2015 NY Knicks offseason thread, Los Almighty appreciation thread

Yup Eid Mubarak to the brothers in here and their fams, especially the ones that fasted in this month of crazy long days. Respect to ya'll.
 
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Grant is gonna be a player for us, whether he starts or is the 6th man...his game really shows what 4 years of college can do

give the last 3 spots to Thanasis, Ndour, & Ledo...everyone else can go
 
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Gotta sign Ndour. He's a good mid-range shooter, solid IQ, high character guy who always plays hard. Scrappy and gritty. Sign me up. Couldn't care less about a logjam, kid is a gamer.
 
keep Ledo, Ndour, & Antetowkedowowpqheofpw

everyone else can go, especially Wear's bum ***
 
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Not really a Knicks article but Isola is brought up, especially about him trying to stir Phil/Melo drama. Give it a read if yall get the chance.

Not as long as my last one but not short either 
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http://g42sports.com/one-flew-bristol/
“I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this.”

The famous quote by the protagonist of One Flew Over the ****oo’s Nest, McMurphy, brings up a much larger societal inference. What exactly are we supposed to do when the loony has taken over the loony bin?

The popular book/film uses a psychiatric ward as an allegory for society and rebelling against the norm, when the norm becomes so outrageous it can be viewed as crazy itself. This viewpoint could resemble many different aspects of life. It might resemble certain political views, art or music, or even societal norms in general. Each of them strongly related to each other. During the time the book was written, it was being used to represent the Civil Rights Movement, the prison industrial complex, and the field of psychiatry in general, amongst other larger aspects of society. Y’all have probably already learned about that type of **** in high school. This isn’t a ******* book report. But the allegory can be used for so much more, and it remains relevant to this present day. It likely always will be as long as people exist. It can basically be used whenever an unjust power is influencing control over the masses in such a discrete manner that it has become accepted as normal. In this case, I would like to use the popular allegory as resembling ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

ESPN hosted its infamous ESPY Awards last night. This morning, Caitlin Jenner accepting the “Arthur Ashe Courage Award” was all the talk. I did not watch it. My coworkers asked me why I did not watch the ESPYs, as such an avid sports fan. I answered with the only quick response could think of, “Because it is the most unwatchable sporting event of the year.”

Fortunately, I have an outlet to express this viewpoint further by writing about it. It’s a slow summer, just bear with me. I’m not a baseball fan. I’ll let Frank and the other homies on the site take care of that. I am not even a ******* writer. I am simply a strong minded individual who likes to express these emotionally charged beliefs through writing from time to time. My writing runs on emotion like a car runs on fuel. That is what you get for me. Raw, gritty emotionality. But it is always authentic. No phony bologna **** from me. I hate when I don’t recognize something or someone as genuine. As not real. That is the singular quality that most turns me off about anything or anyone. This is what makes the ESPY Awards so unwatchable to me. It has become so full of ****, it is beyond recognition.

Although I will elaborate, the quick response I gave to my coworkers perfectly sums up what the ESPYs are. It is the most unwatchable sporting event of the year. And last night, the ESPYs once again continued to live up to its consistently unwatchable standard. It has become one single night that emphasizes and bedecks every single aspect that makes ESPN hard to watch as a whole.

I often watch ESPN. Obviously. I am a huge ******* sports fan, maybe even a sports addict. Where else am I going to get my fix? But do not take me being a frequent member of the ESPN audience as me enjoying it. It is similar to how I continue to watch the Knicks, despite detesting the way they are ran. Different, but still very similar. I do not like ESPN. Not one bit. I cannot stand their non-stop infatuation of certain athletes, and many of their on-air personalities and columnists whose sole focus has become to create the most outrageous stories possible in order to generate the most widespread buzz. There is hardly ever a rational middle ground when it comes to ESPN personalities.

