Well, since the Knicks are big fans of losing games and pissing me off, I figured I'd post this thread to see how close everyone else is paying attention to the early season (hopefully you guys are not enjoying the season as much as I'm not enjoying it :) ). So let's have a little fun with early season numbers!
Player A:
36 minutes a game 18 ppg 3.5 apg 2.5 rpg 43.1 fg% 52.6% 3p% 50.9 efg%
Player B:
34 minutes a game 22.7 ppg 5 rpg 1.3 apg 46.8% fg% 50% 3p% 66% efg% (!!!!!!!!!)
kmvenne blog bump while I watch the Mavericks play the Clippers and see who you guys think these players are....
Knicks basketball starts up in just under 7 hours, and nobody has bothered to do a nice preview for them. Where has the official CBS Knicks blogger been to make that happen? What, that's me? Oh...
Yet again, the Knicks are waiting for LeBron. But there are some interesting differences between this season and last season, despite both of them being seasons with no chance for an NBA title. The two main differences between this season and last season are:
1) Knicks have a better roster this year. Q-Rich is gone, but Darko is here to add post defense, lotto pick Jordan Hill exists, and anything he does will be a bonus, late 1st round draft pick Toney Douglas will enter the Knicks heavy minute rotation and has shown flashes of being a good defending guard, something the Knicks desperately need, and Danilo Gallinari is going to be healthy this season, and bring his mix of outside shooting and surprising defense to the mix.
2) Knicks have a better situation going into this year. Nobody is going to be chanting "We want Steph!" at opening night at the Garden this year. Reporters havn't covered the Knicks like the paparazzi all over Brittney, as was the case last season. People know their roles, they know the Knicks don't have too many moves up their sleeves this season, and they are likely to feel comfortable in their security of being a Knick all year long. Plus there is one full year in the D'Antoni system under the belts of most key contributers. There is a lot to be said for that.
I think both these things should translate to a few more wins then the 32-50 record.
Now the most common argument against the Knicks showing any improvement is "Everyone else got better, too!". Well, the Knicks don't care about the top of the East. They were better then the Knicks anyway, and they beat the Knicks most every time last year. The Knicks arn't going to start going .500 or even .250 against the cream of the crop. And did the teams competing for the bottom of the East really improve as much or more then the Knicks did? Knicks filled their greatest hole, interior defense, and added two lottery picks (Danilo might as well be an addition after sitting out most of last year) and a defending guard. That's pretty strong. But let's say that you still don't believe that the Knicks, despite having a better roster, a better scenario, more experience with the SSOL, and less distractions this season, are good enough to improve their 32-50 record. Here are 3 other ways the Knicks may get better as the season goes along.
1) Cuttino Mobley 's insured contract. What a great trade chip this contract is. It's 9.5 million and 80% insured. So right now, it represents a way for a team to save almost 8 million dollars in salary. In these harsh economic times, what kind of player can you get if you give a team 8 million dollars? I'd like to think you could get a pretty nice piece for that kinda contract.
Now Donnie Walsh will dangle this bad boy in an effort to move Eddy Curry or Jared Jeffries , but if he can't move either of them, expect him to flip it for either a 1 year rental or a young player in a bad sitation that won't cut into the 2010 plan too much.
2) Larry Hughes 's 13.5 million dollar expiring contract. The Knicks have no use for Larry Hughes. Mostly because he is, as Charles Barkley would say, "turrrrrible". But perhaps the Knicks could swap this expiring deal for a expiring deal that better suits the team. Or maybe this high dollar contract will be the perfect matching contract towards a superstar that gets disgruntled at some point this season, and can be had for peanuts. The large amount of dollar signs on Larry Hughes' contract makes it a very flexable tool that can be used in a number of ways to improve the Knicks, either in 2009, 2010, or maybe both.
