nypost: After 30 games, Isiah Thomas' odds of trading Quentin Richardson and Jerome James cannot be helped by further exposure, whereas Maurice Taylor's stained reputation lingers like an incurable cough. New York's barely breathing hope is that the less these guys are absent with leave the more it'll make rivals' hearts grow fonder.
Lots of luck!
As for the expiring contracts of Antonio Davis and Penny Hardaway, they are what they are, tools to exchange for genuine articles or a means to lop $29.5 million off the organization's obscene NBA high ($125M) salary cap at season's end. That doesn't mean they (Penny's got the right idea by distancing himself from the team) should be allowed to cut into the kiddies' dance of daylight.
Yet, for some bizarre reason known only to Larry Brown and his travel agent, he continues to do exactly that. Curiously, the maddening method man can't resist the urge to mess with the minutes and the minds of his young men. Buried on the bench or the inactive list one day. Discovered or rediscovered later that day.
Frye is a perfect example. Not that long ago he was getting honorable mention throughout the league as the top rookie behind Chris Paul and Charlie Villanueva. Almost overnight he went from prime time to part-time. In fact, despite scoring in double figures in the last three games (12, 15, 10) prior to Friday night's award winning performance at the Garden, the 6-11 forward only witnessed 24, 18 and 15 minutes, and he wasn't remotely in foul trouble in any of them.
Even against the Wizards, when Frye racked up seven rebounds and a game-max 30 points (misfiring once in eight free- throw attempts and twice in 13 field-goal tries), Brown only saw fit to play him 26 minutes.
Coaches are so freakin' weird, though apparently the Knicks didn't need a new one, after all, just a new calendar.
Far be from me to disparage Friday's festival, but Camp Cablevision has not exactly been the only outfit to put a spell-check on the Wizards, 4-10 in their last 14 prior to last night's hosting of the Celtics. Moreover, they've permitted 364 points in their last trio (121.3 per) and began the weekend giving up nearly 102 ppg, the third-most porous posse (Seattle, Philadelphia) in David Stern's precinct.
Pretty sad, I submit, when the person with the best exit strategy in Washington was Michael Jordan.
Afterthought: Don't get me wrong about Richardson; he can ball, inside and out, plus his board scores are impressive per minute. But it's rather challenging to deal someone whose discs are uninsured, is owed $33 million over the next four seasons, and keeps suffering from back spasms.
