The Knicks won a game this week! And The Answer may be coming to New York (so the question must be: Will a desperate team do anything to keep their fans interested?). But with last Friday’s loss, the Knicks established the worst 10-game start in franchise history. Things could be a lot worse, though; here are some other bad starts throughout history that may help them feel better about themselves: The Hindenburg blew up over New Jersey on the first of its 10 scheduled round-trips between Europe and the United States, killing 36 people; the Titanic hit an iceberg and sunk four days into its maiden voyage; William Henry Harrison died of a cold one month into his presidency in 1841; Wally Backman lasted four days as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks before he was unceremoniously shown the door; Gilligan’s three-hour tour got off to an inauspicious start, getting stranded on a deserted island for 15 years, until the castaways were miraculously rescued, followed by them buying the island but almost losing it in an evil scam until they were helped out of the jam by the Harlem Globetrotters; Richie Cunningham’s brother Chuck on Happy Days appeared in only two episodes in the first season and was never heard from again; the Seattle Pilots existed for one measly year before moving to Milwaukee; and my career selling rodeo tickets over the phone lasted two days before I woke up and came to my senses. The lesson in all this for the Knicks is that they could explode in a fireball over New Jersey at any moment, sink to the bottom of the ocean taking Leonardo DiCaprio with them or be written out of the NBA altogether like Chuck Cunningham was. The best case scenario for the team: The Harlem Globetrotters come to the Garden and save their ass.

That takes care of the Knicks; now let’s look at the other local teams and we’ll put fun, convenient labels on them to boot:

An Efficient Machine

Devils: Their nine-game road winning streak (one short of tying the NHL record) and eight-game overall winning streak both ended on Monday night in Philly on Dave Schultz Night, as he was inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame. Is there any significance or special meaning to that? Schultz was the personification of the brawling 1970s, and holds the all-time single-season record for penalty minutes, with 472 in 1974-’75. Isn’t it about time that somebody started a Hockey Goon Hall of Fame? (Trivia: Schultz’s brother appeared in Slap Shot as an opposing player.) Jacques Lemaire and the Devils are the epitome of defensive hockey. They rank 21^st in goals per game, at 2.56, but their league-leading 2.07 goals against average has them in first place in the Atlantic Division (despite two losses in a row). Lemaire spent much of his playing days learning how to play defense by centering a line with Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt, as he had to backcheck his way through many a game, while those two sharp shooters poured in goal after goal.

Surprise Team

Islanders: After getting off to a rocky start, the Islanders are one of the surprise teams of the NHL. That’s what hard work will do for you. John Tavares is living up to his billing (19 points), while Matt Moulson is turning into the find of the century (18 points). They’re going in the opposite direction than the Rangers, who they’ve caught in the standings, both totaling 23 points.

Sinking (But it’s a Long Season)

Rangers: The good times (7-1 start) are over (4-8-1 since). They can’t score, they’re not tough enough, they’re too easy to play against, they take too many penalties, they have too many defensive breakdowns and they’re shorthanded at center with no replacements in sight. Can they recover or is the makeup of the roster too much to overcome? Maybe John Tortorella should start crying. That seems to be the coaching technique du jour.

Sinking (But There’s Still Hope)

Giants: They had their best week in over a month, with Dallas, Philly and even Atlanta (if you’re starting to keep track of the wild card race) all losing. The Giants haven’t looked this good since they defeated Oakland. The key to their success, of course, was not actually playing a game. Their best strategy from here on out may be to not take the field at all. Can you decline the rest of your schedule the way you can decline a penalty and take your chances on your present record?

Sinking (And They’re Running Out of Time)

Jets: The Jets players are making their coach cry. But poor clock management, wasted timeouts, a plethora of turnovers and a defense that can’t make the big stop are making Jet fans cry. The team has the swagger part down; it’s just the beating the opponent part that’s troubling them. Mark Sanchez has a prepared statement all set to go for his next postgame press conference on why he entered a hot dog eating contest at halftime of their game up in New England on Sunday.

Disaster

Nets: The Nets are doing even worse than the Knicks, and are planning to jump back to the ABA before they have a chance to go 0-82. They’re hoping to put a schedule together and play against the Spirits of St, Louis, San Diego Conquistadors, Virginia Squires, Memphis Tams and Kentucky Colonels once again and regain their dominance in that defunct league. They play the Knicks on Saturday (if they can scrounge up enough players). Will the world explode if one of those teams actually wins the game?

