Season Preview

/ Jay / Leave a comment

Written by Nicholas McGowan

Season Preview

The New York Knicks open up the season at home on October 29 against the finally healthy Chicago Bulls. The team then travels to Cleveland for the nationally broadcasted homecoming of Lebron James. Expect the Knicks to be 0-2. We then play the Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards, maybe we could be 2-2, but I’m expecting a 1-3 start to the season. It will be interesting to see how the new Knicks will look against 4 probable playoff teams to begin the season. What I’m really looking for in the games against Chicago and Cleveland is for the Knicks to be competitive, show some indication that we can stay with these powerhouse teams. Regardless it should be an interesting start to the season, and to help you get ready here are some links to help you get to know this season’s Knicks a little bit better.

J.R. Smith it struggling with the triangle to say the least.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/11751412/jr-smith-new-york-knicks-says-triangle-offense-tough-adjust-to

http://nypost.com/2014/10/09/knicks-j-r-smith-learning-triangle-will-take-few-months/

Cleanthony Early landed himself a shoe deal with Li Ning.

http://solecollector.com/news/li-ning-adds-cleanthony-early-glenn-robinson-iii/

Phil Jackson gave his thoughts on our roster.

http://espn.go.com/nba/preview2014/story/_/id/11654375/nba-phil-jackson-point-view-new-york-knicks?src=mobile

The Knicks made two random signings… they won’t be with us for long.

http://www.postingandtoasting.com/2014/10/23/7053579/the-knicks-signed-jordan-vandenberg-so-they-can-cut-him-and-send-him

http://www.postingandtoasting.com/2014/10/8/6946719/the-knicks-signed-d-j-mbenga-for-some-reason

Shumpert looks good so far, too bad we won’t sign him.

http://fansided.com/2014/09/28/new-york-knicks-rumors-iman-shumpert-contract-talks/

At least we get to keep Shane Larkin for an extra year.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources–knicks-pick-up-guard-shane-larkin-s-third-year-contract-option-143812008.html

A second round pick, and the right to swap second rounders earned us Arnett Moultrie

http://www.libertyballers.com/2014/10/27/7079571/sixers-trade-arnett-moultrie-to-knicks-draft-picks-and-travis-outlaw

The Knicks and 76ers were just as bad as the Syracuse Orange when it came to shooting threes.

http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400583964

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/183/syracuse-orange

And finally, Amar’e decides to take red wine baths to stay healty in last year of his contract

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/10/amare-stoudemire-red-wine-bath

Now that you are caught up with all the Knicks news, it’s time for some season predictions. I believe ESPN has us pegged for around 37 wins, while most Vegas places have us at around 41. Now personally I think we are good for around 45, a slightly above .500 basketball club would be a good start to Fisher’s career as a coach. When looking at the eastern conference over the past few years, there are teams that sneak into the playoffs that are either at .500 or below it. Knowing that the Cavaliers will certainly be in the playoffs and predicting that we will make it, that leaves two teams from last year who will need to drop out. The two teams that come immediately to mind are the Indiana Pacers and the Brooklyn Nets. The Pacers lost Lance Stephenson in free agency to the Charlotte Hornets and they lost Paul George to a gruesome leg injury in Vegas over the summer. The Pacers also need to find out what has happened to Roy Hibbert, perhaps it was Andrew Bynum or perhaps it was just mental weakness. Whatever it was, he needs to have a big season with both George and Stephenson gone. The Nets only seem to get older every year and were quick to replace Jason Kidd. While Lionel Hollins might be a good coach, I don’t think he can elevate the team like Kidd did. Kidd was able to help Deron Williams, Lionel Hollins is not known for his ability to guide point guards. The Nets will also have to battle through whatever injury Brook Lopez/Deron Williams comes down with. By the way, they also just traded away a 2019 second rounder to 76ers. Continue reading →

2014-15 Predictions

/ Jay / Leave a comment

Jay’s Picks

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland Cavaliers
2. Chicago Bulls
3. Toronto Raptors
4. Washington Wizards
5. Miami Heat
6. Charlotte Hornets
7. Atlanta Hawks
8. New York Knicks
9. Brooklyn Nets
10. Detroit Pistons
11. Indiana Pacers
12. Milwaukee Bucks
13. Boston Celtics
14. Orlando Magic
15. Philadelphia 76ers

Western Conference

Continue reading →

Episode 268: Predictions

/ Jay / 4 Comments

Marc and Jay predict the end of the season standings, the signing of Travis Wear, bathing in wine, Phil Jacksons scouting report and much more

Download Episode 268

Episode 267: Season Preview

/ Jay / 13 Comments

Marc the star and Jay preview every team, try out a live show which doesn’t go as bad as expected, preseason, listener questions and much more

Download Episode 267

Episode 266: Cole Aldrich is Mine

/ Jay / 12 Comments

It’s our 5th annual live fantasy draft episode.  We cut the league down to 12 teams this year so the episode is only 2 hours long instead of the four hour draft from last year.  Jay makes a horrible error, can he recover?  We also talk about the preseason games vs the Celtic.

