"Fixing the Knicks"...? In Critiquing New York, Chad Ford Got it All Wrong

Let me start off by saying that Chad Ford is very respectable writer for ESPN. His insight into the world of basketball is almost unfathomable, and the people, stories and other newsworthy entities he has access to make him a very important part in the world of professional basketball reporting.

However (and I am sure you knew that was coming), I have to take issue with his most recent piece on "Fixing the Knicks, Part I." (You will need "ESPN Insider Access" to view the article). Before I do, I will say that "Fixing the Knicks, Part II" (the part that was actually about how to fix the Knicks) was on-point, and it did a great job of detailing exactly how the New York Knicks group of players could be reconfigured into an actual basketball team.

But "Part I" was just another example of a writer coming in on his high horse and sounding like what Max Kellerman would call a "Typical Basketball Analyst Guy" (TBAG). You know, those analysts who say the same things all the time, like "you must pass the ball," "there's just no energy," and "the team with the most heart wins." And there are hundreds of more subjective, redundant, non-analytical statements out there that these "TBAGs" throw out time after time, I just can't think of them all!

Full disclosure here, I am a Knicks fan, but in no way is that jeopardizing my objective thinking. I have been blasting the Knicks for quite some time now (look here for evidence.) And as I said, I had no problem with "Part II," and I certainly had no problem with the subject matter that the title, "Fixing the Knicks" would suggest. Throughout most of "Part I," Ford breaks down Isiah's trades, draft picks, and free agent and coaching acquisitions, and I agree with 99% of what he said in his analysis of those. I even, agree with his final grade for Isiah (an "F").

However, when starts to comment on the overall judgment as a whole, he starts to sound like the typical analyst guy/fan when goes on to wax poetically about how one should not build a basketball team.

Here is a breakdown of some of his "typical" comments and why he does himself an injustice in breaking down Isiah Thomas this way.