The Yankees win the World Series and as soon as you can say the words “Johnny Damon wants a four-year contract” the rest of the New York–area teams go down the tubes. They went a combined 5-11 this past week. It must be a hangover. Are all the local teams riding on the Yankees’ coattails and going to all of their parties? It’s also possible that many of the area teams just stink. The Knicks and Nets went a combined 0-7 this week, and are 1-16 for the year, for instance. It was only the always-good Devils that skewed the combined record by going 4-0, and they barely count as a local team.

Here’s a day-by-day look at the past seven days.

Friday: The injury-riddled Nets lost to Philly, which kept them winless for the season, and the Devils beat the Islanders in a continuation of the New Jersey–Long Island War of 1801, in which it was so cold and icey out during the Battle of Massapequa that both sides just gave up after 15 minutes and vowed to resume fighting “when they invent the game of hockey and the Colorado Rockies move to New Jersey.” The big highlight of the evening was, of course, the Knicks game. And, as expected, the Knicks were humiliated by LeBron James and the Cavs. They fought back bravely at the end, but who were they kidding? The game was secondary, though, as the real story was: Will LeBron come to New York next year? The Knicks owe it to their fans after shipping Walt Frazier off to Cleveland as compensation for signing Jim Cleamons and forcing him to wear those yellow, orange and red stripey uniforms. Here’s an argument for both sides of the LeBron to New York or LeBron stays in Cleveland debate.

5 Reasons Why LeBron James Should Come to New York:

1. On his days off, he can go to Rudy’s and take advantage of the free hot dogs.

2. New York City is the talcum powder capital of the world.

3. He should to get out of town before Eric Mangini’s losing rubs off on him.

4. He can fulfill his lifelong dream of playing in a softball league on Randall’s Island during the summer.

5. Drew Carey will finally have to move out of his basement.

5 Reasons Why LeBron James Should Stay in Cleveland:

1. There’s better oompah music in Cleveland.

2. It’s closer to his vacation home in Toledo.

3. If he comes to New York, Braylon Edwards will have to be traded back to Cleveland.

4. The only Knick players worth having as teammates have long retired.

5. He gets to hang out with Willie Mays Hayes.

Saturday: The Rangers lost the game to Calgary and lost two centers to boot. Chris Drury was knocked upside the head with a cheap shot but his teammates just let it slide. The Knicks continued their losing ways, falling to Milwaukee, 102-97. “We got outplayed so badly in the first quarter, it really didn’t matter what happened after that,” stated David Lee. It’s looking like you can probably say that about the whole season. The Nets lost. Again. That Russian billionaire might want his money back at this point. The surging Devils beat Ottawa, 3-2, and the scrappy Islanders defeated Atlanta, 6-3. How fun would it be to have three top-notch hockey teams in the area? How good would it be to just have three hockey teams in the area? The Isles can’t go to Kansas City, can they?

Sunday: The Giants suffered a crushing loss. Sure, the Chargers have pretty cool helmets but that’s no excuse for the Jints to lose. Their defense is just not the same as previous seasons. Where have you gone, Steve Spagnuolo? Giants fans turn their lonely eyes to you. And the offensive game-calling was conservative, playing not to lose instead of to win. As my daughter once told me after a heated game of Go Fish, “YOU PLAY . . . TO WIN . . . THE GAME!”

Monday: The Knicks lost a heartbreaker to Utah. It was the Toney Douglas show, but he just couldn’t make that last shot. Will he soon be taking over for Chris Duhon? In better news, Brian Leetch, Lou Lamoriello and John Davidson were all enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Tuesday: There weren’t any local games, so nobody could lose on this day. Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter won Gold Gloves today, though. No one can argue with the wizardry of Teixeira at first, and Jeter had one of his best seasons on defense. In the past, Sabremetricians were rolling over in their graves when Jeter would win a Gold Glove. And the ones that weren’t dead were rolling their eyes. And the ones that were wearing eye patches were shrugging their shoulders. And the ones who had their shoulders amputated due to too much shrugging, well, they have bigger problems than Jeter’s fielding. Speaking of big problems, a svelte Eddy Curry returned to practice. He lost weight easily once he realized the diet he was on for the past year wasn’t working. He had been trying one of those celebrity fad diets: James Gandolfini’s All Little Italy All the Time Diet.

Wednesday: The Knicks had a big lead but lost to Atlanta. Douglas had his second straight 20-plus point game, after being inserted into the starting lineup as the shooting guard. The Nets announced before their game vs. Philly that they would be changing their name to the Washington Generals, and on cue they went out and lost. The Devils just keep on winning, though, beating Anaheim. And the Islanders scored a late goal to send the game into OT, but ultimately lost in a marathon shootout to Washington. Both teams ran out of players so Guy Charron had to come out of retirement to score the game-winner for the Caps.

