Mike D’Antoni could use a week of training camp and a trip back to Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs right about now.
With his Knicks a depleted mess following the trades of Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins, the coach said neither of the team’s newcomers, Al Harrington and Tim Thomas, is in shape for his run-and-gun system.
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And the third newcomer, Cuttino Mobley, has not been cleared to play, will miss tomorrow’s Garden game against Golden State, and is in jeopardy of being shut down because of a heart defect. Further tests on Mobley’s heart have been delayed because of Thanksgiving weekend and the paucity of specialists available.
The Knicks are 7-8, below .500 for the first time since the opening week when they were 1-2. They’ve lost five of six, and things may get worse before they get better. But at least they have cap room.
“I really believe there’s enough good stuff out there that we could make it happen,” D’Antoni said. “I don’t want to lose our spirit. We just have to hover around .500 until we get it together.”
Harrington, who will face his former team, the Warriors, and the coach, Don Nelson, with whom he feuded, has shot a combined 13 of 40 since joining the Knicks. He’s taking too many ill-advised shots, probably from being rusty after not playing for nearly three weeks. D’Antoni said both Harrington and Thomas have to get in better shape.
“[Thomas] might be a few pounds overweight,” D’Antoni said.
Thomas, who came with Mobley from the Clippers, did not argue with D’Antoni’s assessment. He said it has been three years since he played D’Antoni’s speedball system.
“It’s going to be difficult for Cuttino also,” Thomas said. “I have to continue to get in shape for this system. It’s up and down, and in L.A., it was run when you have the opportunity. The last couple of years, it’s been that way. I know how to get myself right. I’ve played it before. It will take me a week and I’ll be ready.”
The Knicks may still have only two guards available again tomorrow: Chris Duhon and Anthony Roberson.
Nate Robinson, who has a strained groin, claimed he would try to play tomorrow, but D’Antoni doubts it. Quentin Richardson, forced to start at shooting guard, has a bruised forearm, suffered in the Detroit loss on Wednesday, that needed X-rays. When he checked back into the game in the fourth quarter, he told D’Antoni he might not be able to shoot.
It’s little wonder Richardson and several Knicks are angry at Stephon Marbury for electing not to play Wednesday against the Pistons. D’Antoni said he still believes the Knicks will be “better” following the trades, saying the losses of Randolph and Crawford will make them a stronger defensive team than their current last-place rating.
That, however, remains to be seen as the Knicks have been routed by a combined 32 points in their last two games.
LeBron James may have had it right when he said in New York: “If you guys want to go to sleep and wake up July 1, 2010, go ahead.”
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Harrington is looking forward to facing the Warriors. Trying to explain his tiff with Nelson, he said: “He said I thought of myself as a superstar. I don’t know why he made that comment. I don’t. He’s a coach [who], if [you’re] one of his guys, great. If you’re not one of his guys, you’re not one of his guys.”
Crawford makes his first return to the Garden. He has played in two games for the Warriors and is averaging 13.5 points on 33 percent shooting.