According to the New York Post’s Marc Berman, the Knicks will be very interested in Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer. In addition, Berman noted that Mozgov really enjoyed his time in New York and would consider re-signing in the summer.

February 1, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov (25) during the first half against the New Orleans Hornets at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

The Knicks also inquired about Mozgov at the trade deadline, as the 7’1″ center has fallen out of George Karl’s rotation, averaging fewer than 10 minutes per game on the season.

But while there is mutual interest, the Knicks don’t have much cap flexibility to improve a disappointing team next season.

The Knicks would love to re-sign Mozgov, but only have a $3.1M mini mid-level exception and may want to use it on a proven veteran. They also won’t be able to do a sign-and-trade this summer with any team under new CBA rules penalizing teams well over the luxury tax. The Knicks will be over $4 million over the tax line, so that will hamper anything they want to do this offseason.

As I illustrated in a previous article, general manager Glen Grunwald’s plan to load this team with veterans failed miserably and will hamper the Knicks for the next couple of seasons.

With that being said, several teams showed interest in Mozgov at the trade deadline and I would expect that to be the case with him as a free agent.

Mozgov is only a season removed from his career year in 2011-12, when he started 35 games and averaged 5.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.0 block per game in 44 total contests.

If the Knicks did attempt to sign Mozgov, the Nuggets would have the right to match. That’s something they may do considering the Knicks would come in with a very low offer as they demanded a hefty haul for him at the trade deadline.

Follow Matt Shetler on Twitter for news, reaction and analysis from around the NBA.

Follow Buckets Over Broadway on Twitter and on Facebook

The Knicks badly need frontcourt depth, which brings me to a familiar name in Denver Nuggets’ center Timofey Mozgov.

January 18, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov (25) warming up before the first half against the Washington Wizards at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, the Knicks have inquired on the availability of Mozgov.

Mozgov, 26, was part of the Carmelo Anthony deal two years ago and has done some decent things in Denver until recently falling out of George Karl’s rotation.

The seven-footer is averaging 2.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 10 minutes per game but have nice per 36 minutes averages of 10.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks.

It’s doubtful that a deal goes down with the Nuggets as Mozgov is drawing interest from a number of teams besides the Knicks. In addition, it appears that Denver is looking for a big haul in return; something the Knicks would be foolish to do at the moment.

But if the price goes down, they could definitely be a player for Mozgov.

According to a report, Denver has already turned down a proposal from the Minnesota Timberwolves that included Brandon Roy and a first-round pick.

Grunwald must decide whether or not to target a big man or roll the dice with Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby, who are both injured and remain injury risks going forward.

If a deal for Mozgov doesn’t go down, Berman also noted that he is a guy that the Knicks will target this summer when he is set to become an unrestricted free agent.

Follow Matt Shetler on Twitter for news, reaction and analysis from around the NBA.

Follow Buckets Over Broadway on Twitter and on Facebook

I Want Rubio!

So this is what the Utah Jazz felt like. Last night’s blowout loss is being dissected by writers all over the country today. My take? Simple case of the better team taking care of business at home. Onto the links…

* If you missed the game: The must read Times recap.

* Classic case of adding insult to injury, Mark Cuban picks his shots nicely.

* Looking for someone to blame after last night’s embarrassing loss? How about Rick Carlisle?

* Raising season ticket prices seems like the logical reaction to a lopsided blowout.

* So much for playing nice with the refs.

* The Deron Williams to New York deal that could’ve been is finally dissected.

* Wonderful breakdown on Knicks Now by Kenny Smith and Greg Anthony.

* Is New York a guilty copycat of Miami’s blueprint? Hmmm possibly. But who’s better for the long term?

* If you think the Knicks have a shot at the title this year, someone’s grandmama might agree.

* I strongly agree with the analysis detailed over on The Knicks Blog. Amar’e Stoudemire should be spending the next stage of his career in the mid-range.

* Very funny. Ronny Turiaf misses you, Mozgov.

Do We Really Need To Be Teammates?

Tonight’s Eastern Conference matchup with Orlando is equally important as Sunday’s win over Miami. I know, I know, every game counts, but facing another possible first round opponent with the new look roster is especially momentous. There isn’t much to say in breaking Knicks related news that we didn’t cover yesterday; right now, I’ll let the links do the talking:

* Tonight’s game isn’t crucial, but this stretch of schedule is.

