New York Knicks


The Knicks have been big losers with Stephon Marbury running the point.

The guards: Even though Stephon Marbury will be totally coddled by his new coach, sooner or later Starbury will revert to his habitual me-first attitude. His main sidekick will be Steve Francis, who, like Marbury, is useless without the ball; and who, like Marbury, is unreliable in the clutch. The backup point guard is the energetic, but wild, Nate Robinson, who has no idea how to run an offense. Jamal Crawford is a dynamic scorer who's dependable, and who's the only backcourtsman with any defensive chops. Together these guys comprise an unwieldy group whose respective talents and flaws are distressingly similar.

The forwards: Channing Frye is an active baseline scorer, an adequate rebounder, a subpar passer and a soft defender. David Lee is all hustle and all foul trouble. To be effective, Quentin Richardson needs many more minutes than he'll receive. If newly signed Jared Jeffries can't even score when playing one-on-none, he can effectively defend shooting guards, small forwards and the occasional power forward. Too bad he can't guard all three positions at the same time.

The centers: Eddy Curry's post-up moves are unparalleled, and he can even drop an occasional short jumper. But passing, running, rebounding and avoiding foul trouble are all aspects of the game that have eluded him. Malik Rose plays earnest defense, but the rest of his game is a distant memory. Jerome James has stolen more money from the Knicks than Jesse James did from Wells Fargo.

The outlook: The combination of Isiah Thomas' enthusiasm and blarney will keep his team motivated for a while. But it'll take more than motivation to keep this fatally ill-designed and therefore dysfunctional team afloat. If Zeke can't push, prod, cajole, threaten and/or con this team into winning at least 10 more games than they did under Larry Brown's misogynistic misguidance last season, then Thomas is history.

Posted by efw:

if it were up to me, Isiah would have to win more than 33 games in order to keep his job.

Posted by purple012870:

Geez...we know there's been a boatload of mis-spent dollars. Can we get over it? Can we look forward to a year where we unload Mo Taylor & his contract (done), unload J Rose and his contract, look forward to the development of 6 or 7 promising players under 25 & year that has not started....so perhaps, a little bit of optimism.

I mean....Briggs...jump off a friggin bridge if its that bad !!!! Root for the Nets. Its one thing to be honest & critical in your evaluations. Its quite another to be such a daily buzzkill re: the team this site is built for & downright exuberant re: any other team.