Take ESPN’s popular show First Take, for instance. Both, Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith have proven to be smart members of the sports media time and time again during their long and prestigious careers in sports journalism. Yet, on First Take they frequently dumb themselves down for the sole purpose of trying to troll the masses. Say the kind of things that will create headlines. When one of them likes something, they love it. When they dislike something, there is absolutely no good to it. Both of them are intelligent, eloquent journalists who have started to use bias and homerism in order to contradict one another on the show, shove their points down viewers’ throats (often by yelling at the top of their lungs for emphasis in order to avoid intelligently debating it, which is the show’s premise), and garner public interest. They are simply willing pawns of the much larger ESPN chess game.

I stay away from watching those kind of shows. But I have seen it enough times in my past, and still see some of the YouTube clips and headlines enough, to know what it is all about. But I hate getting worked up about that kind of BS, as I often do. So I stray clear of it because I can… And because I have a job. 

I do not watch ESPN because I enjoy ESPN. I simply tolerate all of the garbage that comes along with ESPN because it continues to serve as the only avenue in which I can consistently watch, listen to, and read about what I love: sports. But that is where it begins and ends with myself and ESPN. I tolerate it to watch sports. I do not enjoy it. As long as they continue to orchestrate the entire sports world, I will continue to put up with all of the BS. I like to think that we have a mutual understanding.

What makes the ESPYs so ******* unwatchable, is that there are absolutely no sports being played. The ESPYs continue to serve as a glitz and glamour representation of every single thing that is so wrong with the Worldwide Leader in what I love. What makes the global news network so annoying. There are no sports involved. Just an awards show hosted by the network, ran by the network, in order to shove the network’s agendas down millions of viewers throats. And damn do they know it.

Similarly to One Flew Over The ****oo’s Nest’s notorious antagonist, Nurse Ratched, the subtlety of ESPN’s actions prevents most of us from understanding we are even being controlled, and to what extent. It has become almost impossible to discern the real from the BS, because it is all connected in Bristol. They choose the one night of the year with absolutely no sports being played, right after the MLB All-Star game. Then, they air the ******* home run derby all night on its main station, knowing that most people don’t want to watch that **** even once, let alone twice. I’m not saying they aren’t good at what they do. Ratched always was, and she got the last laugh. Like ESPN.

The awards themselves continue to resemble less about athletic achievement, and more who generates the highest ratings. It has become a popularity contest that ESPN uses to increase the popularity of its most marketable athletes. Their product.

I found myself sitting on my couch, begrudgingly watching the Awards Show, thinking “Why the hell do I put up with this nonsense?” While repeatedly switching to the ongoing South Park marathon taking place during the commercial breaks, which occurred about once every five minutes. Smart move by the folks at Comedy Central, knowing they only had the ******* ESPYs to compete with in the world of sports. Maybe it was because of Stuart Scott’s rare impassioned speech last year. Maybe it was because I continue to hang on to a false sense of hope with ESPN like I do with the Knicks. I don’t know. 

The final line for me, the point at which I could no longer take it anymore, was when I watched ESPN’s own (because that is about the only thing he actually is and represents) LeBron James accept the award for “Best Finals Performance” after a losing effort in the NBA Finals. None of the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors were even nominated. Prior to the award being handed out, I was desperately looking for a way out. I found myself hoping that they would give LeBron the award, so the ESPYs could just cement themselves in my brain for what they are once and for all. And then they did. I couldn’t help but to laugh at it.

I’m not even saying that a Warriors player should have won the award. Their NBA Finals victory was a total team effort. With their own protagonist Stephen Curry running the show, but never truly dominating in the series. They used input from Finals MVP Andre Igoudala, Draymond Green, an injured but still productive Klay Thompson, and even the limited David Lee to achieve the goal they sought after the most. As it should be. And yet, there was LeBron, accepting the award given by the network that continues to strike his own ego. How fitting.

