another season of questions. many will be answered in time. it could be good or bad. the one thing i have learned from being a knick fan for over fifteen years is this: expect the worse. especially the past three years. now we have a team that could be a good seed in the east or lottery bound.

pg- not great, like always. we have'nt had an all-star here since circa 90 with strickland and jax. ward is servicable but not like the ward of 2000. his knee is bothering him and he does lack the mobility he once had to defend well. he is only an average defender when he once was a good one. he can still hit a decent percentage of three pointers and if dice comes back he will greatly benefit from the double team. but i expect him to be trade soon or not on this team this time next year.

sg- a position that was once our strength is now our major weakness. i am worried about houston. he had surgery awhile back and still having problems. now this is a man who played the playoffs with a severe ankle sprain ( i turned my head when is saw that in 2000). so he can tolerate a great amount of pain. this is a setback because he had a marvelous year last year. he was hitting his jumpers and aggressively driving the lane. i see him being tentative this year when he comes back. he will avg. 18ppg which is far less than what we need from him.

sf- van horn is the only bright spot from preseason. he shot well and drove the lane. he also rebounded well and ran the floor. but can he sustain that throughout the season? recent history says no. he needs to have a career year with dice and houston very questionable. he must have a 20ppg/ 7rb type of year which probably will not happen. plus the cascade of boos he will sustain for 41 games won't help.

pf- if dice comes back and he is of form, our strongest position. if dice does not come back to form, still our strongest position, which is not saying much. dice is coming along slowly which is fine. but he can not stay out any longer than december or our season is lost. i think thomas could do well here to but in preseason he seemed to have lost his timing and aggressiveness. mutumbo will help him. this position is not a weakness anymore.

c- signing mutumbo was a no brainer. lets see how much he has in the tank. i think he should avg. 25 mpg. chaney wants more. bad news. we can not overexert mutumbo. he is not 30 anymore. he is considerably slow and injury prone. yet, defensively, he is our most valuable knick. without him, it is dunking time for all of the nba. so managing his minutes is very important and one that chaney must do. we need him in the game at crunch time.

bench- what can i say? they stink. spoon is a good rebounder but his skills are declining considerably. he can not score in the post anymore. shannon anderson is quick and athletic but he has an iffy jumper and very sporadic. eisley is going back to being a bum. frank williams should improve and probably the one bright spot. othello is a good low post scorer but can not do anything else. the rookies will get more time at the end of the year but now they must wait.

overall: i gave the knicks the benefit of the doubt last year but they came up very short. now i know better. even if we did have our best lineup, i feel people are going to come in and out of rotation because of injuries. this inconsistency will hurt the team considerably. i used to think dice is the key but now houston was always the answer. if he is not 100%, which is the most likely scenario, another trip to the lottery.

record: 41-41

Even at full strength (meaning full strength Dice and H20), this team is not very good, mainly because there are no defenders (Mutumbo is not the paint presence he used to be, but is still the best defender we'll have this year), no runners, and little rebounding. Take away Dice and Houston, and there's no real scoring. I almost pity Van Horn. The fans will blame him for what looks to be an abysmal season. Only some serious good luck will help the Knicks now.

PG - Harper was better than Strickland or Jax. We got him on the tail-end of his career, and he played amazing ball against Sam I Am in 1994. The guys we have now are slow on D, slow on O, can't move the ball up the floor, and Eisley just can't shoot the ball very well. Ward at least has a good 3pt shot. If Frank is ever going to crack a rotation, this is his big chance.

SG - Even when healthy, Allan Houston is a spot-up jump shooter, like Hornacek used to be. He can only create his own shots when the planets are aligned a certain way (1999 ECF vs. Indy). With this injury, he'll be even less effective. His D is spotty at best, he lacks intensity, and he can't cut to the basket well. His backup is now Eisley. Thrills.

SF - KVH teams get to the playoffs, and then he disappears. All Dolan wants is to be in the playoffs, so KVH is perfect for him. I'm sorry, but Shanderson is a SG, not a SF. He's too tiny to be a forward. He looks like Rip Hamilton out there. A slow, inconsistent, overpaid SG who isn't worth third-string money. Bigtime liability. Like I said, KVH is the fans' scapegoat.

PF - We have a lot of them, none of them very good, except for McKnee, who may never be good again. One thing's for sure. It's all or nothing for this guy when he tries to come back. May as well go for it. If Kurt doesn't play his face off the next month and a half, he's wasted his chance to get traded to a better team as a quality backup.

C - This guy couldn't get minutes in NJ last year over a 2nd year nobody, and over here he's our starter. I like the guy. He's funny and smart. But even when he was at his peak, he was like gun aimed at his own team's foot. Clogs up his own team's lane, doesn't score well from inside, doesn't post well. Still, better than KT or his backup, the guy who used to carry KVH's jock back in Utah.

Do I sound enthusiastic? Hey, I'd love for these buffoons to make me eat my words. I'd love for them to play beyond themselves, even though it would make Layden and Dolan look good. This kind of thing happens once in a blue moon in sports. A seemingly awful team becomes a sleeper success. I just don't think it's in the cards for our Knicks. Sad, but true.

KVH probably will be the top scorer, but if the team loses the fans will still blame him. And by that, I mean he will be booed at the Garden.

Van Horn's only saving grace this year will be is the Knicks are healthy enough (read: Houston & Dyess) to still win regardless of his contribution.

However it goes, he'll only be here for a year. That's how it goes down with KVH.

The way he'll look this (and hopefully his only) year, you may want to pick the blunt up, bruh. Buy an ouce of Arizona, two dutches and roll a Godfather. Maybe that will help dull the pain.