Knicks
Eric Weiss
Preface

If the Knicks are to have a productive season and Thomas wishes to save his job without pulling off the miracle of a playoff birth, he'd be best served by sitting all the heartless veteran "talent" he's aquired and allow the skill and enthusiasm of his youth to represent the Knicks future on the court next season. These are basketball players.


Nate Robinson

Robinson has essentially picked up where he left off last summer league. His speed and explosive quickness allow him to get to where he wants to go at will. But, Robinson is displaying a much more measured pace and has really focused on setting up plays instead of relying on broken-field opportunities to do his damage. Robinson has operated on the baseline most frequently in the half-court set, playing a solid two-man game with Channing Frye. On one particular play, Robinson showed pass to Frye on the post, waited for Frye to come to him for a screen and split the two defenders perfectly for the lay-in opportunity.

The 2nd half continued to prove how much PG is locked inside Nate Robinson. While Robinson still displayed plenty of flash, his decision making gravitated much more toward playmaker than play finisher. None of his shots were out of place and his penetration was always with purpose. Robinson played much more in the center of the court and utilized both the left and right side of the court to create problems for the defense. Robinson mixed in a couple of 3-pointers for good measure, just to let everyone know that scoring was still on the resume. Robinson’s communication with his teammates was excellent as well, he made things happen because his teammates were on the same page as him going into the play.

Channing Frye

The first half was a quality and controlled performance by Frye. Frye showed his hook from both sides of the lane and had a nice step-back jumper on the inbounds catch, which he nestled into the rim with soft touch. Frye displayed excellent balance and form on his moves, often throwing two or three contingency body-fakes into a possession, which completely neutralizes the defenders ability to make a proactive defensive play on him.

Frye took his scoring up a notch in the 2nd half and did it with the type of poise and purpose an NBA half-court offense calls for. Frye’s curls on the weakside almost all produced a quality shot for himself as the whole team was in sync. Frye used his post possessions to good effect as well, backing down his defender and reading the double to find the open man when the shot wasn’t there.

David Lee

Lee is showing all the old tricks he displayed last season, utilizing anticipation, hustle, and strong board work to impact the play on the court. But, Lee may have shown the most improvement of any of the 2nd year Knicks in terms of some of the weaknesses he brought with him to Vegas last year. Lee’s motion on his free throws and jumper were significantly improved from last year. Lee has eliminated most of his forearm motion, using primarily his wrist on the follow through. This has given the shot a much softer play on the rim and has eliminated much of the side-to-side drift. We’ll see if Lee can maintain this throughout his gameplay, at it is obviously something new.

Lee dominated the board work in the 2nd half, collecting offensive and defensiver rebounds at will. Lee’s ability to accurately guage where balls are going to come into play off the rim enable him to always be in the mix, which coupled with his athleticism typeically spell victory in the battle for the ball. Lee continued to show the fruits of his offensive refinement, hitting another soft perimeter shot and mixing in a series of spin hooks with deft touch.


Renaldo Balkman

Balkman had a very strong showing for his opening half. Balkman brings many of the hustle qualities that David Lee has made knick fans familiar with. Balkman’s anticipation allows him to move for rebounds out of his zone and jump the passing lanes well. Balkman showed a nice first step on the perimeter with the ball in his hands and didn’t force any plays despite his frenetic pace.

Blocking shots, stealing balls, filling the lanes in transition, moving with purpose in the half-court, Balkman does all of this. Balkman is extrememly active, but his movement is always predicated on getting into position for a play, be it offensiver rebound, steal, or getting the open shot. Great fill-in ability as he complements the skill players and produces positive results without needing much attention.


http://vegassummerleague.com/box_score.cfm?game=55

Highlights:
Nate Robinson - 23 points, 4 boards, 3 assists
Channing Frye - 19 points, 5 boards, 2 steals, 1 block
David Lee - 20 points, 8 boards

udoka: 19 minutes, 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals

Posted by OngBok:

All is quiet about IT's new offensive scheme ??? A very nice controlled yet free flowing offense that provided our main youngsters a very nice stat sheet game and a 24pt victory !!

I watched the whole game an most of the second half was very slow and methodical. The defense stopped causing turnovers at the rate it caused them in the second half. The first half was very fast-but a foul fest. In the second it was one of those games you watch then the score comes up and you are like "Holy crap, we're up 20!"

Nate played a little pit of control sometimes..He did show a little progress in pacing himself, but he had a few moments where he was out there.

Lee played great. Simply, if Lee worked out the kink on his jumper, he is our starting SF. If he keeps his up and we resign Woods, Woods is gonna have to learn and focus on playing the 2, back up 3.

Frye was EXTREMELY impressive. I will go right now and say he is our PF. I sort of wish he dominated on the boards, at least giving me hope that this new heft will help his rebounding. His D improved also. He used some power in the post and if he brings that jump hook to the season, he will average 18 points per.

Balkman, was nice. I love the way he plays the game. If you take Spree, and take away his whole offensive game, you get Balkman. I was a little surprised they kept isoing him on wing. They must have done it like 4-5 times. He does have a quick first step and that is basically the limit of his offense. Step-dribble once-get to the rack. I'm happy we have him, but still unhappy at how/where we got him.

Collins is built alot like Allan Houston when he first came into the league, physically. He is a pretty decent defender, and had some decent steals. He played alot of 2 guard with Nate and that kid Walker Russell. I am unsure of Isiah's plans for him.

in all fairness, it was a blow out by mid 3rd...the kids did their jobs during that 19 - 0 run. Defense, transition offense, get into the offensive sets quickly...nate started slow, but as the game progressed he was a point guard all of a sudden...I'm not even going to bring up the highlight film v. Point guard comment...oh, well, I guess I did. sorry. last year is last year.

these are our new york knicks!

i agree...you better stick to it, you proposed it.

Posted by joec32033:

[quote] Past comments on players should not be applied to the present development.

[Edited by - rvhoss on 07-08-2006 12:49 PM]