“Keep Ya Head Up”
– 2Pac
Firstly, let me state clearly that any and all words that come out of my mouth relating to the NBA contain a heavy, at times ridiculous, bias towards the Knicks. But like P.Diddy… Can’t stop, won’t stop.
Let me also say this – if I ever see Lebron in the street, he better watch out. My death stare will be so intense, who knows what will happen. Basically, he took everyone for a loooong ride. He knew all along what he was going to do, yet he had Chicago, Cleveland and New York fans believing he would come to them, especially New York fans. We put up with Stephon, we put up with Isiah, we even put up with trading away enough draft picks to select a whole new team, because there was the hope of Lebron. Well, that’s done and dusted.
Now, let me address my NBAMate colleagues (after what they said here):
J.O - The Chris Paul/Carmelo Anthony thing is not so ludicrous to suggest, Chris Paul even mentioned it in a toast at Carmelo’s wedding in New York on the weekend, right in front of the Nuggets owner!
Ant – How did we pay $100m for an upgrade of 15%? David Lee cost Golden State $80m which means we paid $20m more for Amar’e. $100m take away $80m (tell me to slow down if you need) equals $20m. That means Ant, we paid $20m for a 15% upgrade.
Now let’s look at this a bit closer.
David Lee was one of my all time favourite Knicks, I’ve followed him for every game since we drafted him. I bragged about him to friends. I watched his game dramatically evolve. I have a lot of love for D Lee, but Amar’e brings a different style of game to the floor. David Lee nets around 20 points per game, Amar’e 23. David Lee gets his points from jump shots (improved out of sight), put backs and pick and roll plays. He would be lucky to draw a double team though, very lucky. The offense Mike D’Antoni obviously feels comfortable running depends on open spot up shooters. Without double teams, this is clearly a hard task. By adding Amar’e down low, this will make life much easier for Danilo Gallinari, Toney Douglas, Bill Walker and co. Perhaps we won’t get extra points from Amar’e that will blow our mind, but he will create more openings for our perimeter players, without a doubt.
Next, the same team as last season you say? Let’s check the roster:
Toney Douglas (only received court time in the last 2 months of the season)
Andy Rautins (new to team)
Jerome Jordan (new to team)
Landry Fields (new to team)
Billy Walker (only played 27 games after coming across in the Nate Rob trade)
Raymond Felton (new to team)
Amar’e Stoudemire (new to team)
Anthony Randolph (new to team)
Ronny Turiaf (new to team)
Kelenna Azubuike (new to team)
Timofey Mozgov (new to team)
Eddy Curry (7 games last season)
Leaving two actual rotation players from last season’s team:
Wilson Chandler & Danilo Gallinari
Who just happened to be the two most consistent players to put on the blue, white and orange.
Chris Duhon, gone. Al Harrington, gone. TMac, gone. Jared Jeffries, gone. Nate Robinson, gone. David Lee, gone.
Same team as last season? Yeah, spot on buddy. And before it is argued it is the same ‘calibre’ team as last season, that shall only be proven at the end of the year, but I guarantee you we will improve. Harrington and Duhon caused so much devastation on-court last season that the upgrade to Felton and whoever steps in Harrington’s minutes will be massive. Beliiiiieve dat.
Robd – New York, laughable? Funny coming from a Pistons fan. I could leave it at that, but I won’t. Let’s just remember your big splurge in free agency, Benny G and Charlie V, how’s that working out? The one thing people seem to forget about Amar’e? He has swagger. That just so happens to be a very valued currency in NYC. Dude is going to bust his balls. Amar’e was one of the league’s most potent player post-All Star break, and let’s not forget that, averaging 27 & 10 for the home stretch of the season! If you were going to miss out on Lebron/Bosh/Wade, which all but one team did, you’d at least be happy to add a 27/10 big man, right? Apparently not according to you guys.
As for trying to replicate the offense, it’s not gonna be that far fetched, now that we have some actual shooters on the squad and a point guard who can get up and down the floor. Chris Duhon tried, and was actually successful for a few weeks when the Knicks were one of the more entertaining teams two seasons ago. The result? Z-Bo and Crawford looked so good we actually got to trade their humongous contracts. That was Mike D offence. Then we ended up with Albert Harrington and Larry Hughes and things deteriorated. I fully expect our offense to be one of the bright stories of the league this year. I agree with you that we won’t be serious contenders, of course, but we are in a far greater position than you may realise. We now have young assets, and still have cap flexibility for 2011-2012, with Felton signed for just 2 years, EC coming off the books, Mozgov having just 1 of his 3 years guaranteed and so on. Carmelo, Paul, Parker, the options are limitless. With Amar’e here, players now have a better reason to come to New York, and with Miami Thrice guys will be figuring out ways to get together and take them down. No one is planning to do that with Charlie V. Trust me.
P.S Expect several texts/IM’s/tweets/wall posts when Amar’e torches you guys.
