Won the national championship with UNC. He helped the Bobcats make the playoffs with Larry Brown which is a huge accomplishment, Was a big part of the Knicks turning around into an up and coming team. Was a big part of Denver turning into one of the most exciting teams in the league last season. Don't know what happend to him last season why he let himself go during the lockout and was unmotivated in a contract yr. But he had a good streak going of helping teams reach or exceed expectations.

Key will of course be him being in shape. But he is a ture floor general, will be playing with the most talent he has played with in his career. He and Kidd at this stage though are kind of the same thing though. Would be a better fit if Felton was more of a dynamic scorer, while Kidd was the floor general. But at the end of the day 2 good floor generals can't be a bad thing.

Did someone say floor general?

Bring me the head of The Maestro!

That makes three. All proven and playoff battle tested.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/sports/basketball/new-york-knicks-hoping-the-old-raymond-felton-returns.html?_r=1&ref=sports

Knicks Can Only Hope That Felton’s Last Year Was an Ugly Aberration
By NATE TAYLOR

LAS VEGAS — The agent for Raymond Felton and two of his former Trail Blazers teammates all say the same thing: that Felton, a 28-year-old point guard, will thrive now that he is back on the Knicks after a season in Portland that everyone would like to forget. The Knicks can only hope that they are right.

Felton’s return, in a three-year deal that will pay him $10 million, helped set the stage for the departure of 23-year-old Jeremy Lin, a sensation at point guard last season who on Tuesday was headed to Houston with a contract that the Knicks decided was too costly to match.

Lin’s departure leaves Felton and Jason Kidd, 39, essentially running the Knicks’ offense in 2012-13. But even if Lin were around, said Felton’s agent, Tony Dutt, his client deserved to be the starter.

“My gut is, with or without Jeremy, I think Raymond is the better point guard,” Dutt said earlier this week. “I think he’ll be the starter regardless.

“He wants to get back to playing at a star level,” Dutt added. “He’s extremely happy about New York.”

But happy is not the word to describe Felton’s experiences in Portland last season with a team that went 28-38. Dutt acknowledged that Felton was overweight when he joined the Trail Blazers, citing the uncertainty produced by last year’s lockout, which delayed the season for nearly two months and left players wondering when, and if, they would get back on the court.

In 54 games with the Knicks in 2010-11, before he was traded to Denver in the deal that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York, Felton averaged 17.1 points, 9 assists, 3.6 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 38.4 minutes. After a bit of an awkward phase-in, he learned to click with Amar’e Stoudemire, then the Knicks’ go-to scorer, and benefited from then-coach Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo system.

Compare Felton’s Knicks numbers with those he compiled in Portland: 11.4 points, 6.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 31.8 minutes. Everything was down, except Felton’s weight.

It did not help, either, that Felton was inevitably caught up in the unhappiness surrounding Trail Blazers Coach Nate McMillan, who was fired after the Knicks humiliated Portland, 121-79, at Madison Square Garden on March 14.

Felton was Portland’s starting point guard that night; Lin was the starting point guard for the Knicks, but played only 23 minutes because the game was so one-sided.

Games like that hardly made Felton popular with Portland fans. Late in the season, Portland’s team president, Larry Miller, said bluntly of Felton: “When we brought Ray in, we thought we were getting the Ray Felton we saw throughout his career. Unfortunately, and I don’t fault Ray, it just hasn’t worked out.”

Wesley Matthews, a three-year veteran who played with Felton in Portland last season and remains with the team, said Felton had difficulty playing in McMillan’s system.

“We started off saying we wanted to run; then we stopped running and then we wanted to run again,” Matthews said in Las Vegas this week at the Trail Blazers’ summer league camp. “Between lineup changes and personalities, it was just a mess.”

But Matthews said he was confident that Felton would rebound in New York and be the player he was two years ago.

“He does a lot of things that don’t get noticed,” Matthews said. “He’s a genuine point guard who can find people, and he picks and chooses very well.”

Echoing that sentiment was guard Nolan Smith, a Portland rookie last season. He, too, was in Las Vegas and said that he had talked in recent weeks with Felton, who had said that he wanted to play only in New York.

“He’s going to have a big season,” Smith said.

Dutt said, “He’s going to be the starter.”

They may be right. But for now, a bad season in Portland still lingers in the background, something Felton will have to work to overcome.

fishmike wrote:Felton is a great pickup for us, seeing as how we need a PG and there isnt much out there. He's a downgrade from Lin though

The only downgrade from Lin to Felton is in t-shirt sales. Felton dropped 17 and 9 with the Knicks. He defended with passion and toughness. He is not a bleeder. The Answer Man is cool with that.

Jeremy Lin has the attention of every guard he will face and they will take the task of guarding him personally. Last year he was an unknown. New York City was his energy source. Toyota Center is not Madison Square Garden.

This year the back of Lin's Rockets jersey has a bullseye.

fishmike wrote:your right earl.. with the stellar track record this ownership has it was silly to doubt.

fish.mike - bitter beer face is not a good look for you.

Raymond Felton won a championship at UNC, can take a hit and has playoff experience. Jeremy Lin declined.

You do the math.

Minutes: Lin 27, Felton 38

Scoring: Lin 14.6 ppg @46%, Felton 17.1 ppg @42%

Passing: Lin 6.2 assists - 3.6 turnovers, Felton 9 assists - 3.3 turnovers

Each one has their strengths. The overall difference isn't that big.