The Knicks Fix

Most of you have probably seen it by now. It was released this afternoon.

Wed., Oct. 8 at Toronto (Air Canada Centre) 7 p.m.

Fri., Oct. 10 at Philadelphia (Wachovia Center) 7 p.m.

Tues., Oct. 14. vs. Sixers (MSG) 7:30 p.m.

Fri., Oct. 17 at Boston (TD Banknorth Garden) 7:30 p.m.

Mon., Oct. 20 at New Jersey (IZOD Center) 7:30 p.m.

Tues., Oct. 21 vs. Celtics (MSG) 7:30 p.m.

Fri., Oct. 24 vs. Nets (MSG) 7:30 p.m.

Media Day is Mon., Sept. 29 and the first day of training camp is Tues., Sept. 30 at Skidmore College in upstate Saratoga. Practices there will be closed to the public so I'm not sure it will be worth the trip up like some Giants fans tend to make the trek to Albany.

Former Orlando Magic GM John Gabriel has been hired by Donnie Walsh to run his pro scouting department and assist him with free agency and player evaluation. It says so in both the New York Times and the Daily News.

It doesn't say so in Newsday because I suck (and apparently some people either forgot my number or need to get it).

As he has said all along, Walsh will keep Glen Grunwald as part of his cabinet, along with Gabriel and Misho Ostarcevic, who followed Walsh from the Indiana Pacers and will be the Knicks director of player personnel.

Brendan Suhr, who served as Isiah Thomas' righthand man, was let go.

Tribune buddy KC Johnson has been in Beijing (only employees from the mothership get the good trips) and he did a story about the Chicago Bulls strange and meandering coaching search that included Mike D'Antoni and resulted in Vinny Del Negro.

D'Antoni talked to KC about being romanced by both the Knicks and Bulls in that wild two-week courtship in May.

"I think the roster in Chicago is better and they've proved that," D'Antoni said in his typical straight-shooting manner. "For me, working with (Knicks President) Donnie Walsh was a plus." D'Antoni is quick to say he had no problems with Bulls management and says "they were great too."

"But New York is a great place and exciting and I just came to the conclusion for me that it's the best choice. Now we can argue and there was a list of do's and don'ts and all that. But at the end of the day, I just wanted to accept the Knicks' challenge."

That is consistent with what D'Antoni admitted when he chose the Knicks over the Bulls on May 10.

"I wanted to be in New York," he said at his introductory press conference. "We’ll see if that was the right decision. It was a gut feeling and Donnie played a big part in it and also the city of New York and the lure of Madison Square Garden."

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Just to touch on the information "Laurel" shared regarding Zach Randolph's contract. A look closer at the details shows the $2 million all-star incentive would only kick in if Z-Bo made the all-star team in each of his six seasons, which he has already failed to achieve. So the original $86 million value is actually $84 million.

He did have 30 percent of the deal deferred when he signed the extension in 2004. Chad Ford reported at the time that the Blazers had 30 percent of the $84 million ($25 mil) deferred. The payments on the deferred portion will be made over a six-year span beginning in 2012.

The actual contract expires after the 2010-11 season and the full amount of the contract, regardless of the deferment, counts against the cap. The fact that the Blazers deferred some salary was just a means of making it affordable for the franchise. It really doesn't have much impact on cap situations and, if anything, could make the contract a little easier to move because a team doesn't have to make the big payments right away.

However, it's also somewhat of an albatross for the bookkeepers because you're still on the hook to pay Z-Bo another six years after the contract expires.

As our boy Starberman reported today, I got word late last night that Danilo Gallinari left the Italian national team a few days ago. He did not play against Serbia in and isn't expected to participate in any of the Italian national team's tournament games this month.

Gallinari had been with the team for the past few weeks but then left the team to continue the rehabilitation of his back muscle pain. He rejoined them to prepare for the next round of games but decided it was best to get his body 100 percent for his first NBA training camp.

The Knicks had left this decision up to Gallinari, who wanted to play for his country. You can now expect the rookie will soon return to New York -- perhaps as early as next week -- and work with the Knicks training staff to get ready for the season.

The back muscles are part of the body's core and therefore are critical in any athletic performance. When they are stressed to the point of pain (and, perhaps, trauma such as a strain) the most effective means of rehabilitation is rest.

This rumor surfaced with a one-line mention in a Cleveland report late last week and blew up on the web because there's not much happening out there right now. Basically the talk was that the Cavs were talking to the Knicks about a big man. It did not specify Zach Randolph, but that's always the assumption when you're talking about Knicks bigs who could be on the move.

The Cavs, who are clearly trying to load up around LeBron this summer (see: Mo Williams), could use legit low-post scorer. But is Zach a good fit there, especially for defensive-minded coach Mike Brown?

