Maybe we need Bill Walker and his sweet shooting stroke to get more minutes. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

After writing my post yesterday I saw that I’d received a sample from potential new Buckets writer, Joshua Sage, apparently using the same “Live by the three, die by the three” adage that I used.  Which, of course, is not to be confused with former television juggernaut Lost’s “We either live together or die alone” phrase.  Then again, that kinda works for bball too.  Anyway, without any further ado, here’s Joshua’s piece:

Thus far proven in-adequate by the loss of Steve Nash, from his ‘brilliant’ 7 seconds or less offensive system, Mike D’Antoni has resorted to relying almost exclusively on three pointers.

Some have argued that this isn’t the worse plan in the world and that it might actually be working if A) Raymond Felton would create more space for his shooters by mastering the pick & roll and forcing defenders to adjust to him and Amar’e, or B) the Knicks would actually hit the three pointers they’re supposed to hit.

The problem with both is one and the same. The Knicks don’t have the personnel on the floor to be a high volume three point shooting team. Felton has never hit better then 38% of his three’s (32% for his career), Toney Douglas is at 36% for his career and Chandler is an awful 30% from range (same as Landry Fields), and all three make matters worse by attempting three point shots off the dribble, increasing the difficulty of the shot and thereby decreasing their chances of making it.

The Knicks best three point shooter is Bill Walker at 41% (who NEVER gets any real playing time), followed by Kelenna Azubuike at 40% then Danilo Gallinari at 38%. After examining these averages it becomes apparent that the only Knick not hitting three’s like he should is the Rooster. No other Knick starter is good enough beyond the arc to warrant them taking a high volume of shots from distance, save for Walker & Azubuike. Toney is good enough but he continues to take far too many three’s off the dribble instead of catching and shooting.

The Knicks thus far have functioned best when attacking the rim and getting the opposing team into foul trouble. Danilo has an uncanny ability to get to the line nearly every time he drives to the rim. His mobility & ball handling for his height makes it very, very difficult for defenders to stop him from getting to the rim without fouling him. Any player that can match his 6’11″ frame can’t keep up with him (save Kevin Durant) and none that move faster can contend with his length. So if Danilo and Amar’e can get to the line at will, and Chandler’s/Felton’s strength is attacking the basket, then why rely on three point attempts?

If Mike insists on burying teams under the weight of three point makes, then why not start the teams’ best three point shooter at SG? If that is the system, then Walker is the ONLY option, at that position, in the starting 5. At least until Azubuike gets back that is.

I know everyone is high on Fields and his basketball IQ, he looks like the next Wilson Chandler, etc. The fact is he is a terrible three point shooter and the Knicks require a quality shooter with range at SG to help space the floor for Danilo, Amar’e, Raymond, and Chandler who all do their best work when attacking the rim.

Either Mike changes up the system or he removes Fields from the starting 5. The man better choose and quickly because if the Knicks hit another 6 game slide there will be fans waiting outside for him, with torches and pitchforks, like crazed farmers waiting for Frankenstein’s monster.

Gallinari, apparently bored with the game, throws up his arm ("forget y'all!") and walks away while Melo scores. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks, who had been down by as much as 16 points in the fourth quarter, clawed their way back to a tie, only to run out of time in the end against the Denver Nuggets.  For once, the offense didn’t grind to a halt.  However, much like in the game against Golden State, Amar’e Stoudemire had key misses from the free-throw line that likely cost us the game.

Over the last five years, Stat’s free throw percentage has been superb for a big man, ranging from 77.1% to 83.5%.  This year he’s shooting 72%, the worst he’s done since his second year in the league.  Last night he didn’t just shoot poorly for himself at the line, he shot poorly for like Shaq or Dwight Howard, going just 3-of-8 or 37.5%.  In a game decided by two points, that’s pretty huge.  When you miss free throws, particularly if you tend to miss them more toward the end of games, it’s clearly a mental issue.  Stat called out the team after the last game, saying they lacked a winning mentality, but one could easily make a case that he’s been the most responsible for not closing out games.

