We’re finally here. A new NBA season unlike any other. This is the type of season that every basketball fan dreams of. It’s full of story lines and potential matchups that you couldn’t possibly conjure up in your wildest imagination. In my role as writer for TheHoopDoctors.com, I pride myself on being impartial and not having any sort of hidden agendas when I give my candid, and often times non-traditional, opinions. Having said that, I don’t hide behind the fact that I follow the New York Knicks – or dare I say, I’m a fan. Therefore, every Monday be on the lookout for Monday’s Knicks Notes, which is a weekly update on the team. Why is this necessary, you ask?
The Knicks and their fans have been waiting for the 2010 – 2011 season for a while. Two years to be exact. When Donnie Walsh took over the General Manger duties, he immediately started cutting heads and salaries. When he replaced Isiah Thomas, he made it clear that he was planning for the summer of 2010. Every player that found them self in a Knicks uniform over the past two seasons knew that the only reason they were there was because they had an expiring contract. It had absolutely nothing to do with actual basketball prowess. By virtue of that, the Knicks spearheaded the league-wide initiative of clearing space for the summer of 2010 two years in advance. They were the first to do this and other teams followed suit. That means that this year is huge, so I felt it’s only right that we do a weekly team update to measure how this two year project turns out.
Walsh was shooting for LeBron James and shot an air ball. No LeBron. In fact, no Wade or Bosh either. Personally I’m glad they didn’t overspend for Bosh. I’m not nearly as enamored with his game as everyone else is. But, he did land Amar’e Stoudemire, which I’m not mad at. I’ve been a fan of Amare’s game for a very long time and in my letter to Donnie Walsh right before the free agency period began, I told him that Stoudemire would work. I’m glad he took my advice. But the one thing I didn’t agree with was getting rid of David Lee. I thought there was a way to keep Lee and still acquire Amar’e. Lee puts up max player numbers, but you don’t have to pay him max dollars. Sounded like a win-win to me. Lee actually wanted to stay in New York, so not only was I not happy to see him leave, but I would’ve like to have seen more in return (in exchange for Lee the Knicks received Anthony Randolph, Rony Turiaf and Kelenna Azubuike) than they got for an All-Star who had 53 double doubles last year.
Stoudemire, Randolph, Turiaf and Azubuike weren’t the only key additions. You also had Raymond Felton. I like the addition. He’s a solid Point Guard who can control the tempo of a game. You won’t ask him to do too much, so he knows how to play his role.
I was anticipating the preseason. I wanted to see what two years worth of waiting meant. The Knicks went 3-5 in the preseason, but I wasn’t that concerned with wins and losses because they were just exhibitions. I was interested in seeing this newly assembled team. First off, I like what I saw out of Amar’ewho had 32 points and 6 rebounds in the first preseason game in Italy. The knock on Amare is that he’s a lazy rebounder. True, he is but I’d like to think that we’ll see him average double digit boards this season. Also, in the first game Danilo Gallinari had 24 points, playing in his backyard. After not being named team captain, I think he has alot to prove and I expect a big year out of Gallo. Look for him to be one of the league’s most improved players.
I actually attended the Knicks/Celtics game on October 16 to check this out in person. The Knicks lost, but again, it isn’t about that. Amar’e didn’t play so that meant extended minutes from some of their other bigs. Since Lee is gone and I have to learn to deal with it, I was watching the bigs that he was traded for closely. I like Turiaf. I can live with him, but I’ve been very underwhelmed with Anthonly Randolph so far. Alot of people hype him up to be the next best thing. I’m waiting to see that. So far, he looks anything but. And as I mentioned, Felton is an upgrade, but he leaves a little to be desired in the speed category and looks even slower in person. As a whole, the Knicks shot too many jumpshots in preseason. They need to get the ball inside more. They’re not that talented of outside shooting team to rely so heavily on Js. Hopefully that will come with time.
I think Gallo is key for their success. Naturally, the team will ride on Amare’s shoulders, but I think Gallinari may prove to be their second most important player. It looks like they’ll roll out the following starting lineup: Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Amar’e Stoudemire and Timofey Mozgov. They’ll certainly be able to run in coach D’Antoni’s up and down system, but will they be able to play any D? That’s the questions. They open up Wednesday at the Raptors and until we meet again for next week’s Knicks Notes, they will have also played at Boston before heading home on Halloween eve for their home opener against Portland. Then we’ll really see what two years worth of waiting looks like.
But enough talking already. Let’s get this show on the road. And oh yeah, the Knicks will win 40 games and make it to playoffs this season. Yeah, I said it.
A bonus for checking out the first of Monday’s Knicks Notes:
They always say that in sports the team takes the attitude of their leader. Mike D’Antoni is a no nonsense guy, but he also likes to have fun from time to time. Check out Coach D’Antoni in this magician’s outfit and enter MSG.com’s photo caption contest. The funniest captions for the photo will be shared with Coach D himself on The Mike D’Antoni Show on October 26th @ 8PM on MSG.
Also, before they tip off Wednesday night in Toronto, check out the Knicks Season Preview Bonus clips of Danilo Gallinari, Amar’e Stoudemire, and more from the team exclusively on MSG.com.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