Jobba – I appreciate the support. The past few weeks were crazy, I would go to bed late and wake up early, checking Twitter for any clues from the NY beat writers, and reading every NY/Lebron related article possible. On, “The Decision” day I was all kitted out in my Knicks gear, ready to streak. As I threw my Knicks beanie at the TV when Lebron muttered something about South Beach, my heart snapped, my fiancée become scared, and I screamed a word I hadn’t in a long time. But, moments later, I remember I’m a Knick fan for life, and got over it. Again, thanks for considering my personal well being Jobba, always a top bloke 
But the support was only needed for that day. There is NOTHING this Knicks team can throw at me that will upset me, considering the history of this ball club. Every year for the past 9 seasons I have said, “well, at least we’ll be ok next year” only to be surprised. It would take A LOT for me to be upset with this team.
P.S Thanks for Felton, the Bobbies should struggle again, and the world shall go back to normal.
Ash – Overpay for a scrub like Felton? Well, if we didn’t get Felton you’d say we have no PG, so that’s a wash. We got Felton on a 2-year deal, so what we pay him does not really make a difference. I believe we got him for $7-8m. Not the end of the world, considering Channing Frye got $30m for his latest deal.
Randolph will melt? Well, only if his mind-game playing psychotic coach Don Nelson was part of the trade. Nothing else required to say on this one. Nellie done lost it.
David Lee and Curry leading you to the playoffs? Nice thought, but definitely not going to happen. Who is going to play defense on that squad? David Lee’s strengths are rebounding, outlet passing and working the pick and roll. His most glaring deficiency? Man on man defense. He lets people shoot so he can set up for the boards. Golden State traded away Turiaf and Randolph, two guys who actually bring it on defense, for a guy who doesn’t. You didn’t need more points; you need less on the other team
And that’s a wrap.
Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire Isiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiah!
T.
Tags: 2010 free agency, Amare Stoudemire, David Lee, Lebron James, New York Knicks
Similar posts:
- What Really Happened At The NBA Free Agent Summit
- My All-NBA AFL Team
- Free Agency Flights
- The Offseason Trade Chronicles, Part 3: The David Lee Trade
- Q&A Roundtable: Lebron joins Wade and Bosh in Miami, future of mankind altered
« « Previous Post: Q&A Roundtable: Lebron joins Wade and Bosh in Miami, future of mankind altered
» » Next Post: Why Did LeBron Go To Miami? (Hint: It Wasn’t Just To Win)
0
Andrew Bogut (MIL)
Patrick Mills (POR)
18 Comments until now.
” Every year for the past 9 seasons I have said, “well, at least we’ll be ok next year” only to be surprised. ”
You summed it up right there.
Tizzle i hate to say it, but you will spend another year of sub .500 ball saying “it’s okay, next year we’ll have melo, and parker, and CP3..etc” only to be bitterly dissapointed when you land none of them. But that’s okay, cos when you don’t land anyone, the Knicks will still have a heap of cap room, and you can say “there’s always next year”…
Also if Phoenix, with their unrivaled “fountain of youth” medical staff and insider knowledge, refused to give Amare’s knees more than a 3 year guaranteed contract, then how long do you give him in New York?
Tiz, I’ve watched Randolph play for the past two seasons straight. I know his game pretty well.
Yes, Don Nelson is a few bricks short of a load, but Randolph is the kind of guy who’s gonna drive Knicks fans nuts. For every ridonkulous dunk he pulls out, he puts up three bad jump shots, overdibbles twice and gets pushed around on defense five times.
Trust me – by the middle of the season, you’ll be cringing every time he dribbles out of the paint to the elbow and puts up a mid-range J. I’ve seen him make that move in almost every game I’ve seen him play and it never failed to make me curse out loud, especially when he misses (which is most of the time).
As for GSW’s lack of defense…our We Believe teams weren’t exactly the 04 Pistons either. As long as we have one guy who can defend the best wing player on the other team (and Dorell Wright is that guy as far as I’m concerned) and someone who can protect the rim and get rebounds (Biedrins can do both when he’s fit, Lee can do the latter), we’ll at least make the playoffs. Which I’m cool with until we get new owners and Nellie gets a bus ticket.
Ash, what makes you think GSW will make the playoffs this season? Which team from last season is going to miss out to grant you the spot?
Look forward to the 2011 lottery…
love your work Tiz! Stick it to the Knick haters!!
Tizz, Warney would struggle to come up with that much spin.
re: Amare/Lee. No-one’s doubling Amare off the ball. And if Amare has the ball, he’s not passing it out, so the fact that your perimeter guys are more open is irrelevant.
re: same team, I meant that figuratively rather than literally – namely, last year your team had 1 good player (Lee), a lot of mediocre players, and some young guys. It’s the same thing this year.