Though Stoudemire ended up with 24 points on a nice 10-for-19 shooting, he had only 6 rebounds and needs to dramatically improve his shot selection.  He tends to get the ball a little past the free throw line and then likes to try to drive to the side of his defender, getting some contact and putting up an awkward shot.  It only occasionally results in foul shots, but it always results in tougher attempts than had he just shot the open jumper when he caught it.  In fact, there were many times where he caught it in that area, with his man playing several feet off of him, and Stoudemire didn’t even look to shoot, instead passing it off to someone else.  For him to be truly dangerous, he needs to get his defenders to respect that outside shot.  That will force them to close out on him and make it easier for him to drive past them.  Right now they play a step off of him, making his drives tough even when no help defenders come over to clog the lane.

On the other side of the coin, in the world of and-that-guy-is-who?, the game featured two wonderful performances from unheralded rookies.  The Nuggets’ undrafted rookie, small forward Gary Forbes, notched 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, going 3-for-3 from distance, and adding an impressive 9 rebounds.  Not to be outdone, our own Landry Fields, who many people thought shouldn’t have been drafted, rang in an even more impressive 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting, plus an insane 17 rebounds.  By contrast, our three centers (Timofey Mozgov, Ronny Turiaf and Anthony Randolph) only combined for a paltry 5 boards.

Point guard Raymond Felton also had a good all-around game, with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, and only 1 turnover.  Actually, we were pretty darn good in keeping our turns down, only having 11 of ‘em.  Stoudemire too had a good game in that regard, only losing the ball twice.  One thing that seemed to help him get some easier buckets is that often after getting a defensive rebound with his man right on his back, Stat handed off the ball to Felton and then just sprinted down the court.  Felton would then pass the ball ahead to Amar’e who, yes, ugh, would take a few dribbles, but at these points at least there was usually just one defender, and that guy was backpeddling.

Other bits:

-Mozgov and Randolph were useless.  Actually, often they were worse than useless, frequently doing dumb things that hurt the team.  On one play, a Nugget was fouled, and because of continuation, took another step and just lobbed up the ball to ensure he got free-throws.  Randolph came over, trying to be like Kevin Garnett, and swatted the ball away.  However, since it was continuation and not, as KG does, a block on a shot taken after a dead ball, it was goal-tending, giving the Nugs two free points.

-Toney Douglas’ shot still wouldn’t fall, and since he doesn’t really know how to pass like a real point guard, it limits his usefulness.  Luckily, coach Mike D’Antoni seems to have realized this and thus limited Toney to just 16 minutes.

-Too many threes.  Heading into the fourth, the Knicks had already attempted 22 threes, only hitting five of ‘em.  In the fourth, they finally started to hit ‘em, going an excellent 4-for-9, but 31 threes on just 29% shooting is ridiculous.

-Speaking of threes, we’ve seemed to have trouble hitting them and thus keeping the opposing team honest.  Toney, Landry, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Anthony Mason have all been unable to consistently hit from range.  I’ve hoped that Kelenna Azubuike might eventually return and provide that steady threat, however maybe we already have our guy.  Last season, in his 27 games with us, Bill Walker shot an insane percentage from deep.  Last night he went 2-for-3 from downtown, so I was surprised that D’Antoni didn’t reinsert him when we needed a three at the end.  Walker hasn’t been as unconscious as he was in his limited run the previous year, but he’s still shooting a very impressive 36.8% (for comparison sake, since three pointers obviously get you more points than two pointers, shooting 33% from deep is the same as shooting a very impressive 50% from two-point land).  Maybe it’s time for D’Antoni to start giving him more than 14.3 minutes a night?  I dunno.  We clearly need to switch something up and get a boost from somewhere.

-Lastly, although we won the battle of the boards last night, clearly we need help at the center position.  It is thus with heavy heart (and still much confusion) that I write that last year’s surprising end-of-the-year flier, Earl Barron, has finally signed on with an NBA team — the Phoenix Suns.  I assume he’s getting the minimum and it’s just a one-year deal, so I still have no idea why we didn’t bring him back.  Is it really better to instead use that roster spot on keeping Shawne Williams glued to the bench?

