* Is it too early to vote for the Knicks’ Glen Grunwald for General Manager of the Year? This man has assembled a team that plays defense, has great chemistry, is intelligent, experienced, can score and is three deep at every position. When they get stars Amar’e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert back, they will be a force to be reckoned with in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
JOHN J. DERENTIS
Manhattan
Showtime II
* If they can’t get Phil Jackson back, the next best thing for the Lakers to do would be to bring in former Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni to run the team and forget that Mike Brown Princeton offense. They already have the perfect guy who’s familiar with D’Antoni’s system in Steve Nash. They need to bring back Showtime and make basketball fun again in Los Angeles to convince Dwight Howard to sign there long term. I think if the Lakers had more than a season to convince Howard to stay there, they might have been more patient with Brown, but they didn’t have that luxury, which is why a move had to be made.
BOB WASSALL
Hamilton, N.J.
Pinstriped pitch
* Will the Yankees ever learn? The Giants, a team of no-name positional players, with the exception of Buster Posey, has won two World Series in three years because of pitching. The Yankees need to stop worrying about re-signing Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson and bringing in high-priced free-agents, and find some hard-nosed grinders who play every day with heart and guts — a team of Brett Gardners and Russell Martins. Save the insane Cano and Granderson money for a few top-notch pitchers, and the Yankees will be champions again.
MICHAEL MAURER
Long Branch, N.J.
Bye, bye Bay
* As much as I’m glad the Mets cut ties with Jason Bay, this guy gave it his all. Bay will still get the $21 million owed him, but the Mets got to defer a portion of that money to give them some payroll flexibility. In the end, it was never going to work out for Bay, who had some real good offensive years before he came to the Mets. Sometimes things just don’t workout in New York — look at Ed Whitson, Andy Hawkins, Bobby Bonilla and Vince Coleman. I still think Bay has some good baseball left him. I wish him nothing but the best.
KENNY CULLEN
Throggs Neck
RG3 Lucks out
* It’s getting old quick, hearing how the Redskins’ Robert Griffin III is the best of this year’s NFL rookie crop. If that’s true, how come his Redskins are 3-6, in last place in the NFC East, while Andrew Luck has the arguably weaker Colts in second place in the AFC South at 6-3. Numbers don’t lie: Luck is probably the better quarterback.
GENE VanAMBURGH
Albany, N.Y.
Losing Woody
* Jets owner Woody Johnson hit the daily double: a losing football team and a losing presidential candidate.
ALAN HIRSCHBERG
Forest Hills