Fwiw, I like Azubuike and he’s clearly an upgrade on Wilson Chandler, but neither would be starting for a +.500 team. Ray Felton is in the bottom 25% of starting NBA guards. Randolph will get stats, but he’s years away from being a winning contributor.
The other additions are either spot rotation guys (Turiaf) or junk-time guys (the rest).
Look, maybe one or more of Randolph/Gallinari/Douglas really break out, and then you might start looking realistically at trying to make the playoffs.
As it stands, your best player is a god-awful leader, your 2nd-best player (whoever that may be) would have to be the worst 2nd guy in the league…and almost none of your guys play defense.
I think D’Antoni is a superb coach, and with a lot of luck you might break the 35 win barrier. But anything more would be a huge surprise.
Bob – The Suns and Jazz are definitely weaker. The Nuggets are without their best defender (K-Mart) for most of the season.
@Ant, 35 wins is pretty harsh! I’m not a Knicks fan, but I’m putting them down for at least 40. I actually think they’ll stumble into the playoffs, the bottom of the East is still weak enough for that to happen.
agree with the rest of your points though. it will be an interesting experiment. how far can a team get by only playing at one end of the floor?
sorry ike, for some reason your comment was registered as spam so I just unblocked it. maybe the Spam filter is configured to detect implausible Knicks predictions?
Ash, c’mon man, what you smokin??? My Pistons will make the playoffs before your Warriors do. and you can take THAT to the bank
haters gonna hate ash.
dont sleep on illWill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnzj-O9E2YE
dude has skillz. Knicks will surprise.
Rob – The chronic.
Nah, I’m just an eternal optimist. It’s a requirement for being a GSW fan, along with a healthy dose of self-loathing and a liver that can handle large quantities of alcohol.
Hey Tizzle….a very nice uplifting piece.
As a lifelong Knicks fan, Im very positive about the moves New York have made already…were no longer shitty n I think well be one of the upstart teams in the East. Its ashame we didnt get LeBron, its even worse he went to a ‘heated’ rival (no pun). But I like the direction weve taken, young, uptempo guys that fit the D’Antoni system. No rings on the horizon, long way from that but the signs of a +.500 team are definitely an attainable goal. The major steal was getting Randolph, Azubuike and Turiaf in the Lee trade. Randolph has all kinds of untapped potential to be a force from the 3-5 spots, Kelenna ive always been a fan of coz hes aggressive at both ends and has a good outside shot (poor mans Pietrus) and Ronny ive always been a fan of since his Laker days. This is reaching a fair bit, but he reminds me of former Knick Charles Oakley who i adored back in the day. Raymond Felton is in a system where he can flourish. I thought he could be Baron Davis like but again, im reaching. My eye is on Russian center Timofey Mozgov, hopefully he can get some meaningful minutes to develop and speaking of which, i hope Bill Walker and Toney Douglas will continue to do so this year after flashes last season. Then there’s Danilo….ill say no more…should be a fun season….until the Heat spank us of course :p
and Amare…i just hope most of the boys stay off the IL and anything is possible…part of me would like to see T-Mac re-sign, but his fitness/health are a real worry and I wouldnt want him to take away minutes from the other youngsters we have. In fact, Ill just pretend we wont have T-Mac at all hehe. Im not banking my hopes on another summer signing which may not happen. CP3 n Melo can talk, whisper closed doors, or speculate all they want. Im used to being disappointed as a Knick fan, but ive always been loyal so i wont keep my hopes up. As long as the franchise has direction and not bloat its salary cap again on useless scrubs, ill be a very happy fan.
I’m not a Knicks fan, but I actually have faith that Mike D’Antoni can pull this rabble together. i think they’ll be a .500 team next season.
of course, going into this FA period Knicks fans would have been hoping to be a .700 team next season
Tiz I admire your optimism. It’s the way every NBA fan should be about their team prior to the season starting.
But I really think this is going to be a sinking ship. Look at Amare. He is now their star player. Do you think he is going to have a positive impact on his teammates? Do you think he’ll have a healty attitude thats all about winning and ‘the team’? Do you think he’ll work his butt off to set a defensive tone like KG did when he joined Boston?
He won’t do any of those things. It starts and ends with your superstar player, and unfortunately Amare is just a terrible example. He’s not going to inspire his teammates. He’s not going to lead them.
So because of all that, I really struggle to see how D’Antoni could get 40 wins out of this team. I think they’ll have chemistry issues and I don’t think any one Knicks player is a strong enough personality, or commands enough respect, to steer the ship right.
[...] stays positive for NY after [...]
thx for another interesting read. learn something new every time i pass by.
i just want see the knicks land a roster full of the meanest mofos on the planet. i really don’t care if they can play. mirror every position on charles oakley. i’ll watch.
Rob Triple Dee, still waiting on Gallo to be raised to the rafters on the Wall of Fame as your inaugural Doubting Thomas winner. Make it happen.
you’re absolutely right. the question is, who gets axed? i’m thinking we need a poll…
Comment!