3) Youth. The simple reason may end up being the right one in this case. The Knicks are still, at their core, very young. Danilo, Hill Ghostface Douglas, Nate, Lee, Chandler. These guys still have room to grow. Nate during the preseason looked like the light clicked on for him that he can be a 2.5 steal/game player. Lee will continue to improve his jumper with time. Danilo will get better as the season goes on and he passes the half century mark in NBA games played. Chandler will continue to figure out how to best guard wingmen and how to get his own shot, and his outside stroke will likely get better with time. There is still some untapped upside with a majority of the Knicks rotation. The Knicks should fufill some of that upside this season, maybe just a little, but maybe a fair amount.
Will the Knicks make it all the way to the playoffs? I don't know. I kinda hope they don't. I think this is a 36 win team as currently assembled. If the Knicks make just 1 good move, they could be a 39 win team easily, which could easily make the playoffs this year. But I'd rather the Knicks made the good move of trading Jeffries or Curry then the good move that gets the Knicks the 8 seed. The playoffs would be awesome, but there will be plenty of playoffs in the future after this season. I'd rather do all we can to lock up a situation to lure the King to the Basketball Mecca then try to make the playoffs with no chance of doing anything.
But I kinda think the Knicks will in fact make the playoffs, despite my best wishes. Donnie Walsh is no dummy. He knows the stupid sports media is going to act like the LeBronless Knicks need to make the playoffs this year to be an attractive place for LeBron to sign. I don't understand how people think a teams success or lack thereof before LeBron shows up will indicate their success with LeBron. You just run your team around LeBron if you have him, so the pieces hardly matter around him. But anyway, after Walsh makes an effort to free salary up, if he can't find any takers for Jeffries/Curry, expect him to trade away those two contracts I mentioned to try to obtain a couple rentals to help propel the Knicks into the playoffs. With no #1 pick in 2010, the Knicks have nothing to lose by trading their expiring contracts for useful pieces, and may well take that road as the season goes on.
I really hope Walsh pulls off another masterpiece trade, gets rid of Jeffries or Curry, and the playoff dream fades away. But if that doesn't occur, New York could well challenge for that 8 seed, a lot harder then you think. If it happens, you heard it here first.
Miami came out with the opposite of a good defensive plan. We started the game blitzing 6 or 7 about half the time, seriously. Wake just stayed in the shotgun with 3 wide, a TE, and a back, and just flaired the back out the flats or hit an out route. Time after time after time, 8-12 free yards. 17-0 before you know it, on the first 3 drives, each over 75 yards.
Finally Miami stopped playing two deep safties, in fact went cover zero up top and covered the flats instead, and Wake had trouble sustaining drives after that, forced to hit a big pass vs. man down the seams (did do that once) or run the ball on Miami, only 1 drive over 50 yards after that adjustment for Wake.
Miami offense was hurt without our starting RB James, had to go to the air a lot more then Miami likes to, hardly any balance, and for some reason we took a lot of deep chances on passes, had a couple chances for some big catches, but didn't make then until we had to late in each half. Ja-scory looked his age, ate a few sacks, had to throw a few away, threw a few errant, could have had a few picks if not for Wake defenders being from Wake and therefore lacking hands. Thank goodness we played a subpar team...
Overall it was a horrible defensive gameplan that Wake was ready to exploit that cost us 17 points on our first 3 possessions, but when Miami made the adjustments, they gave themselves a chance, and thankfully pulled it out by a thread. I think we tried to get too tricky early with the blitzing, trying to confuse Wake, but we just confused ourselves, but when we went athlete on athlete and covered the flats with no safety help, we started making the big hits for fumbles and breaking up the passes. It's almost like Miami should have came in with the defensive gameplan to just outathlete Wake all game long or something...
Offensivly, I got no clue what we did, but at least it worked in the end.
Hopefully Wake isn't too bad, need them or Duke to beat GT or Miami will be enjoying another mid-tier bowl game. Shame we knocked Wake's QB stupid with about 5 minutes left, Wake will need him and plenty more next week.
