Who's the Knicks' starting 2-guard? Landry. Landry who? Landry Fields, the rook above from Stanford. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

As many of y’all have probably already heard, second-round draft pick, rookie Landy Fields, has surprisingly won the starting shooting guard spot for opening night.  It had seemed like Wilson Chandler had it wrapped up (particularly with potential best SG fit Kelenna Azubuike still recovering from injury), with Toney Douglas’ inspired play having possibly given him a shot.  So it was quite a shock that Landry, who did have good preseason and summer league performances, came out on top.  A couple of brief thoughts on it:

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Kobe bites his shirt! Does that mean he's worried the Lakers won't be on top this year? Nah, probably he just forgot to eat dinner. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

With the season beginning tonight, it’s time to rank how strong all the teams are at this point.  This isn’t who will be strongest at the end of the season or who will have the best regular season.  This measures how strong each team is right NOW.  If a team engaged in a seven game series today with any of the teams listed below them, I’m saying they’d win.  So yeah, injuries count big time.  And chemistry.  And like, how good they are.  It’s basically a highly complex formula that you mere mortals wouldn’t understand.  Either that or it’s all based on pure opinion.

1. Los Angeles Lakers — Even with the recovering Kobe shooting 28% this pre-season they’d still beat everyone.  Hell, he only shot 24% in Game 7 of Finals.

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Patrick Ewing Jr has not had the same post-Georgetown success that his dad had. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks, needing to cut their roster down to the league-mandated 15 players, chose to cut Patrick Ewing Jr.  This is the second time in three years that we’ve sent our former franchise player’s son packing.  Supposedly Poppa Patrick even tried to put in a good word and convince management to keep his boy on our squad.  Instead, we opted to keep Shawne Williams.

A couple of facts:

-The 15th player pretty much never plays.  Maybe if it’s a blow-out or if there’s a bizarre set of circumstances like last year in Golden State where every single player got injured, but otherwise forget it.

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Gallinari, like everyone on the Knicks not named Stoudemire, has vacilated between inconsistent and awful. (Yardbarker.com)

While Amar’e Stoudemire has been a Master of Consistent Brilliance during the preseason, his fellow Knicks have been Apprentices at the Temple Of Inconsistency & Mediocrity.  As Buckets’ reader Brendan pointed out in his comments: will anyone else step up?  To have any hope at making the playoffs, let alone securing more than 35 wins, we need at least one more guy to produce regularly at a solid level.

The possibilities for the other rock to lean on have been flawed in both different and similar ways.  Point guard Raymond Felton was supposed to be our other huge upgrade partly because he simply wasn’t Chris Duhon.  While Felton has had a few games with decent assist totals, his shooting has in fact been consistently Duhonesque.  Yup, poor shooting and inconsistent assist numbers hasn’t inspired the Garden Faithful with hope.

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Ray Felton's been coming along slowly. With only one preseason game left, will he be ready when the season starts next week? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

As hard as it is to glean anything from preseason games, it’s even harder when we sit most of our starters, like in last night’s 118-91 pummeling by the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers.  Coach Mike D’Antoni decided to give Amar’e Stoudemire, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari the night off.  Throw in the fact that Kelenna Azubuike is still recovering from injury, and it’s quite possible that we had four of our five eventual starters sitting.  How come those particular guys didn’t play?  My guess is because they’re the three guys who’ve had tons of experience playing in D’Antoni’s system so Coach wanted to give the other players more “real” game time to run it.

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New whispers of Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks... for the 17th time. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Sorry things have been sparse here lately but I’ve been traveling, and now it looks like it’s possible a certain Carmelo Anthony also could travel to the Knicks.  A few weeks ago, it seemed like his trade to the Nets was a sure thing.  Even after that fell through, many journalistic idiots (like say, me) propagated the unfounded rumor that the Denver Nuggets were bitter with the Knicks and refusing to listen to us.  But it turned out, shockingly, that they weren’t running a business worth hundreds of millions of dollars as though they were spiteful five-year olds who when they get mad cover their ears and won’t listen.  They just weren’t enamored with the options we offered them.  According to ESPN.com, things have now changed:

The offers the Knicks have proposed have always centered around packages including Anthony Randolph, the expiring contract of Eddy Curry and a first-round draft pick they would acquire from a third team, and New York has softened its stance on including forward Danilo Gallinari in a trade.

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Anthony Randolph, still figuring out the game of basketball, apparently didn't know that you're not supposed to lift up the other guy and carry him to the basket. Talk about embarrassing. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Sorry this didn’t come out earlier, but here are my belated thoughts on Knicks-Celts pre-season game #1 (they play again on Sunday in the neutral territory of Hartford, Connecticut):

-Many questioned whether Amar’e Stoudemire was worth the $100 million contract, and so far he’s been a man amongst boys.  He had another insane evening where he shot nearly 70% from the field, plus he got to the free throw line an impressive 15 times.  In just 27 minutes.  However, again the rebounds were anemic at just 5.  But he did also get 2 blocks, so at least he’s looking to protect the basket a bit more than he has the last couple of years.  Warning, most of the rest of this post is negative after this.

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If Timofey Mozgov doesn't work as center tonight, maybe it's time for Amare to strap it on and man the middle. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

KnickerBlogger interviews New York Times writer Howard Beck who intelligently wonders if perhaps we should move power forward Amar’e Stoudemire over to center?

Mike Kurylo: Speaking of Amar’e – is he really going to play the 4 exclusively, primarily, or occasionally? What’s your take from what you’ve seen in practice?

