khandor’s sports blog

Q. How good can the New York Knicks become, if they get 100% healthy?

A. With the addition of a solid, good-sized, PG like Jeremy Lin, and a full line-up that looks like this:

OWNER – James Dolan

GENERAL MANAGER – Glen Grunwald

HEAD COACH – Mike D’Antoni

STARTERS

PG, Jeremy Lin [acquired December 27, 2012]
OG, Landry Fields
SF, Carmelo Anthony
PF, Amare Stoudemire
C, Tyson Chandler

KEY SUBS

PG, Baron Davis
OG, Iman Shumpert
SF, Bill Walker
PF, Jared Jeffries
C, Steve Novak

RESERVES/EXTRAS/OUTS

PG, Toney Douglas
PG, Mike Bibby
PF, Renaldo Balkman
PF/C, Josh Harrellson
C, Jerome Jordan

New York should be good enough to qualify for the playoffs and, perhaps, advance to the EC semi-finals.

Prior to completing their recent trade for Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman and Anthony Carter, the New York Knicks were 28-26/.519 and in 6th place in the Eastern Conference Standings.

Q1. How have the Knicks performed since making that trade?

A1.

In a way that has actually been fairly consistent with what was first said here … back on Tuesday, February 22, 2010 … would most likely be the case.

As Donnie Walsh/GM and Mike D’Antoni/HC continue to fill-in places on New York’s roster, it will be most interesting to see if this changes significantly, during the remainder of the regular season schedule and into the playoffs.

Last night’s game between the Houston Rockets and the Toronto Raptors served as an interesting benchmark for the on-going development of these two teams.

Toronto Raptors 92
HOUSTON ROCKETS 116

Complete Game Summary 

At the moment:

Toronto is 31-28/.525, 2nd in the Atlantic Division, and 5th in the Eastern Conference; while, Houston is 30-29/.508, 3rd in the Southwest Division, and 9th in the Western Conference.

Both teams played last night’s game without several key players in their respective line-ups, due to a variety of physical ailments/injuries:

Toronto
1. Chris Bosh/PF-C, leg injury [day-to-day] 
2. Jose Calderon/PG, arm injury [day-to-day]
3. Hedo Turkoglu/SF, leg injury [incurred last night]

Houston
1. Yao Ming/C, foot injury [expected to return next season]
2. Kyle Lowry/PG, leg injury [day-to-day]
3. Trevor Ariza/SF, hip injury [day-to-day]

Examining the complete rosters for each team:

is an interesting exercise when considering:

i. Chris Bosh/PF-C becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer;

ii. Chris Bosh is originally from Dallas, Texas;

iii. The relative “NBA talent” base on these two rosters;

iv. The “playoff prospects” for these two teams:

A. This season, and
B. Beyond the current season. 

———————————————
 

 Loading ...

After splitting W’s away from home this past weekend it’s easy to see how and why the Raptors and the Knicks currently occupy the 13th and 14th spots in the Eastern Conference standings. 

Game 1, Sat Apr 04 2009
FINAL SCORE: Raptors 102, KNICKS 95
Complete Game Info

Although the Raptors played poorly overall, shooting just 40.0 [FG%], they were still able to make enough 3PT shots [9-24/37.5%] to outscore the Knicks who were simply pathetic … i.e. 4-18/3PT% [22.2], -5 Turnovers [15/10], -3 Rebounds [44/47].

Quentin Richardson played 23:14, off the bench at the #2/OG position, and finished -14 [+/-], despite doing some good things individually [+14/kPER]. 

The 07:36 stretch which New York played with the PG/OG/SF combination of

Nate Robinson + Quentin Richardson + Jared Jeffries [-6, +/-] 
Nate Robinson + Quentin Richardson + Wilson Chandler [-7, +/-]

to end the 3rd quarter [03:56] and begin the 4th [08:20] was particularly poor, turning a 2 point lead into a hefty 11 point deficit, from which the Knicks never recovered.

What changed in the 2nd game of the weekend set to tip the balance in favour of the Knicks?

Game 2, Sun Apr 05 2009
FINAL SCORE: RAPTORS 103, Knicks 112
Complete Game Info

#1. Several Knicks played at a much higher level offensively, including David Lee, Wilson Chandler, Jared Jeffries, Chris Wilcox, Nate Robinson and Larry Hughes.

#2. Several Raptors had their individual game’s drop noticably, including Andrea Bargnani, Shawn Marion, Jose Calderon and Joey Graham.

