Marc and Jay talk about the 3 preseason games, rotations, odd man out, injury concerns, and much more
jeremy lin
Acquiring those Draft Picks
Written by Nicholas McGowan
Acquiring those Draft Picks
The New York Knicks are not going to be a contender next year to win a championship, they probably will not be a good team either, for those reasons the Knicks’ plan moving forward is to rebuild next year. With a first round draft pick paired with tons of money to spend in free agency, the Knicks have an opportunity this year to further help their cause in 2015. Phil Jackson recently spoke about buying a draft pick, how high that draft pick will be is still yet to be determined, but adding a young player to this roster will help. The Knicks do not draft as bad as believed, we just trade away our picks every year. Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. have been great first round pickups, Toure Murray is drawing interest from the Bulls, Warriors, and the Nets. Let us not also forget that the Knicks found Jeremy Lin and made him into a 3 year 25 million dollar man. Adding a young player would be great. This young player has the potential to be a factor in our rebuilding process next year. Let us take a look at where the Knicks might be able to acquire a draft round pick, for both straight up cash considerations and for perhaps trading a player for a pick.
Darryl Morey the Houston Rockets general manager, recently on ESPN radio compared this years draft to that of 2003 and 2005. The draft at the top is similar to that of 2003 yet the depth is more comparable to 2005. Looking at the 2003, 2005, Continue reading
The Melo Situation
Written by Nicholas McGowan
The Melo Situation
The countdown of when we as Knicks fans and the world for that matter, will know the future of Carmelo Anthony has started. Melo has the option to opt in for another year in New York and then make up his mind next summer or he can opt out, choose a new team, or opt out in order to solidly a max contract with the Knicks. We as fans hope that if he does opt out, that it is because he will sign the max deal. Yet with the sudden shoulder injury this might further Melo’s thinking in one way or the other, it may make him lean towards locking up a max contract or it might drive him in the opposite direction. He may try now to win as soon as possible knowing that he will still get tens of millions of dollars guaranteed even though it may be 30 million less than what the Knicks can offer. Melo might have also learned that he needs another superstar, someone who can carry the load so that he does not take such a toll on his body for another season. Both of those seem to be the better option than a max deal, and while it depends on Melo’s priorities, (30 million or a legitimate chance at one or more titles), most would choose the titles. Not saying that I would pass up 30 million but if you were Melo and have already made as much as he has, winning would be the one knock against me. Let’s take a look at the possible championship scenarios for Melo.
Beginning with the Knicks, there is a real possibility that they can compete for championship, not next year but in two years. In two years the Knicks have cap space and a first round draft pick that will probability end up be a lottery pick. Going into the 2015-2016 season we would only have J.R. Smith, Raymond Felton, Hardaway Jr, Shumpert, and Pablo Prigioni on our roster. Now lets say Melo decides to resign, add Melo to that roster, add another superstar player or two to that mix. Then add on top of that a top 14 draft pick, this would make us a frontrunner for the title, we would be able to come close to beating the Heat (assuming their current roster does not change drastically) or perhaps even beat them if we add the right free agents. In the already weak Eastern Conference, we would be the second best team. I would put us ahead of both Indiana and Chicago because we have the superior superstar talent. The Nets at this point would have lost Garnett and Pierce and would not be the team they are today. By looking the 2015 free agents there are tons of options that would make us better than the Heat. Those free agents include:
2013/14 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 16
| 1-2 this week with the obligatory hey, maybe this team isn’t so bad and might be turning things around game against Denver before turning back into a bad Knicks team again. Will this be the last power rankings with this roster? The next one will be written the day before the trade deadline so it’s possible that there will be some new faces on this list by next week. | |||
| Rank | Player | Comments | Last weeks Rank |
| 1 | Jeremy Tyler | He hasn’t played a ton of minutes, but he did sport a +30 this week and had a double double against Denver. Jeremy was also the only Knick to play well in all 3 games this week. | 6 |
| 2 | Anthony, Carmelo | The list of Knicks who look like they are still actually trying is down to about 3 and one of them is Melo. He couldn’t hit shots against Portland or OKC and his free throw attempts are way down, but it must be hard to keep any sort of consistency when literally every person you played with last year is playing much worse this year. | 1 |
| 3 | Chandler, Tyson | Tyson looks like he’s one more blowout loss away from open revolt. He now appears to scowl at his teammates when they switch for no reason instead of helping them, but I’d still rather have him on the court than half of these jokers. | 3 |
| 4 | Prigioni, Pablo | I almost thought Woodson came to his senses when Pablo played 8 more minutes than Felton against Portland and clearly outplayed him. The very next game the teams best point guard took a back seat to arguably the league worst starting point guard because Woodson. | 4 |
| 5 | Stoudemire, Amar’e | Amare gets this high because he’s been super efficient on offense. The Knicks still lose when he plays, they are 12-27 when he does and 8-4 when he doesn’t. It doesn’t matter though because if he’s healthy enough to play he’s going to so at least he’s scoring when he is out there. Continue reading | |
A Look Ahead
Written by William Lee
The Super Bowl is over, and basketball season is over half way over. This is the time where causal fans move over from football to basketball. Listening to a recent appearance from Mike Breen on The Michael Kay Show, where “Mike Breen says at this point the Knicks just need wins at this point and it doesn’t matter how they come.” And that the Knicks need to continue to improve throughout the season, I completely agree with this sentiment, and decided to take a look at New York’s schedule, and predict what could happen. Below there is a breakdown, having an optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic outlook on the remainder of the season.
