Wednesday Giant Otters

(Photo: Wiki)

Evening, caballos. How about a few Knicks-related links?

- In honor of the holiday, here's Sergio Rodriguez (not at all a Mexican, but what are you gonna do) doing an interview in his native tongue. The more margaritas you drink, the better you can understand what he's saying.

- My SBN pal Mike Prada has an interesting piece up on how Mike D'Antoni "let the Suns down". Here's a snippet:

But regardless whether they indeed beat the Spurs for the first time, this year's Suns team has already proven one very important thing: you can succeed as a fast-paced team and not be a Seven Seconds Or Less team. In other words, they're proving that, maybe, just maybe, Mike D'Antoni let them down after a while and isn't as great a coach as he's made out to be.

Let's be clear: this is not saying Mike D'Antoni's approach to basketball is wrong. Contrary to popular belief, you can win by pushing the pace and being a better offensive team than defensive team. And I'm not here to say that D'Antoni's teams never played defense, because the Suns were always a league-average unit. In fact, the Suns are posting a worse defensive efficiency this year than in any year of the D'Antoni era (though I'll explain later why that's a bit misleading in this case). 

However, we now see that D'Antoni was probably a bit too stubborn. The Suns are still, fundamentally, the Suns, in that they score a lot and play fast, but that's where the similarities end.

- Over at NY Sport Space, they've got reasons why Dwyane Wade should NOT be a Knick target. Here's the one that frightens me the most:

1) A future with persistent injury problems - This is the most frightening and disconcerting reason. I love the way the Wade plays the game. He dives after loose balls as much as anyone, isn't afraid of drawing contact, and is generally balls deep in every possession, The question lies, though: Can he sustain this style of play for the next 3, 5, or 7 years? No matter how good a guy keeps himself in shape, once you hit the 27-28 year old threshold you cannot play like Dwyane does without frequently getting injured. Its impossible. He has a history of injuries too, only playing 50 games in the '07 and '08 seasons due to shoulder and knee issues. Would you make an investment in a car used in a demolition derby? What if this car was able to dunk on Yao Ming? What if you bought a T-Mobile Sidekick as a result of these high flying antics?

- I sure ain't scurred of John Calipari, but apparently the Knicks should be.

- Over at Knickerblogger, Mike Kurylo's report card on David Lee is typically thorough and excellent. I always love Mike's player comparisons.

- The 2012 All-Star Game will be held in Orlando. As Marc Berman mentions, that means MSG will have to shift its sights.

- Not that we don't hear enough from Clyde about his unsung dominance in "The Willis Reed Game", but here's Chris Tomasson on the subject.

- Here's a giant otter rolling a bunch. You're welcome.

Have a great Wednesday night, kids. I love you all.