A quick guest post reminds us that this is a only a Mostly baseball blog:
In the wake of reports that Jimmy Dolan interfered in the Melo trade and continued speculation about Donnie Walsh’s future with the Knicks, I need to vent. After fifteen years following the Knicks you might think I’d be used to the circus of stupidity that is James Dolan’s mind, but he still never fails to piss me off.
Granted things could be worse than basically giving up Danillo, Mosgov, and the perpetually confused Anthony Randolph for Melo*. But the trade itself is not what this post is about. This is about the anxiety of being a Knicks fan- the fear and heartburn that come with knowing that quite possibly the stupidest billionaire alive is in charge of a team that I love and the understanding that at any moment he could make two phone calls that would catapult the Knicks back into eight more years without a playoff game.
*(Not counting Chandler because of his impending free agency or Felton because at this point I consider Billups to be an upgrade).
The fact is, knowing that Donnie Walsh is in charge reduces this anxiety. If he wants complete control over basketball related decisions, he should have it. But instead, Dolan refuses to grant this, which could end up pushing Walsh out the door this summer.
I admit that part of my hatred for Dolan is based on jealousy. He is a billionaire owner of the best arena in the world and two professional franchises, yet he has done nothing to earn it. In fact, I’d say his only career accomplishment has been to bribe other musicians into joining his (insert adjective here) band.
I haven’t even mentioned the consistent reports that Dolan still gets advice from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or the doomsday whispers that he is planning to bring him back again to help him restore his legacy. Their relationship hangs over the head of Knicks fans like the realization that the condom broke.
The irony of this particular instance of Dolan stupidity is that giving Walsh total control over basketball related decisions is exactly what is best for Dolan. Let’s face it: Dolan knows nothing about basketball. He is a man of middling intelligence, who inherited the keys to the world thanks to the Cablevision monopoly. His interference in these decisions only serves to muck things up. In this instance it only resulted in Mosgov or a second round pick being shipped to Denver, but I have had enough of it.
Walsh is the reason this whole trade could happen. He was the one who cleared the cap space, he was the one who drafted Gallo, he was the one who signed Amare, and he was the one who saw talent in the 7 foot 1 guy getting dunked on in Siberia’s top level YMCA league. Why can’t you just let him make most of the decisions?
The truth is, Dolan often makes me embarrassed to be a Knicks fan, which is something that I don’t often hear other sports fans saying. Beyond his comically bad music and the terrible choices he seems to make for the Knicks on a daily basis, I don’t enjoy the feeling I get when I go to MSG and realize that my money is going to this clown. Now, the Knicks are on track to make their first playoff appearance in years, and the architect of all of it is being forced out by a man with the intelligence of the plumber.
The worst part is that it is this whole thing is not about the basketball. I could understand Dolan’s reluctance to appease Walsh if it was based in logical basketball reasoning. After all there is definitely an argument to be made that with D’Antoni as coach the Knicks would have been better off with the group currently hitching a ride to Denver. But with Dolan that is never really what the debate is about. And unfortunately, the basketball part of the basketball team always seems to suffer.
I admit that I don’t know what we can do about this, short of petitioning him to sell to someone else. What I do know, is that if Isiah ever comes back to the Knicks I’m going to become a Thunder fan.
-Max Hinchcliffe
