#15 New York Knicks
It's September, we don't have much to talk about, so we'll look at the east from bottom to top between now and training camp starting with the train wreck that is the New York Knicks.
Last Year in Review
Isiah Thomas took over as President of the Knicks December 22,2003. He completely revamped the roster and has just hired himself as the fifth coach since his hiring. Last years Knicks team spent about $110 million and produced 23 wins. Add about $30 million in luxury taxes and another $10 million or more to Larry Brown, Lenny Wilkens & whoever else they are still paying and they averaged spending around $6 to $7 million per win.
The facts about last year:
Record: 23-59, missed playoffs, last in Atlantic Div.
Scoring 95.7 vs. 102.1 ppg
FG%: 45.47% vs. 46.66%
3 pt shooting: 320/884 .362 vs. 565/1495 .378
Rebounds 41.4 vs. 38.6
Assists 17.9 vs. 21.3
Steals 6.8 vs. 8.2
Blocks 3.3 vs. 5.3
Turnovers 17.0 vs. 13.5
In short, the Knicks were lousy in every statistical category except rebounding. They need to improve perimeter defense, interior shot blocking, assist/turnover ratio, outside shooting.
They are the classic example of how not to build a team.
Best players last year were:
Marbury, PG 16.3 ppg, 6.4apg
Crawford, SG 14.3 ppg
Curry, C 13.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg 0.78 bpg
Rose, SF/SG 12.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg
Frye, PF 12.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg 0.72 bpg
Francis PG 10.8 ppg, 3.5 apg
2006/2007 Prospects
Are gloomy at best. The roster is full of expensive ball hogs and undersized expensive power forwards. Isiah takes over as coach and the team is bound to improve somewhat. Last year Brown used something like 43 different line-ups and no one knew their role. That will change this year.
New players include Jared Jeffries, Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins who are all role players. Of the three only Jeffries will likely see many minutes. They lost C Jackie Butler to San Antonio who played well for them in 55 games last year.
One thing to look for is some variety of thug basketball. Isiah's Detroit teams during his playing career were full of cheap shot artists like Mahorn and Lambeer. The Indiana teams he coached also showed signs of thuggery, often at the expense of execution. Isiah seems to revel in and encourage this type of play. Softer players like Eddie Curry & Jerome James may lose minutes to Malik Rose and Maurice Taylor if they don't play along.
Games vs. Magic
Only 3 games scheduled this year vs. the Knicks. The Knicks season could be over by the time the Magic play them. Last year Magic were 3-1 vs. Knicks.
Feb 3 home.
Feb 20 @NY
Mar 26 @NY
Odds and Ends
There are over 80 international players in the NBA, accounting for almost 20% of the players. New York has no international players on its roster.
82games.com says the Knicks earned $38.0 million of their salaries last year.
Isiah Thomas head coaching career record is 131-115 in 3 years with Indiana. Indiana made the playoffs each year.
Prediction:
30-35 wins, last in Atlantic Div, miss playoffs.
Last Year in Review
Isiah Thomas took over as President of the Knicks December 22,2003. He completely revamped the roster and has just hired himself as the fifth coach since his hiring. Last years Knicks team spent about $110 million and produced 23 wins. Add about $30 million in luxury taxes and another $10 million or more to Larry Brown, Lenny Wilkens & whoever else they are still paying and they averaged spending around $6 to $7 million per win.
The facts about last year:
Record: 23-59, missed playoffs, last in Atlantic Div.
Scoring 95.7 vs. 102.1 ppg
FG%: 45.47% vs. 46.66%
3 pt shooting: 320/884 .362 vs. 565/1495 .378
Rebounds 41.4 vs. 38.6
Assists 17.9 vs. 21.3
Steals 6.8 vs. 8.2
Blocks 3.3 vs. 5.3
Turnovers 17.0 vs. 13.5
In short, the Knicks were lousy in every statistical category except rebounding. They need to improve perimeter defense, interior shot blocking, assist/turnover ratio, outside shooting.
They are the classic example of how not to build a team.
