroning his vet leader. Turning everything over to Douglas is really an admission of poor judgment (giving reins to Dookiehon) in the first place, but as most of you would say, not to change now is like throwing good money after bad. Douglas as starting point is inevitable. The best []'Antoni can hope for is to play Dukiehon at the two and have him regain his confidence as a shooter.

Later today Bloguin will publish its second edition of the NBA Power Rankings which will be updated every two weeks. Although, I am a panelist I am interested in making this a bit of a Fanatics' endeavor. After this edition, as often as possible and as time will permit, I would like to have community input on the power ranking offerings from this website. In the future, I will publish my preliminary selections here before I submit them and request input. Eventually, I may send a form to all of the Fanatics who want to participate to make it easier to tabulate the selections.

For now, here are my proposed rankings for the upcoming poll, followed by a short comment. Let me know how you would rank the teams at this point.

Here is where I must give Donnie Walsh a compliment, albeit with my backhand side. Finally, someone has taken it upon himself to make sure that Eddie Curry gets into shape. Given the recent trauma in Eddie's life (is much worse than losing a child?), coupled with his previously apparent lack of motivation, that could not have been an easy task.  Leaving Eddie to his own devices those previous summers obviously did not work well. Remember the picture of Eddie's locker a couple of years ago where he was discussing his diet and regimen with a candy bar at the bottom of the locker. That's the Eddie we remember. This new Eddie, who came to training camp at 317 pounds and worked hard to lose even more weight, should be applauded for what has to be a new mindset. And Donnie must be applauded for forcing it to happen, finally.

However, it is slightly, and only slightly, curious that fans are expecting anything from Curry's return anytime soon. This man has not played NBA speed ball (or real practice ball) in over a year. He is not in basketball shape. While different folks develop at different speeds, it is no secret that the regular season schedule prohibits using practices to get into shape quickly. Eddie must be on the floor and he is not likely to look good from the beginning. But, if he blocks one shot in his first five minutes, like we know he can and saw him do when he was HUGE, in the Big Mac sense, there will be hope. If he is really good, maybe we'll keep him. But the reality is that Walsh needs him to be really good in order to trade him. So watch ECity come along slowly so that he does not hurt himself and the team's chances of dumping the contract on an anxious buyer.

Another transformation we expect to see is that of the much-maligned Jamal Crawford who has finally joined a group of players capable of playing playoff basketball.  The Hawks enter the Mecca with a 5-2 record and Jamal is thriving as their sixth man, a lethal scoring threat and three point option.  In the Hawks last victory, Jamal played  starter minutes (38) off the bench and produced 25 points (8-15 shooting, 8-8 ft), four boards, four assists.  Crawford, who is averaging 18 points on 49% shooting (only 27% from tre-land), 3 assists and 2 boards in 30 minutes per game, has been loving Atlanta where he gets to spend more time during the season with his son.  He also has been receiving much Crawsome love from the community and his new coach.  

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Donnie Walsh to Knicks Fans: "I thought we would have more time."

It appears that "2012" is a disaster movie which has stolen scenes from the script of "2010-An Unmitigated Disaster Film." Can you help but wonder if the Knicks will make it to 2010, let alone 2012? LeBron reportedly implied that winning is more important to him than money. He knows that wherever he goes a max contract is waiting -- but where can he find the golden ring. Clearly, not in New York. Not now. We need another Happy Happy Week or just some more spiked Koolaid.

Donnie Walsh To Knicks Players: "No matter what happens, we'll all stay together.