* Just as New York’s ramping up for the tough road ahead, Orlando realizes they need to stay afloat and reaffirm their Eastern Conference supremacy.

* If you’re a betting man, the Knicks might not be your pick tonight.

* So goes the culture of today’s NBA, should small market teams have something legitimate to worry about?

* A brief rundown of last night’s news and notes all across the league.

* Is there a slight overreaction to the Knicks defensive performance on Sunday night?

* A touching sendoff to fallen soldiers Eddy Curry and Timofey Mozgov.

* Are the Nets a bigger threat than first realized?

* People want to dress like Carmelo Anthony.

* Another piece on Anthony Carter from our friends over at The Knicks Blog.

* Forget about the three stars, how does everyone else fit into a championship seeking puzzle?

* More on the Mozgov wedding. You better grab a seat for this one.

And so the obsession continues. This barely qualifies as NBA news, but does qualify as interesting. Timofey Mozgov got married in Vegas!

Clearly, we all know about the story that has developed over the past week or so since Howard Beck of the NY Times penned this piece back on January 31st. Donnie Walsh, who has been the driving force behind rescuing the Knicks from the depths of NBA/Isiah Thomas hell the past  2 1/2 years, is in contract limbo. He has an option for 2011-2012 that James Dolan must pick up by April 3oth or his current deal will expire on June 3oth. The enigmatic Knicks owner has not talked to the media in four years and his PR lackeys have given no comment on Walsh’s tenuous contract situation.

(more…)

Oddly, since teams often start sluggishly in afternoon games (with the Knicks particularly egregious in this regard at home), they both came out firing.  Even odder, one would think that would favor the Knicks (the Pacers are ranked 24th in offensive efficiency), yet the first stanza ended with us down 30-32.  It wasn’t because they shot lights-out, but rather because in a Zydrunas-Ilgauskas-esque nightmarish way they outrebounded us by five boards in that quarter alone.

(more…)

After the Cleveland game where I got another DNP – Coach’s decision, I have read – yet another time – that Mozgov is losing is losing the trust of the coach.

I’ll say this: on my part there’s no panic!

(more…)

Before Darko came to the Knicks last season, he worked on his "Blue Steel" look. This summer he decided instead to work on his game. Turns out that was more useful. Go figure.

Former bench boy Knick Darko Milicic returned to New York with his new team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, hoping to issue another beat down.  Antony Marino had this to say about it:

Just sixty minutes before one of the great disasters in American aviation history, the New York Knicks—victorious in nine out of ten games—prepared for payback against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Whether it is more obviously absurd that the Knicks had accomplished this brilliant feat or that any NBA team should have to avenge a loss to the hapless Wolves, I cannot say. Nevertheless, it was sure to be a winnable game, and with the soft underbelly of the 2010 schedule fading fast, it was a game the Knicks had to have.

(more…)

Why are we using a picture of Shawne Williams as a Memphis Tiger? Because before Sunday he'd never played on the court in a Knicks jersey. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

One of the oddest things about the New York Knicks’ double-overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday was that it also featured both coaches using double rotation strategies: getting everyone a shot initially, only to end up with a short leash.  By the end of the first quarter, Detroit coach John Kuester had already gone ten players deep.  For the Knicks, Mike D’Antoni went nine-deep in the first half, which might not seem like he went too deep into his bench, until you see who he played.

(more…)

Is it possible that Roger Mason Jr. has been the key for the Knicks' winning streak? Perhaps, because he seems to be best used by, as seen here, being off the court. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

New Buckets writer, Antony Marino, believes your New York Knicks’ current winning streak is due to everyone, particularly Roger Mason Jr, finding their roles:

I apologize for my recent lack of productivity. I awoke this morning to the unmistakable stench of smelling salts and the discomfort of a full beard. Doctors told me I had been in a deep coma since Blake Griffin’s dunk, but that I had fared better than Mr. Mozgov who was now eating his meals through a straw. Luckily, middling-grade vodka has been Timo’s primary means of sustenance for years, but the experience of drinking it through a straw has been harrowing nonetheless.