I see. Left our game at half. Kind of a boring week. Coastal Carolina. A game I'd rather have early in the season. Wanna just get to the ACC games. Better chance is Duke. Wake from everything I've seen (didn't see much of your game today just the last ditch 60 yard FG attempt) is AWFUL against the run. Spiller, and our RN's sliced through them like swiss cheese. They can't stop it so the triple option should get ugly for Wake. Duke is improving every year and just went into Virginia and won today (not that thats an amazing accomplishment but still a road ACC win). How bout that huge win by UNC the other night. Gave you guys some life and avoids the dreaded 3-way tie-breaker. We got FSU at home next saturday. Students are petitioning to try and make it a night game (which i guess they haven't had in Clemson in a few years according to some students) which would be pretty sick. FSU's bad but they still worry me a little. I know they can score but I think our D will be up to the task. Long shot still for Miami with GT's schedule but a Clemson-Miami rematch in Tampa would be something. Who do you guys have left on your ACC schedule? Left at half today when we removed the starters. Boring game. Also, BC still is breathing down our necks so we can't afford a slip-up though I expect UNC has a good shot at beating them in BC. Only time will tell.
BTW, guessing at your players since its about the Knicks.
Decent guesses and good logic, but neither are correct. Poor Al has been struggling from the arc this season something fierce. I like Kobe too much to compare him to anyone.
Duke does have a suprising national ranking for their passing game. That's the way to get to GT. Plus Duke gets GT at home, while Wake has to go on the road. At least Wake showed they have a shotgun formation, because like you said, you don't want to make a living running on GT.
I'm suprised to hear Clemson hasn't had a night game in forever. Used to seem like all those Bowden Bowl games were at night. FSU can score well enough but they arn't stopping anyone this year. It's nice to know that any 3 or 7 you give up you can get back real soon. It should be a night game, ACC doesn't get many of those if it's not a Thursday game. STOP SHOWING US TEXAS VS. TEAM THAT CAN'T BEAT TEXAS AT 8 PM ABC!
Miami has Virginia, at UNC, and Duke left. Virginia is due a beating after 2007 when they ran Miami in Miami during the final game in the Orange Bowl. If anyone likes to bet, I'd lay up to 17 with Miami next week, and I doubt the line is that high at all. The last time Miami had a game that was personal, it was the GT game, and Miami put out it's best perforance so far. At UNC should be tough enough, but they seem to be relying on gimmicks and that giant back of theirs to get most their offense. If Miami comes prepared (big ask after today), Miami should be ok. Sad thing about Duke is, we need them to beat GT, but we also need to beat them and have them lose to either UNC or Wake. If Duke (3-1 right now in conference) beats GT, loses to Miami, but beats UNC and Wake, then Duke, Miami, VT, and GT can all go 6-2 in conference. Miami and VT will advance out of the first tiebreaker with 2-1 records vs. the other 3 teams in the tiebreak, then VT will win the tiebreak because they beat Miami. So it's an odd situation for Miami to get a rematch with Clemson: need to win out and GT to lose just one of their last two ACC games and if it's a loss to Duke, need either Duke to lose either at UNC or vs. Wake, or VT to lose one more
I trust Clemson to win out (if/when you can beat FSU, you can beat NCSU, that's a good set of back to back games, preparing for one is a lot like preparing for the other) and also get the help it needs far more then I trust Miami to get the help it needs if Miami wins out. BC is one of those teams that drops a dumb one all the time. Maryland beating BC wouldn't shock me, and I know how awful Maryland is. But a rematch would be fun, I'd expect it to be high scoring again, a good chance for Spiller to showcase his game on a national stage and for the ACC to show off it's two most athletic teams (maybe outside FSU, but they can't put it together). If Miami can't make it to the ACCCG, I'd imagine Clemson will probably be good to go vs. VT and GT would be a fun rematch I wouldn't feel comfortable calling either way. Either way Clemson makes for the most interesting Atlantic champion, so I'll be hoping they come through.
Duke does have a suprising national ranking for their passing game. That's the way to get to GT. Plus Duke gets GT at home, while Wake has to go on the road. At least Wake showed they have a shotgun formation, because like you said, you don't want to make a living running on GT. Well I was implying more that Wake doesn't bare well against GT's option attack. We shredded Wake on the ground. Not sure how they fared vs. you minus your top RB but they looked BAD against us. But yea, GT's pass D is terrible. Made Parker look like Montana against them. And that was only his 2nd game as a starting QB in D-1 CFB.