Thursday: The Devils moved into first place with their victory last night in Pittsburgh, which was their ninth straight road win to start the season. One more ties the NHL record. And the wrong-way Rangers keep going backwards. Marian Gaborik scored as usual, and they got two goals from the center position playing with their makeshift lineup, but bad defense, too many penalties and not enough effort did them in again.

1. Head Coach Mike D’Antoni has assembled four different starting lineups in nine games.

2. Their opponents have scored over 100+ points in every game but one (Jazz)

3. Opponents are shooting 49% from the field and averaging 109 points per game  (2nd and 3rd worst in NBA)

4. NY is shooting 29% from three (27th in NBA)

5. Starting PG Chris Duhon is shooting 26% from the field and needs to be benched

6. Four of their eight eight losses have been by 12 points or more.

What i would like to see the Knicks do:

1) Start Toney Douglas, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, David Lee, Jordan Hill…Al Harrington has been effective off the bench

2) Play better defense

3) Buy out Jared Jeffries

Here are five things worth noting in week one

1) Carmelo Anthony is playing like the MVP: Melo leads the NBA in scoring with 37.7 points per game and has scored at least 40 points in two straight games. He also has attempted 41 free throws and averaging 7 rebounds per game. The Nuggets are 3-0 including wins over Utah and Portland. If he continues this all season he moves into the first round next season.

2) Gilbert Arenas is back: Arenas had a season high 31 points vs. the Nets on Halloween. He also shot 69% from the field and attempted 12 free throws. In three games this season he is averaging 28 points, 6.7 threes, 2.3 threes and 1 steal per game. He was drafted in the late second-early third in most drafts which looks like a steal now.

3) Trevor Ariza and Aaron Brooks are fantasy gold: Ariza scored a season high 33 points last Saturday and has made 11 three-pointers in three games. He is averaging 23.3 points, 1.7 steals in 38 minutes per game. Brooks is averaging 21.7 points, 8.3 assists, 2.3 threes and 1.3 steals per game over 39 minutes. Both these players should see big minutes all season which will only help there stats. More importantly both players are shooting well from the field so far.

4) Brandon Jennings is already becoming an elite fantasy PG: Based on his first two games it’s seem hard to believe the Knicks drafted Jordan Hill over him. Jennings first game almost resulted in a triple double with 19 points, 9 assists and 9 rebounds. He followed that game with 24 points, 3 three-pointers and 3 steals.

5) Chris Paul is making the case again why he goes before Lebron James: James is having a strong start to the season but Paul has stepped up his game. Cp3 is averaging 26 points and 1.7 threes per game which would be career highs. His assists and steals are down but he is shooting 65% from the field.

Other stories: Devin Harris already out at least a week, Pau Gasol has missed three games already, Chris Bosh is second in scoring and rebounding, Steve Nash is leading the NBA with 14 assists per game, Channing Frye is averaging 19.7 points per game, Greg Oden leads the league with 2.75 blocks per game, Boston and Miami a combined 7-0, Nets, Clippers, Clippers and Kings all did not have a win.

The Knicks are working out 11-year veteran PG Troy Hudson tomorrow at their Westchester practice facility. Hudson retired to pursue a rap career which led him to sell 78 copies of his album in the first week. He last appeared in the league during the 07-08 campaign playing nine games for the Warriors.

New York was pursuing PG Ramon Sessions but talks have broken down due to the Knicks hesitance of adding an additional long-term salary. Sessions is a restricted free agent, which means the Knicks have to offer him a contract of at least two years which would add payroll in 2010.

In 517 career games Hudson has averaged 9 points and 3.4 assists for the Jazz, Clippers, Magic, Timberwolves and Warriors. He averaged a career best 14.2 points, 5.7 assists, 1.2 threes and 0.8 steals per game in 2002-2003. He has been injured quite often playing in 75 or more games four times in his 11 seasons. How much more does the 34 year-old have left in the tank?

Instead the Knicks should give PG Mike Taylor a workout who was waived by the Clippers. The 2008 second-round pick lit up the Knicks last season scoring 35 points and recorded eight assists. He followed that game up with 23 points against the Spurs. He is 10 years younger than Hudson and showed he has play making ability when given minutes.

http://www.nba.com/schedules/index.html?team=knicks

Highlights

-Season opener vs. Miami on October 28th

-Home opener vs. Charlotte on October 30th

-Five Games on ESPN all at home(November 6th vs. Cavs, December 18th vs. Clippers, December 25th vs. Heat, January 15th vs. Raptors, January 22nd vs. Lakers)

Jason Williams is scheduled to work out for the Knicks today at the Westchester practice facility.  The 33 year-old retired last August citing personal reasons with his wife’s pregnancy. Flirting with Williams could be be a negotiating tool in signing G Nate Robinson for a year. The Knicks also plan to sign 23 year-old Ramon Sessions to an offer sheet.

