When books are written on the James Dolan-era New York Knicks, Sunday’s press conference will be a landmark moment in depicting the franchise’s unprecedented incompetence.

After a blowout loss to the Cavaliers on Sunday, president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry delivered an impromptu press conference in which they bemoaned the team’s lack of a “consistent level of effort and execution.”

Furthermore, news came out Monday that Mills is “selling owner James Dolan on a roster constructed to be highly competitive in the Eastern Conference”, and is angling to fire coach David Fizdale. 

It’s more fact than opinion that the ‘Bockers roster is a hodgepodge of hot garbage; per Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews, “Rival coaches and executives see a mismatched Knicks roster slow of foot, without legitimate NBA guard play.”

And why wouldn’t they? The roster that Mills is selling to Dolan as “highly competitive” is the same one that went 17-65 a year ago, only add in third overall pick R.J. Barrett and seven overpaid role players, most of whom play power forward. Players aren’t going to pay better just because you paid them five times their market value.

Mills is aggressively, shockingly bad his job, but is deflecting his anger towards the head coach in a feeble attempt to mask his own ineptitude. Mills is 48-126 since taking over as for Phil Jackson as team president in 2017 and has recycled through 5 head coaches in that span. In 13 years as a Knicks’ front office exec, he is 348-646 with just one playoff appearance. The numbers speak for themselves, but Mills apparently thinks he can fool the public with this humiliating, tone-deaf press conference.

There aren’t words in the English dictionary to encapsulate the gross incompetence of this franchise. It used to be funny; now it’s just uncomfortable and sad. What the Knicks have done and are doing to their fanbase borders on human negligence. It’s like witnessing an 18-wheeler barrel-rolling down the highway in slow motion. 

Let me be clear: the principal reason for the sad state of this franchise is buffoonish owner James Dolan. But Steve Mills’ embarrassing Sunday press conference exposes him as an über-incompetent NBA executive who deserves a hell of a lot more blame than the head coach he just threw under the bus.

This is the most anticipated NBA season I can remember in my 23 years on the planet, so naturally, preseason takes ran amok. It’s obviously too early to make concrete conclusions after three days, but not too early to see how certain concerns or hopes were illuminated in game action.

Welcome to the first installment of my ‘12 Takes’ series, which I’ll be doing weekly (or close to it) for the rest of the NBA season. Let’s go.

1. Anthony Davis’s reluctance to play center significantly lowers the Lakers’ ceiling.

It’s going to take time for the Lakers’ offense to mesh. The unit has never played together, so the opening night clunkiness in the 112-102 loss to the Clippers wasn’t surprising.

Unfortunately, it also wasn’t surprising to see AD mostly at the four. Davis is a five, but his reluctance to play the position forced coach Frank Vogel to give 36 combined minutes to JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard, neither of whom are good (they combined for 7 points). 

When Kyle Kuzma comes back, will Vogel deploy him as a massive small forward with LeBron at the point, AD at power forward and one of the Washed Brothers at center? Laker fans should hope not — McGee and Howard are negative assets who destroy spacing. There’s zero reason for either to play significant minutes, particularly when Kuz returns.

In the playoffs, Davis will assuredly play mostly at center. Still, the regular season matters for seeding. Davis’ reluctance to play his position could be the difference between a 3-seed and a6-seed; in other words, having home-court advantage against the Mavericks in round one versus not having home court against the Rockets or Jazz. So yeah, it’s a problem.

2. The Lakers are a good point guard short.

It’s going to be difficult to win the West if LeBron is the team’s only competent ball-handler. The ship sailed on the Avery Bradley point guard experiment years ago, and he delivered a 0 assist performance as if to prove it. Alex Caruso is a solid backup (who bizarrely got a DNP-CD Tuesday), but isn’t good enough to play huge minutes. Ditto for late-career Rajon Rondo. 

Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry both could become available via trade, but both make north of $30 million annually; neither will be a Laker this year. Goran Dragic is an interesting name who’d fit, but his $19.2 million salary is also a non-starter.

The Lakers’ lack of financial flexibility and tradable assets will make it difficult to acquire that guard. Finding a difference-making ball-handler in the buyout market seems like a pipe dream. The offense would really benefit from an additional dose of off-bounce creativity, but the avenues to acquire such a player are blocked. Barring a miracle acquisition, the Lakers will remain a distant second to the Clippers in the Battle For LA.

3. Andrew Wiggins remains Andrew Wiggins. 

The Wiggins Experience: 21 points (10-27 FG, 1-2 FT), 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks

The Wiggins Experience: Play 36 minutes in an NBA game, have a -26 plus/minus and your team still wins because your backup Josh Okogie was +22 in 14 minutes. 