Best players last year were:
Marbury, PG 16.3 ppg, 6.4apg
Crawford, SG 14.3 ppg
Curry, C 13.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg 0.78 bpg
Rose, SF/SG 12.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg
Frye, PF 12.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg 0.72 bpg
Francis PG 10.8 ppg, 3.5 apg
2006/2007 Prospects
Are gloomy at best. The roster is full of expensive ball hogs and undersized expensive power forwards. Isiah takes over as coach and the team is bound to improve somewhat. Last year Brown used something like 43 different line-ups and no one knew their role. That will change this year.
New players include Jared Jeffries, Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins who are all role players. Of the three only Jeffries will likely see many minutes. They lost C Jackie Butler to San Antonio who played well for them in 55 games last year.
One thing to look for is some variety of thug basketball. Isiah's Detroit teams during his playing career were full of cheap shot artists like Mahorn and Lambeer. The Indiana teams he coached also showed signs of thuggery, often at the expense of execution. Isiah seems to revel in and encourage this type of play. Softer players like Eddie Curry & Jerome James may lose minutes to Malik Rose and Maurice Taylor if they don't play along.
Games vs. Magic
Only 3 games scheduled this year vs. the Knicks. The Knicks season could be over by the time the Magic play them. Last year Magic were 3-1 vs. Knicks.
Feb 3 home.
Feb 20 @NY
Mar 26 @NY
Odds and Ends
There are over 80 international players in the NBA, accounting for almost 20% of the players. New York has no international players on its roster.
82games.com says the Knicks earned $38.0 million of their salaries last year.
Isiah Thomas head coaching career record is 131-115 in 3 years with Indiana. Indiana made the playoffs each year.
Prediction:
30-35 wins, last in Atlantic Div, miss playoffs.
posted by WeRDevos @ 11:09 AM
5 Comments:
At 1:42 PM,
OVERWADED said…
That was very well written. I can't believe I'm going to have to wait until the last team in the east to read the Magic's review since they're obviously the best! ;) OK, I'm just playing, but that was good, kind of sad how bad NY is, yet humorous. You couldn't have said it better when you said: "they are the classic example of how not to build a team."
I don’t know what this means, but I loved the Pistons style of play back in the 80’s and early 90’s. NY might show flashes of that, but David Stern won't let it happen. He might let a few things slide, since I'm sure the NBA is dying to have NY back in the market of basketball.
I guess that explains why I can't stand the touch fouls and phantom calls that go on all the time in today's game.
Still, I don’t think NY will recover until Isiah is gone.
At 4:52 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Also, Isaiah has that sexual harassment suit from a former member of the Knicks front office hanging over him. Haven't heard much about that lately though... it could prove to be yet another distraction for the Knicks.
I think that Isaiah could be good for C Eddy Curry and instill some much-needed toughness in him. Curry is only 23 yrs old, and still has potential to be a bona fide NBA center.
I have to admit that when Isaiah played with the Pistons, they were very effective at what they did with their hard style of play (some might have called it dirty). It took the Bulls and Michael Jordan to dethrone the Pistons after the Pistons reached the NBA Finals 3 years in a row.
Loking forward to reading the previews of the other Eastern Conference teams.
At 10:49 PM,
Matt said…
Isiah did not have such a bad track record as a coach. However, I am amazed that he has not been fired from his position as a GM.
At 2:35 PM,
OVERWADED said…
www.hoopshype.com/previews/orlando.htm
I didn't want to get ahead of you WeRDevos, but hoopshype.com has their Season Preview for the Magic. They point out the obvious. I think our perimeter defense will be better than they are saying with Bogans and Dooling both on the roster. I also think we'll have a reliable "back up" behind Hedo with Ariza pending that Grant Hill’s health issues continue. Orlando has all the tools they need. The part that might end up being right in their preview is to question the youth and toughness. Still, I think our team is diverse enough to stay tough and have a good season. All the question marks will be answered in due time, and there are always a few surprises.
At 8:37 AM,
Matt said…
I do not think that the report is on target in many areas. What is obvious is the lack of acknowledging any consistent shooters on the team except Garrity and Redick. Look at Jameer and Hedo's numbers (Jameer: 48.3%, 42.4%, Hedo: 45.4%, 40.3% in 2 & 3 shooting respectively). These are not shabby numbers. I hope Hill doesn't pay much attention thinking he should play Garrity more. However, the report is right on our lack of depth on the front court considering Augustine being a rookie.
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