The Knicks currently stand 10th in the Eastern Conference standings with a 19-29 record. Now the Eastern Conference is atrocious, and the Charlotte Bobcats stand as the 8th seed with a 21-28 record. The Brooklyn Nets currently hold a 21-25 record, now ideally the Knicks would want to avoid the 7th or 8th seed, because that would mean they would either have to face the Indiana Pacers, or the Miami Heat in the First Round of the Playoffs.
Looking back last season, 2012-2013, the 7th and 8th seed did not have more than 41 wins. Sixth seed was a 44-38 Atlanta Hawks, so to avoid a most definite First Round exit, New York will need to somehow get above .500. To get even at 41-41 the Knicks will need to go 22-12 the rest of the way…which seems a little far-fetched…Now in 2011-2012 all teams were over .500, but this was in a strike shortened season. In 2010-2011 the sixth seed was actually the Knicks with 42-40, so just looking back a few years back, getting the sixth seed is a must to be over .500.
Without further a due here is the breakdown.
| Game | Date | Time | Pos/Realistic/Neg | Comments |
| New York vs. Portland | 2/5/14 | 8:00 PM | L/ L/ L | Highest scoring team in the league at 108 per, we will not be able to stop them Continue reading |
Knicks @ Rockets – 1-3-14 – Game Recap
Written by William Lee
Friday night New York continued their Texas Triangle road trip, taking on the Houston Rockets, after a very impressive victory over the San Antonio Spurs the previous night. Jeremy Lin made sure to let his former team know what they were missing, scoring seven points in the opening four minutes. Lin penetrated into the paint for a couple of layups, and knocked down a three, which quickly gave the Rockets an 11-4 early lead. James Harden would also get into the act, easily getting into the paint for a layup as well. Mike Woodson decided to substitute out Beno Udrih in favor of the home town native Toure’ Murry for his defense. Murry and Iman Shumpert made a good defensive backcourt, and it sparked an 18-9 run to end the first quarter, to give the Knicks a 24-20 lead.
