The Knicks season ended prematurely, and frankly, I’m
surprised it lasted as long as it did.
The fact that we grabbed the number 2 seed is testament to
how bad (banged up) the Eastern Conference is rather than how good NY is. Let’s
break down our 2 seed consensus “contender”. How many potential Championship
pieces were sitting in the Knick locker room after being bullied by the Pacers
for 6 games? I count 3; Melo, Shump and Chandler. I’ll talk about them last.
First let’s break down the rest of the room.
The Veterans: Camby (39), Kidd, (40), Q. Rich (33), Martin
(35), Prigioni (36).
Camby did nothing all year, was hurt a lot, and ended up
just being a veteran voice in the ear of cinderalla man Chris Copeland. I have
no idea why Richardson was bought in. When the Knicks were good during the
regular season – Jason Kidd was invariably involved. Making decisions in the 4th
quarter, swinging the ball, knocking down timely 3’s, directing traffic all
over the floor and being in the right place on D – he did all the little things.
He was reliable, master of the clutch play
as well as the odd clutch bucket, and the perfect pass first counterweight
to Melo’s isolation. Then in the playoffs he disappeared, ran out of gas, lost
his stroke – he probably played too many minutes in the regular season,
regardless his lost production hurt the Knicks as much as or more than the more
publicized J.R Smiths struggles.
Now two guys who stepped up in the postseason, Martin and
Prigioni. K Mart was huge towards the end of the regular season and against the
banged up Celtics. He played defense and rebounded – exactly what the playoffs
place a premium on and the Knicks lack. Prigioni was the most refreshing of
revelations all year, a reliable pass first PG, who earned his nickname “Sneak”
with unrelenting pest like defense. He made big shots in the playoffs. Frankly
the Knicks don’t get past Boston without these two, neither of which is likely
to return next year due to the woeful cap situation in NY, and both – rightly –
looking to cash in on good seasons.
Atleast Kidd and Camby made it to the postseason, unlike
Kurt Thomas and Rasheed Wallace.
Kurt Thomas is a favourite at the Garden, and he proved why
this season. After being used sparingly by Woody all year, he played his best
game of the year on the road against the Jazz on a broken foot to drag the Knicks out of a 4 game slump and into
a 13 game win streak. It was a hearty but costly performance by the NBA
journeyman, ending his season and leading to foot surgery.
And who could forget Sheed, who was looking good to start
the year – knocking down 3’s, dropping in that timeless turnaround baseline
jumper, giving the second unit some much needed offense and getting plenty of comical
technicals, including this little beauty. Ultimately though, after two years of
inactivity, his body couldn’t handle the night in night out banging down low
and he called it quits in the middle of the season. It’s a shame, the Knicks
bet big on the vets, but only two of six survived.
The ball don’t lie, neither do birth certificates.
Next up, the role guys: Felton, Smith, Novak, Copeland.
Felton is a tough, scoring (slashing not shooting) point
guard who thrives in the pick and roll. Ray is OK, he’s solid, rarely hurts
you, but I can’t see him marshalling a team to a championship. Smith took his
polarizing play to a whole new level this year with his chalk and cheese
regular to post season play, from 6th man of the year to generally a
burden with one stupid swing of an elbow. He can shoot you in or out of a game,
and a series. He has an opt out for next year which word is he’ll take, despite
saying he wants to retire a Knick - gulp. Steve Novak can do one thing – shoot.
It would be ok if you’ve got a system strong enough to hide in like say Matt
Bonner for the Spurs, but even Bonner can be in the right place on defense, box
out, and has a jump hook to go to when he drives. Not to mention the Spurs
spacing is close to perfection, the Knicks spacing is streaky at best. The
problem is that when you only do one thing well and everything else terribly,
you’re useless in the playoffs, much to Miami and Indianas delight the last two
years. If you are useless in the playoffs, and your team is supposed to be a
contender – you’re a negative on the roster.
Now onto Chris Copeland. The man of the moment, Mike
Woodsons last roll of the dice against the Pacers. Don’t get me wrong he was
productive in games 5 and 6, but his production just showed how shallow the
Knicks are offensively. Yes he has a knack for scoring, but he’s still not a
good option, I bet Frank Vogel was delighted when Woody and the NY media started
looking to 29 year old rookie journeyman fresh out of Belgium Chris Copeland to
help carry the offense alongside the already overburdened Anthony.
Skipping past the totally irrelevant James White and Earl
Barron, we arrive at…
The cap space monster: Amare Stoudemire.
