Tim Chisholm
9/3/2007 3:36:50 PM
TSN.ca basketball columnist Tim Chisholm is looking at one NBA team each day for the month of September.

Season Previews
New York Knicks

Slowly but surely, the Knicks are starting to resemble an NBA franchise. It's been years since they have gambled on an over-the-hill veteran making max or near-max dollars, roster stability has taken over for roster turnover and last season they were even kinda-sorta involved in a Playoff race.

This season the team will look to exploit its advantage in the low-post even more so than last season with newcomer Zach Randolph joining mainstay Eddy Curry in the new look Manhattan frontline. While both are fairly abysmal defenders, they give some serious offensive firepower to a team looking to rejoin relevance before the turn of the century. While neither player comes cheap, they provide New York with its best chance in years to buy its way back into the playoff fray in the Eastern Conference.

Last season, Eddy Curry broke out and started to assert himself as a legit force as an NBA centre. True, part of the reason that happened was that each and every play was designed to find him in the low post and force him into the role of primary scorer for the Knicks, but for the most part the desired effect was achieved; Curry became a 20 point per game scorer and did so at an incredibly efficient 57% shooting clip. His girth and his array of post moves proved troublesome for many teams last year and it is a trend that will likely continue since so few NBA teams employ centres with the sheer size to match up with Curry.



With that said, though, Curry is not only a horrendous defender - as mentioned above - but he's also a pathetic rebounder. Playing 35 minutes per game, Curry only managed to pull down seven boards, which would amount to less than his own teammate Quentin Richardson's output (7.2), a small forward who played two less minutes per game. This lack of defense and rebounding speaks volumes to Curry's lack of intensity and focus during NBA games. While he may have all of the talent in the world at his position, he has to be forced into the game offensively by his coach and teammates, and even when he is scoring at will, he seems disinterested in exploiting his mismatches every possession.

That fact is very likely why Isiah Thomas went out and secured former Blazer Zach Randolph to team with Curry. While Randolph won't improve the defensive deficiencies of Curry, he is a far more active player on the court, demanding the ball on offense when he feels he has an opportunity to score, which he can do in the midrange and in the low post, and he is a tenacious rebounder. In many ways Randolph represents everything that Curry is not as an NBA player on the court because he simply won't be denied. His confidence borders on (and at times passes into) arrogance, but at least he has the game to back it up. Last year was a big turning point in the career of Zach Randolph in terms of slimming down and tapping into his potential, and now he'll be in the NBA's largest market with a chance to show the world what he feels they've been missing.

The question everyone has, though, is whether or not there is enough ball to satisfy these two, along with guards Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson. All need the ball to be effective, and all will want the ball more than they are going to get it. Toss in the fact that last season's standout forward David Lee is going to need at least as big, if not a bigger role than he had last year and that leaves a lot of juggling for coach Thomas to do between now and November 1.

Regardless of whether or not this is the season the Knicks return to the playoffs, they should be commended for their efforts to get their franchise out of the NBA doghouse. This is now a team that seems to have a focus and a direction and each season that passes brings them closer to financial solvency. When that day comes this team may actually be able to go out and secure some much-needed shooting to pull defenders away from Curry and Randolph and allow them to maneuver their way in the post where they are especially effective. Who'd have thought that 'effective' would a word used to describe any part of this franchise even one year ago? But here we are. Let's see how long it lasts.

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP

PG - Stephon Marbury

Despite the fact that this guy can't seem to do or say anything right when there is a microphone in front of his face, he deserves some credit for what he did on the court last year. While he'll never be the kind of point guard that leads his team in the way that Jason Kidd or Steve Nash does, he was truly trying to become the kind of on-floor leader that Thomas was looking for, and as frustrating and unrewarding as it may have been for Marbury, he gets points for trying. Because of his attitude and his contract, he'll likely be in New York until at least 2009 when his contract expires and he's thirty-two, so he's going to have to continue down the path he started last season because he and the demands of the franchise aren't going to split any time soon. Plus, with no other option at the point now that Steve Francis is gone he's going to have plenty of court time to figure out what it is that NBA coaches have been pleading for his whole career.

SG - Jamal Crawford

There isn't much one can say about Crawford that hasn't already been put out there. Here is a tremendous, yet streaky, scorer that would be greatly serviced by being placed on a better team with better coaching and better teammates where he could figure out what it would be like to be a Ben Gordon or a Monta Ellis; the kind of player who can get away with just scoring because of the quality of players around him. However, Crawford remains stuck on a team where Marbury duplicates his skill set and he must allow Curry, Randolph and Stephon to get the right of first refusal before he can assert his role in the offense. He'd be one of the most attractive trade targets if only his contract wasn't in the $8 million per year range because teams like Orlando and Minnesota could desperately use his backcourt scoring. As it is, he is forced to stick it out another four years in New York blue and orange.