The Rockets started the second quarter on a 9-3, where they were able to keep the Knicks scoreless for three minutes early in the second quarter. The run gave the Rockets the lead briefly, as the game was tightly contested throughout, with 18 lead changes in the game. The Rockets would extend their run, leading by as much as seven points in the second quarter, behind the dribble penetration from Lin, who scored another seven points in the quarter. The Knicks would connect on three straight three pointers in route to an 11-2 run to take back the lead 43-41 with 2:25 remaining in the second quarter. Continue reading
2013/14 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 9
| Two wins and only 1 loss since last weeks power rankings. So what if the two wins were by the smallest of margins and also to the two worst teams in the league. It’s Christmas week and I’m trying to stay positive. I probably won’t stay positive past #2 or 3 on this list but I’ll try my best. | |||
| Rank | Player | Comments | Last weeks Rank |
| 1 | Chandler, Tyson | Oh how we missed the defense and rebounding and the yelling after dunks. Would love to see Chandler get more involved in the offense, but after seeing what this team looked like without Tyson there is no denying him the #1 spot this week. Especially since he didn’t get reinjured after Woodson tried to murder him in the Bucks game by keeping him in for 37 minutes, the last 10 or so of which he was clearly hobbling. | 3 |
| 2 | Anthony, Carmelo | Carmelo Anthony hit the 50% mark twice this week! That’s borderline efficient! With pretty much everyone on the roster without a last name of Hardaway shooting like it’s the 8th round of a beer pong rec league I can almost understand all the iso. Of couse he does that when he has shooters around him too so I won’t totally justify the ball hoggery. | 1 |
| 3 | Hardaway Jr., Tim | THJ is going on week 3 as the best SG on this team. Lets keep rolling with Shump and JR though because that strategy makes much more sense than developing a player who already leads all rookies in 3p%, which happens to be a glaring weakness on this team. | 2 |
| 4 | Udrih, Beno | I’m already having a ton of trouble with this list. I guess Beno gets it for his really great game against the Bucks (offensively anyway, he did let Brandon Knight score approx. 357 points), and some decent play against the magic. He did completely stink against Memphis, but so did pretty much everyone. | 11 |
| 5 | Murry, Toure’ | Why is Toure’ Murry so high? He’s the only player from this point forward that didn’t completely suck in at least 1 game this week and/or get/is injured. Plus that sick behind the back pass to Hardaway had to bump him up a few spots. Continue reading | |
A Look at the Western Conference
San Antonio Spurs – So much for the Spurs getting old and their window closing. Yet again Parker, Ginobili, Duncan and company find themselves atop the Western Conference. Other than their big three, the Spurs are arguably younger and deeper than ever. They’ve had 5 straight years of tough losses in the playoffs. Will this be their year? I’m going to go out on a limb and say they’re hoping Memphis falls a spot as it’s a bad matchup for them.
Oklahoma City Thunder – No Harden no problem. Durant and Ibaka took big leaps forward this season and Kevin Martin has fit into the 6th man role flawlessly. With the largest point differential in the league at + 9.1, it looks like the Thunder successfully improved their long-term outlook without sacrificing in the short term, giving them a good chance for a finals rematch against the Heat.
Los Angeles Clippers – No doubt about it, the Clippers are the best team in LA. The only rough patch of the season came when Chris Paul went down for a few games. Griffin and Jordan have both improved significantly over last year and the bench has been amazing with Barnes, Bledsoe and Crawford all playing above expectations. Now that Grant Hill and Chauncey Billups are back, this team goes 12 deep.
Memphis Grizzlies – Looks like the hangover from losing Rudy Gay didn’t last too long. Seven wins in a row for a sneaky good team. Prince has fit in well for them, adding more defense and consistent shooting than Gay was providing. Let’s not forget the huge frontline of Randolph and Gasol is a matchup nightmare for most teams. Continue reading
Due to Scheduling Miscommunication Knicks Accidentally Thought They Had the Night Off
- I think our listener Niro put it best when he said “There were two games this season that just disgusted me. The Houston game and the Houston game.”
- I understand the Knicks were without Melo, Sheed, Shumpert, Amare and Camby, but they weren’t scheduled to be without Defense, good shooting, controlling the pace and taking care of the ball too.
- There is a lot of talk about Lin and Harden not being able to play together, but they combined for 394,402,134 points on 97% shooting tonight (approximately) so maybe we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
- At least Chandler Parsons didn’t light the Knicks up again.
- Copeland got 9 quick points to start the 3rd quarter and for a second I thought the Knicks were going to make a comeback, but then the Knicks decided it would be a good idea to let Harden shoot open 3’s the rest of the night.
- I started this recap 5 minutes ago when the Knicks were down by 20 and they are now down by 27.
- JR, I love when you go to bed early and have a great shooting game the next day, but can you try and make that happen in a game where you’re good shooting would actually make a difference?
- I’m really glad the Knicks don’t have to play Houston again for at least 11 more months.
- 10-1 at home is still really darn good.
- Another positive is we can start to prepare for Copesanity. He had a career high 29 points on 11-19 shooting.
Knicks vs Rockets 12-17-12 – Game Thread
Jeremy Lin’s return to the Garden. This is the only team that has blown out the Knicks. Melo and Sheed are out and as usual Camby, STAT and Sump are out as well, oh and Felton has bone bruises in BOTH hands. That being said Houston is a sub-500 team and this is a very winnable game. Plus it’s at the Garden where the Knicks happen to be 10-0. Comment as the game goes on below.
The New York Knicks Podcast 