I wouldn’t even care so much, but ESPN still defines itself not only as a sports network, but the “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” when it much more strongly resembles TMZ nowadays. Either be about sports are quit the phony act. Similar to my beliefs about LeBron and his “love” for Cleveland. I cant stand the BS. As long as this show continues to promote itself as the awards show for athletes, the “Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly” Award, it will continue to piss me off when athletes are rewarded because of their marketability and other factors more so than actual athletic achievement.

There were other candidates more deserving of “Best Finals Performance,” if the ESPYs had any credibility whatsoever, than anyone who participated in the 2014 NBA Finals. There was the horse, American Pharoah, dominating the field and winning the first Triple Crown Award in more than 50 years. A truly impressive feat in the world of horse racing. Even though its popularity has rapidly declined since 50 years ago. I am sure ESPN was turned off by that aspect as well as the notion that a thoroughbred could not possibly give an acceptance speech quite as well than their darling baby boy, King James… Although I think that is a matter of perception.

But there was also Madison Bumgarner pitching his San Francisco Giants to the World Series with some legendary clutch performances. There was Ohio State’s own Cardale Jones remarkably delivering the Buckeyes to the National Championship as a third string quarterback, despite truly being counted out by the general public. There was even another ESPN darling, Tom Brady, who led his New England Patriots to their 4th Superbowl victory. All would have been far more deserving of the award than Lebron. Albeit giving Brady the award would have been a major slap in the face to the network’s good buddy Roger Goodell (a major no-no, word to Bill Simmons), which I am sure factored into the final decision as well.

But somehow, some way, James managed to will himself to victory. Like he always seems to do on the media platform, much more so than on the hardwood. ESPN has been a far better sidekick to LeBron than Dwyane Wade or the city of Cleveland ever has.

Why even have an award show for sports? Shouldn’t winning championships be more than enough of an award when it comes to sports and athletic achievement? Why even have this consolation prize system in place? This isn’t like film or music, when winning an Oscar or a Grammy is basically like winning the championship. I mean, I guess it is intriguing enough to compare and contrast the various champions across the entire athletic stratosphere, and giving out awards for the best of the best. It is a cool concept. I can get that. But when LeBron James, who was not even good enough in the Finals to win at his own sport, receives the award for “Best Finals Performance” across the entire athletic platform, that is when the interesting concept steps far across the line into a full-blown popularity contest. 

There were other examples of ESPYs used more as a way for ESPN to promote its marketing platform and generate more of a widespread audience as opposed to being an award for excellence in sports performance, like they are supposed to be. Primarily, when it came to the awards that hold the most significance and generate the most controversy. The ones that go beyond individual sports and well into the entire spectrum.

There was Odell Beckham Jr.’s amusing one-handed catch winning “Best Play” over the interception that single handedly won a Super Bowl. Because ESPN itself has been busy dubbing the catch as the greatest of all time, and emerging New York Giants star receiver Beckham Jr. is a far more marketable figure than sparingly used Patriots defensive back Malcolm Butler… And also because ESPN more-than-likely had no interest in recognizing any of the Patriots accomplishments to help their buddy Goodell cover up his own BS (word to Aaron Rodgers winning basically every relevant NFL ESPY over Tom Brady).

There was ESPN sweetheart Mo’ne Davis winning the ESPY for “Best Breakthrough Athlete,” the first little league player to win such an award despite her team losing in the semi-finals to Nevada, in a game in which she pitched and let up 3 earned runs in 2 innings. Nevada would go on to lose to the currently disgraced Jackie Robinson West team of Illinois, who would go on to lose to Seoul, South Korea. I am not trying to speak ill of a 13 year old girl, but this is the kind of **** that ESPN almost forces me to do. Davis won the award despite not even being able to lead her team to the Little League World Series title and no LLWS athlete ever winning the award before. 

