Steve Francis to the Knicks.

[Gordogg]

Dude, all the teams you are mentioning had more than what you are saying. The one exception is Michael's Bulls. He had Pippen. But Jordan is an exception to the rule. When you have the greatest basketball player in history on your team, you are gonna win some fuckin ballgames. Plus every team except the Bulls had a dominant center. Balance, chemistry, non egotistical assholes make championship teams. How can it be Magic and Kareems Lakers? Besides, there was a guy by the name of James Worthy on the team as well, ring a bell? Larry's Celetics? How about McHale and Parish, are they chop liver? There you go again with Shaq AND Kobe's Lakers. Shaq is one of the most dominant players in history, pair him, a CENTER, with arguably the best player in the NBA at the time and you are gonna win ballgames.

Comparing baseball to basketball is like apples and oranges. Everyone knows pitching wins championships, especially in the steroid era. You are talking about a 162 game grueling schedule compared to an 82 game season. A baseball team consisting of 25 players compared to a basketball team consisting of 12 players. So while you may have the Yankees hitting line up, which is just sick, you aren't going to win shit without pitching. In the NBA, you aren't going to win shit unless you have a dominating Center and great Guard, or a TEAM oriented personnel. This me first, let me travel my way to the basket and score attitude doesn't work. You have to actually PASS the ball to get the highest percentage shot. Not shoot 35 times a game like Iverson and while scoring a shitload of points, doesn't help your team win ballgames in the long run. The exception to the rule is Michael Jordan, but even he made the players around him better and was a TEAM player.

[Boobie Lover]

It is a well known fact that Isiah Thomas is the general manger of the New York Knickerbockers, but it is a well kept secret that he also manages Party Poker.

[PShabi]

BWAhahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GTDawg]

I think Thomas is doing this on purpose. He is running the team in to the ground because he wants to destroy the current basketball climate.

In two years, he will return with short-shorts in tow and lead the team to a title with the help of Ewing and Willis Reed.

There is no other explanation.

[GeoffM]

This trade makes no sense for the Knicks, and the Magic made a solid deal. The Knicks now have 2 ball hogs in the backcourt, the Magic just trimmed a sizeable amount of cap from their books next season. Isiah, what a dumbass.

[Gordogg]

The truth is Isiah doesn't know how to put together a franchise. If I remember correctly, he bought or gm'd a team in the CBA and ran it into the ground, not on purpose, just because he sucks at General Managing. Great basketball player though.

Correction: He bought the whole CBA and ran it into the ground wit his over spending. Hmmm, Knicks have the highest payroll in the league and are in last place, I see a pattern here.

[jillaj]

Just 2 is an understatement. They have Jamal Crawford,Marbury, Francis, and Q Richardson who are shoot first guards. They have the most dysfunctional team in NBA history.

[Dodoubled]

Good points, all of them. And well taken. You have a very old-school, idealistic approach to the way basketball should be played. It's the right way ... learn to create points off the pass before relying on the dribble-drive. You'd make a great coach.
But pro basketball is still, in my opinion, a superstar-driven league first and a team-driven league second. There's little parity in the league, and that's due largely to the scarcity of quality big men. If you're lucky to have one, well, you're in the running right away. If not, then you better have an Allen Iverson-type to at least give your team a chance to score points. Oh, and in either case, you better have a suffocating defense. And that's where, I think, most NBA teams fall short, and where the team mentality has to come in.
You know how many times since 1980 that a team that won one title didn't come back within three years to win another? Twice. The Sixers won in 1983, and San Antonio, which served as a bookend for the Lakers' 3-peat squad, winning in 1999 and four years later, in 2003. Of course, the Spurs won two years after that. You get two great players in your five-man lineup, and it's like an insta-dynasty. That's where the league falls short, in my opinion.

With that said, I believe I have taken a detour off the originial Marbury-Francis topic. I apologize. I'm not going to sell it up the river, yet. Maybe the change of scenery, a new backcourt mate and a new coach can help corral the ego. Brown had mixed results with Iverson, so who knows?
Not like I'm gonna bet the house on it, though ...