Another long NBA season begins

A win is a win is a win.

For the Knicks, an opening night victory with a run-and-gun offense and, most importantly, no Starbury — I’d call that the best thing to happen in the Garden in years.

Let’s face it. This is not a good basketball team. but coached properly, they could win in the mid-30s and at least be fun to watch. Contrast this with last year’s awful, boring and dysfunctional team.

Just as important is what Mike D’Antoni and Don Walsh do to restructure the team over the next few years — in time for LeBron James‘ free-agency (or Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosch or Carmelo Anthony). There are no players on this roster that should consider them safe and only a few that management should consider keeping around — Wilson Chandler, David Lee, Jamaal Crawford and the new Italian kid. A complete restructuring and salary purge is in order (read that to mean walking papers to Stephon Marbury, Zack Randolph and Eddy Curry) to clear cap and make things possible.

Am I optimistic? Not really, but my Knick pessimism is fading. Maybe, just maybe, there will be good times in the future of the Garden. I mean, the Phillies did win the World Series this year. Anything is possible, right?

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet