FROM THE GREAT WHITE NORTH: AN ANSWER FOR SCOOP JACKSON

by E. Spencer Kyte, Bugs and Cranks

Over at the World Wide Leader the other day, Scoop Jackson asserted that Larry Bird had done just as much damage to the Indiana Pacers Organization as Isiah Thomas has brought upon the inhabitants of the Basketball Mecca.

From where I'm sitting, far removed from both NYC and Hoosierville, USA this is Mike Tyson versus Michael Spinks with Isiah playing the role of the fan of facial tattoos.

Why is this a First Round KO for Isiah?

Because you can't start a discussion about the damage Larry Bird has done to Indiana by talking about the multi-million dollar sexual harassment lawsuit a former employee brought against him. Off-court Zeke clobbers Off-court Legend.

But since this is about two basketball franchises considered by Scoop to be in equal circumstances, we'll keep this on the court and on the roster. Actually, we'll take it into the stands at one point, but everyone in Indiana is still trying to forget about that.

Have the Pacers fallen off drastically since the 2003-04 season? Absolutely, as there stands a chance that they will put up less than half as many wins as that group did five years ago. That is a colossal drop off. Still, wouldn't you rather a team that has a drop off than one that just never wins?

Pointing out that attendance in Indiana has decreased significantly isn't a far argument. MSG would be sold out every single night if the Knicks were playing the Washington Senators. Catching a game at The Garden is an event, a chance to see and be seen. The joint was pack to the rafters nightly two years back when the Knicks only managed 23 wins.

It's not like that Indiana. People will pay to see a winner. Catching a Pacers game isn't going to make Page 6. Or Page 2. Or the back page for that matter. It's about the team, not "the experience" and if the team isn't performing, who cares about the experience?

The Pacers are in Salary Cap hell, but guess what? So are the Knicks. The only difference is that the Knicks get clear of their mess one year earlier than Indiana, dropping dead weight in 2009 instead of 2010 like the Pacers.

Scoop posed the question: "What's the difference between Jamaal Crawford and Mike Dunleavy?" The answer? Not that much. Crawford scores a little more (20.7 to 18.2) and they invert on boards and dimes while both making $7.5M range this season.

If every matchup on the rosters worked out that equally, Scoop's stance would have roots. But they don't and so, in my opinion, it doesn't.

Scoop: "Is there a Thomas signee who is draining the Knicks' payroll the way Troy Murphy is draining the Pacers' payroll?"

Answer: I'll opt for the layup here and point to Jerome James.

There has never been a player in the history of the game who had a better stretch of games when it mattered the most than Jerome James. A couple playoffs ago, dude came out of nowhere and played some stellar ball for the Sonics heading into Free Agency. That solid stretch of ten or twelve games netted him $5M per from the Knicks over a handful of years.

Since arriving in NYC, Jerome James has played 684 minutes, combined. In three years. I agree that no one in their right mind should be paying Troy Murphy $8.2M per, but at least the Notre Dame alum gives you 12 & 8 a night with 36% from three. Jerome James gives someone a warm chair on the bench when they want to sit down during a timeout.

"Double J" isn't the only New Yorker in that boat though. Stevie Franchise got $15M last year for 11/3/4 before being bought out this summer. Isiah & Co. are paying Starbury $17M to stay home this season. And Scoop is ripping Troy Murphy?

Neither Head Honcho has been particularly gifted at making trades, but personally, I don't think Indiana minded one bit getting 75 cents on the dollar for Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson.

Now, it turns out they got a 3 cents and a pocket full of lint from GState in the "Captain Jack" deal, but no one could have predicted the impact and turnaround Jackson would exhibit with the Warriors.

As for Post-Palace Artest, you could have offered Greg Ostertag, some used athletic tape and a ham sandwich and Bird would have at least considered it in exchange for Ron Ron. That's how bad he wanted to get him out of town. And can you blame him?

Meanwhile, Isiah legitimately thought the additions of Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Eddy Curry and Zack Randolph - all acquired through trades - would make the Knicks better. At least Indiana has the excuse of trying to purge some disruptive and undesirable players from their roster. Isiah honestly thought that having a team with 7 shoot-first guards, 3 underachieving bigs, David Lee and Renaldo Balkman would do the trick. I feel bad for David Lee. As soon as he gets the chance, he needs to make like Snake Plissken.

And don't forget Jalen Rose!

Finally, here is where Scoop loses me and this argument entirely:

Now, it would be unfair to Bird to blame him for everything that has gone wrong with the Pacers. He had no control over The Brawl, no control over injuries that have taken games away from Jermaine O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley. But if bad things -- such as shootings at nightclubs (Stephen Jackson), charges stemming from a bar fight (Tinsley and Marquis Daniels), incidents involving handguns (Tinsley and Shawne Williams), failed drug tests (David Harrison), arrests at players' homes of a suspected rapist (an associate of Daniels) and a suspected murderer (an associate of Williams) -- continuously happen under your watch, when is it time to give misery (Thomas and the Knicks) some company?

If you're the CEO of a company and a couple of your employees go out and get in a bar fight, are you to blame?

If one of your employees tests positive for drugs, is that your fault?

If the people on your payroll hang out with criminals, do you have any control over that?

The answer to each of these is no and it's the same response that I offer to Scoop's sentiments about Bird and the Pacers.

It's not like Larry Bird is pleased with the people Marquis Daniels and Shawne Williams associate with or was happy to hear about the latest incident involving Jamaal Tinsley earlier in the year. But short of cutting them and sending his team further into the drain, what else is he supposed to do?

If he instituted a curfew or tried to put restrictions on his players of any kind, media types - perhaps including Scoop - would go nuts saying these are grown ass men and you can't tell them what to do. So how is this any different? You think Larry Bird doesn't want some of the guys on his team to smarten the hell up and get their acts together? Of course he does.

The "bad things" that keep happening to the Knicks all have one common thread: Isiah Thomas.

Bad trades? Isiah Thomas. Bad Contracts? Isiah Thomas. Bad Inter-office Behaviour? Isiah Thomas.

Bad news Scoop. These two stories aren't the same, no matter how much you want them to be.