The Wiggins Experience: Get to the foul line 56 seconds into the game, make one of two, then hoist 27 shots in your remaining 35 minutes without getting to the charity stripe again. 

The Wiggins Experience: Attempt 5 more shots and score 15 less points than your teammate Karl-Anthony Towns (by contrast, he’s good).  

It’s just a game, but barfing up 27 shots and tallying 0 assists shows that nothing has changed. He’s the same old chucker.

4. Jarrett Allen is rightfully getting the bulk of the work in
Brooklyn.

When the Nets gave a washed DeAndre Jordan $40 million contract this offseason to be Kyrie and KD’s friend, I was immediately concerned. The Nets already had a great young center in Allen and Jordan’s deal suggested he’d steal minutes at the five. 

One game in and those concerns are quelled; Allen played 36 minutes* Wednesday night to DeAndre’s 17.

There’s no use trying to pretend like DJ’s ludicrous contract was anything other than a tax for signing his superstar buds. It appears coach Kenny Atkinson and the Nets realize that and remain committed to giving Allen the lion’s share of the work at the five.** 

*KAT kind of demolished Allen, but that’s not shocking. Stretch centers will always be the nemesis of Allen, Rudy Gobert, and any other prototypical rim protector. 

**I couldn’t be much more bullish on him, and not because he went to Texas. If you had to design a modern center, you’d draw up a 7-foot rim-runner with insane length, bounce and rim-protecting instincts. He’s still got another level to reach offensively, too; he’s more skilled than you realize.

5. Justise Winslow is on the cusp.

It’s easy to get discouraged when a touted draft pick struggles initially. Patience can be hard. But as Winslow is proving, it’s necessary. 

In his first three NBA seasons, it wasn’t exactly clear what Justise Winslow was. His defense was mostly as advertised, but there was no identity to his offensive game. 

Last season, Winslow reinvented himself as a point-forward setting career highs with 12.6 points, 5.4 boards and 4.3 dimes with his typical stout defense. Still just 23, his mini-leap planted the seeds for a bigger one in 2019. 

The very early returns couldn’t be more promising. Winslow was a monster in the Heat’s 120-101 W over the Grizzlies with 27 points (10-21/1-2/6-9), 7 boards, 7 assists, and a +22 +/-. He was confident both facilitating and attacking. 

The continued development of his jumper will determine how good he’ll eventually be. As it is, he’s an awesome second banana alongside Jimmy Butler.

I’m starting to get ridiculously excited about the potential of the Heat. They’re firmly in the mix for the 3-seed in the East.

6. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is ready to be a star right now.

The prize of the Paul George trade is the anti-Winslow in that he looked like a future star from the moment he stepped onto the court as a rookie. With extreme size, length and instincts, SGA looked the part of not only a future stopper, but a guy who could one day guard Kawhi Leonard-types.* His offense impressed, too, but he was more efficient than explosive; it looked like it’d take some years of development before he became a go-to-guy. 

Maybe not! OKC’s new guard dropped 26 on opening night (10-23/3-7/3-6). His aggressiveness showed he’s not scared to be “the guy”. 

He’s creative around the basket with unteachable touch, and his length allows him to finish around the league’s best rim protectors: watch him beat Rudy Gobert with this finger roll. He’s going to live at the foul line. His jumper was the question coming out of college, but it exceeded expectations as a rookie and looked pretty good Wednesday night. 

I didn’t expect the 21-year old to come out of the gate ready to be the no. 1 offensive option on a team with Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari. He looks not only ready, but capable. If SGA is going to be this dynamic, it’s possible we underrated the Thunder as a potential playoff team, even without PG in the loaded West. 

*Players who can credibly guard big, wing superstars are among the rarest and most coveted in the league. Currently, the only NBA point guard who stands a chance in Jrue Holiday; SGA is much bigger and longer than the Pelicans’ stopper. His defensive potential is remarkable.

7. Luke Kennard is more than the guy picked above Donovan Mitchell.

I feel bad for Luke, who will always be compared to the Dwayne Wade-lookalike drafted immediately after him. 

The 6’5” Duke product won’t always drop 30, but he’s a tremendous shooter and heady player. His ability to handle the ball and fire off-the-bounce separates him from traditional spot-up shooters; watch him parlay an Andre Drummond ball screen into a clean mid-range step back.

His poor length and athleticism limits his defensive potential, but he’s a long-term rotation guy. We need to stop identifying Kennard as The Guy Who Was Picked Before Mitchell and respect what he is — a good, young NBA player with a bright future. Have I mentioned that I like guys with confidence and IQ?

