I think the new owner, taking over a 12 win team and proclaiming the goal is to win a championship within 5 years is plenty of urgency, or at least equivalent to what you're saying above (which is, essentially, words).

You're drinking the kool-aid hard which is fine, Knicks fans have earned the right to, but 2 players talking the talk with a microphone in their face has absolutely no correlation to winning. Do we really need to go through introductory press conferences over the years and see what the attrition rate is on guys' "wanting to win a championship" after joining a new time and actually completing that goal?

I also take a huge issue with the whole "no one expects to win or really cares" comment. Are you so much of a bandwagon-er/short term memory loss that you don't remember the situations of these respective franchises not, what, just a few years ago? There's been a lean period here for a couple of years, but nothing like the decade or so the Knicks just came out of. Lets not go crazy here. They now have 2 core players, including a consensus top 5 or 7 player in the game. Thats typically enough to be a playoff team in the East. Add another, which is clearly the plan, and now you can't tell me their situation is any different than the Knicks, the Bulls, the Magic, etc.

MJ touched on this, but I think you have to look at the circumstances of how the players got here.

Amar'e is a great player who willingly signed a huge contract with the Knicks.

Carmelo orchestrated his exit from Denver since last summer and basically forced his way to the Knicks.

These are two guys who got exactly what they wanted.

Williams, who is being portrayed as the villain in the Jerry Sloan retirement, was traded at the deadline to an unexpected team that has no chance for the playoffs. And it's what? Two days after the fact?

I think you need to give Williams some time to absorb all that's happened before making a lot of assessments of how he'll approach things.

It could go a lot of ways.

Mike Piazza, who was supposedly too laid back to like NY and who was booed by a lot of fans at first (remember that?), ended up embracing the city and being one of the most beloved players in Mets history.

Mike Hampton couldn't get out of town fast enough. To his credit, however, he pitched to the peak of his ability when he was here.
I'd be very surprised to see a guy like Williams, who's had the skill and pride to get where he is, be anything but a pro.

And even if he's unhappy, it's in his personal interest to play great so that he can get a huge deal if he opts out of the current one.

i love deron williams

i think he is championship type point guard

he's smart, well rounded, fundamentally sound - he is definitely a great player to build around

The nets get another star player to compliment him and they will be on their way to being a great team for many years to come

Deron Williams is sounding like someone open to staying a Net



http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/nets/com ... nt5nI3i1TL



http://www.nj.com/nets/index.ssf/2011/0 ... incart_mce