Howard Beck: That’s a great question because over the last week or so, watching Turiaf struggle a little bit and watching Mozgov flash between promising and foul prone I’ve been thinking about that same thing. And I’ll ask Mike D’Antoni about that today when I get there. In Phoenix, the Suns were widely successful with Amar’e as their so-called undersized/non-traditional center, and I don’t know why the Knicks can’t be successful as well. I think they have to (try) a banger/traditional center next to Amar’e to help him out and keep him out of foul trouble. But I think there is a lot of merit of playing it the Suns way – which is go undersized at every position and just outrun the other team up and down the court. You know there are only a few true centers who are scoring centers in the league anyway, so it’s not as if Amar’e Stoudemire is going to just sit there every night and get banged on by low-post/back-you-down centers. There just aren’t many of them anymore. I think we’ll end up seeing Stoudemire at the 5 a lot, but I think Mike D’Antoni doesn’t want to start that way. He’s inclined to, if he can, keep Amar’e at his natural position.

Personally, while I’ve enjoyed pushing all the Mozgov Could Be Great propaganda, I just have a hard time picturing him being a big contributor for the first few months of the season (if not longer).  Initially I’d actually assumed that we’d eventually realize we needed to move Amar’e to the 5 spot not just because both Moz and Turiaf are more 10-20 minute guys rather than starters, but also because we’d be itching to give Anthony Randolph more minutes.  Even though we’ve mentioned Randolph in the center conversation, he’s really more suited to play power forward or small forward.  Which are the ideal positions of probably our two best players in Stat and Danilo Gallinari, thus limiting the backup minutes available.  So I assumed we’d need to play Stat at the 5 to allow Randolph more time.  The problem is Randolph’s been so mediocre in training camp/pre-season, the coaching staff correctly hasn’t been searching to get him more minutes.  Perhaps he’ll grow more comfortable as the season goes on and will work his way into the starting line-up.  Beck, however, predicts that we will indeed move Amare over eventually, but it will be to get Kelenna Azubuike in at shooting guard.

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Move over Felix and Oscar, there’s a new, even odder couple in town.  Former Knick fan fave Anthony Mason makes one think of hustle, toughness, solid defense & rebounding, making the most out of one’s limited abilities, and surprisingly intelligent passing.

Words to describe Eddy Curry?  Indifferent, lazy, poor defender & rebounder, never fully tapped his incredible abilities, and a guy who’d rather turn the ball over than pass it back out to a teammate.

No, these two guys are not developing a sitcom or reality tv show (although I’d pay big bucks to watch that).  Instead, according to the New York Post

The Knicks have enlisted former Knicks defensive stalwart Anthony Mason to work with Eddy Curry and try to motivate him to save his career, The Post has learned.

Mason, a former Knicks forward who embodied the team’s defense and toughness from the 1991-1996 glory days, wore a Knicks coaching shirt yesterday and appeared briefly on the court. But mostly Mason’s work with Curry will be behind the scenes, in the weight room where they will be workout partners.

Curry, who could be cleared for practice in the next two weeks, is out with a right hamstring strain, but the Knicks also want him to lose more weight and Mase is on the case.

Curry was not permitted to go to Milan and Paris, partly to work out with Mason.

Mason, out of Springfield Gardens, is trying to get back into the league as a coach/special instructor.

[Knicks President Donnie] Walsh said the Curry idea made sense because Mason, also trying to drop a few pounds, already was using the team’s practice facility to work out.

First, let me apologize for mistakenly writing and bashing Curry for not going to Europe to bond with the team.  It had been reported that he had chosen to stay behind which I thought was a big mistake because it would only further alienate him from his new teammates.  Second, I’m impressed that Walsh hasn’t given up on Curry since nearly everyone else in the world has.  Honestly, as the Post says in their first line, if Mason is able to turn Curry around, it would more save Curry’s career than help the Knicks.  So that’s a pretty nice move by Walsh.  Third, along those same lines, since Mason is trying to break into coaching circles, this is also a pretty generous move on Walsh’s part to give him his shot.  If anything, this seems more like a really nice goodwill move rather than an intelligent basketball decision, but since owner Jimmy Dolan is made of money, who cares?  Fourth, Anthony Frickin’ Mason and Eddy Curry together????

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Over at SportsIllustrated.com, Ian Thomsen does an Atlantic Division preview with a very dispiriting view of the Knicks chances.  Naturally he lists the Celtics as the top team in our division, but sadly we come in fourth out of five, only ahead of the Toronto Raptors, but with Philadelphia at number two and New Jersey at number three.  While my hopes have dimmed a bit after our first two pre-season games (although I’m hoping our performance tonight will renew my faith — particularly you Ray Felton), if we end the season behind both those teams I will be really, really, really, really, really, really bummed.  I’m talking really, really.  Here’s the summary capsule, but there’s also a video preview of the Knicks at the link:

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Lastly, on an even more depressing note since it’s about real life and not fluff like basketball, NBA Fanhouse tells this sad story:

Former New York Knicks captain Ray Williams was driving away last week in his faded, 1998 Chevy Tahoe, finally regaining possession again after it sat in the transmission repair shop for almost a year, waiting for him to scrape together $2,900 to pay the repair bill.

He was beaming. It was one proud moment for a homeless man.

[...] The triumphs of “Sugar Ray,” Williams are dramatically different today.

Williams, now 55, was once the toast of the Knicks and Madison Square Garden, where he captained the team that won 50 games during the 1980-81 season, more than any other Knicks team in a 15-year span. He earned his nickname because of his laid-back manner and his sweet style of play, averaging 20.9 and 19.7 points in back-to-back seasons.

