Cheer up folks fall is upon us and several opinions on what each team will do are being written as players begin reporting in the next few days From the above link our first fearless prognosticator takes a wild swing and a miss!!

More likely the Knicks will: Be the most fun Knicks team to watch in years, however will take some time to gel. They may well get off to slow start. They won't play great defense. There will be flashes of what Randolph can do, Stoudemire will throw down over people, Gallinari should take a step forward. There are pieces here and they are going to be entertaining to watch.

But how to fit all the pieces together will take time. Look for some D'Antoni to throw out wild lineups for a while, trying to find what works. Can a Felton/Toney Douglas backcourt work? Traditional positions will be out the window as Stoudemire may get some run at the five and the three, all with the goal of just finding lineups that work. By the end of the season, if they are healthy, expect the Knicks to be playing better.

And there is nothing wrong with that. Just like it took time to climb out of the hole the franchise was in, it will take time to build something meaningful. These Knicks will be so much more entertaining and fun that the losses will not sting as much. There is hope now, you will see it building. Live with that, enjoy it, revel in it. Don't expect at title right now, expect to have fun.

Oh, and you can safely bet on a season that no matter what the team does on the court there will be a tidal wave of speculation about every decent free agent or trade piece out there.

Prediction: 38 wins, an improvement but in a new and deeper East they will miss the playoffs again by a few games. That will lead some in New York to question if D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh have done what they promised. But those people will forget how far they had to come. The Knicks will be the best they have been in years, with a promise for the future intact. That is a bug step out of the hole for this franchise.

38??? sheesh Fuggedaboudit 48 more like.

ps Hoopsworld is due out tomorrow.

I think the pieces will be a core of 7-8 guys that are the coaches guys and fit what he wants. I don't see the pieces that he use changing once he has settled on them. As far as deviating from that and being non traditional in his lineups I only see that happening with his core guys. Maybe a 6'11" guy will be guarding the point every game or Stoudamire will be the starting center, Chandler the two guard, but I am not expecting a lot of deviating from the plan game to game once that is in place. I also am pretty sure there will be a lot of pick and rolling next year.

Man Mike is finally gonna show people just how good he really is. How would any of you like to be judged on how good you are with a Wacked out group of employees under you that are selfish, lazy, looking for another job and aren't that talented to begin with? This guy has taken teams with decent talent and gone very far with them. When Duhon as bad as he is, was doing what he was supposed to do, this team looked a heck of a lot better and so now with much more talent and a better PG I fully expect that this team is gonna be more than a .500 team. People are really selling Mike short but just remember how much better the team looked when Zach and Jamal were here and they got off to a good start. You need talent to win as a coach and now he's got even more talent to work with and a balanced roster that fits his style. That adds up to some really good BB.

This team will play defense!!! I just think even the analysts are stuck on the old team.

Childs2Dudley wrote:How exactly do we get nearly 50 wins?

Please, temper your expectations...

How some can't see the difference between this team and last few years is hard to understand. I get that it's a new squad and could start off slow, but That's not a definite either. My take on why they should be OK to start off is that the basics of the offense will be dependent on Felton/Amar'e. Those two should be solid in those roles. Amare makes it so easy for a PG to feed him the ball. Even before Nash Amar'e was still a beast. I could be out there and I could make the short bounce passes off PnR. Felton is more than capable and the supporting cast is much improved. Yeah there are some questions about AR, Timo and how much Turiaf can play, but overall there are more things going for this roster than we've had in the last few years. This is the kind of roster that Mike usually does damage with.

knicks1248 wrote:People still under estimate the value of a very good PG in Mike system...that alone is an exta 10 wins

You take away a good PG and the best parts of the system are harder to make happen. We settled for 2 years, but Felton is not a bad PG. Most PG's should see a boost in their production but they at least have to be NBA starting material, cuz it's not easy to run this stuff at a high level.

I like Felton cuz he's got the speed and handle to push the pace. He's got solid D and his shot is just good enough IMO. We'll see what his court vision is like, but this guy was always considered a very good floor leader even back in college. People have just forgotten and are overlooking him based on his years in Charlotte. I think that wasn't the best spot for him. You have to give a guy like him that is a PURE PG some talent to work with. He's not a guy you expect to just go for himself, so it makes him look bad. No shooters and a slowed down tempo is not his game. Here he should feel like a kid in a candy store.