Basically, what I am saying is that Davis won the award for being a female. But who cares about that? Who cares that Jordan Spieth absolutely burst on to the scene this year as a 21 year old—becoming the best golfer on the planet? Everyone loves Mo’ne Davis! And besides, Spieth was in England for the British Open and probably wouldn’t be able to give an acceptance speech. God forbid! So they gave it to the extremely popular Mo’ne Davis. The ESPY has become the large scale version of the participation trophy. A trophy for whoever best participates in ESPN’s marketing agenda. Winning be damned.

Then, of course, there was the highlight of the night. Caitlyn Jenner winning the “Arthur Ashe Courage Award.” Listen. This isn’t to bring up some sort of Caitlyn Jenner/transgender debate. This isn’t about her speech. That isn’t what this is about. Personally, I found her message about acceptance to be extremely positive and inspiring. This is about the ESPYs being the ******* ESPYs. All the ******* time. Caitlyn Jenner? Arthur Ashe Courage Award? Really ESPN? This is a former athlete, turned reality TV star, turned woman we are talking about. Caitlyn did what Caitlyn had to do, I respect her for it. It took courage to do so. No doubt about it. But this is classic ESPN trying to market itself using this bogus awards show. This was all about reaching out to the largest audience possible. This was about ESPN and Caitlyn using each other.

As Bob Costas said, “It strikes me that awarding the Arthur Ashe Award to Caitlyn Jenner is just a crass exploitation play – it’s a tabloid play. In the broad world of sports, I’m pretty sure they could’ve found someone – and this is not anything against Caitlyn Jenner – who was much closer actively involved in sports, who would’ve been deserving of what that award represents.” Well said, Bob.

That someone includes, but is definitely not limited to, Lauren Hill and her inspiring battle with cancer. Even when the highlight of last year’s event, Stuart Scott, said himself, “When you die, it does not mean you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live it.” Well, Lauren Hill beat the hell out of cancer, and that sure as **** took a lot of courage from an everyday teenage girl. Despite her impending death from brain cancer, Lauren Hill lived her life like a true champion. She managed to raise more than $2 million to help combat the disease and accomplished her dream of playing college basketball, despite knowing that she likely would not be alive to see the progress she made advancing the ongoing battle against cancer or have any sort of basketball career. 99% of people in that situation would likely lose hope and give up, but Lauren Hill was in that rare 1%. She didn’t stop fighting even in the face of impending death. If that doesn’t define what the Arthur Ashe Courage Award should stand for, then I don’t know what the **** does. But Caitlyn Jenner brought in 3x the ratings from last year’s ESPYs, so yeah… She wins!

The ESPN effect is far more reaching than the ESPY Awards. The ESPYs only serve as an embodiment, a glamorization, of everything wrong with ESPN nowadays. It has lost all shreds of credibility in a ratings driven industry. Whomever can best serve ESPN ratings wise, is the most valuable. Journalistic integrity be damned. This wouldn’t even be problematic, many news outlets are driven by page views and generating attention in the sleaziest way possible, they are called tabloids, but this becomes a problem when dealing with the Worldwide Leader in Sports. ESPN has basically become a monopoly in the sports industry. Despite all the problems within the organization and in the way they conduct their business, we are still drawn to their product, because we all love sports and have little other avenues of receiving our fix. They own all of us sports fans and they know it.

The far reaching effect of ESPN as the Worldwide Leader in Sports has, in a way, helped shape the New York media to become what they are. If they haven’t shaped it, they have more than paved the road for the most outlandish people in the industry to become the most successful. Just look at the Daily News’ very own Frank Isola.

In one of Isola’s Daily News articles the other day, Isola was quoted saying, “Melo or Zen? One will surely be gone by this time next year, if not sooner.” Don’t even bother checking for sources, by the way. Your boy already did. Thoroughly. There were none mentioned. I don’t know about y’all, but my heart nearly exploded from within my chest when I saw that ******* quote. The disgust that I usually feel while reading Isola’s articles, quickly exploded into full blown rage when I saw that one particular sentence. That piece along with the consistently reliable abomination of the sports industry that has become the ESPY Awards, led me to writing this article.