A year later, he helped the cross-river New Jersey Nets open a new arena, leading them in scoring, through a 20-win improvement and into the playoffs. In the final game of the regular season, he scored 52 points against Isiah Thomas’s and Bill Laimbeer’s Detroit Pistons, setting a franchise scoring record that still stands today.

Timofey Mozgov (R.) starts at center tomorrow; how will he deal with the pressure? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

On Twitter Chris Sheridan posted that Timofey Mozgov has won the starting center spot.  Sounds like reporter conjecture (which I’m starting to realize Sheridan does a bunch) rather than actual news.  Coach Mike D’Antoni might be leaning that way, but no way has he 100% decided that because he’s concerned about foul trouble.  At the very least, he’ll wait and see how Moz does in his first start on Wednesday against the Celtics (and potentially the-still-extremely-capable-at-getting-opposing-centers-into-foul-trouble Shaq).

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More useless Twitter news?  The NY Post’s Mark Berman twatted:

Eddy Curry is doing shooting drills on his own here at #Knicks practice. Looking OK. Probably back sooner than later.

Reportedly a few words got cut off from the message and it was supposed to read: Probably back [to being a disappointment] sooner than later.

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Don't get frustrated or angry if we're one of the worst teams after 5 games. But if we still are after 17 or 25 games, then heads should roll. Things will only get worse. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

I’m here to warn you: the Knicks will most likely have a losing record after five games.  But don’t give up on ‘em.  New Yorkers expect, nay, demand, a lot from their teams and woe be the team that doth disappoint.  As fans, we often don’t see the big picture and instead focus on the here-and-now.  Denizens of the Big Apple frequently suffer from the old what-have-you-done-for-me-lately syndrome.  After the Knicks sucking for so, so, so, so, so long, there is huge guarded optimism about this season’s team.  But don’t lose hope and turn bitter again when we have one of the worst records in the league just five games into the season.

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Maybe Darko Milicic (R, shooting over Pau Gasol) finally gained the maturity to succeed this year. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

While some speculated that Darko Milicic, the former glued-to-the-bench Knick traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves last year, would seek revenge in last night’s game, instead he showed maturity, acknowledging he was the problem, not Coach Mike D’Antoni.  As the New York Post reported, he even gave helpful advice to the Knicks’ new Russian center Timofey Mozgov:

The Knicks may've lost to the TWolves, but Wilson Chandler may've proved his worth after his lackluster training camp performance. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Playing in Paris, the new-look Knicks’ first game against a NBA opponent, resulted in them coming in second place to the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-100.  Many people (including yours truly) feel that this year the TWolves could be the worst team in the league, so it ain’t a great sign that we lost to ‘em.  Still, as it is pre-season, just as one can’t read too much into our win on Monday against Milan, neither can ya read too much into a loss here.  Then again, we’ve got nuthin’ better to do, so let’s voice our concerns, knowing full well that by the next game they may be obsolete.

Except for the rooks (oh, and all the healthy players got minutes today), pretty much everyone else looked worse than in the first game.  Amar’e Stoudemire managed only 11 points on 36% shooting.  Will that bring back out all the nay-sayers who said he’d struggle without Steve Nash giving him easy feeds.  I hope not.  Two games does not a sample size make.

The turnovers were lower (19) than last game, but still not low enough.  The two other main issues I brought up also came back to haunt us in this outing:

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During Worlds, Timofey Mozgov had this impressive block on the Phoenix Suns' Goran Dragic from the other side of the basket. It's plays like these that has Knick coach Mike D'Antoni giddy. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

As the New York Post reported, Knick coach Mike D’Antoni is gaga for new Russian center Timofey Mozgov.

“I’m trying to hold down, curb my enthusiasm,” D’Antoni said of Mozgov. “I think he can play. I don’t see anything bad.”

D’Antoni has tried to stop himself from gushing over Mozgov like he used to gush over Danilo Gallinari and David Lee. But D’Antoni has already called Mozgov training camp’s brightest light.

[...]  D’Antoni even marveled at Mozgov during yesterday’s light practice.

“I watched him,” D’Antoni said. “He can shot the ball, nice rhythm. He has a learning curve. But he’s smart. He makes foul shots. His confidence is good. He’s definitely not shying away, attacking the basket.”

One quick comment, and this is just something odd I’m pointing out, so don’t put extra weight in this, but since we’ve been talking about race issues this past week, isn’t it kinda odd that all three of D’Antoni’s faves have been honkeys?

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Earlier in the summer, Amar'e Stoudemire threw out the first pitch. Last night, he threw down for the Knicks for the first time... and it was gooooood. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Yes, believe it or not, though it’s just pre-season, the Knicks have a winning record thanks to their victory over AJ Milano!  It wasn’t always pretty, with a tight first half and 28 turnovers leading to 31 points, but in the end we comfortably came out on top of Danilo Gallinari’s former Italian team, 125-113. In honor of this being not only our first game with our new nucleus, but also our first winning record in who knows how long, we present you with a Super-Sized Buckets today.

Good News:

-Amar’e Stoudemire went nutzzz, scoring 32 points shooting nearly 77% from the field.  No that’s not a typo, that isn’t his free-throw percentage, that’s his field-goal percentage.  From the line he shot nearly 85%.  He was dominant down low, but also even took one three-pointer, which of course he made.  And he did it in just slightly over 28 minutes.  That’s efficiency fer ya, folks.

