Cooked!

(Cooked is apparently the new burnt. I'm old.)

Avery Johnson was just cooked though. The Brooklyn Nets just announced they're relieving him of his coaching duties. Something had to change with that team as they were underperforming and their showing on a national stage on Christmas was atrocious.

This is a team that should be battling for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, not a team trying to sneak in and hope for the best. Deron Williams has not been playing like the point guard the Nets expected. In Utah, him and Chris Paul fought for the title of best point guard in the NBA. Currently he's far from that. He needs to step his game up and the Nets are smart to put him and the whole team on notice by firing Avery Johnson.

The Nets were expected, by their management, to battle the Knicks for domination of the city. While the games between the two teams have been exciting and have ignited a dormant rivalry, the Nets need to be winning more games to truly earn the city's respect. A change was definitely needed as the Nets are in a win right now mode. Now they just need to find the right coach to bring this team to greatness.

Paging Stan Van Gundy!

Stan could provide a big help to Brook Lopez in his hopes to be the best center in the East. Look how well he worked with Dwight Howard till Howard turned on him. He's coached a superstar before and he's probably the best coach available. The only other name that comes to mind is Jerry Sloan. He's got a controversial history with Deron but hopefully the superstar would play better with the familiarity.

This is a desperate move by the Nets but a necessary one. They need to have a team with lasting greatness, not mediocrity. They have some of the pieces needed for a championship; a superstar, solid starting lineup. They just need a coach that can get them there and some more depth. The right coach is imperative to the team's chemistry though so until they find one they will settle being the second fiddle to the Knicks.

Just don't hire Mike Brown.

Too Legit to Quit

The NY Knicks are back to being an elite team in the NBA again. I became a believer after their second beatdown of the Miami Heat. Last night's buzzer beater was just another example. This is the first year since Patrick Ewing that the Knicks have a legitimate shot to bring a trophy back to the Mecca for the first time since 1973. And for the first time in over a decade, I'm excited for playoff basketball. And it's still just December!

Since the Jets season is over (it was over before it started), and the Giants season is most likely over (false hope believing they'll win, AND the Redskins beat the Cowboys, AND the Packers beat the Vikings, AND the Lions beat the Bears), it's nice to have a sports team bring excitement through the winter months till baseball season starts, especially considering the NHL doesn't exist.

The Knicks aren't just good either. They're one of the most exciting teams to watch. Whether it's Jason Kidd or Raymond Felton lobbing passes to Tyson Chandler to throw down. Whether it's Kidd, or JR Smith or Steve Novak or Rasheed Wallace or Chris Copeland or seemingly anyone on the team draining threes. Whether it's Carmelo Anthony, a top scorer in the NBA, taking over and finding his groove. When the Knicks are on TV, it's hard to look away (unless they're playing the Rockets).

On top of their excellent play, the Knicks are also cementing a pretty solid foundation for a real rivalry with the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets, like the Mets and Jets, were never respected by their local counterparts. It made sense for the Yankees/Mets and Giants/Jets. The Mets are good once every 2 decades and the Jets are the model of dysfunction, while the Yankees and Giants are model franchises in their leagues and consistently build long term sustained success. The Knicks on the other hand, are not really that much better historically than the Nets. The Knicks haven't won since 1973 and have been to as many NBA Finals as the Nets since then.

A third of the games have been played and the Knicks are in position to make a deep run through the postseason, barring a disaster. With Amar'e Stoudemire set to return shortly and Iman Shumpert returning later this season, the Knicks will only get better. Mike Woodson has proven to adapt his coaching to the team he's given, unlike Mike D'Antoni, who can only coach well if Steve Nash is on his team. Amar'e's return will only strengthen this team's depth chart and hopefully bring not one, not two...but forty more wins!

Goodbye Timmy

Now that the New York Jets season is officially over, fans can breathe a sigh of relief. We've been fighting the inevitability of this day since the restructuring of Mark Sanchez's contract. Fans knew that was an awful idea but Rex Ryan, Mike Tannenbaum, and Woody Johnson thought otherwise. To compound that issue, they brought Tim Tebow in to be Mark's backup. I can't decide which decision was worse.

Mark Sanchez is not a good quarterback. Watch any of the last four games and it's painfully obvious. He's not accurate, makes poor decisions and lost any ounce of confidence he's ever had. The Jets certainly didn't help his maturation process as a quarterback. Instead of surrounding him with talent, he was consistently stripped of it.

Bringing in Tim Tebow was a bad move for both parties, the Jets and Tebow. They lied to him by calling him their backup quarterback. That's obviously not his job or he would have come in for Sanchez in the forth quarter against the Titans. He would also be starting next week. This year was a complete waste for Tebow. Hopefully, for him and the Jets, he can get traded to Jacksonville for a 7th round pick.

With that distraction gone, the Jets can deal with more pressing matters. Namely what to do at starting quarterback, head coach, offensive coordinator and general manager. I've defended Rex Ryan all season, but my opinion may have been swayed due to this week's events. The Jets defense is still top notch and their pass defense especially, has been stellar, even with the absence of Darrelle Revis. That is Rex's specialty, but he has to oversee the entire team. The offense, special teams, and overall talent on the team is abysmal. Unfortunately, given his comments to put the blame of not making the playoffs solely on him, it may be time for him to go. If he is fired though, it'll take awhile for this team to rebuild.

The starting QB dilemma is easy to fix. Keep Sanchez. Keep Greg McElroy. Sign or trade for a competent game manager. There will be plenty rumored to be on the market, ranging from excellent (Alex Smith), to mediocre (Joe Flacco, Michael Vick, Matt Moore), to not very good (Kevin Kolb, Brady Quinn), to undetermined (Matt Flynn). Going into training camp make it a competition and determine how to proceed from there.

Lastly, Tannenbaum and Tony Sparano have got to go. This is a second year the Jets missed the playoffs. Much of that can be blamed on the lack of talent and lack of creativity on offense. Bringing in Tebow and drafting only defense when trying to build around a quarterback you traded up for in the draft was a sabotage to his development. Into Week 15 of this season, Sparano still can't figure out how to make this offense function. Not asking for a high powered Patriots offense, but something with less turnovers and a semblance of competence would be nice.

So the Jets have two options: a band-aid or open heart surgery. The band-aid would be keeping basically everyone except Tim Tebow. Find a QB in a trade or free agency and have a QB competition in training camp. Sign/trade for help at running back and wide receiver. Open heart surgery would be cleaning house. Fire Rex. Fire Sparano. Fire Tannenbaum. Cut or trade (who on earth would take that trade?) Sanchez and Tebow. Start over. I vote for the band-aid. If they can pick up Alex Smith, with the defense they have, playoffs are attainable.

Or maybe I'm just suffering from false hope again.

New York, New York

I'm back. Back in the New York Groove.
So I've been struggling with happiness for the past few years, given my employment situation. I have a job, but I can't stand the job. I desire a career in sports, but I work in the complaints department for a plastic manufacturer. Glamorous. I need to get my happiness back so I decided to restart this blog. I enjoyed writing, both for myself and my millions (dozen) of readers.

I will continue with the same basic format, although I may write more about the New York based teams. Who really cares about anyone else?? Jk, jk. Additionally, I will be writing and posting direct from my phone. Before, I was writing and emailing to my fiancée, who edited and added the photos. Hopefully I won't allow too many typos to slip through. Critiques and comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. And with that, here comes day one, both for me and the New York Jets.