The Knicks could offer Williams the veteran’s minimum ($1.9 million) or biannual exception ($2.9 million). “JWill” has had a productive 10-year NBA career in which he has averaged 11.7 points, 6.3 assists and 1.7 three pointer’s per game. New York has until Thursday to negotiate a deal with him since they claimed him off waivers from the Clippers. A rumor has been swirling that if Donnie Walsh comes to an agreement with “White Chocolate” they would deal his rights to another team.

There has been speculation that the Chicago Bulls are interested in acquiring David Lee. Lee is coming off a career season where he led the NBA with 65 double-doubles. If he does not sign a one year deal with the Knicks will try and work out a sign-and-trade. Lee is looking for $7-$10 million for multiple years while the Knicks want something shorter and cheaper.

The Bulls would look to trade PG Kirk Hinrich who is owed $27 million the next three seasons. With the emergence of Derrick Rose and the signing of Jannero Pargo it makes Hinrich an overpaid backup. Instead, New York should look into acquiring F Tyrus Thomas because of his versatility and contract. He is in the last year of his rookie contract which pays him $4.7 million next season. The Knicks should also push the Bulls to take Jared Jeffries in return. He is under contract for the next two seasons and will free up more cap space for next season.

Thomas was selected fourth overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. The Bulls had the rights to the Knicks second overall pick that year because of the Eddy Curry trade. New York could of drafted Lemarcus Aldridge, Thomas, Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay (all selected in the top 8).

In his third season, Thomas set career highs in points (10.8), rebounds (6.4), steals (1.1) and blocks (1.9). He would provide the Knicks with a defensive presence as he blocked 2.9 shots per game against the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs last season. Thomas is expendable because the Bulls drafted two big men in the 2009 NBA Draft. James Johnson is 6″8″ and Taj Gibson is 6″9″. Both rookies have a similar game and build to Thomas while Lee would provide the Bulls with rebounding and hustle. He would form an intriguing combo with F/C Joakim Noah.

Thomas will be turning 23 years old in August and will be looking for big money after next season but his athleticism would be a good fit in New York. His jump shot has improved and has upside to become a very good pro. However, the Knicks should not do any deal that brings back Hinrich.

Donnie Walsh has had discussions with Von Wafer, according to the guard’s agent. Wafer averaged a career high 9.7 points for the Rockets last season. The five-year pro was on the Knicks summer league roster last season but found his niche with Houston. The former second round pick shot 45% from three last season and would provide the Knicks with another shooter off the bench. New York could offer Wafer a one-year deal worth the biannual exception (about $2.9 million). 

Fast forward to about 65 minutes and listen to me (7/23/09 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/realsportstalk/2009/07/24/Real-Sports-Talk

New York lost their summer-league opener, 90-86 to the Memphis Grizzles. Knicks SG Morris Almondscored the first points of the summer. He led the team with 17 points and made three shots from downtown. The former first-rounder (2007-Utah Jazz) is expected to earn a partially guaranteed contract for next season. He was third in the nation in scoring (26.4) in his senior season at Rice University.

Head coach Mike D’Antoni was impressed with his defense as he was matched up mostly against F Sam Young(finished 3-10 from the field). Almond is athletic and has good size for his position at 6″6″. Donnie Walsh tried to acquire him last season.

Another bright spot was rookie Toney Douglas who had 11 assists and zero turnovers. However, he shot just 2-13 scoring eight points. Walsh, felt Douglas ran the team well and believes he can be a capable backup to PG Chris Duhon. There have been rumors that the Greek team Olympiakos has made a two year offer to G Nate Robinson.

The other rookie Jordan Hill struggled in the first half but did better in the final two quarters . He started off missing four of his first five attempts but went five for nine in the second half. He finished the game with 13 points and eight rebounds. The reason for the slow start was he was matched up against 7″3″ Hasheem Thabeet. Hill needs to work on his jumper and admitted he needs to get in better game shape. The eighth pick in the draft showed he’s active in the paint and can crash boards (had two 3-point plays off offensive rebounds).

The Knicks play again today at 4pm (eastern time) against the Pistons.