Knicks Links: James Dolan reminds us to credit/blame Phil Jackson for state of team

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you guys had a nice weekend and didn’t accidentally melt on the sidewalk like I did.

I’ve got a few lil’ links for you guys today if you’re interested, but first, let’s crank some tunes:

Link time!

— Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, flew to France to hang out with Frank Ntilikina as the Frenchman prepares for SIG Strasbourg’s date in the LNB Pro-A finals:

Not cool, Cubes! Phil’s got bad knees and can’t really fly anymore. Unfair advantage!

For those (like myself) that are still a little tepid at the thought of drafting Ntilikina, Marc Berman of the NY Post got an interesting little nugget from a former Knicks scout:

Former Knicks European scout Tim Shea told The Post the Knicks should be grateful Ntilikina won’t be in the U.S. for an array of workouts.

“If he was coming now, the Knicks aren’t going to get him,’’ Shea said. “He’d have a good showing and might be a top-seven pick. He’ll still be top 10. He’s 18 and has a man’s body now.’’

So, that’s certainly encouraging to hear!

— In case you were wondering, Jim Dolan still insists that he has nothing to do with operations with the Knicks, and he’s just committed to singing the blues:

"No, no," Dolan said when asked during an appearance on Fox 5 if he's engaged in basketball decisions surrounding the Knicks. "It's all Phil (Jackson, Knicks team president). It's all Steve (Mills, Knicks general manager).... I'm working on my music, they're working on the basketball team," Dolan, who in the past has been hands-on in Knicks basketball decisions, said on Fox 5 that people ask him all the time about the Knicks. His response? "Ask Phil."

Someone know a store that sells JD and the Straight Shot albums? I’ve got to get my tent set up now for whenever that next album drops.

— It’s only kinda loosely Knicks-related (probably because it’s in the NY Times), but the NY Times’ Harvey Araton writes that the Knicks, and teams like them, shouldn’t be hoping for a title anytime soon if their strategy is just to draft a young nucleus. As Araton notes, most championship teams have featured at least a couple of in-their-prime superstars for the better part of the last 20 years.

— Similarly, Charles Hart at Elite Sports NY writes that the Knicks should really take a page out of Luke Walton and the Lakers’ book and just accept their fate as non-contenders for a while while the nuclear wave that is the Golden State Warriors devours the title hopes of all other franchises for a few more years.

— The NBPA’s Sportscaster U program just celebrated its 10th year in operation, after Kyle O’Quinn made an appearance there last year. Former Knick Amar’e Stoudemire also participated in the program a couple years ago.

This year, three beloved former Knicks took part in the program: Langston Galloway, Steve Novak and Earl Barron. Wally Szczerbiak better watch his back, these guys got the OAKAAK card on their side. Most notable among the quotes was Novak’s answer to what his life “post-hoops” would include:

Broadcast is a big part of it, but if I do it, what kind of time commitment? What kind of energy commitment? There’s options, like front office, coaching and broadcast. As a player, I think coaching is the closest thing that we’re around, and I grew up in a family where my dad was a coach. With the front office, I’m actually within the next two weeks going to spend a week in one of the NBA front offices and just shadow. Like this program, I want to understand what energy it takes and what skills I would need to be good at it.

NOVAK FOR GM! PABLO FOR HEAD COACH! LET’S GET IT!!!