So where do we stand, Knick fans? (more…)

Raymond Felton hurt his back last night, but that wasn't gonna stop him from gutting out a win against his former team. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Last night, your New York Knickerbockers defeated Raymond Felton’s former team, the Charlotte Bobcats, 110-107, giving us a four-game winning streak and more.  It moved us into sole possession of the seventh seed in the East (with a full game lead over the eighth and just one behind being tied for fifth).  It left us just one game below .500.  And should we win tonight’s rematch against the Bobcats, we would have our longest winning streak in nearly five years.  Perhaps even more important, taking the rematch would also give us the season series against the Cats since we only play them three times.  Since they’re one of the teams who we’ll be fighting for the final playoff spots, that tie-breaker could end up being crucial.  But before we jump ahead to thoughts of April, let’s stay in November for a moment and discuss last night’s ART (The Awful, The Remarkable and The Terrific).

The Awful

(more…)

Blake Griffin had the game of his life, but the Knicks happily had the game. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

With two victories over the weekend against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, the Knicks have managed to pull themselves up to being tied for seventh in the East.  Our 3-1 record on the road trip was, amazingly (and depressingly), the best we’ve done on the road since 1998.  Yes, during it we beat two of the league’s weaker teams (the Kings & Clips), and the Warriors were missing one of their best players (our former fan-fave, David Lee).  However, keep in mind that previously we had been losing to those weaker teams, even ones missing top players (the Sixers without Andre Iguodala, and the Rockets without Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks).  The results were so different than the early part of the season, that it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s Memorex.  So who are we?

(more…)

Mike D'Antoni weighing the benefits of whether or not to play Anthony Randolph. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks finally had a decent night offensively, and as we’ve been saying here, that made all the difference, giving them a much needed 113-106 victory over the Sacramento Kings.  Yes, part of it is that they were helped by the fact that the Kings are a weak team, but the hope entering the season was that if we beat the bad teams and lose to the good ones, we’ll still be good enough to slip into the playoffs.  No, we won’t be a team that can challenge for higher than a 7th seed as some deluded fans dreamed, but we just might not be as bad as we’ve seemed.

Looking back, our record isn’t nearly as awful as it seems.  The truth is that Minnesota needed a historic night in order to beat us, so we easily could be 5-7 instead of 4-8, and that would have us just a half game outside of the playoffs.  Right now, as is, we’re still only a game and a half out, which is pretty sweet considering how awful we’ve been.  The loss to Houston also was tough to handle because of their poor record, but their record may be deceiving in that of their 8 losses, 7 of ‘em were against teams likely to end up over .500.  The only inexcusable loss was against Philadelphia, and my feeling is that since we had a winning record at the time (3-2) and Phillie not only had looked bad but was also missing their top player (Andre Iguodala) that we entered the game a bit too confident and not with the desperation we needed.

Our next game is a rematch against Golden State, but they’ll be missing David Lee (they’ve gone 1-2 without him).  The next night we go up against the one-win Los Angeles Clippers, so we’ve got two very winnable games.  If we snag ‘em both, that’d leave us just half a game out.  Then we have a home-and-away against Charlotte, one  of the teams who we’ll be fighting against for the final spots.  Hopefully we can at least split those.  Then after that, two of our next three games are also very winnable (versus the Pistons and the Nets).

But back to last night’s game.  Let’s talk about a few of the key factors that lead to the victory:

-More importantly than shooting really well from the three-point line (40%) was the fact that we took a far more reasonable amount of them (15) rather than the 25+ we’ve been putting up regularly.  Just as if one lives by the sword then one dies by the sword, if ya live by the three you’re gonna die by it too.  Wilson Chandler played 34 minutes and nicely only took one three (which he made, but happily that didn’t make him go trigger-happy).

-Mozgov only got six minutes of playing time and Anthony Randolph didn’t get on the court at all.  Both of those guys may have tons of potential, but it’d be a compliment to say they’ve only played miserably.  We need wins and can’t just give our young guys minutes to screw up in hopes that they’ll improve down the road.  These guys need to be growing during practice time, and until they’re consistent there, they shouldn’t be playing.

-Along that line, it was also helpful that Ronny Turiaf didn’t get into foul trouble like he had the previous night in Denver, so he was able to log 30 minutes.

-Toney Douglas finally hit some shots, going 5-for-9 for 12 points in 21 minutes.  He doesn’t need to be on fire like he was during that two-game stretch earlier in the season, but he can’t come in and be a total stinkfest on O.  He’s Toney Tone, not Jared Jeffries.

