| | NEW YORK -- Knicks fans better brace themselves. David Falk isn't done
retooling their team. His next mission is to put Dikembe Mutombo in a
New York uniform.
|  | | Mutombo is an outstanding defensive player, but does he do more harm offensively? |
Let me be the first to wag my index finger at that move.
It's bad enough that Falk, agent to the ex-stars, bamboozled Knicks GM
Scott Layden into taking on $78 million in the persons of Glen Rice, Luc
Longley and Travis Knight in the Patrick Ewing deal.
Adding Mutombo would be an even bigger mistake for the Knicks.
"Mutombo is the worst kind of low-post center you can have," said one
Eastern Conference VP. "He's a non-scoring low-post center."
In other words, he'll clog up all the lanes to the basket for Latrell
Sprewell, or anybody else who has notions of driving. Mutombo won't help
the Knicks solve their No. 1 problem that isn't going away anytime
soon:
Finding a dominant inside player at the offensive end to replace Ewing.
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You don't
find a lot of 7-2 players who don't warrant double-teams. But Deke is
definitely one of them. |
You'd think after all those summers going one-on-one against Ewing and
Alonzo Mourning in the Georgetown gym that Mutombo would have picked up
some moves. Forget it. He's all thumbs when he gets the ball. You don't
find a lot of 7-2 players who don't warrant double-teams. But Deke is
definitely one of them.
Every year Mutombo's been in the league, he's had more turnovers than
assists. And that back-in move where he crouches over and shrinks
himself to about 6-5 as he tries to dribble in for his awkward hook?
It's as pathetic as his 12.5 ppg career scoring average.
No question, the Knicks could use a player of Mutombo's defensive
abilities and rebounding prowess, especially now that they've put
together a team suited to winning only games of H-O-R-S-E. But not at
the price Falk is going to ask for.
Mutombo, 34, makes $14.4 million this coming season, the last one on his
current deal. You think Falk will be looking for his client to take a
pay cut? Please. He'll be demanding a minimum $15 mil per season for a
guy who has never gotten one of his teams out of the second round.
Before the Knicks ever get to that stage with Mutombo, they need to wag
their index fingers at David Falk on that one.
Rim Shots I
The Suns dispatched GM Bryan Colangelo to Greece to try to get
first-round pick Jake Tsakalidis out of Europe and back to Phoenix. But
Tsakalidis' team, Aek of Athens, refused a $350,000 buyout, along with
other perks (Suns putting on clinics, etc.). Don't expect Colangelo to
be able to get the 7-foot-1 big man back to the States.
The Joe Smith
arbitration case is expected to be heard sometime this week. Sources
predict Smith's one-year deal for this season will first be voided
because it doesn't conform to NBA standards. If Chicago had signed Glen
Rice, eliminating one of the few remaining teams with any appreciable
cap room, the Smith hearing would have been held last week. Burned by
Rice, Chicago is standing by to make a big offer.
As the Smith saga
slowly plays out, LaPhonso Ellis is keeping the T-wolves in his plans.
Don Nelson's coaching job for Lithuania -- playing the Big Bad Dream Team
to within nine points -- proves again why he's a much better coach than
GM.
Rim Shots II
You bet Ewing could have stayed in New York for one more
season. "If that was the circumstance, we would have made it work,"
said Garden boss Dave Checketts. You know why Ewing would have been as
professional as ever? He's on the final year of a four-year, $68 mil
deal, and looking for a two-year extension. All players on their walk
years tend to toe the line and Ewing has never been a problem, when it
comes to work ethic, busting his butt in practices, etc. His biggest
problem would have been staying healthy. Now that's Seattle's. For all
those who think Ewing and the Knicks had burned their bridges, the team had
sent its conditioning coach -- a guy who has basically been Ewing's
personal coach, first and foremost -- down to Ewing's Washington-area
home to work him out, just a day before the deal was finalized.
| |  | |
| Mason |
The
Heat liked their chances of winning the East a long time before the
Knicks dealt off Ewing. "A team trying to win defensively is going to
come together a lot quicker than a team trying to jell offensively,"
said new Heat F Anthony Mason. "At Charlotte, we had a lot of talent,
but it was offensive talent and it was hard to make it work and get it
to jell. The thing with (the Heat) is, your shots might not fall every
night. But you can play defense every night. That's always going to keep
you in games."
Rim Shots III
We hear the T-wolves have agreed to terms with Chris Mullin,
for about $1 million for this coming season. Minny knows that Mullin is
at the end of the road. But they also think he'll provide necessary
leadership in the locker room.
| |  | |
| A. Williams |
Who scored the best deal,
free-agent-wise? Some NBA folks think bench-warmer Aaron Williams, who
hit the lottery with $17 million from Nets. Randy Brown's $8 million from
Rick Pitino in Boston comes in a close second.
Next to Glen Rice, who
gets a four-year $36 million deal from the Knicks, the Lakers came out
of the Ewing trade as the clear-cut winners. They were looking at having
to go with Robert Horry and Dickie Simpkins at power forward -- an
Achilles Heel if there ever was one, with Tim Duncan, Rasheed Wallace,
Chris Webber and Karl Malone having big edges at the position. Last
season, Phil Jackson time and again refused Shaquille O'Neal's pleas to
cover the Wallaces and Webbers, and those dudes torched the Lakers'
little "fours."
True, Horace Grant is 35, but he knows the triangle offense
and, if he doesn't work out, has only one year left on his contract.
Only drawback? "He could get caught up in that Tinseltown-party scene,"
said one long-time Grant-watcher.
| |  | |
| Houston |
While the league buzz says that Allan
Houston is looking to leave the Knicks after this season as a free agent
-- if he's not traded first -- Houston has quietly been putting down roots
in Connecticut. Doesn't sound like somebody ready to walk.
Vernon
Maxwell, one of the many throw-ins in the four-way blockbuster,
shouldn't think about buying a house in New York. It'll be the upset of
the year if Max is on the team at the start of the season.
Wonder how
those five screws and metal plate are doing in Grant Hill's foot?
Something to look for when Orlando opens training camp next week.
The Suns expect Rex Chapman to retire due to a thumb injury. Don't feel too
badly for Rex. He's still got $16 mil to run on his contract.
Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.
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