For the past couple of weeks now, that egomaniacal journalist has been trying to desperately spin his very own report that Knicks president Phil Jackson and Knicks franchise player Carmelo Anthony are not seeing eye-to-eye. I have seen it develop from a simple inference to a full blown ultimatum. I have been there to experience the entire ride and I could no longer stand back idly and put up with it. I need to get it out. Why would he do this? Because Isola hates Dolan and Dolan hates him right back.

Isola joined the Knicks back in 1996, and ever since Dolan took over the team and instituted the Knicks current media policy in 2001, he has been at odds with that journalist. This led Dolan and the Knicks PR staff to ban Isola or anyone else from the Daily News, to conduct one-on-one interviews with players or coaches, despite Isola being the Knicks longest tenured beat reporter. Dolan and/or his PR robots personally warn all employees about speaking with Isola as well. Isola even blames the simple inference of speaking to him as what drove Tom Thibideau and others formerly loyal to the organization out the door. And he is probably right. Because Dolan is ******* loony.

Isola’s relationship with Dolan went south because he was just doing his job at the time. Isola started covering the Knicks during the “glory days” and he refused to put a positive spin on such a poorly run organization just to please his owner. This led to his banishment, because James Dolan is a ******* lunatic egomaniac. I respect the hell out of Isola for that much. It is what a good reporter is supposed to do.

But somewhere along the way, the hot water Dolan created for him has caused Isola to engage in his own never-ending mission to destroy James Dolan. He has become vigilant in this mission and has lost almost complete touch with reality.  Isola personally hates Dolan so much, it has become impossible for him to maintain a rational point of view. A battle, created by Isola being a good reporter, has driven him to form extreme biases, similar to the ones he hates. Albeit on the other side of the puzzle. How ironic. Like Anakin Skywalker turning into Darth Vader.

As a result, the Knicks local media coverage has become an absolute joke of epic proportions. On one hand, you have Marc Berman of the New York Post, who is far worse than Isola even is. Berman and his team at The Post have basically become Dolan’s personal lapdogs, and a tabloid newspaper filled with Dolan-spun propaganda to appease the enigmatic owner. Isola makes sure this is known, and he is absolutely within his rights to do so. It is often even very funny reading him troll along Berman and others from The Post in his articles and on his Twitter feed. It is where present-day Isola is most enjoyable. But like many other instances, such as ESPN’s First Take, little good comes from having two opposite sides of a spectrum and nothing in between. Isola can often be entertaining when ridiculing the Garden’s owner and his followers (such as Berman), but he will stop at nothing to further what has become his own personal agenda. This badly hurts his journalistic integrity.

Isola has relentlessly tried to create his own faux story about a rift between Jackson and Melo, Dolan’s two most important employees. I have seen you, Frank. Every step of the way. OG Dizza knows what’s good, you ain’t low. Don’t think you’re slick. He has done so, not because he believes a story actually exists, but because it obviously serves in his own best interest to do so.

That journalist knows as well as anybody that creating even the image of some sort of internal battle badly hurts Dolan’s reputation, and can lead to so much more. Outsiders with little knowledge of the situation sometimes pick up from these kind of stories from “insiders” like Isola, which can often create a national buzz. And any denial Isola quickly reflects to Dolan’s brash media policy trying to cover up a situation, as they often do. Even if the situation does not really exist. It is a classic “Boy Who Cried Wolf” situation, and Isola knows and uses this well to further his own cause. Sometimes, the perception of drama is all that is needed to create a real one, especially with an organization in as consistent turmoil as the Knicks are.

I have no proof that a Jackson-Melo beef does not exist, but neither does Isola. I truly believe that from every one of his bogus stories I have read from the past few weeks using little to no sources, he is on a mission to stir the pot and wrongly uses a simple and justifiable lack of communication to insinuate a much larger issue at hand. In general, it is ignorant to assume a reality exists just because of the lack of evidence against it. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Isola has disregarded this completely and has ran with a story due to a lack of evidence disproving it.