Download Episode 266

Mike Woodson Player Notes from LAST SEASON’S PRE-SEASON OPENER

/ Jay / Leave a comment

With the Knicks first pre-season game tonight and in honor of our former coach, the great Mike Woodson, our investigative team here at New York Knicks Podcast has uncovered the actual notes Mike Woodson provided his players prior to their first preseason game last season. We are exposing ourselves to a great deal of liability by providing this information to you but we care about you the reader. We cannot explain to you exactly how this information was obtained but needless to say it involved a great deal of strap-ons.

  1. If you are wide open with the basketball in your hand, before shooting, ask yourself is your name Carmelo or JR.
  2. The first 20 seconds on the shot clock are all about setting up your shot.
  3. On the fast break be the turtle, not the hare. If you don’t follow that than maybe we should be trading you and by you everyone knows I am talking to Shump.
  4. If you are on defense and covering the same guy for more than 5 seconds than you are doing something wrong.
  5. If you are on defense and you see the guy with the ball is double covered, get your ass over there because there is no reason that guy shouldn’t be triple covered.
  6. Time on the bench is not for resting or chit-chat, when you are on the bench you should be paying very close attention to my goatee.
  7. All personal listening devices by team rule can play any number of great songs to get you pumped for tonight’s game as long as that song was written and performed by JD & the Straight Shots.
  8. Above all else remember our mantra on offense, “passing is just admitting that you can’t score”.

Episode 265: Learning the Fundamentals

/ Jay / 5 Comments

Marc and Jay talk about the start of preseason, the triangle offense, who we expect to improve on offense and defense, a few of Melo’s questionable statements, expectations for the season and much more

Download Episode 265

2048-49 NBA Power Rankings

/ Jay / 2 Comments

ESPN already beat us to the punch with their power rankings through 2017 so we decided to go ahead and release our 2048-49 NBA Power Rankings.

#30 – Sacramento Kings – The Kings are convinced this is the year that their team of shoot first players with no real position end their 55 year no playoff drought. They are so committed to this style of play that they have eliminated the PG position and threw out their playbook as they’ll only be running iso plays anyway.

#29 – Minnesota Timberwolves – We all know their fate after they recently dropped the Timberwolves nickname and renamed the team the Minnesota Groomers after losing the 7th superstar in row that they groomed before the player went on to win a title elsewhere. It seems like no one since Garnett has been willing to spend more than 4 years in this cold dark hell hole.

#28 – Portland Trailblazers – I mean why in gods name would you spend your number one pick on Greg Oden’s son???

#27 – Houston Rockets – Looks like Houston is sticking to the plan of assembling a team that excels in all 47 advanced stat categories but aren’t actually very good on the court.

#26 – Utah No Jazz – After Utah broke off from the United States in 2030 to form their own Mormon nation things got a little tough for this franchise as the new Mormon nation has banned music, drinking, cheering, and passing.  I do like their choice for coach though as there is no coach better prepared for a team that is not allowed to pass than 105 year old Mike Woodson.

#25 – Kansas City Pistons – The players are finally getting used to playing in Kansas City after Detroit was destroyed in the Great Robot Wars of 2042.

#24 – Los Angeles Lakers – Why are the Lakers still paying $45M/year for Kobe just to show up at games? Continue reading →

Episode 264: Future Power Rankings

/ Jay / 13 Comments

Marc and Jay reveal their 2048-49 future power rankings, listener questions, getting ready for training camp, and more

Download Episode 264

Allan Houston Legacy Foundation

/ Jay / Leave a comment

Stars Gather For Annual Poker Event

Allan Houston is the Assistant General Manager of the Knicks, and most people would think he’s got his hands full especially considering the off-season the Knicks have just had. As we’ve come out the other end clasping to our star player, the day-to-day rigmarole of assisting the running a basketball team or playing for that matter, was never enough for Houston.

The Foundation was started in 2001 to initially donate money to help the unfortunate families that were affected by the 9/11 tragedy. After that the Foundation helped initiate a series of welcomed projects around New York such as:

– NY Community Trust (2001-2004)
– My Teacher is a Hero Award (2001-2003)
– Allan Houston Celebrity Golf Classic (2002)
– Winter Wonderland at the Intrepid Museum (2004)
– Operation Heathy Kids with Harlem YMCA (2006)

The projects above are just some of the notable programs that the Foundation has been able to fund over the years. However, one of the most influential recent events that Houston’s has been curating is the Allan Houston Legacy Foundation Charity Poker Event. The event attracts a host of professional poker players, Knicks stars including Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire and also some of New York’s finest celebrities have been in attendance.

The idea to use a poker tournament as the fundraiser was an easy choice, with many sports using poker as a vehicle to raise money for charitable causes. Continue reading →