2007 NBA New York Knicks Playoffs
Big Apple's Pro Basketball Team's Time is Now for Postseason Run
Advice for NBA teams to improve their respective teams as the 2007 trade deadline nears, covering all 30 teams, from worst to first. This installment: New York Knicks
The New York Knicks, talent-wise and in all other measures, should be able to win the Atlantic Division this season and go to the Eastern Conference finals. Now that’s a bold statement, and there is one missing element to make this assertion realistic. They somehow, someway need to extricate Rashard Lewis away from Seattle to fill their only missing spot – a small forward that can score and board.
So what are the odds? Clearly not the greatest, as was addressed in the earlier article on the Sonics’ needs. But this may be the Big Apple’s NBA team’s best chance in over a decade to satisfy their long-suffering following though, so the motivation should be there to get a deal done. The other pieces that are in place are (mostly….ok, somewhat) working, despite the rash of losing close games that has happened of late.
In fact, the New York Knickerbockers 2006-07 season could be best described as The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
The Good – Eddy Curry, David Lee, Quentin Richardson, Steve Francis and (surprise) Starbury. Curry has become the animal everyone was anticipating, Lee has become a monster few expected, “Q” has been solid and professional in accepting his role, and Stephon is working the ball around instead of searching for glory. Curry’s numbers at 20 and 7 over 35 miinutes per and shooting .580 in the process makes him a Top 20 league player. He’s still a year or two away from making better decisions about passing out of double-team situations. Not the case with Mr. Lee, who gets all of his 11 PPG on 61% shooting by scrapping for offensive rebounds and rolling off the solid screens he sets. His 10.8 boards a game are accomplished in less than 31 minutes played per game on average. That makes your eyes pop. Stevie Franchise has quietly put together a solid year, with a 2:1 A/T ratio and this with a knee problem that shelved him for six weeks. Richardson and Marbury are living up to expectations, but are not able to carry the team on their shoulders alone. This is due to the presence of …
The Bad: Jamaal Crawford, Jarred Jeffries, Jerome James, and Nate Robinson. Only the first two of the group need be addressed – the underachieving James looks to be happy just to have a Knicks uniform on with $38 million in his pocket. And Robinson as backup point guard with as many turnovers as assists? Yikes! Crawford jacks it up WAY too much, his 3-point accuracy is terrible for such a volume shooter, and his shot selection appears to affect the Knicks psyche at times. Jeffries has been a huge bust for a hyped free-agent signing, but the blame can lie equally with Coach Isiah Thomas for not letting him play through his troubles. He’s getting less than 18 mpg since January 1st, and is only getting three shots a game. Of course it’s Lee who has been the beneficiary of Jeffries woes, but this was a number 11 overall pick just a few years back. There’s got to be more than he’s shown, or been allowed to show, so far. Then there’s …
The Ugly: Malik Rose, the rest of the Knicks bench, and Coach Thomas. Rose was so valuable for the Spurs during their recent title seasons, it’s sad to see him as a non-contributor. Speaking of no help, the remainder of the reserves deserve a big razzy for their ineptness also. But the biggest Bronx cheer should be given to one of the worst GM’s in NBA history who is now looking like he will match that as a coach. He IS the most handsome of all NBA heads, that much I will give him, but my 13 year old son could handle the personnel and game strategy better than Ike Thomas.
Despite all of this, destiny is still in their grasp. Imagine a starting/finishing five like this, (post a hypothetical trade of Francis, Frye and James to Sonics for Lewis and Pietro) : Curry, Lee, Rashard Lewis, Richardson and Marbury. Bring Crawford in as a game changer, spell the bigs with Jeffries, Pietro and Cato. Now the questions are two: can "Q" guard the opponents two guard, and can Robinson’s game be corralled to give Steph the minutes off he needs to be most effective. But the scoring and rebounding that the top 8 could bring to the table here should be more than enough to propel NYK past the other mediocre Atlantic teams, and there’s nothing about this years Heat or even the yin/yang Wizards to make one think that a conference final berth is out of reach.
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