He was an offensive threat in Phoenix because he was an incredible
athlete, and when fed by Steve Nash he was a beast. His athleticism partially
hid how bad he was on defense, as did the D’Antoni run and gun system. He’s
lost the athleticism, Nash, and the system he was perfect for. His worth lies
in being in the pick and roll, he is good at that, but that’s it. He’s a bad
low post option, hasn’t been knocking down his foul line jumper consistently
for a while. He’s a bad rebounder for his size and a terrible defender. Simply
put, he does more damage than good. This reality is even more debilitating for
the franchise given his horrible contract, which pretty much cripples the
Knicks for the next few years, and explains the veteran quick fix contracts
this year.
I’ll put my worn out over optimistic Knicks fan hat on for a
second – even if he does get healthy, gets his jumper half consistent, gets his
groove back with Felton (making Ray a whole lot more useful aswell) like the
good (terrible) ol’ D’Antoni days… he’ll still be a problem! Because this
interferes with one of the only good things to come out of this season – Melo
at the 4.
Now onto the 3 potentially Championship pieces.
The first one is easy – Tyson Chandler. He was the difference
maker in Dallas when they stunned Miami to get a ring, for that the Knicks gave
him a big contract, and he repayed us by winning defensive player of the year
in his first season. This year he underperformed, but he’s a valuable piece.
He’s a great team defender and a great team-mate. He needs to be better than
this year, but in his defense the roster was all over the place and he had a
few annoying injuries – including the flu in the playoffs which limited his
usual intensity.
The second guy is Iman Shumpert. He took a while to get his
groove back after his ACL injury, but he really showed up in the playoffs, he
is potentially the best perimeter defender in the league, and he’s a 22 year
old sophomore. His jump shot has gotten better and he needs to work on his
offense in general, but he gets the nod as a championship piece on his defense
alone. Basketball attributes aside, this kid is made for New York, he was an
instant fan favorite in the Garden in his home debut, and has shown this
postseason that he’s not afraid of the lights as a lonely bright spot in the
Indiana series.
Last but not least, the centerpiece, Mr Anthony. The Knicks
gave up a lot to get Melo, who needs to step up if he wants bring a banner to
New York. He needs to be MVP Melo, which is NOT scoring champ Melo but atleast
25, 10 and 5 Melo (29, 7 and 2.6 this year). He has the potential to do this,
but he wasn’t there individually this year, nor did the pieces around him
facilitate him getting there. That’s why I’m going to give his isolation heavy
year a pass because 1) He had to score, who else was going to? And 2) Woodson
lives and breathes isolations, the system made it hard for Melo to evolve. All
year it was - isolate Anthony, when they double find the open man, if they
don’t double go to work – when we knocked down the shots we looked great, when
we didn’t we lost. It’s no surprise we struggled in the playoffs – as Magic
said about the Warriors, jump shooting teams just don’t win championships. If
the "greatest shooting backcourt of all time" (Mark Jackson) can’t
win shooting jumpers, then neither can we. Yes it will work against bad teams
in the regular season, but it is an awful game plan for the playoffs, as
Indiana proved by just not doubling and making Melo beat them, which he
couldn’t do, even with Chris Copeland as his right hand man – what a shock.
Winning the NBA title is about collective will (meaning
there must be a true collective, a
team – which is rarer than you think), a whole lot of luck, and most importantly
– knowing what the other team is going to
do and stopping it. This is where the Knicks make it so easy for teams by
being so Melo-centric, good defensive teams beat good offensive players. Ask
the isolation heavy Thunder last year, the isolation heavy Heat the year
before. Ask Jordan about Detroit. This is where Melo and the Knicks have to
grow. Unfortunately as much as I love Woodson’s solitary gobsmacked expression,
his love of isolation offense will not help the Knicks win it all. We
underperformed as a 2 seed not getting to the Conference Finals, and struggled
against a Celtics team who literally didn’t have a point guard on the roster,
and still caused the Knicks serious problems. A rondo-less Boston against a
Melo-less Knick team would not have gone well for NY, because Boston has an
offense that Rondo does a great job running, and we have an offense whose name
is Carmelo.
In summation, we had a bad team (for a “contender”), and a
bad year (for a “contender”), and somehow managed to make it look half
reasonable.
The most painful part of it all is that we cannot win it all
with Amare’s current contract – simple as that. We can’t improve a roster
that’s already over the salary cap, and we haven’t got enough pieces as
currently constituted. Buckle up for a few years of (predictable) playoff
disappointments NY.
Being a Knick fan is fun.
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