Knicks Preview for the 2006-07 Season
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as reported by KSN CEO Ethan Kwassman
The 2006-07 NBA season is underaway for the New York Knickerbockers (as Steve Somers likes to say) as the NBA tipoffs tonight with the Chicago Bulls @ the NBA champion Miami Heat, followed by the Phoenix Suns playing in Hollywood against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Knicks, who won a franchise worst 23 games in 2006, can't have much worse happen to them this season. I will divide my Knicks preview into 5 parts: The Disaster that Was and Could Be, the Eddie Curry Factor, Two Guards named Stephon in one Garden, Youth of the Knicks, Hopes for this season and of course my prediction. Also, along with Steven and I covering the Knicks all season long for KSN, a new superfly member (that's what he told me to write) will be joining our network tomorrow. He goes by the name of Ray Cool (I think that's his actual name). He will covering the Knicks along with Steven and me. I think Jon will like Ray Cool! Anyway, without furthur waiting, here's my Knicks preview:
The Disaster: Three coaches have been hired since Isiah Thomas became GM of the Knicks. They were Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens, and Larry Brown. The latter two are Hall-of-Fame coaches. Well, actually there were some interim coaches sprinkled between the three! Neither of them had a winning since in NY in the 5 years that spanned. Neither of them won a playoff game as a coach of the Knicks. Chaney was the only coach to get the Knicks to the postseason and he got swept by the Nets in the first round. Now, MSG (Madison Square Garden) chairman James Dolan wants Isiah Thomas on the sidelines to coach the Knicks out of this mess.
Thomas' part-time job as GM lol, saw him add 6-foot-11 forward Jared Jefferies to this roster. The only problem is that Jefferies fractured the wrist of his right hand in a preseason game and he is excepted to be unable to play for the first month and a half of the Knicks season. Just like last year, if the Knicks happen to have another disasturous year and end of in the lottery, the Eddie Curry trade with the Chicago Bulls bites the Knicks again as the Bulls will get the Knicks first round pick again in the draft. The Knicks roster features 2 guards with the same first name and who do and want to do the same things with the ball. They feature Eddy Curry at center who when healthy, can be one of the best shot blockers and rebounders in the NBA. However, Eddy Curry has like 15 differnt aliments in his heart and knees especially which kept him off the floor for more than half the season last year. The problem when Wilkens and Brown managed the Knicks is that they played the same guys every night and never found a rotation that worked. Isiah Thomas kept urging them to play the "kids", but they didn't want to ruin guys like Channing Frye and Quentin Richardson's spunk. When the kids did play, it brought energy to the Knicks and kept them in the games more. Isiah Thomas has already made his point for change by starting Frye and Richardson in the season opener tomorrow night. Will it work? We shall see.
Eddie Curry: Curry, listed at just about 7 feet and 285 pounds is a huge presence on the floor every night for the Knicks. The only problem is getting Curry out there on a daily basis. It's a much different game plan for Isiah's Knicks when Curry is not out there every night. The Knicks do not have much hope in backup centers Jerome James (with that hefty contract) and Kelvin Cato. Both centers are unexperienced and all Knicks fans know how dreadful James played on a daily basis last season while Curry was out. And yet Brown played him every night. Go figure! If the two Stephons are getting the ball to Curry instead of to themselves, Curry will score because of his size. He matchups very nicely with almost all the centers in the NBA outside of the big four (Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Shaquille O'Neal). If Curry averages around a double-double every night in points and rebounds, the Knicks will have a good shot to win that game. Curry has got to play at least 60-65 games this season in order for the Knicks to go anywhere!
Two Guards named Stephon: The Stephon Marbury-Stephon (Steve) Francis saga from late season last year continues into this season. The issue, is not who plays at the point or who plays the shooting position. The issue is how will they deal with each other. No doubt, they both have talent and took many things with the basketball. They both makeup a good backcourt........ if they are cohesive. If they aren't cohesive, Knicks games are going to be laughers by the opposition every time out. Marbury and Francis run the offense, or Francis and Marbury run the offense. Your pick. They both have to play defense too, which is what they both "forgot" to do a lot the end of last season. Thomas has said Marbury will be pacing the offense down the floor, but we all know that he still has plenty of confidence in Steven Francis. Marbury and Francis continue to say there's no bad blood between them and that they can work together. We'll see. If Francis and Marbury average 10 assists and 15-30 pts between them every night, Knicks should be in ballgames in the fourth quarter, if not be ahead by a wide margin.
Youth of Knicks: F Channing Frye and F Quentin Richardson both had bad endings to last season, along with the Knicks awful season. Frye missed the last 3 weeks of last season to a season-ending injury and Richardson's young brother was murdered towards the end of the 2005-06 NBA Season. Channing Frye has shown sparks of what time of player he could be. He has to be a consistent rebounder though. Richardson is an average forward who provides the Knicks not only being very competent in getting boards on the offensive side, but also brings a passing game to the table as well. Richardson is not exactly youthful being that he is 26 years old. The rest of the Knicks' youth comes off the bench in 22-year-old Guard Nate Robinson 23-year-old Power Forward David Lee. Towards the end of last season, Lee and Robinson were the only reasons Knicks' fans came to the Garden to watch a last-team headed in the wrong direction. Lee and Robinson, along with Jamal Crawford, Malik Rose, and Jared Jefferies when he returns, will be key players off the bench for the Knickerbockers.
Hopes for this season:What can you expect? The Knicks already started off on a good foot by finally waiving one of their zillion guards as they gave G Jalen Rose the boot yesterday. The Knicks 5 guys on the floor starting every night in Marbury, Francis, Richardson, Frye, and Curry don't matchup well with even half the team in the NBA. Games that the Knicks win this year are either going to come from breakout performances from Marbury, Francis, and/or Curry. You know the Knicks are rarely going to win games this season with their defense. The Knicks may also win games from the bench where you've got Lee and Robinson coming off the sidelines. A lot of teams don't know how to guard Lee and Robinson, because their unknown. That will ride to the Knicks' benefit.
The Knicks catch a break in their first game of the season at Memphis versus the Memphis Grizzlies 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night on the MSG-Network. Isiah's Knicks (my team's name in the KSNBA-League). Center Pau Gasol with miss the Grizzlies home opener with a broken foot. After that, the Knicks first 18 games will tell how their season is going to go. The Knicks home opener at Madison Square Garden is versus the bad reputation free-Indiana Pacers Saturday night, November 4th. The first 11 of 18 games this season are away from the Garden, where the Knicks held the NBA's worst road percentages in almost every offensive and defensive category last season! The Knicks have home-and-away dates with San Antonio, Houston, Chicago, and Cleveland (amazingly with Centers that over match Eddie Curry in Duncan, Mong, new Bulls C Ben Wallace, and Ilgauskas respectively. Good luck Knicks!
PREDICTION: I'm not going to say that the Knicks are going for a 23-win season to an NBA Finals! Not that cocky! However, my pick may shock some people. I'm going to say 39-43, 3rd place in Atlantic Division, behind the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets. Believe or not, the Boston Celtics' and Toronto Raptors' roster overall, is actually not that much better than the Knicks. I will also say the Knicks will get the ninth seed as Isiah Thomas will head this team in the right direction, just like he did with a bad Indiana Pacers team in the 2001-02 season. But in the playoffs, can Isiah talk the walk? We'll see from there. LETS GO KNICKS!
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