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Rookie Landry Fields (L) has shown he may be able to play in the NBA. However, Andy Rautins (R) has been eh. Should we write him off as dead weight (no offense intended to you, Eddy Curry) (Source: Yardbarker.com)

A few days ago I linked to an article that claimed the Denver Nuggets wouldn’t pursue Carmelo Anthony trade talks to us because they believed the Knicks had inappropriately engaged in back channel conversations with Melo during the summer.  As some pointed out, it oddly wasn’t pointed out what we’d done, leaving us confused and surprised.  We’re not alone.  RealGM reports Knicks’ President Donnie Walsh had this to say about the Nugs giving us the cold should ‘cuz they think we’re big ol’ cheaters:

LeBron has been pilloried by fans and media alike for his Decision. Is it a coincidence that all the media in this shot look pretty, well, white?

Apparently last night on an interview on CNN, both LeBron James and his manager, Maverick Carter, said some of the reason that people are so furious at LeBron is due to racism, as detailed in this report:

In the interview, CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien asked about “The Decision,” the one-hour special on ESPN in which James announced that he would play for the Heat, and some of the negative headlines it generated.

“It’s just about control and not doing it the way it’s always been done or not looking the way that it always looks,” Carter said.

O’Brien asked if race played a role.

“I think so at times,” James said. “It’s always, you know, a race factor.”

Said Carter: “It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure.”

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Does Coach Mike D'Antoni think Danilo Gallinari can get any better? See below. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

What are Amar’e Stoudemire’s expectations for the season?  Probably the same as many Knick fans.  ESPNNewYork reports:

Stoudemire said he thinks this season it is the playoffs or failure.  “Anything less than [the playoffs] would not be a success.”

[...] Not making the playoffs could cost Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni and president Donnie Walsh their jobs.

[Stoudemire also said,] “my dedication is to the city of New York. I came here when the Knicks were down and out. I think the Knicks fans feel the exact same way about me. I think they have my back.”

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With more and more reasons coming out why we won't get Carmelo Anthony, it's no wonder Donnie Walsh looks so unhappy here. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Apparently one of the reasons that New York is no longer mentioned as a feasible trade destination for Carmelo Anthony is because his current team, the Denver Nuggets, believe that during the summer the Knicks illegally tried to convince Melo to join them.  ESPN.com reports (italics below are mine):

The New York Knicks, who are Anthony’s team of choice, have continued to pursue Anthony, but Denver is currently cold to all conversations with the Knicks. While the Nuggets aren’t enamored with New York’s roster, they also believe the Knicks may have done some back-channel recruiting of Anthony over the summer, and are therefore determined not to work with the Knicks except as a last resort, according to sources.

Ugh.  Sadly, that’s not even the only reason we won’t be able to get a deal done:

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Even the reporter on the right is clearly bored of dealing with Eddy Curry repeating his problems. (Source: New York Times.com)

In the continuing depressing saga of Eddy Curry, once again he showed up to training camp overweight and by the third day had injured himself.  Even though we all pretty much counted him out, I still actually find it shocking that he seems to completely not care about this season since he’ll be playing for a contract.  As it is now, being out-of-shape and injured, there is a decent chance he literally might not play at all this season.

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Will Lala Vasquez's desire to be in the New York area be enough to convince Melo to join the Nets? Depends if he cares if the team sucks. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

As currently reported, the Nets would get Melo and give up Devin Harris, Derrick Favors plus presumably a draft pick.  The Nuggets would get Favors and the draft pick.  Harris would go to the Charlotte Bobcats, who presumably aren’t too excited about having either DJ Augustin or Shaun Livingston be their starting point guard.  In return, they’d give up Boris Diaw (allowing Ty Thomas to start, what with them having given him a huge ol’ contract in the off-season).  Diaw would go to the Utah Jazz, who in turn would send Andrei Kirilenko to the Nuggets.  The report says the Nuggets would receive multiple draft picks, not just one, so either the Nets would be giving up more than one or another team would be ponying up one.

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Ronny Turiaf (shown here rejecting Baron Davis, aka Boom Dizzle) could be our starting center. But on the other hand, couldn't he remain glued to the bench? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Yesterday, in Part I of this preview, we discussed how Coach Mike D’Antoni tends to prefer a shorter rotation (meaning a bunch of our 15 person roster won’t see the court) and what types of players excite or disgust him.  One new note, based on a press conference that D’Antoni and Knicks President Donnie Walsh held (which Buckets reader Brendan linked to in the comments section of Part I, and which Chris Sheridan and many others have reported) is that apparently Coach is enamored with Timofey Mozgov after seeing him practice in person for the last few days:

“Have to see how he adapts to the NBA game, but at 7-1, 270 pounds, he’s maybe our most athletic guy, that runs, that’s a great guy, that has great hands and knows how to play,” D’Antoni said. “(Watching him) I’m like, ‘Yeah, what am I missing?’ So I’m happy with him and excited about the possibility. We have a lot of guys we should be excited about the possibilities.”

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Wilson Chandler, aka Wil The Thrill, has been one of the few good Knicks the last two years. Will he be a starter again this season, or could he >gasp< find himself glued to the bench? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

With a few days before training camp and positional battles begin, today we discuss who will likely be the Knick starters, part of the rotation, and the bench boys.  We have considerable depth, but as we said when discussing previews from other sites, Coach Mike D’Antoni has consistently shown himself to be someone who likes a short rotation.  Why?  A combination of it being easier to develop chemistry amongst a smaller group and the fact that he literally doesn’t seem to trust lots of players.