I've always had this opinion about Z-Bo: he's a better player when he's on a good team. When he's in a losing situation, Zach tends to go for self. Last season Zach seemed to be ready to buy into being part of the team concept but quickly fell into get-mine mode once he saw the mayhem around him (and the obvious lack of discipline). Perhaps in a situation like Cleveland, where LeBron is the clear leader, Zach would buy in and be less inclined to fall into the get-mine approach. And when Brown needs defense down low, he can go to Anderson Varejao.

It's worth some exploration and since we've got Fixers all over the place, some of them embedded in strategic places, we can say that we're hearing there's been some chatter about a Zach Randolph-to-Cleveland scenario inside NBA circles. Most team executives are on vacation right now (just like your favorite blog host) so details aren't easy to dig up right now. In the meantime, we can open it for a rhetorical discussion.

Who would the Knicks take in return? One idea could be Wally Szczerbiak, because shooters are always welcome. Another thought, however, could be Ben Wallace, which would make more sense for the Cavs from a contract standpoint and despite his painfully obvious weaknesses on offense, the Knicks could use the low-post defense and rebounding abilities.

The contracts work in either scenario with Zach's numbers (he's owed $14.6 million this season). Wally has an expiring deal at $13 million and Big Ben has two years left at $14.5 mil this year and $14 mil the year after (just in time to melt away in that critical Summer of 2010).

We know that right now the Knicks are preparing to go into the season with Zach on the roster. I've been told that Mike D'Antoni has chatted with fellow Team USA assistant coach (and Portland Trail Blazers coach) Nate McMillan about coaching Zach.

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We've been saying here this summer that Stephon Marbury's days with the Knicks will be soon over. This point was echoed by the Boston Globe on Sunday.

But we heard Donnie Walsh last week told season ticket holders that Marbury had "a clean slate" -- those exact words couldn't be confirmed on video provided by nyknicks.com, but Fixer "david" insists that's what DW said -- and Walsh also suggested Marbury would be in training camp this fall.

He very well may be there to unwittingly (or not) steal the spotlight at Media Day on Sept. 29 and could even be there the next day for the opening practice of training camp in Saratoga. But that doesn't mean it is a given that Marbury will be on the opening night roster. Camp may be the place D'Antoni and Walsh use to decide that Marbury -- aside from everything else -- doesn't fit the "plan" and moves on without him.

You have to read into Donnie's words sometimes because he tends to speak very carefully and, at times, cryptically. All along he's suggested that he doesn't know what he has on this roster because the team played so poorly. He wants to "see" what he has, which is why I am starting to believe he may want to bring Marbury into camp. At that time he and D'Antoni can make the decision to cut Marbury for basketball reasons instead of dumping him in August or September for what everyone will view as personality issues.

In the end, behind closed doors, the truth may be that D'Antoni and Walsh don't want to invite the potential for trouble by having Marbury on the roster this season. But publicly they'll call it a basketball decision...that Stephon doesn't fit what they want to do going forward. That's what I'm reading in the tea leaves right now, Fixers.

Just bloggin.

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Programming note:

Some of you who also visit the Yankees blog on our site might have noticed a change in the comments area that will soon be the standard on all Newsday blogs. To put an end to "trolling" and you bold "anons" who try to dominate the conversations or cause trouble, we will require all commenters to go through a one-time and FREE registration so you can be identified (and dealt with personally...it's only fair right? You know who I am and know where to find me...now I'll know who you are and how to find you.).

Just an FYI: this is not exclusive to Newsday. In fact, if I read correctly, Starberman's blog will have a similar system over at the Post.

For those who are wondering if the recent talk of Cablevision spin-offs and aggressive shareholders could mean the end of Dolan rule at MSG, Ken Berger did some investigating and wrote this for our Sunday paper.

Writes K-Berg:

Dolan's gesture to investors -- allowing them to voice concerns during a "listening tour" last week -- seems to have been little more than a head fake. People knowledgeable about MSG in particular, and the sale of sports franchises in general, tell Newsday that it's premature to run out onto Seventh Avenue traffic and celebrate Dolan's departure from the Garden of Ills.

Team USA made the entire team from Spain look bad, so you can't judge off that game, but from what I've read, seen and heard about 17-year-old point guard Ricky Rubio, he could be one to watch for in next year's NBA Draft. NBADraft.net compares him to, get this, Steve Nash and Walt Frazier.

Rubio has dynamic ball-handling skills and great court vision. Right now he looks like a combination between The Karate Kid and a young Pistol Pete, but he still has some growing to do. His game, of course, fits right into what Mike D'Antoni wants in a point guard for his system (though Rubio's shot has to get a little better).

Of course the lead dog at the PG spot (and an absolutely perfect fit for the D'Antoni system) will be Brandon Jennings, who is playing in Europe this winter. All eyes will be on the crafty lefty to see how he does in the pro game overseas as opposed to tearing up the NCAA like his 2009 draft classmates will.

Yo, bloghost, why are you talking lottery picks in August? You implying that the Knicks will be in the lottery again?

Just planning ahead, Fixers.