-Of note is that we only had 14 assists, with Felton only getting 3.  This, to me, further proves my point that our issue is not with the point guard position but rather that our perimeter players haven’t been consistently hitting their outside shots.  We can survive if our shooters have a slightly sub-par night, but not if they have truly awful nights like they’ve been doing.

Hopefully we can use this win to help us sneak into Oakland on Friday and steal a victory back from the Warriors.

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?

Amar'e Stoudemire's struggled to create good looks for himself, but even though the Knicks lost last night, he took a step forward. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Last night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks was over by the end of the first quarter, which left us down by 22 points.  In the end, yes, we lost by 27 points, but really they only added to their lead at the very end when we played the bench dregs for almost the entire fourth quarter.  One might be tempted to say that since we scored only 80 points that our offense was the problem, and yes, it sure was awful, but really it all came down to that lack of defense in the first quarter.

Truth is it wasn’t just that our D wasn’t as crisp as it could’ve been, but also that the Bucks just were on fire.  They scored 41, but then we clamped down, limiting them to 23, 26 and 17 in the final three quarters.  And they only got 26 in the third thanks to an at-the-buzzer-shot, so we practically kept them under 25 points a quarter after that disastrous first one.  Here are a four things that I’m concerned/thinking about:

(more…)

The Knicks' ran all over the Wizards Friday, and it was 'cuz everyone knows their role. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Another potential new Knick blogger, Antony Marino, has fun writing about his take on Friday night’s victory over the Washington Wizards.  Sorry this wasn’t up sooner and that we don’t have anything for the loss against Philly yet.  It’s not that I only look at the Bright Side O’ Life (after all, I’m a %$^#$@& New Yawker) — it’s that my internet at home has gone MIA (no, it hasn’t taken it’s talents to South Beach, c’mon, that’s Missing In Action).  As one who watches Knick games on-line, non-existant interweb provides a serious impediment.  But enough of my belly-achin’ and back to Gufano’s excellent examination of our Friday Night Fight:

Yawn. Another day, another eleven blocks; another Knicks win. Good teams take care of business at home, and good franchises take care of toxic, 19th Century insulation and its resulting vascular liability at home. Or something. Great job all around.

With the John Wall hype machine and a healthy Yosemite Arenas coming to MSG on a Friday Night [Knicks Y’all] there was cause for concern of a letdown. But as has been the case in every game this year, the Knicks showed confidence, character and talent—exposing an inferior team time after time. Each Knick played their role to a “T”, other than young Anthony Randolph (who continues to look like a lost camper mistakenly left at Al Harrington’s Youth Clinic), but why rain on the parade? There is an imperative difference between one who is a “role player” and one who “plays one’s role”. Last night the Knicks continued to exhibit that they are largely composed of the latter. What follows is a giddy description of the roles and actors from last night’s praiseworthy performance against the Washington Walls.

The Wild Card: Bill Walker

(more…)

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!

(more…)

Stoudemire's 1st Knick game in NYC may not have resulted in a win, but it set the tone for a great, gritty, exciting rebirth of a season (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks lost both games this weekend, including the home opener against Portland where we led by 9 points with under six minutes remaining, but make no mistake: these are not last year’s Knicks.  We had tight games against both the Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers, two teams who, as I wrote in my pre-season Power Rankings, I believe are amongst the top five teams in the entire league.  Throw in the fact that in the last two minutes of the Blazers game we played some great lockdown defense, and clearly you should ignore the opening to the snarky recap by the Associated Press:

The elaborate pregame festivities were designed to emphasize that these are the “new” New York Knicks.

Crunch time was the same ol’ story.

Neither weekend game was anything like ones from previous years, so let’s look at what can be gleaned from them in order to better understand our new-look Knicks.  Last year we frequently had to examine things Clint Eastwood-style, checking out the Good, the Bad & the Ugly.  Life is looking up this season, so now and then we’ll check out a game’s ART (the Awful, the Remarkable & the Terrific):

(more…)

This is how the game would've looked to you if you were a piece of the hardwood. Reason #431 why it's good not to be a floor board. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks won their season opener 98-93 over the Toronto Raptors, thanks largely not to Amar’e Stoudemire but to the just-relegated-to-the-bench Wilson Chandler.  Just last week we asked who would be the Knicks #2 behind Stat.  Danilo Gallinari was the runaway favorite by our voters, followed by Raymond Felton and even Toney Douglas before we got to Chandler.  Okay, in fairness, after Gallo the next highest total was that a different player would step up each night, and chances are that’s what’ll happen rather than Chandler regularly being this unstoppable.

