It's Boring To Watch These Knicks

Growing up, Madison Square Garden was the place to be during the frigid months. The Knicks warmed up our soul by winning every night.

They created great playoff memories during the nineties.

The Knickerbockers gained more popularity than the Yankees at that time if anyone can believe it. It got the point where America started to hate New York's basketball team over New York's baseball team.

Now, no one hates the Knicks. In fact, no one even cares enough to pay attention to them.

Talk about a disgrace.

It shows how low they have gone. Sure the team went through some rough times in the late eighties, but when Dave Checketts, Ernie Grunfeld, and Pat Riley arrived, it got better for them.

In this new century, this team stinks. Not only have they not drafted well, but they overpaid guys who were never even good.

This team does not market itself well to the fans. During the Isiah Thomas era, the Knicks often restricted beat writers from being around the team.

They felt the fans did not need to know what was going on around the team.

With the arrival of Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni, the writers gained better access to the team with an improved media policy.

The Knicks have yet to show they are any better with new management. How is it any different now than it was two years ago?

The team plays hard, but so what? Have our standards gotten so low that we are rewarding a bunch of millionaires to play hard?

The bottom line is this team still has a losing record. Last year, they had a losing season, and this year will not be any different. Tonight's win against the woeful Wizards should not get anyone's hopes up.

What's damning is there is a good chance we may see more of the same in the next few years if the Knicks don't do well in the 2010 free agent sweepstakes.

Watching the Knicks home games on television, it sounds like the fans are bored at the games. There is no buzz that goes on at MSG.

Even the Knicks play-by-play announcers can't get worked up on a good run by the team. It's like they are forced to get excited.

This playoff run means nothing to the long-time fans. They know good basketball when they see it.

This is a team that works hard and nothing less. Playing hard does not mean much if this team does not have talent.

Outside of David Lee and Danilo Gallinari, what players excite anyone?

It would be nice if Jordan Hill would actually play, but he has not done much to earn any playing time. One wonders if he will pan out.

He was a questionable draft pick long before the draft started so it's amazing what Walsh saw in him that others did not see.

No one cares about the guys that will be gone come next season. In fact, the coach all but gave up on them by relegating them to the bench.

The only time we see noise at the Garden is when LeBron James and Kobe Bryant come to town, and that's because fans are rooting for either of them rather than rallying around their local team.

David Stern can't be happy with what has gone over there. Like most Knicks fans, he is praying that James plays for the Knicks next season when he makes his decision of where he wants to go.

People can talk about how it's great for the league if James retired with his hometown team, but Stern wants to make money and he knows the league would flourish if the Knicks were winning like the good old days.

It's no secret the NBA ratings went up when the Knicks contended for the championship in the nineties. That's why Stern desperately wants James to change his work address.

It's interesting that he has not talked about how he hopes James would stay in Cleveland.

If James decides to stay at home, look for the Garden to continue to be a mausoleum while D'Antoni plots a way to get out of this mess and look for a better situation.