NBA
I grew up in suburban NYC watching the New York Knickerbockers play basketball. My father and brother were hoops junkies just like me. They were better players but I understood the nuances of the game just as well as they did. New York has always been a basketball town and when the Knicks are great, NYC beams with confidence. The NYK were the sports heroes of my youth. The '69 -'70 Knicks were the team that made the term "basketball junkie" mean something. The 1969-1970 Knickerbockers were the team that defined the word "team player" in team player. The Knickerbockers were the team that made my NBA great!

1970

Attending games at Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena are experiences that I will always relish. MSG is the Mecca; all other arenas pale in comparison. Jordan and Bird loved to play there ; they understood. All the great ones understood. The fortunes of the Knickerbockers all began to change when William "Red" Holzman was named head coach in 1967. Red was a classic gym rat in the finest urban tradition-he was a disciple of aggressive defense and seemingly lost art of boxing out, pick n' roll, etc. "If you play good, hard defense," he'd say, "the offense will take care of itself."

1973

And in the NBA, defensive wins championships. Always has, always will. The glory years of the NYK (1969 - 1970 through 1972 - 1973) featured All NBA 50 best of all time players Willis Reed, Dave Debusschere, Walt "Clyde" Frazier and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe. Other featured performed sharpshooting Dick Barnett, Senator Bill Bradley (a good shooter himself), Cazzie Russell, and legendary coach Phil Jackson.The great New York Knickerbockers teams are known for defense. I hope that Larry Brown can bring this fundamental back to the NYK and the basketball fans of New York City.

I would love to be the GM of the New York Knicks! If I was GM, you can bet they would not be in the situation they are in now. Plus, I would bring the game back to the fans of New York City. Instead of brings in players who are one dimensional like Stephon Marbury, I would find tough guy, well-rounded players like Charles Oakley, Dave Debusschere, Willis Reed and Kurt Thomas to guard the paint. I would also use 2 of my bench spots for local kids who are from NY and play in local tournament like the Rucker League. These guys have game and can be coached. It would certainly be an interesting experiment.

Now, if Isiah Thomas would wake up and follow the example that the old NYK style, maybe...