Meanwhile, Charles Oakley is under consideration by Walsh to help big men get down and dirty at the defensive end. Does that mean the Knicks president is unhappy with how easy and how often opponents scored last season? My second question is, how do you teach bringing intimidation and intensity to work every time you get on the court? Oakley also was contacted by Portland officials who suspect it might be good for the team’s health if a trace of his brutish attitude rubbed off on Greg Oden.

I’d be all for it. Oakley was never a high octane scorer but he was for sure a top notch hard nosed defender.

knocked for it. Regarding Charles Oakley, however, he’s flat-out the wrong kind of interior coach for Oden; on the contrary, he’s the kind of guy you’d hire to coach LaMarcus Aldridge. Maurice Lucas is already around for that job, though.

Now, apropos of Oden, he needs a not only a position coach who can teach him how to post up on the low block and develop some moves down there, but also a head coach who is actually savvy enough to handle the pick-and-roll — on both ends of the court — rather than implement what essentially is a standstill offense with little movement and force his pivotman to come out on said plays defensively instead of staying home to protect the rim.

Yes, that is a shot at a certain someone.

Trading for him & his huge contract would be as sure fire way to get Oden under Oakley’s wing. I bet Wallace & him could turn Oden to a defensive player of the year.

from wherever he disappeared to.

Hakeem’s footwork on Greg’s body= a lot of success.

even if Oakley doesn’t end up coming to PDX. It shows one of the ways they’re considering adding “toughness” to the team’s makeup

I also wonder if this signals a potential leave of absense for Luke