November 6, 2013

NYT: Jason Collins to the rescue!

From the NYT:
Knicks Need Help. Why Not Jason Collins?

The Knicks need frontcourt help, and the veteran center Jason Collins happens to be looking for a job. 
By HARVEY ARATON 
One week into an already stressful season, the Knicks do not have a center, a defensive beacon in the N.B.A. storm. There is no short or complete answer to the loss of Tyson Chandler with a nondisplaced fracture of the right fibula. But there will be suggestions on how to cobble together a plan to survive for the next four to six weeks. And here is one: 
Get the agent Arn Tellem on the phone and see how quickly they can get Jason Collins to New York. 
Collins has been home in Los Angeles, working out and waiting for the inevitable injury that would send a front-line player to the injured list and get him back into the league for at least part of a 13th season. ... 
Reluctant to be quoted on a touchy subject, many N.B.A. insiders have insisted that Collins’s exclusion has had nothing to do with the announcement last spring that he is gay. It has been, they said, more about his age, limited abilities and in some cases about luxury tax complications related to the salary cap.

It may have something to do with Collins averaging 9 minutes, 1.1 points, and 1.6 rebounds per game last season. 

Anyway, a gay center is just so Spring 2013. This season, New York would need a transgender center who insists upon playing in six-inch stripper heels.

If the Knicks are looking for an aging big man whose signing would generate some social media buzz, let me point out that that airport incident suggests Bill Russell has some fight left in him. And Wilt Chamberlain is extremely well rested.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's almost as if Collins' announcement was a calculated career move!

Anonymous said...

He may just be gay for pay.

countenance said...

Pardon me for perhaps being the pinnacle of cynical, but am I crazy in thinking that Jason Collins was never really gay, that this "gay" bit was a contrived stunt to extend what he knew was his ending NBA career?

Reason I think that is that one of his previous long term girlfriends, a white woman, was totally taken aback at the news, that she had absolutely no inclination that he had any gay propensities.

Anonymous said...

Pardon me for perhaps being the pinnacle of cynical, but am I crazy in thinking that Jason Collins was never really gay, that this "gay" bit was a contrived stunt to extend what he knew was his ending NBA career?

No, he's gay. Trust me I know. #bathhouse

Dan in DC

Jonathan Silber said...

Adding Jason Collins to their roster would give the Knicks the homo-court advantage. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Anonymous said...

If he had a long-term girlfriend, that would make him bisexual, no?

Anyway, this transgender idea by Steve could really work: Collins could be the Shaq of WNBA, dominating even its native transgender 6-8 center with 7-4 wingspan, Britt Griner.

carol said...

Yeah who would lie about that anyway.

Anonymous said...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Jaw-dropping-breakthrough-hailed-as-landmark-in-fight-against-hereditary-diseases-as-Crispr-technique-heralds-genetic-revolution/articleshow/25384881.cms

Mebbe all the discussion of intelligence and racial differences will be moot.

If genes can really be edited better and better in the future, everyone might be turned smart and healthy.

Too good to be true. Prolly for the next 20 yrs but after that... it could be a real nonstop revolution that changes Everything.

Anonymous said...

Western matters:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-03-19/news/9703190027_1_westerns-pale-rider-cowboy-boots

http://articles.philly.com/1997-03-06/entertainment/25569565_1_john-wayne-s-america-garry-wills-yale-historian

http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~gizmo/1997/royko.html

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Collins was praised by the Celtics before all the brouhaha for knowing his role and functioning well in it.

I don't think that's the role the Knicks need. But if they do, Collins would be a reasonable choice. The humor is the NYT thinking that only prejudice is holding Jason, and the Knicks, from making a Truly Magical Season happen - just like in the movies!