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Read the phenomenal story of Lance Allred (left, playing for the Idaho Stampede in the D-League). (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The little known story of basketball player Lance Allred is far more amazing and improbable and than even the saga of the sporting world’s most famous Lance A.(which is pretty impressive since that dude won a kajillion Tours De France, including once after surviving testicular cancer).  His journey is so unusual that I feared if I fully described who he is in my post’s title, everyone would think I was making up a story or attempting some dumb joke.  Believe it or not, Allred is a seven-foot deaf Mormon who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), grew up in a polygamist community, is a published author, two-time D-League basketball All-Star, and the grandson of a fundamentalist sect’s prophet.  And there’s more.

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When discussing coaches on the hot seat, consider Don Nelson's butt on fire. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

In the first part, we looked at the coaches in good positions, but today we look at the ones in bad and ugly situations.  We went over those who were Bulletproof, 95% Bulletproof (aka Impervious), Pretty Safe and Fairly Safe.  Note that this is NOT about which coaches are good or bad, simply what the chances are that they get fired during the season.

Maybe Safe… Um, Maybe Not:

Jim O’Brien – Pacers: They’ve been mediocre for several years now and Bird hasn’t fired O’Brien yet.  Although the addition of new exciting young point guard Darren Collison gives hope for the future, there’s no reason to expect this team to be any better this season without a halfway decent power forward, so unless the team’s significantly worse than last year, O’Brien should make it through the season.

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Could Phil Jackson, the Zen Master himself, get fired this season? Of course not, you idiot, but where do the rest of the coaches in the league stand? (Source: Yarbarker.com)

I seem to be in a major ranking/grading/evaluating the whole NBA-mode, so today we’re gonna check out which coaches might not make it through the season.  Every year it seems like about six coaches are fired in the middle of the 82 game grind.  And a few more who made it through the grist then are shown the exit during the summer.  But we just finished one summer, so we ain’t talking about the next one yet.  Just this upcoming season.  Who’s Bulletproof?  Who’s on the Hot Seat?  And where does everyone else stand and why?  Well, you’re lucky ‘cuz we’s about’s ta answer these questions fer ya.

Bulletproof (again, for this upcoming season only):

Doc Rivers – Celtics

George Karl – Nuggets:  He might quit if it’s too grueling, but ya can’t fire a guy coming back from cancer.  Ya just can’t.  If you disagree, grow a heart, dude.

Phil Jackson – Lakers

Gregg Popovich – Spurs

Jerry Sloan – Jazz

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Can the multi-talented Anthony Randolph help bring the Knicks back to the playoffs? Read Knick season previews from lots and lots and lots and lots of places. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

With training camp two weeks away and no new bball news, lots of folks have written previews/predictions for how the Knicks’ll do in the upcoming 2010-11 season.  Here are some of ‘em and a couple other things:

Kurt Helin at ProBasketballTalk predicts 38 wins and here’s one of the things he said:

More likely the Knicks will: Be the most fun Knicks team to watch in years, however will take some time to gel. They may well get off to slow start. They won’t play great defense. There will be flashes of what Randolph can do, Stoudemire will throw down over people, Gallinari should take a step forward. There are pieces here and they are going to be entertaining to watch.

But how to fit all the pieces together will take time. Look for some D’Antoni to throw out wild lineups for a while, trying to find what works. Can a Felton/Toney Douglas backcourt work? Traditional positions will be out the window as Stoudemire may get some run at the five and the three, all with the goal of just finding lineups that work. By the end of the season, if they are healthy, expect the Knicks to be playing better.

As I wrote yesterday when talking about D’Antoni, he hasn’t shown himself to be a tinker during the season unless things are really awful (like they were last year when after a year and a half he finally conceded that Chris Duhon shouldn’t be a starting point guard).  D’Antoni’s decent teams tend to start out pretty smooth from the get-go and continue on at that pace with very little tinkering.

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Today we examine many fans' most hated move by Donnie Walsh: hiring Mike D'Antoni. They might not like our opinion on the subject. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

We’re now on the last lap of our Donnie Walsh analysis.  We’ve gone over his Drafting ability (which earned him a zero), his Trades (a nice +3) and his Free Agency Signings (another +3).  Today we look at the remaining qualities under the amorphous title of General/Other, which includes just two large elements.  Honestly, I’ve now forgotten some of the things I was gonna examine in this section, so forgive me if I don’t include something important.  I should’ve jotted down quick notes when I started this endeavor but I never remember that I tend to never remember things.  It’s a curse.  I think.  I don’t remember.  But probably it has been.  Anyway, The rules again:

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Many view Kevin Durant as the Second Coming. We see him and the Thunder more likely coming Third through Sixth. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

On Wednesday we discussed what the Eastern Conference Playoff picture looks like, and today we go west, young man.  We’d already previously examined how much teams improved/regressed during the off-season, but now we’re talking about how they stack up against each other.  Meaning, we gave Orlando a zero for their summer and the Wizards a +2, but now we’re here to tell you that yes, of course Orlando is still gonna be far better.  For those who haven’t seen those posts on off-season grades, click the following links to see what we had to say about the Northwest, Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Pacific and Southwest Divisions.  Also, we’re only gonna be talking about the regular season here.  So even though we don’t think the Celts will be a top two team record-wise, it doesn’t mean we think they’re incapable of making it through the gauntlet again.  Lastly, some teams will be put in clusters ‘cuz they’ll likely end up with similar records and what does a victory or two here and there matter amongst friends?