#3. The Knicks outscored the Raptors by 27 points from the 3PT-line [i.e. New York 13-25/.52.0%; TORONTO 4-13/.30.8%], shot a higher FG% overall [New York/50.6%; TORONTO/44.3%] and improved their Turnover Differential [New York 12; TORONTO 12 = 0].

Did the Raptors play worse? Or, did the Knicks play better?

The Knicks played better, improving their TOTAL productivity by +28 [kPER]; while the Raptors improved theirs by only +4 [kPER].

The sad reality for both of these teams is that neither one is very good this season, in comparison with the other solid playoff squads in the Eastern Conference, i.e. Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphi and Detroit, and each will need to make important changes this off season … specifically, to some of the players in the #3-15 slots on their respective depth charts, who are simply not consistent enough to get the job done on a consistent basis … in order to separate itself from the other, as well as the rest of the mediocre teams in this half of the NBA, i.e. Chicago, Charlotte, Milwaukee, New Jersey and Washington, who are very similar in overall ability.

1st Quarter
8:58 Bos 33 NYK 30

Having (finally/temporarily?) settled on the following rotation …

STARTERS: PG/Fred Jones, OG/Jamal Crawford, SF/Q-Richardson, PF/Zach Randolph, C/Eddie Curry;
SUBS: PG/Nate Robinson, G-F/Jared Jeffries, F/David Lee, F/Renaldo Balkman 
RESERVES: G/Mardy Collins, PF-C/Malik Rose, C/Jerome James

the New York Knicks (13-27) are playing their best basketball of the season, winning 4 of their last 5 games (vs Det, vs Was, @ NJ and @ Mia) and, today, are playing tough against the Boston Celtics (unlike last time).

Q: What’s the key to the Knicks improved play of late and their heightened expectations for the remainder of the season?

A: The total absence of Stephon Marbury from their team.

Knicks: Stephon Marbury made decision to have surgery now

Despite their status as multi-million-dollar salaried, high profile employees, Real Life can sometimes be harsh for professional athletes … when they reach the END OF THE LINE.

Such is the case, precisely, in this instance, for the Knicks and Starbury. 

If he’s actually played his final game (ever) for his home-town team, both the Knicks and Stephon Marbury will be better off for it.

Let’s sincerely hope that both sides of this equation can, at last, see the light (of good reason) and, either with a straight ‘Buy Out’ or a trade – plus a renewed commitment to playing team basketball, defense & rebounding - put this franchise back on the road to respectability. 

LIVE (In-Game) UPDATE:

3rd Quarter
12:00 Bos 59 NYK 45 … Knicks Starters, this half: Robinson, Crawford, Jeffries, Lee and Randolph

06:38 Bos 68 NYK 52 … Q-Rich (who can shoot) subs in for Jeffries (who can’t)

05:20 Bos 70 NYK 54 … Curry subs in for Lee … the Knicks are going in-reverse

02:57 Bos 80 NYK 63 … Paul Pierce and Q-Rich both get tossed from the game, picking up their 2nd techs apiece … Joey Crawford’s in the house … Fred Jones subs in

00:31 Bos 82 NYK 70 … the C’s lead is now cut to 12

4th Quarter

12:00 Bos 82 NYK 70 … Knicks Starters: Robinson, Crawford, Jones, Randolph and Curry … vs the Celtics’ 2nd unit, i.e. Eddie House, Ray Allen, Tony Allen, Leon Powe and Big Baby Davis

11:41 Bos 82 NYK 72 … Kevin Garnett subs in for Leon Powe … things are about to get very interesting … versus the Knicks BIG line-up, without Mr. Pierce

08:20 Bos 89 NYK 81 … coming back from 19 down, the Knicks are fighting hard today … with Boston already in the ‘penalty’ free throw situation

06:15 Bos 94 NYK 82 … Knicks’ time-out

04:41 Bos 100 NYK 83 … Knicks’ time-out, again, after the C’s stepped on the gas with consecutive hoops by KG, Davis (O-Reb dunk) and House … Lee subs in for Randolph; Jeffries subs in for Curry; Knicks trying to go with a ‘small’ line-up

02:27 Bos 107 NYK 87 … the Knicks hit a scoring wall after cutting the lead to 8 … ‘White Flag’ time in Gotham

00:00 Bos 109 KNY 93

Not nearly good enough but, still, a far cry from a 45 point shellacking.

Better days ahead (?) … for this once storied franchise.