Patrick Ewing: Talent Assessor

Patrick Ewing has a lot of experience in pro basketball. He was a great player for a long time, went to the NBA Finals, and is now an assistant with the Magic where he's helping Dwight Howard become the league's next great big man. Naturally, one would assume that he can spot talent.

Wrong.

Here's what Ewing had to say about the Knicks, courtesy of the bastion of the journalism world, The Daily News:

"They have a lot of talent, they're a talented bunch of guys. How talented they are has yet to be seen. Sometimes you may have too much talent. There's only one ball and you can't have 12 guys who want to score."

I would think this is partly just Ewing trying to say kind things about his old team, while maybe also taking a subtle shot at Isiah.

But could he be right? Could the Knicks be too talented? I guess I might as well take a look.

Stephon Marbury - Talented at being a talented player who's a team cancer and perpetual ball hog.
Jamal Crawford - Same as Marbury, but with less cancer.
Nate Robinson - Extremely talented at being psychotic and missing dunks.
Jared Jeffries - Talented at somehow remaining in the league, and being paid exceedingly well in the process, when he should be playing in Europe.
Jerome James - Talented at eating, and being paid $30 million for doing nothing.
Eddy Curry - Talented at being 6-11 and unable to rebound. Also talented at eating.
Fred Jones - Talented dunker, not much else.
Zach Randolph - Actually talented. However, also talented at getting into a lot of trouble.
Mardy Collins - Talented at getting superior players thrown out of games and suspended.
Malik Rose - He's still playing?
David Lee - Actually talented, but can thank talentless coach for not playing him enough.
Quentin Richardson - Talented headband wearer.
Randolph Morris - Talented at never showing any emotion.
Renaldo Balkman - Sort of talented if used properly.
Wilson Chandler - Um, who?

Just to sum up how talented the Knicks are, here's a fun story involving James. He's been out all season after having surgery to remove a cyst and a bone spur on his right foot. During that time he's bulked up to well over 300 lbs. He recently returned to practices and is waiting to pass a league-mandated fitness test before he returns to the court. But that may take a while, because when asked if he thought he could pass the test, James said, "I haven't been running."

Or apparently been trying to stay in shape in any way whatsoever.

This is definitely one talented team.

-WCK