#1 – Lakers

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With the Cavs having lost the unstoppable Delonte West (plus I think some other guy?), how bad will they be? You might be surprised by our take. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

We already examined how much teams improved/regressed during the off-season, but now we’ll talk about how they stack up against each other.  Meaning, we gave Orlando a zero for their summer and the Wizards a +2, but now we’re here to tell you that yes, of course Orlando is still gonna be far better.  For those who haven’t seen those posts on off-season grades, click the following links to see what we had to say about the Northwest, Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Pacific and Southwest Divisions.  Also, we’re only gonna be talking about the regular season here.  So even though we don’t think the Celts will be a top two team record-wise, it doesn’t mean we think they’re incapable of making it through the gauntlet again.  Lastly, some teams will be put in clusters ‘cuz they’ll likely end up with similar records and what does a victory or two here and there matter?

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Timofey Mozgov goes for a rare rebound against Hedo Turkoglu (Source: Yardbarker.com)

While the focus for most American fans during the World FIBA Championship is on Team USA, Knick fans might want to check in on Russia too since they feature our new backup center: Timofey Mozgov.  He doesn’t start for them, but the 24-year-old has either led or tied for second in scoring on two of their three games.  Yeah, he was non-existant in the third, but still those other two games show serious promise.  And in those two games, he only played 21 and 20 minutes, meaning he outscored most of his teammates even though in each one four or five of them got more playing time than him.

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Will Kelenna Azubuike be healthy enough to fight for the starting 2-spot at training camp? Magic 8 Ball says: Highly Unlikely. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Some quick updates on the Knicks three second-round draft picks.  For those who don’t know, on August 12th, the team officially signed Andy Rautins.  According to the New York Times, Landry Fields had his contract finalized yesterday.  Meanwhile, the raw seven-footer, Jerome Jordan, who was underwhelming at summer league while looking overwhelmed, will be playing in Europe for the upcoming season while we retain his rights.

As far as the injured Kelenna Azubuike, a potential starter at the shooting guard position, the Times verifies what has been a concern for a while now: he might not be healthy enough to play by the start of training camp.  Like most athletes with that competitive desire, he of course thinks he’ll be good to go.  However, with him not yet cleared by the medical staff to even run or jump, that seems unlikely.

They now have 14 guaranteed contracts, and the max is 15.  Supposedly Patrick Ewing Jr. has been invited to training camp, but with the team presumably wanting some roster flexibility, it would appear his chances of snagging a guaranteed contract is a long-shot.

Is Stephon Marbury playing in a high school gym? No, that's China. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

With only 5 Knicks returning from last year, if you haven’t been keeping track of things this summer, you may wonder where everyone else ended up?  Here are some one-line updates and links for those answers:

-Al Harrington signed with the Denver Nuggets.

-Chris Duhon joined the Orlando Magic.

-David Lee was sign-and-traded to the Golden State Warriors.  He was trying out for the USA World Championship team but broke his finger and had to withdraw (which is a shame ‘cuz the team is undersized and could’ve used him — plus maybe it would’ve gotten him to focus on his defense more).  The man is still the ultimate mensch, returning to New York to attend the funeral of a Knicks security guard (and alas, the only Knick, er, or former Knick, to do so).  And how did he spend his first full day in the Bay Area?

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Turiaf looks like a leader here, don't he? Okay, well, sometimes the best leaders are the ones who look least likely (source: Yardbarker.com)

Slam Online has a nice quote from newly acquired backup Knick center Ronny Turiaf that seems to indicate that he’s ready to step up to be a leader:

“I can’t speak of the past because I wasn’t there on a regular basis so I can only speak for myself and what I know I can bring to the table. All I’m gonna tell you is that we are going to have guys that want to play hard, guys that’s definitely coming here to win, to make the necessary sacrifices to win basketball games. So I’m not here to speak about the past, but the future. We’re going to play team basketball. We are going to be playing together and everybody moving in the same direction. We are all here to win basketball games—not to lose. That’s something that people need to understand is that we will do whatever it takes, whatever we have to do to make that happen. I have talked to plenty of guys on the team already. I was on vacation with Gallo[Danillo Gallinari. I have been working out with Stoudamire every day. I have worked out with Toney Douglas. I have talked to Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton. And of course my two partners from Golden State Azubuike and Randy [Anthony Randolph]. So I’ve been in contact with a lot of those gus and I think they are excited and there is one key word: winning.”

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Instead of Phoenix having Amar'e Stoudemire as their starting power forward, they've now got this guy. No, not LeBron, the guy he's dunking on: Hakim Warrick. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Today we go west, young man, to examine the summer moves of the Pacific Division teams: the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers & Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings.  We already did the Eastern Conference, so click on the following links to check out our reviews on the Atlantic, Central and Southeast.  Our last two posts will be on the Southwest and Northwest. For the newbies to this series, the rules are again listed below, but the rest of y’all can skip down to the team listings.

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1. Rather than a standard A through F grade or going for a scale of 1-10, we shall use a system that my friend Noriko loves: -5 through +5.  It helps differentiate things a bit more, ‘cuz like if a team gets a C-, it’s better than an F, but is it good?  With this scale, you can instead give the team a +1, which shows that they improved the team, but only marginally.  Or maybe they get a zero ‘cuz they didn’t hurt the team or help it.

2. These grades are not, I repeat, NOT, about how good teams will be.  It’s purely about how good their summer moves were.  For instance, the Sacramento Kings may get a higher grade than say the Orlando Magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m insane and think the Kings will be better than the Magic.  It simply means I like the Kings’ draft of DeMarcus Cousins more than the Magic’s signings of Quentin Richardson and Chris Duhon (although I haven’t fully examined those teams yet, so I dunno what grades they’ll get).