Last year there were only two teams that won 46-48 games: Miami (47) and Milwaukee (46). I do think the Knicks are on par with those teams.

There were four teams that had 50 wins though: Boston, Portland, San Antonio, Oklahoma City. The Knicks aren't close to that level yet.

I'll put my range at 40-44 wins and I think I'm being optimistic

TMS wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:Only way we are sniffing 48 wins is if Gallo and Randolph blow up big this year. Im not counting on it. 38 seems about right. Remember we just replaced David Lee's stats with Amare's. Lets not pretend like Amare anchors a front court defensively. Im just hoping Felton's jumper is improved.

if we can't win at least 41 games w/this roster, the head coach should be fired.

I've pretty much said the same thing.

I've predicted the Knicks to be in the 45-50 range, myself, assuming everyone is healthy.

For me, 41 is a bare minimum, and if Azubuike and Mason are healthy, Gallo continues his growth as a player, AR reaches puberty, and Mosgov is able to play the kind of ball he just played, I will be disappointed if we don't reach the high end of my prediction range.

48 wins has no basis in reality. We didn't just get Jason Kidd.

crzymdups wrote:

kam77 wrote:We won 29 games last year.
Think about how few teams ever have double-digit improvement in wins year to year.
So 38 wins is quite reasonable and even optimistic.

48 wins has no basis in reality. We didn't just get Jason Kidd.

Amare Stoudemire is a lot better than Jason Kidd at this point. So is Ray Felton.

The team has been totally remodeled from last season. We have, what, three or four guys returning, at most? It's kind of ridiculous to base your expectations for this team on last season's record.

This is the Knicks we have gone through almost 3 overhauls and the result has been the same. New coaches new players and the result has been crappy. 36 wins is very optimistic in my book, a good starting ground for improvement. Lets see if the can handle the pressure of playing in NY where every mistake is scrutinized to a fault. Where Journalist take their shots on a daily basis that chops even the best of the best to mediocre players. Lets put it this way these players have never played in NY its a whole different beast. That is why I laugh at any Ewing vs Amare comparison before seeing what Amare can do with NY on his back.

crzymdups wrote:

Vmart wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

kam77 wrote:We won 29 games last year.
Think about how few teams ever have double-digit improvement in wins year to year.
So 38 wins is quite reasonable and even optimistic.

48 wins has no basis in reality. We didn't just get Jason Kidd.

Amare Stoudemire is a lot better than Jason Kidd at this point. So is Ray Felton.

The team has been totally remodeled from last season. We have, what, three or four guys returning, at most? It's kind of ridiculous to base your expectations for this team on last season's record.

This is the Knicks we have gone through almost 3 overhauls and the result has been the same. New coaches new players and the result has been crappy. 36 wins is very optimistic in my book, a good starting ground for improvement. Lets see if the can handle the pressure of playing in NY where every mistake is scrutinized to a fault. Where Journalist take their shots on a daily basis that chops even the best of the best to mediocre players. Lets put it this way these players have never played in NY its a whole different beast. That is why I laugh at any Ewing vs Amare comparison before seeing what Amare can do with NY on his back.

This is the fist time that Walsh and D'Antoni have been able to bring in players they want here for the long-term (outside of the draft). I'm willing to give them a chance - they've both showed the ability to build teams that compete at the highest level when given the ability to pick their guys.

I think 44 wins this year.

I have said this before 36 wins is the minimum I expect from the Knicks. As for Maximum 40-42 and a lot has to go right for the Knicks to be a 42 win team. Gallo and chandler basically have to step up their game and take it higher 18-20 ppg no if no buts, and they have to be consistent. I truly believe the playoffs ride with these two players Chandler and Gallo. Consistency is the key there is no Al Harrington jacking up shots galore you can't blame the pg anymore. Amare will give you Lee Stats. You have a legit Centers. Only thing I can say is Chandler and Gallo are the focal point and they need to take the bull by the horn produce at a higher level. If they stay where they are in development your looking at a 36 win team.