Rant #2,310: Bits and Pieces

Today marks the return of Bits and Pieces to your favorite blog.

It was just time to bring it back.

To the uninitiated, Bits and Pieces is basically a blog entry that looks at a couple of subjects that I feel do not deserve a full blog treatment, but are certainly worth looking into in a shorter form.

So let's dive right into it--

New York Knicks Trade Kristaps Porzingis To Dallas Mavericks: It is more like Porzing-gone to long suffering New York Knicks fans, who almost certainly got the short end of the very long stick as this deal was being played out yesterday afternoon.

The Knicks' supposed franchise player--who hasn't played a minute in about a year since a serious on-court injury he suffered last season--evidently did not like the vibes he was feeling with a 10-win team, the worst team in the league, which seems to have been in a rebuild mode for at least the past 25 years or so, and he asked, or demanded, a trade.

This after the team stood by him during his long rehab, which might not see him even suit up this season.

Anyway, the bottom-dwelling Knicks, who have really had something of a black cloud over them since their second, and seemingly the way it is going, final championship in 1973, felt that now was the time to get rid of the Latvian, so they dealt him to another lousy team, the Mavericks, along with three other players for what amounts to two players with expiring contracts, another young guard who has become known as something of a head case, and future draft choices, or which the Knicks usually seem to pick the wrong guy (remember Frederic Weis?).

What Dallas is banking on is the possibility that when Porzingis is done with his rehab, he can be the force that he was, averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. He will also be tutored by one of his personal heroes, Dirk Nowitzki, and with the other players that were involved in the trade in tow, this automatically makes the Mavs contenders next season.

As for the Knicks, this trade was made based on hope, and little else, which makes its rationale highly questionable. You inherited expiring contracts in the deal, money that you can shave off at the end of the season to add to the total money you can spend on top-level free agents, making the Knicks a force next season.

The problem with that logic is that the Knicks are assuming that top-line free agents, like Kevin Durant, want to come to New York.

This is a major problem, because with little talent on this team, any free agents--top-line or otherwise--who decide to come to the Knicks will be counted on to bring a team with little to offer to relevance, all in one fell swoop.

Would Durant, who came to the top-tier Golden State Warriors from another successful team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, want to literally start from the proverbial square one at this point of his career?

Sure, the Knicks will likely get the first pick in the draft, and while there is no Patrick Ewing out there, there could be some talent coming to the team right there, but if you are basing making the Porzingis deal on hope, and hope alone, well, you are making a gamble that likely won't pay off.

Leave it to the most horridly run franchise in professional sports to knock the Super Bowl off the back pages of all the New York and New York Metropolitan Area tabloids this Friday.

Is Amazon Actually Ever Coming To New York: In a story that leaked out yesterday that has far more negative implications on New York than the Knicks deal will ever have, it appears that Amazon.com is having major second thoughts about setting up its dual second headquarters location in the Big Apple.

The reason: it hasn't been welcomed with the open arms that it thought it would get when it awarded Queens' Long Island City with its plan to build its second headquarters there.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported on a New York City Council hearing that took place on Wednesday at which Amazon was questioned about its LIC plans. Since the planned expansion was announced, the online retailer has been hit by a barrage of uncertainties by major politicians in New York, including Mayor Bill deBlasio, related to everything from expected congestion to the percentage of minority workers Amazon will employ.

In a classic fit of looking a gift horse in the mouth, New York City--which entered on its own into the sweepstakes to get Amazon to come here--it having major second thoughts about it, even though the plan will eventually bring 25,000 jobs to the area, most with six-figure salaries attached.

Of course, New York City had to give Amazon a bit to entice them to come to its environs, including as much as $3 billion in state and city incentives.

At this meeting, an Amazon representative expressed the view that even though Long Island City was awarded the second headquarters for the retailer, that Amazon still has a say into whether it actually settles in this part of Queens, which is full of taxi garages, various other lower blue collar businesses, and an area that could be the next big neighborhood in New York City if the plan ever goes through.

And the pushback Amazon is getting from New York City shows that the welcome mat hasn't been fully extended to the retailer in any way, and the insinuation by the Amazon official is that there is a Plan B it has if New York City doesn't work out.

"We were invited to come to New York, and we want to invest in a community that wants us ... we want to be part of the growth of a community where our employees and our company are welcome."

The Times reported that those New York City officials against the plan have actually looked into the possibility that the plan could unravel, and they are looking for a legal out, allowing the city to opt out of the agreement. Further, Amazon executives have "expressed frustration" at their treatment by New York officials, which would include Mayor deBlasio, who appears to want to keep his spot as a hero to some minority members by keeping many of them in the same economic straits that they currently reside in by his utter rejection of this plan.

Amazon certainly hasn't gotten the welcome from New York City that it received from Virginia, where it plans to build the other No. 2 campus.

Like the Knicks, you have to wonder about what type of water those in the city are drinking, because New York's hesitation on this deal appears to be a classic case of shooting oneself in the foot by being so pompous, and making everything into a political diatribe to satisfy personal agendas rather than the needs of constituents who would benefit from the retailer coming to the borough of Queens.

Frigid Weather Leads To Spring: Hey, yesterday when I went to work, it was all of three degrees. It was cold, yes indeed, but Mother Nature, every the cagey lady, is going to be playing tricks on us once again over the next few days.

Even places like Minnesota, which suffered over the past few days with double-digit under-zero temperatures, will be warming up really soon, jumping into the 40s by this weekend.

New York might even get into the 50s, which will bring out all of those idiots who take out the shorts when the temperature gets higher than 30 degrees. We have all seen these morons walking around with the scantiest of shorts even though they can still see their breath come out of their mouths, and if the weather forecasters are correct, you will see plenty more of these dummies walking around starting tomorrow.

Me, I take it all in stride. Do I ever get cold? Yes, I do, but generally, I am a warm person, figuratively as well as literally. I generally wear short sleeves no matter whether we are in winter or summer, I have my fan on at work through thick and thin, and I don't suffer that much from being cold.

And with everyone in New York screaming about it being three degrees yesterday, did we forget so soon that last year around this time we actually got down to two degrees?

And we also had a lot, and I mean a lot, more snow last year than we have had thus far this year.

So who is complaining?

Not me! I would rather bundle up than shovel snow any day of the week!

That is it for now. Speak to you again on Monday, and have a nice weekend.