8. Mo Bamba looked good.

I’m taking special interest in Bamba’s development. He was disappointing as a rookie before suffering a season-ending fractured foot. I was eager to see how the former Longhorn came out of the gates in year two.  

He was great in limited minutes Wednesday, with 7 points (3-5/1-3/0-0) and 7 boards in 14 minutes. The problem: he’s completely blocked in Orlando after the team locked up Nik Vucevic with a 4-year, $100 million contract. 

Smart franchises don’t invest the sixth overall pick into a 7-foot center when their best incumbent is a 7-foot center. Smart franchises aren’t the Orlando Magic. Here’s hoping Mo gets dealt to a more competent organization that knows what to do with his development. There aren’t many 7-footers who combine rim-protection and three-point shooting; his upside remains intact.

9. The Rockets needed Russell Westbrook’s chaos.

Death, taxes, and the Rockets blowing huge halftime leads in front of an indifferent home crowd.

What was new, and incredibly exciting, is the impact that Russell Westbrook had in the first half of the loss to the Bucks. I was initially pessimistic about the seemingly confounding marriage of the league’s two most ball-dominant players, but talked myself into it over the summer. The Harden-led squads of yesteryear have been great but slow, methodical and boringly predictable; Russ adds a fresh dose of athleticism and unpredictability.

That was on full display in the first half against Milwaukee, encapsulated here: snaring a d-board off a missed free throw and catching everybody off guard by flying the other way and finding Eric Gordon in the corner for a wide-open three. It was the perfect unity of two distinct styles: Russ’ chaotic tempo and the Rockets’ three-point shooting. 

There’s a lot to iron out with Westbrook’s inclusion into the Rockets’ system, but game one demonstrated why I’m so excited. The squad sorely needed his improvisational athletic chaos, and his unpredictability elevates Houston’s ceiling.

10. The Rockets will stagger James and Russ as much as possible.

Mike D’Antoni isn’t fooling around; less than halfway into the first quarter, Austin Rivers came in for Westbrook. With three minutes left in the first, Russ re-entered, subbing for Harden. 

We knew the Rockets would stagger the stars. It was still interesting, however, to see it happen immediately in game one. Russ obviously isn’t used to getting yanked so quickly. 

Should they have let Harden and Westbrook play longer together to speed up the learning curve? Eh. There’ll be plenty of time to gel, so I actually like D’Antoni laying down the law early. One of the two will be on the floor at all times, so Russell’s going to have to sacrifice some first quarter minutes.

11. Terrence Ferguson has to do…something.

For a Thunder franchise planning for the future, the development of 2017 first rounder Terrance Ferguson is an underrated variable. The 6’6” swingman made strides last year after a poor rookie season, and it was reasonable to expect a year three leap. 

For some reason, he went 0-0 from the field in Wednesday’s loss despite playing half the game. I mean…no. Shoot the ball, dude. You’re an off-guard with freaky athletic ability and a sweet jumper.  

I’m pretty concerned by this, and the Thunder should be too. You’d think the former first-rounder would be excited at his increased offensive chances in the wake of George’s exit; how do you not shoot once?

12. The dispiriting apathy of Houston’s home crowds.

Maybe it’s because the city is so spread out. Maybe it’s because getting downtown can be a pain.

But every single year, the Toyota Center is half-packed despite championship contending teams.

I thought it’d be different this year. With Kevin Durant leaving the Bay and Westbrook coming, I figured fans would be more excited for this season than ever, and we’d finally get some live crowds.

Wrong.

“Oozy Rat in a Sanitary Zoo”–perhaps one of childhood’s best palindromes takes on a whole new meaning for UT artists Sasha Fishman, Brooke Johnson, Seth Murchison, tín Rodriguez, and Rachel Wilkins. This installation at the Visual Art Center features five artists’ different take on what they describe as “our human relationships with animals and the natural world, and what these relationships might reveal about ourselves.” I had the opportunity of walking through this quirky, introspective space with fellow artist and curator, Brooke Johnson.

The exhibition begins with two mysterious display cabinets filled with “some dead things and some plastic remains.” This mishmash of trinkets, pelts, and stuffed animals taxidermied by the artists themselves serves as a microscopic view of the exhibition. It foreshadows the issues of perceived human dominance over animals that each artist addresses in their work.

On three pediments spin multicolored, zoomorphic sculptures vaguely recognizable in form. These works by Rachel Wilkins offer a commentary on how animals are misrepresented by humanity. Each sculpture is a 3D scan of an animal figurine that has been modeled off of a real animal. Wilkins states that the pieces “start as something natural and not so different from us;” however its representation quickly becomes skewed. The artist leads the viewer to question how many degrees away from an animal one can get before it is no longer an animal? At what point do humans assert a control over creation?