3. The grades are not just based on how good the players are, but also their contracts.  Joe Johnson is definitely a top 30 player, but with Atlanta giving him $120 million/6 yrs, the largest contract of anyone this summer, his signing turns into a negative.

4. Grades will be scaled based on what each team could have done.  Meaning the Lakers, a team over the salary cap, get major kudos for snagging Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, Theo Ratliff and bringing back Shannon Brown with their limited financial flexibility, but if say the Knicks, with all their cap space, had only made those moves, I’d pan ‘em.

5. Fit matters.  I like Kirk Hinrich a ton, and had he gone to the Pacers (a team that desperately need a point guard before yesterday’s Collison trade), I would’ve raved about the move.  However, Washington acquiring him is a bit odd considering they already have PGs in John Wall and Gilbert Arenas.

And now…

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Is Philly's drafting of Evan Turner enough to compensate for the rest of the Sixers' mostly stagnant summer? Probably not. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Okay, with all the big names off the board, it’s time to look at how each team fared during the off-season.  Here are the rules:

1. Rather than a standard A through F grade or going for a scale of 1-10, we shall use a system that my friend Noriko loves: -5 through +5.  It helps differentiate things a bit more, ‘cuz like if a team gets a C-, it’s better than an F, but is it good?  With this scale, you can instead give the team a +1, which shows that they improved the team, but only marginally.  Or maybe they get a zero ‘cuz they didn’t hurt the team or help it.

2. These grades are not, I repeat, NOT, about how good teams will be.  It’s purely about how good their summer moves were.  For instance, the Sacramento Kings may get a higher grade than say the Orlando Magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m insane and think the Kings will be better than the Magic.  It simply means I like the Kings’ draft of DeMarcus Cousins more than the Magic’s signings of Quentin Richardson and Chris Duhon (although I haven’t fully examined those teams yet, so I dunno what grades they’ll get).

3. The grades are not just based on how good the players are, but also their contracts.  Joe Johnson is definitely a top 30 player, but with Atlanta giving him $120 million/6 yrs, the largest contract of anyone this summer, his signing turns into a negative.

4. Grades will be scaled based on what each team could have done.  Meaning the Lakers, a team over the salary cap, get major kudos for snagging Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, Theo Ratliff and bringing back Shannon Brown with their limited financial flexibility, but if say the Knicks, with all their cap space, had only made those moves, I’d pan ‘em.

5. Fit matters.  I like Kirk Hinrich a ton, and had he gone to the Pacers (a team that desperately need a point guard before yesterday’s Collison trade), I would’ve raved about the move.  However, Washington acquiring him is a bit odd considering they already have PGs in John Wall and Gilbert Arenas.

The upcoming parts will look at the Central Division, Southeast Division, Pacific Division, Southwest Division and Northwest Division. Okay, so without further ado, here’s Part I, where we start out in our own backyard, examining…

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Will the Knicks finally have a defensive presence in the paint? Yes, we will. Meet Ronny Turiaf (source: Yardbarker.com)

ESPNNewYork.com, more specifically Tom Haberstroh, just ran three separate articles on the new arrivals from the Golden State Warriors: Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike & Ronny Turiaf.  Most had some interesting things to say.  Here are bits, starting off with the post on Anthony Randolph:

Despite his bounce and length, Randolph got blocked once every 10 shots which places him among the most-swatted power forwards in the game, indicating he could use the extra strength at the rim.

Yikes, that ain’t a very encouraging stat.  Maybe we can just have him leave the blocked shot until his last attempt, and then only have him put up 9 shots?  Hah, take that stats!

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Two summers ago Anthony Randolph was disappointed the Knicks took Danilo Gallinari instead of him. Now he's finally here to show his stuff. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Here are some excerpts from our new young prodigy, Anthony Randolph, in a New York Times interview:

Q. Why do you feel like the Knicks and Mike D’Antoni are a good fit?

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How likely is it that Chris Paul could be traded to the Knicks? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The last 24 hours have been swamped with intrigue over the news Chris Paul supposedly asked his team the New Orleans’ Hornets to trade him. Much like with Chris Bosh rumors earlier this summer, there apparently is even a list of potential places. New York is reputed to be on the list as well as the Dallas Mavericks, Orlando Magic and Portland Trailblazers. There are differing reports as to whether or not the Lakers are also on the list. So let’s look at this in two parts. First, how do the Knicks chances stack up compared to the other teams on the list? Second, with the Hornets set to meet with Paul on Monday, what’re the chances he even gets traded shortly. Note that the emphasis is on shortly because the rumor is he wants to be traded before the season begins. Down the road there are too many variables (new ownership, how the team does, future possible trades, Paul’s chemistry with the new coach and GM, etc.) to know how long things could last if New Orleans convinces CP3 to give ‘em one last chance.

Also, before we get into it, let’s set some things straight. Some fans and pundits have ripped Donnie Walsh for striking out with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade and “only” getting Amar’e Stoudemire. Let’s be honest: if Amar’e wasn’t on the team, no way Paul even lists the Knicks. I’ve heard others argue we should’ve kept Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford & David Lee, and while that might’ve kept us as a 6-8 seed in the East these last few years, that ain’t a team that’s gonna excite a Chris Paul either. So let’s give some due first to Walsh for creating an excitement about the team that hasn’t been here since the days of Van Gundy.

Knicks, Mavs, Magic, Trailblazers or Lakers?