This mission started on draft night, when Isola tried to spin Carmelo not being in constant contact with Jackson, while Carmelo was out celebrating the birthday of his wife, proved that Jackson did not consult Carmelo about the draft pick, and therefore must have went behind his back to do so. Absent from this report was the fact that the only individual Knicks draft workout Carmelo Anthony personally attended was Porzingis’ workout, just days before the draft. Not that I have any kind of internal knowledge, but I find that to be at least a little bit telling using rational thought.

Next at bat was the now-famous phone call that Carmelo made to his mentee Tim Hardaway Jr. following the draft night trade that sent the latter to the Atlanta Hawks, Carmelo also made a heartfelt Instagram post honoring his time serving as mentor for Hardaway Jr., whom the Knicks drafted in 2013. Just based on that knowledge, Isola decided to run with a story that Carmelo was criticizing Phil’s draft night moves behind his back to Hardaway Jr. He spun that Carmelo expressing discontent that Hardaway Jr. got traded to Hardaway Jr. himself, meant that Carmelo was expressing contempt with Phil Jackson’s entire agenda as team president.

Again, I am not a professional basketball player, but I have been in the business world. I understand how businesses work in general. And at the end of the day, that is exactly what the NBA is. A business. I have seen employees that I have built bonds with get let go because of various reasons. Even beyond the business world, it is never easy to say goodbye to someone you are close with. I think we have all experienced similar instances. Such an event is not always easy to deal with, and like Carmelo, I have often reached out to departing individuals to express my condolences and wish them well in the future. But saying goodbye to a graduating Senior and saying that you are disappointed they are leaving, does not mean you are expressing dissatisfaction with the education process as a whole. Sticking with the business world, reaching out to a departing employee (even a fired one), in no way, shape, or form means I am ever insulting my boss or questioning the boss’ decision to release said employee. The two are unrelated. It is part of being human. And also being loyal. Which Carmelo has proven that he is with his actions time and time again, which I discussed in detail in my last article.

Carmelo remained in contact with both JR Smith and Iman Shumpert during their playoff run with the Cavs. Chris Smith revealed that in addition to his brother and Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony was the lone member of the New York Knicks who remained in constant contact with him following his extremely justifiable release from the Knicks in December 2013, and subsequent career downfall. Chris ******* Smith we are talking about. Does this mean that Carmelo also questioned the Knicks’ decision to waive a player who didn’t even receive a scholarship offer from Louisville? Who couldn’t even hang on to a D-League job? Many of Carmelo’s past teammates such as Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin, and Allen Iverson, amongst others, have praised Carmelo’s loyalty and spoken about how good of a teammate he was during their time playing with him. 

It is who Carmelo Anthony is. Of course he was going to reach out to Tim Hardaway Jr., his mentee, and maybe do a little something extra special, during his first experience of being traded in the NBA. It is just who Carmelo Anthony is. I think any rational person could look at the exchange between the two as a simple goodbye between two friends who have built a special bond playing together. Especially after Carmelo tried to clear the air himself via Instagram. Which is a terrible way to try and clear the air, by the way, but clearing the air nonetheless. Particularly while Carmelo was away on vacation. It was a non-story. Maybe a sentimentality story at best. But not with that journalist. Because his personal agenda consistently skews rationale. He is always searching for more. Even when there is nothing more to the situation at all.

And now, we have his most recent article. When he put on the full-court press. Not only implying a potential Jackson/Anthony rift based alone on the fact that the two have not remained in contact during the NBA Free Agency process, while Carmelo has been on vacation with his family trying to enjoy what little of an offseason he has (what a ******* vacation this must have been for Melo, by the way. He must feel like New York City has turned into Planet of the Apes upon his return.). But Isola has basically created a full-blown battle between the two sides out of thin air. 