Juxtaposed with these sculptures is a floor-to-ceiling photograph of an exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo taken by Brooke Johnson. As the viewer ponders the image, this seemingly natural picture of a grand tree, boulders, and shrubbery begins to look off-puttingly unnatural. Johnson said she was drawn to environments constructed in zoos as a way of understand our interaction with nature and animals–the viewer is “looking at nature without the fear of being seen by it.” Johnson is commenting on how animals become a tool of amusement, research, and display to the point of objecthood. The massive scale of the photograph unnervingly makes the viewer feel as if they are on display, in Johnson’s words, “like you don’t know which side of the glass you are on when looking at it.”

In the far corner of the gallery is tín Rodriguez’s interactive diorama. Projected on two walls are highly saturated images of waving trees amidst an artificial hill of astroturf and plastic vegetation. Sounds of chirping birds emanate from the work and echo throughout the gallery space. As the viewer steps into this world they are enveloped in an unnaturally saturated green glow. The viewer is reminded that the space appears natural but in fact is unmistakably synthetic and “holds nature constant in the same way a display at a natural history museum does.” It resonates a similar theme in Johnson’s work–the notion of a constructed barrier between natural and humanity. In commenting on their piece Rodriguez says, “In a museum setting, when we behold nature, we purposely pull ourselves further from the organic world, into a hermetic environment purged of all unwanted life, a controlled climate.”

Seth Murchison’s background in alchemy, biology, mythology, and pop culture culminate in a multi-media narrative of three paintings and a self-built structure. Murchison explains that the paintings have their own independent existence because “the tension between representation and abstraction in my paintings both reaffirms their status as objects, painted surfaces, while creating the notion of animism or an independent life.”

Independent from the paintings is Murchison’s “Centipede”, a wooden structure placed an oval train track cutting through the gallery walls, invading the space of artist Sasha Fishman. The centipede structure demonstrates a key element to the exhibition–there is an inherent conversation going on between all the artists despite the different media and spaces that occupy the gallery.

Artist Sasha Fishman says, “Seth’s piece comes into my space; it comes through the wall, it is a centipede on a train track. This piece is specific to him about something he painted and I’m not a big painter so i don’t really think about it that way but I think it’s interesting that it can move into my space and out. I think alot about how sanitation is about eradicating any bugs or any germs that we deem harmful but it really just pushes evolution.”

A semisiculded room off the main gallery space is filled with whimsical sculptures reminiscent of creatures one might find with Alice in Wonderland. In this space, artist Sasha Fishman brings a sense of curious beauty to what we generally perceive as disgusting–growths, germs, fungi, decay, and malformations. Sasha’s research in developing alternative plastic resins led her create art that looks at how “humans attempt to control environmental entrop, whether it be through sanitation, genetic engineering, or new material formulations, and what this means for the future of our environment.”

Fishman questions the materiality of objects by incorporating living organisms in her work. For example, the sculpture known as Ms. Turmeric is pigmented with yellow turmeric powder. Fishman states that the root, which is commonly associated with superfood fads and found in the golden lattes of trendy coffee shops, illustrates how “things get so saturated in our culture today and become subverted into a harmful yet trendy thing. We are using more synthetic things and more chemicals in order to meet trends and our high expectations for sanitation.”

Playing on a TV is video explaining the narratives of futile systems that humans attempt to create in order to combat environmental issues. The monotone voice of the narrator interacts with the endlessly looping sounds of birds from tìn’s instillation creating a poetic clash between the sounds of humans and animals.

Artists’ Website: https://sashafishman.com and https://brookejohnson.format.com

On Monday night, Jungle closed out Capital One’s take over of Antone’ s with a groovy set balancing tracks off their two studio albums.

The night kicked off with a set from 512 Coalition, a group drawing members from local bands Swells, Kalu & the Electric Joint, Mamafesta, Ruby Jane and Tje Austin. The stage was in a constant metamorphosis, as members switched instruments and took turns singing, giving the crowd a taste of each band’s style. We heard a mix of blues, jazz, funk, soul, and rock n roll–the culmination of Austin’s up-and-coming bands sharing the spotlight together.

The Black Pumas brought soul and style with the lead-singer dressed in a red velvet studded jacket and tinted red shades that made you wanna be as cool as him when you grow up. The Austin-based band takes psychedelic soul, adds some funk and makes you fucking dance.

When London-based neo-funk collective Jungle finally took the stage, you had no choice but to smile for the rest of the night. Their high energy set, backlit with colorful dots of light hypnotized the crowed into a state of perpetual dance. Jungle’s hair-raising falsettos and smooth harmonies make their live show a must-see.