What are the takeaways from this game?  Just as we said during the preseason that there’s a danger into reading into too much from those games, clearly it’s equally presumptuous to make large scale assumptions based on a single game.  But that won’t stop me.  Here are my comments: (more…)

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:

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

———————

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????

—————————–

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:

—————————

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).

—————————

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.

(more…)

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:

(more…)

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?

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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:

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.”

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

Walsh may get credit for snagging one of these All-Stars, but he definitely takes a hit for losing out on the other one. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

We’ve already evaluated Donnie Walsh based on his Drafting ability in Part I, resulting in a big ol’ zero, meaning he was neither particularly good or bad.  In Part II, when we discussed Trades, he definitely performed well, scoring a +3.  Today we’ll examine perhaps the most important aspect of his legacy so far: Free Agency.  For many execs this doesn’t play a huge role, however since Walsh’s stated goal from Day One has been to clear cap space for a run at the max players this past summer, then it’s only fair that this should be a hugely significant factor in his evaluation.  Once again, reprinting the rules:

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.

Free Agency Signings

December 2009 – Jonathan Bender

(more…)

Now you can find old pictures of Willis Reed on places other than a Wheaties box. Look below to find out where. (source: Yardbarker.com)

We’ll take a little break from putting Donnie Walsh under cross-fire and instead check out some Knick notes from around the interweb.  First off, earlier this morning Team USA pulled off the win against Russia, yet one of the two Ruskies who played really well was none other than incoming Knickerbocker, Timofey Mozgov.  Over on Posting & Toasting, Seth noted the following things (amongst others):

- Timofey backed up Sasha Kaun and definitely outplayed him. He probably could’ve snatched more of Kaun’s minutes had he not been in foul trouble throughout the game. Be it on loose balls, moving screens, or shot contests, Mozgov is a physical player, and his timing and positioning will have to be a little sharper if he ever wants to get major NBA minutes. That said, Mozgov won’t be getting major minutes this season, so he’s welcome to foul away. The Knicks could use that physicality…well, maybe not the moving screens.

- One of Mozgov’s fouls came when Derrick Rose drove to the rim and Timo pasted his shot against the backboard. The refs whistled a phantom foul, but not a single Knicks fan saw the call because we were all changing our underpants.

There’s more good stuff in the post, so check it out.

(more…)

——————————–

(more…)

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.

(more…)

Remember when Eddy Curry was a McDonald's All-American High Schooler with unlimited potential? Now, due to all the money he made from the Knicks, he's off somewhere potentially eating unlimited McDonald's. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Not only did Eddy Curry fail to show up at Las Vegas Summer League like he was supposed to do, but he also never told the team why. As a vet, he was under no obligation to play on Summer League (and it’s quite rare for players with as many years in the NBA as him to do so). However, he said he was gonna come, so it’s not too much to ask him to be a professional. He’s been supposedly rehabbing his knee, but this season he needs to rehab something in even worse shape: his career. Coach Mike D’Antoni has said the starting center spot is open, so Curry still has a chance to show the Knicks (and more importantly the league since his contract’s ending) that he can be productive.

On the brighter side, however, Amar’e Stoudemire, Anthony Randolph, Wilson Chandler and and new Russian center Timofey Mozgov did all show up to workout with the coaches for a few days. Why Vegas rather than New York? First, ‘cuz the assistant coaches were involved in summer league. Second, Team USA is also gearing up for practices in Sin City shortly. D’Antoni will again be an assistant on that team, while Amar’e (along with former Knick David Lee) is one of the players who was invited to compete for a spot.

New Knicks' center Timofey Mozgov going for a block during EuroBasket 2009 (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Knicks signed Russian center Timofey Mozgov to a three-year $9.7 million contract, when the rest of the NBA didn’t even know he was a possibility. Although this has been talked about for a few days, I believe it was finalized today. For the best perspective I’ve read of not just the player, but the signing, here’s Jay Aych’s article on The Painted Area:

(more…)