Larry Hughes called his situation a "joke" and apparently it was one of those bad ones because Mike D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh had to explain the punch line.
Hughes was benched for seven straight games before suddenly playing nine minutes in the first half of Saturday's loss at Detroit. Hughes struggled in his surprise cameo and thus didn't play again in the second half. That left the veteran guard confused and angry. Hughes apparently surmised that D'Antoni, whose communication skills Hughes had criticized 10 days earlier, was setting him up for failure.
Moreover, Hughes revealed before the game that he had met with Walsh on Thursday and had been encouraged by their conversation. The fact that he met with the Knicks' president and two days later was given a chance to play could give the perception that Walsh lobbied D'Antoni to play Hughes.
In fact, Walsh addressed that specific issue even though he was not asked about it.
"Mike and I are on the same page with this team," Walsh said Sunday. "He coaches the team. He makes the substitutions. I understand why he does it. We talk about it. I met with Larry and listened to what he had to say. That's my job. I told Mike about that. But I didn't tell him before the game. I don't order Mike to play anybody. I don't do that. Never have.
"I don't tell the coach who to play."
You can be sure that if Walsh was in fact coaching the team from the front office, Eddy Curry would be in the rotation. Instead, Curry is like Hughes, a high-priced veteran upset over a limited role. Nate Robinson was in that same boat, so much so that his agent publicly asked for a trade. Robinson has since returned to the rotation, essentially replacing Hughes.
Curry and Hughes were the only two players not at practice in Greenburgh yesterday. Curry is nursing a sore left knee. Hughes, according to D'Antoni and a team spokesman, practiced but was in the bathroom when reporters were ushered in.
There is a chance that Hughes didn't want to address the subject again and excused himself before the press was let in. Of course, the Knicks may have encouraged the always-accessible and talkative Hughes to leave. The Knicks' official position was that Hughes was taking the longest bathroom break in NBA history.
Hughes makes just about everyone in Knicks management uncomfortable, save Walsh. The Cleveland media gave him its "Good Guy Award" when Hughes played for the Cavs. The Knicks, however, frown upon their players being media-friendly.
In the weeks after Hughes told the Daily News in October that he doubted his good friend and former teammate, LeBron James, would sign with the Knicks next summer, he had two media relations employees listening in to all his conversastions. Hughes had made himself a marked man.
To his credit, D'Antoni doesn't seem to get caught up in what his players say. With the Knicks 16-24 entering today's Martin Luther King matinee against Detroit at the Garden, D'Antoni reiterated that he's simply going to play those who he believes will help the Knicks win. That will include rookie Jordan Hill today and may or may not include Hughes.
"There will be moments like this but it will not detract from what we need to do as a team," D'Antoni said. "Our focus is trying to make the playoffs. And I'll do whatever I think is right. I might be wrong but I'm just trying to go with the guys that I think we'll get us to the playoffs."
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