Learn the Facts and Fiction behind the Knicks' failure, including the true key factor that took Kevin Love's game to the next level (nope, it wasn't his scoring or his rebounding). (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks’ slow start to the season seemed ripe for a turnaround over the weekend since they’d be playing against two teams (the Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets) that had only won two games each and had both looked pretty dang crappy so far.  The Twolves had lost their two starting point guards (Luke Ridnour and Jonny Flynn) to injury, plus for some reason coach Kurt Rambis had been refusing to play his best player (Kevin Love) for more than 24 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Rockets were struggling to form an identity with franchise player Yao Ming not playing in back-to-back games and only appearing in limited minutes.  Were they a group that played through the post in a slow-it-down half court approach, or a jump shooting squad?  With them also losing their starting point guard (Aaron Brooks) and their backup point (Kyle Lowry) having only played one game since returning from back injury, we couldn’t have wished for better set-ups.  On Friday night, the Knicks were up 21 points on the Twolves and it looked like everything would work out.  Less than 48 hours later it had become clear we are in serious crisis mode.

This being New York, of course, utter despair has kicked in, boos have been bombarded, and every little thing has been declared as “the problem.”  No doubt we have many issues, but let’s separate the Fact from the Fiction:

1.  Poor Defense – Fiction

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More sky-is-falling sign-of-the-apocalypse news: a Mike D'Antoni team is better at defense than offense. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Tonight we go to Chicago to play the Bulls, but somehow the stats tell us that we’re arriving looking like a defensive juggernaut that doesn’t know how to play offense.  Huh?  The blog By The Horns brought up these truly backwards stats:

how weird is this:

The Knicks — a presumably defenseless team that relies on Mike D’Antoni’s wacky offensive system to outscore their opponents — currently rank 24th in Offensive Rating (101.1) and 8th in Defensive Rating (102.4). Seriously.

As for the Bulls, they’re 15th in Offensive Rating (106.4) and 9th in Defensive Rating (102.6). So…Tom Thibodeau’s team is worse at playing defense than Mike D’Antoni’s squad, but better at putting points on the board?

In related news: Dogs are now living with cats. Mass hysteria!

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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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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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Somehow Donnie Walsh was able to get rid of Jerome James (center). It's appropriate that the first photo that came up features him surrounded by food. Also in the pic are former Knicks Jerome "Mad Dog" Williams, Antonio Davis and actor Dennis Quaid. (source: Yardbarker.com)

For those who missed it, we had Part I of our evaluation of Donnie Walsh yesterday, in which we examined how he’s done in terms of drafting.  The rules again:

1. I don’t believe in negative Monday morning quarterbacking, so I don’t punish people for making decisions that were widely held to be smart at the time, but ended up working out poorly.  Meaning if LeBron James breaks his leg in seventeen places in a car accident tomorrow and can never really play better than an average player again, I can’t fault Pat Riley for signing him down the road.

2. I do, however, believe in giving credit for decisions that seemed poor/insignificant at the time but turned out great.  When the Suns reacquired Steve Nash from the Dallas Mavericks, many pundits felt they overpaid due to Nash’s back issues and age.  Two MVPs and many amazing seasons later, it’s clear that was a good move.

3. Draft-wise, in addition to no negative Monday morning quarterbacking, I also don’t believe that if someone makes a pick that turns out surprisingly great, you can’t fault all the other teams for passing on the guy.  Like Isiah Thomas gets kudos for finding David Lee at #30, but since no one thought he’d be as good as he ended up being, I can’t penalize all other 29 teams for passing on him.

4. For each positive thing, I’ll add some points (the # of points will depend on how big a thing it was).  Similarly, for each negative decision, I’ll subtract some points.  We’ll keep a rolling tally.

At the end of adding and subtracting points in the Drafting section, it all ended up back at zero.  today This piece has gotten longer and longer, so we’re gonna break up the second category, Trades/Free Agency Signings, into two parts, getting rid of that slash.  Today we’ll do Trades, tomorrow Free Agency, and then probably Friday the last category of Other/General.

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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.

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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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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