Phil Jackson told reporters the other day that he has not spoken with Carmelo while Carmelo has been away, saying that he understands that Carmelo is a premier player, “But it’s a team game. And it has to fit together.” That is basically it. And Isola and his followers have taken this and ran far, far away from reality. Like some shyster lawyer looking for anything and everything to use as evidence for a sure-to-be losing case. I guess Jackson preaching “team principles” like he always has, even while coaching some of the greatest NBA players of all time, and not interrupting a vacationing Anthony with team issues, means that he no longer gives a damn about the player he handed out a 5-year contract to last summer. Now the narrative has become, “Phil Jackson drew a line in the desert on Monday by making it clear that the Knicks, at least not his Knicks, no longer revolve around Carmelo Anthony.” Then he drops the nuclear bomb. “Melo or Zen? One will surely be gone by this time next year, if not sooner.”

Really dude? ******* really? What the **** does “surely” even mean? Who the hell is sure? You’re sure? Where are your sources on that one? Oh that’s right, nowhere to be found. Even some BS anonymous source from the Knicks vice assistant to the ******* janitor would have done it for me. You’re going to throw assumptions like that out there and use words like “surely,” then at least give me something to work with. ******* anything, really. But nope. Just Isola being Isola. Doing what he does best. Stirring BS out of his own *** to further his never-ending war with James Dolan. Which he will never win, because Dolan owns the ******* team. 

Us Knicks fans have depressingly accepted this harsh reality, why the hell cant he just do the same? Dolan is here to stay. He has the money behind him and the money always wins. Just ******* deal with it for God’s sake. If not for journalistic integrity that no longer exists, at least do it for the fanbase you represent as a writer. Isola consistently places his own personal agenda above the team he represents. The team he has built a successful career covering for almost 20 years now. I get putting Dolan and The Post down a notch when they need to be put in their place, but pulling stories out of your *** that could significantly hurt this team does not fly by me, as a fan. And I like to think I remain relatively unbiased as a Knicks fan. I hate Dolan as much as the next guy. I can think rationally. There have been many Knicks I have hated during their time here. More so than the ones I have loved. But only when there was good reason to. Tarnishing Phil Jackson and Melo just to spite Dolan is a hard no-no.

But, whatever. That journalist is who he is.

Why the hell is this so problematic?

There are plenty of trolls out there, none of them worth getting riled up over, but his following makes matters worse. He is part of a media industry, which at its core, emphasizes stirring the pot and grabbing headlines rather than upholding journalistic integrity. Isola is the kind of guy, who if he wrote about politics, would be trolling away on some bogus magazine that nobody gives a **** about. You can’t throw **** like that out there in other fields of journalism and still be viewed as a credible and reliable source of information. He has tried to create this Melo/Jackson beef as hard as those tabloid magazines I always see while waiting on line at super markets that try to push Scott Disick knocking up a Jenner sister seemingly every other week. It is outrageous. 

But in the sports world? There is no governing power over this, because the loony runs the ******* loony bin. He continuously gets away with this kind of stuff. This is not a first time offender we are talking about. He is praised for this ****. ESPN or anyone else doesn’t ridicule him for his actions. Ever. Quite the contrary. Homeboy is given a spot on ESPN’s popular show Around the Horn. Viewed on ESPN’s primetime channel every single day of the week in a primetime post work/school spot to a nationally televised audience. He is as credible of a source as it comes for the Knicks, because the Worldwide Leader allows him to be. He trolls because ESPN lets him get away with it. And us fans are forced to suffer.

I’m not even trying to put down any of these guys. It might sound like I am, but I really am not. Frank Isola, Skip Bayless, Stephen A Smith, all them—all incredibly smart individuals who have contributed far more to the sports world than I ever have. Great sports journalism has put them in the power positions they currently are all comfortably sitting in. I have heard all of them make great points when discussing sports. Even in recent years. I have read introspective, fair, and well-thought out articles by each and every one of them. Sometimes they have even helped me form some of my own opinions. That is what they are supposed to do.

