A little AI fun - animated presser here:
https://studio.d-id.com/share?id=653526 ... ource=copy
https://studio.d-id.com/share?id=653526 ... ource=copy
INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN – PRESS ROOM – DAY
The walls are draped in blue and orange banners, bold KNICKS logos emblazoned across the backdrop. The room is packed wall-to-wall with reporters, camera flashes, rustling notebooks. The buzz is electric – everyone wants to hear what the Knicks’ front office has to say after the wildest offseason in recent memory.
A long beat of silence. You could hear a soda cap hit the floor.
(clears throat)
First off... appreciate everybody comin’ out today. I know it ain’t easy makin’ time, especially after the kinda summer we just had.
(pauses, scans the room)
Look, I ain’t gonna dance around nothin’. This offseason? It was brutal. No sugarcoatin’ it. We came off a 50-win season, got that first-round bye, spirits were high – real high. This city was buzzin’. Thought we finally turned the damn corner.
(leans in slightly)
Then the playoffs happened. And yeah, we started off hot – took two strong ones. But... then came that call from the league office. Two wins nullified... after some appeal by Golden State. Technicalities. Bureaucracy. Nothin’ we could fight in time.
(angrily)
We got kneecapped before Game 3.
(deep breath)
Pacers took the series. Credit to ‘em – even after losin’ Joe Barry. Tough team. Gritty. But man, that one hurt the soul of this front office.
(long pause)
Then came free agency... and lemme tell ya...
(shakes head)
I’ll own this – I got outplayed. Thought we had some pieces lined up. Brining back Corzine was our top priority and get some depth so we can run it back. We got nothin’. Zip. The big names? They walked right past the Garden like we was invisible. Corzine goes to L.A. for 700k a year, and just like that, we’re down a big man with nothin’ in return.
(pounds the podium lightly)
I wasn’t gonna stand here and pretend we could run it back with smoke and mirrors. We had two legit stars – Buck and Darrell. But we didn’t have the muscle, the bodies, or the room to make it work.
(beat)
So we made the hardest call of my professional life.
(lowers head, looks back up with fire)
We traded Buck.
(gasps ripple through the crowd. Flashbulbs explode. A reporter audibly mutters “Jesus.”)
(raises voice slightly)
I know. I know. You don’t gotta tell me what Buck meant to this city. That pick, putting Buck in a Knicks jersey had this city buzzin. I seen it with my own eyes – the guy bled for this team every damn night. I didn’t want to trade him and dread the night he walks into this building wearin’ that awful Bullet's jersey.
(leans forward)
But when your future’s starvin’, you don’t sit there dreamin’. We made everyone available and I told 'em that. GMs couldn't believe Buck was on the table and they were throwin' everything they had at us. Buck deserves to be winning basketball games and he brought us a kings ransom.
(beat)
We got five – count ‘em, five – first-round picks between '84 and '85. Yeah, it’s risky. Yeah, the moved pissed off some and shocked most, but we believe in the future.
(points to the side like a coach calling a play)
Trent Tucker – fresh off this year’s draft – he’s got spark. He's gonna turn heads. David and Wayne? Hungry. Got nothin’ to lose. Immediate starters that fill the gaps left by Buck and Dave. Julius is still here to lead these guys and we're gonna win some games this year, don't you worry about that.
We’re not tankin’. We’re recalibratin’.
We’re not quittin’. We’re reloading.
(steps back from the mic, eyes locked in)
And make no mistake – the Garden’s gonna roar again. Boo me today, Boo me tomorrow... but very soon we will have a top team again.
We’ll be back.
(lowers his head, nods, then walks off the podium as the room erupts in shouted questions and flashing bulbs. A slow fade as the noise crescendos, the camera zooming in on a KNICKS banner swaying lightly in the air-conditioned breeze...)