SF - David Lee

There is no guessing who is going to get this position come the start of the season. Thomas has been astoundingly against starting David Lee in the past and may very well continue to ply his services off of the bench, but as of right now he is their best, and most sensible, option at the small forward spot. He is an exceptional rebounder - especially on the offensive end - and he is an obscenely efficient shooter at 60%. Should he not be tabbed to start for the Knicks look for Renaldo Balkman or Quentin Richardson to man the spot, each bringing a very distinct look to the position, be it defense and hustle or shooting and rebounding. No matter what, Thomas has options here and just because someone starts the season here doesn't mean they'll end it here.

PF - Zach Randolph

It is a very good thing that Randolph has developed a fairly consistent mid-range game, because otherwise they'd have to widen the lane at Madison Square Garden to make room for both he and Curry to operate down there. If Randolph can maintain the kind of production that he demonstrated last season while also staying out of trouble he will most likely become the new franchise player for the Knicks. As much as they've tied certain seasons to Marbury and Curry in the past, Randolph is better than both of those players and he has shown a greater ability to work on and improve his game than either of those two. If he pans out as the team's starting power forward, the Knicks may try to get out of the four remaining years on Curry contract while the getting is still good.

C - Eddy Curry

Of course, perhaps Curry could turn around and prove that he, too, is capable of development as a player..okay, stop laughing. Curry has demonstrated an almost stubborn approach to development and commitment as an NBA player. To watch the Knicks last year was to watch the most reluctant 20 point per game scorer in the NBA operate. Curry looks utterly unconvincing in the role of franchise player, regardless of what his stats would lead you to believe. He was literally force-fed the ball for every minute he was on the court, most big-men's dream, and he still looked to pass out or over-dribble too much. Combine that with the fact that he is laughably disinterested in rebounding for someone his size, and I don't even know if he's even been asked to play defense given how bad he is at it and this guy starts looking more and more unattractive as a centerpiece all the time. Say what you will about Isiah Thomas, but he likes his guys to at least think of defense and rebounding once in a while and if Curry can't bring himself to at least make an effort in either of those areas Thomas will tire of his offensive abilities quickly.

It's Canada. It's not even worth reading.

They should stick to hockey, eh.

I think it was a very accurate article. I did not get the same impression about Jamal from this article that you did Nix. I thought he was pretty much saying what we've all been saying. That Jamal will be a better player when he has a coach that is willing to reign him in. I thought his take on all the players was pretty accurate. AS for Curry's on the ball defense. The center position is the weakest offensively in the NBA. We need his off the ball defense to be better than his on the ball defense. We need to prevent the lay-up lines we gave up last year if we want to be serious and take this to another level instead of just being better than we have been the last two years.

Posted by Bippity10:

I think it was a very accurate article. I did not get the same impression about Jamal from this article that you did Nix. I thought he was pretty much saying what we've all been saying. That Jamal will be a better player when he has a coach that is willing to reign him in. I thought his take on all the players was pretty accurate. AS for Curry's on the ball defense. The center position is the weakest offensively in the NBA. We need his off the ball defense to be better than his on the ball defense. We need to prevent the lay-up lines we gave up last year if we want to be serious and take this to another level instead of just being better than we have been the last two years.

Yeah maybe i just took it the wrong way about Jamal. I think Isiah will be tougher on him this year tho. He likely has no choice with Zach on board. He can't have him just going off anymore.

I agree that Curry can't shy away from his responsibility to help deter penetrators. Part of his problem is that he tended to be unaware of what was going on around him. He often didn't see the penetrator until it was too late. Good post defenders are always aware of what's happening around them and not just their own man. I don't know if they've gotten that thru to him, but I hope so. To me most of his problems are mental. He has the ability to do the things physically, but his lack of fundamentals on D is a huge problem. If he was mentally prepared and anticipating out there, Curry has the physical ability to be a better help defender. Part of it is just reacting quicker, almost before it happens. Then he could get into position faster and it would offset his lack of quickness like Camby or any other great shotblocker has. Can he gain that kind of mental skill? I don't know, but they should at least try to get him to work on it more.

Craw had to shoot last season cuz who was gonna score? Channing? Craw had a green light and even though he shot poorly, he did carry the team on just about all of the knicks wins.

With zach here and curry still here, Crawford has targets. The knicks have a focus. Craw doesn't have to bomb away every possession.

Zach to me brings in that element that channing was supposed to. I think that he will be the difference in a lot of games this year. Tough rebounds and baskets will belong to the knicks. The depth the knicks have now is real.

We have been saying next year for a long time but I think next year is finally coming.

Posted by islesfan:

It's Canada. It's not even worth reading.

They should stick to hockey, eh.

love the exceptionalism there.