Submitted by rob, Feb 26, 2008 13:50

Spot on analysis of both Eddy Curry and Isiah. Curry would be a great 6th or 7th man on a contending team, kind of like Bob McAdoo was on those 80s Lakers teams. Come in the game, score, sit back down. The single-hardest skill to find in today's NBA is low-post scoring. The Knicks have that in Curry and Randolph but cannot figure out how to use that to get more wins.

Which brings me to Isiah. You are on point about the 'magic wand'. Isiah is not the first great former player to fall into this trap. It happened to Michael. It happened to Magic (although he realized after 19 games his wand didn't work). It happened to Wes Unseld. Guys like Isiah fail to realize that they were just especially blessed as players. Yes, they worked incredibly hard and had fire and drive and all that stuff. But they also had talents that most in the NBA today don't have. And the formerly great player-turned-coach or -GM thinks that with their magic wand and guidance they can turn players with glaring weaknesses into superstars. They think because they were able to do it as players they can coach others to do the same thing. And it's impossible. In the NBA, a few years into a career, you are what you are. A player may not have had the right opportunity (e.g., Jermaine O'Neal), but they are not suddenly going to become different players. At best you can take a weakness and make it less of a weakness. You're not going to turn a guy like Eddy Curry into an all-around player. You are not going to turn Jamal Crawford or Nate Robinson into a quality point guard for 82 games. The sooner Isiah realizes this, the sooner the Knicks will be able to make some roster moves that actually help the team improve.

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