But make no mistake, this kind of outlandish trolling BS has kept them fully entrenched in their positions with the Worldwide Leader. Nowadays, it is like these dudes will stop at nothing to hammer home their point. It has created incredible bias throughout the network.  They will say whatever they can to grab headlines and emphasize their points. There is never a middle ground in sports media anymore. Whether it is Stephen A and Skip going head to head on First Take or Berman and Isola going head to head in the New York City papers. It is a widespread effect because the governing body fully supports it. 

And honestly, it is also a lazy journalistic approach. Journalists are expected to report their views on truthful matters that come from reliable sources. Often times, the truth is not so interesting in itself. But isn’t that what journalism is about? Being able to take a stale but truthful story, and creating interest through quality writing, without skewing from the truth? A good journalist is able to report the truth as well as create interesting stories using honest information. But the truth should always come first and foremost. Unbiased honesty should always be at the core. Each of these guys I have written about have done this in their past. It is what led to the positions they currently hold. It is even what led to Isola being banned by Dolan and his loyal army of PR minions.

But somewhere along the way, they have all gotten lazy. Because ESPN not only supports, but emphasizes, this type of lazy journalistic approach. They elect the simplistic approach of skewing the truth and creating headlines that draws in the attention of mindless followers better than the truth possibly can. Because spinning the often boring truth into an interesting story is hard work. But the great journalists do it. They keep the truth at its core. They care about integrity. This is far gone in the sports world today and it is all a reflection on the network running the entire operation. 

They reward laziness. They reward irresponsibility. They reward glitzy grasping headlines and overly biased points of view, because it gets the masses talking. It generates more widespread interest in their product. They encourage the writers to let their own personal agendas get the best of them, when they should be policing this. It has become not only the lazy approach, but also the profitable approach. Because the talent at ESPN selfishly putting their own personal agendas above integrity directly feeds into ESPN’s general agenda. That is what happens when the loony is in charge of the loony bin in Bristol, Connecticut.

It took me maybe an hour the other night, watching Lebron accept “Best Finals Performance” after losing the NBA Finals, to think similarly to how Dennis Green sounded, during that infamous post-game interview in 2006 when his Arizona Cardinals blew a huge lead and lost an incredible Monday Night Football bout to the Chicago Bears. One of the best football games I have ever seen. After the game Green notoriously yelled repeatedly “They are who we thought they were!” and “we let ’em off the hook!” Well, similar to Green, the ESPYs proved to once again be exactly what I thought they were. The ESPYs are what they have been and will continue to be as long as ESPN is pushing their agenda on us all. The most unwatchable sporting event of the year. Because it is not about sports. It is about ESPN and all of its intolerable BS. 

At that moment, I finally realized all of this. I realized that the ESPYs were beyond hope. I realized that the Stuart Scott/Jimmy V moments are few and far between. Most of all, I realized how much ESPN sucks at being the Worldwide Leader in Sports. I sat there and thought to myself, “I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this.” So I took the big *** water fountain in my living room and chucked it at my ******* TV, Chief Bromden style! 

No, I’m ****** with you. I’m not that crazy. Nor do I have a big *** water fountain chilling in my living room. But I did realize that South Park was far more interesting than the ESPYs so I opted to instead finish the marathon, laughed a little bit, and went the **** to sleep.
 
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arrjae2 said:
sheesh...
im a fan.
Click to expand...
Just now realized the family relation after peeping the video and seeing his bro the from the stands. Already a fan of big bro, his wing span looks crazy. Lil bro looks to be a bit wider .....pawse. Which is good tho. 
 
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Thanasis is actually older than Giannis 
laugh.gif


He just isnt as good. Wont ever will be. Could still be a solid D/energy guy to bring off the bench though.
 
So apparently it is being said that Mudiay was relieved to avoid the Knicks triangle b/c he was unsure how he'd fit in the offense :lol
 
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