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Knicks were down as much as 20 points, but managed to come from behind led by Leo Lyons who dropped 21 points in 21 minutes. Marcus Landry continues to impress by scoring 12 points in 12 minutes. Landry Fields had another solid game and scored 8 of his 14 in the 4th.

The dissapointments continue for Andy Rautins and Jerome Jordan who have both struggled to make even somewhat of an impact so far. Rautins shot 4 fg’s, all were 3′s. I expected Rautins to be a major project, but Jordan has really struggled doing much of anything thus far. Today, Jordan only grabbed 3 boards and 6 points.

Patrick Ewing may be an assistant coach for the Magic now, but yesterday he came to watch his son play for the Knicks! That kinda made me happy. Am I just an ol' softie? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Yes, it’s just summer league, but I have to say I get a bit of a soft spot in my hear for the kids of former New York legends’ Patrick Ewing and Darryl Strawberry. Sure, Ewing Jr. and D.J. ain’t that good, and if there was a headline it was the Knicks versus Lakers with standouts Landry Fields and Derek Caracter respectively. But what can I say, I’m nostalgic. Am I the only one? If you loved their pops, do you find yourself strangely rooting for their kids to have some success too? Let your voices be heard in the poll (or if you have further thoughts, write ‘em in the comments below).

Anthony Randolph is thrilled to be out of Don Nelson's doghouse in Golden State, with a chance to finally explode in the Big Apple (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The proposed sign-and-trade that Chase wrote about (David Lee to the Golden State Warriors for Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike and Ronny Turiaf) has been finalized. As I wrote in the comments section of that post, I’m not thrilled with the move. While Randolph (the heart of this trade) has otherworldly potential, he does play the same position of power forward as our big new signee, Amar’e Stoudemire. For potential to blossom, a player needs minutes like a flower needs water. Sure we could possibly move Amar’e over to center for a bit, but Amar’e has said many times in the past that he prefers to not play that position. Personally, I think we should’ve kept David Lee to make up for Amar’e rebounding deficiencies, ‘cuz it ain’t like Randolph is known for doing the dirty work or the little things. Plus Lee is a known commodity that could be used in a trade. If Randolph doesn’t develop, then we gave away a home-grown All-Star for nuthin’.

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In fact, LeBron’s decision can conceivably help us eliminate another team that outperformed us: the Charlotte Bobcats. Since LeBron didn’t take our money, we can now address one of our weaknesses (point guard) by going after the Bobcats’ Ray Felton. Should we get him, we not only improve ourselves, we weaken Charlotte. That would leave only 6 definite playoff teams (Boston, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago and Milwaukee). With us being perhaps the only team in the bottom half of the east to improve, we would be one of the favorites to land one of the remaining two spots.

Sure, it’s a huge drop to go from LeBron making us potential contenders to being happy just to make the playoffs, but hey, let’s not kid ourselves, we haven’t even made it to the second season in a long time.

Baby steps.

Then next off-season we add a Tony Parker or Carmelo Anthony and can jump to being a top four team in the east.

Since Dwayne Wade was concerned about how Chicago didn’t look after their former stars post-career, he should check out that we even look after our former stars’ kids!  We’ve got Pat Ewing Jr. playing for us!

As per the Knicks’ website:

New York will play five games beginning on July 11, all at Cox Pavilion. For the fifth consecutive year, all five of New York’s summer league games will be televised locally on MSG. The Knicks are scheduled to play Denver, L.A. Lakers, Toronto, Detroit and Washington during the week, with all games beginning at 1:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m. (PT). In addition, the team will hold a two-day mini-camp at Clark High School, July 9-10, with media availability following both sessions each day.

The team’s itinerary is as follows:

Practice at Clark High School
Friday, July 9 9:00 a.m. & 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, July 10 9:00 a.m. & 5:00 p.m.

Games at Cox Pavilion
Sunday, July 11 vs. Denver 1:00 p.m.
Monday, July 12 vs. L.A. Lakers 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, July 14 vs. Toronto 3:00 p.m.
Friday, July 16 vs. Detroit 1:00 p.m.
Saturday, July 17 vs. Washington 1:00 p.m.

* – all times are Pacific time zone

Summer League 2010

The Knicks summer league roster has been released.

New York Knicks Summer League Roster:

PG – JayCee Carroll

SG – Andy Rautins

SF – Landry Fields

PF – Charles Garcia, Michael Washington, Leo Lyons

C – Jerome Jordan

Schedule:

New York Knicks Summer League Schedule -

7/11 vs Denver
7/12 vs Lakers
7/14 vs Toronto
7/16 vs Detroit
7/17 vs Washington

Tune In!

Take a deep breath, Izzo, and wait before you agree to coach the Cavs. (source: Yardbarker.com)

ESPN reported that Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo still hasn’t yet decided whether to accept the Cleveland Cavalier’s offer.

He flew to Cleveland on Thursday and visited with the Cavs for several hours. Among the questions facing Izzo is whether he’d be able to coach LeBron James, who can’t sign until July. Izzo, however, can’t wait that long to decide.

If he’s smart, Izzo most definitely should wait that long.  The history of college coaches coming to the NBA is yuckier than an alligator testicle stew.  Izzo has been so successful for so long, that a lot would be expected from him.  But if LeBron James leaves, uh oh.  Izzo can channel the spirits of Reds Auerbach & Holtzman, throw in some mojo from Pat Riley and Phil Jackson to do the world’s best coaching job EVER, and this team would still take a huge step back.

For the rest of my post, click here to read it on the main FanSided page.