I'm suprised to hear Clemson hasn't had a night game in forever. Used to seem like all those Bowden Bowl games were at night. FSU can score well enough but they arn't stopping anyone this year. It's nice to know that any 3 or 7 you give up you can get back real soon. It should be a night game, ACC doesn't get many of those if it's not a Thursday game. STOP SHOWING US TEXAS VS. TEAM THAT CAN'T BEAT TEXAS AT 8 PM ABC! Ya according to other students its been a couple years. I hope we get it. Seems like every week its a Big Ten or Big XII night game on ABC. This is definately our best shot at only other home game left s vs. Virgina in the last one and no way that gets it. Would be a crazy atmosphere. Clemson recorded the 2nd highest decible rating at a CFB stadium in a home game a few years ago. Not sure who it was but saw it on a broadcast last weekend when they were talking about it.
Miami has Virginia, at UNC, and Duke left. Virginia is due a beating after 2007 when they ran Miami in Miami during the final game in the Orange Bowl. If anyone likes to bet, I'd lay up to 17 with Miami next week, and I doubt the line is that high at all. The last time Miami had a game that was personal, it was the GT game, and Miami put out it's best perforance so far.I remember that game. Surprised Shannon survived it. With all the alums back and the last game in the Orange Bowl. All that pride and a mediocre Virginia team won big. Was like 40-0 or something wasn't it? That the year they had Long at DE before he got drafted?
At UNC should be tough enough, but they seem to be relying on gimmicks and that giant back of theirs to get most their offense. If Miami comes prepared (big ask after today), Miami should be ok. Yea, UNC's been a roller-coaster. They do have a good team though. Im banking on them giving us a little breathing room by beating BC. Otherwise pressure's on to win out.
Sad thing about Duke is, we need them to beat GT, but we also need to beat them and have them lose to either UNC or Wake. If Duke (3-1 right now in conference) beats GT, loses to Miami, but beats UNC and Wake, then Duke, Miami, VT, and GT can all go 6-2 in conference. Miami and VT will advance out of the first tiebreaker with 2-1 records vs. the other 3 teams in the tiebreak, then VT will win the tiebreak because they beat Miami. So it's an odd situation for Miami to get a rematch with Clemson: need to win out and GT to lose just one of their last two ACC games and if it's a loss to Duke, need either Duke to lose either at UNC or vs. Wake, or VT to lose one more Yea thats a ton to ask for. Like I said, I fully expect GT to be the Coastal rep. Don't see them being stopped at this point vs. Duke or WF. Plus, part of me is kinda rooting for them because of how I feel we let them off the hook back in September (though to be fair with that running game the 21-0 lead they built in the first quarter should have been enough to let them cruise to a win.)
I trust Clemson to win out (if/when you can beat FSU, you can beat NCSU, that's a good set of back to back games, preparing for one is a lot like preparing for the other) and also get the help it needs far more then I trust Miami to get the help it needs if Miami wins out. Yea other than Miami, we've been shaky on the road but I think if we can beat FSU (which we should even though they're explosive) then I can't see us blowing it at NCSt. NCSt.'s given up big points to BC, FSU, both of whom I think Clemson is a better team than. Great thing about the win today was Spiller supposedly reaggravated his turf toe pretty bad after last game so he barely played today though he had a score and essentially has two weeks to rest it for FSU.
BC is one of those teams that drops a dumb one all the time. I remember Syracuse a few years ago at home with the Orange Bowl on the line. City was crushed. Then I think Clemson actually might have kept them from the ACCCG not long ago but could be wrong. But yea, this BC team is nowhere near even the one last year that on the Atlantic, post-Ryan.
But a rematch would be fun, I'd expect it to be high scoring again, a good chance for Spiller to showcase his game on a national stage and for the ACC to show off it's two most athletic teams (maybe outside FSU, but they can't put it together). If Miami can't make it to the ACCCG, I'd imagine Clemson will probably be good to go vs. VT and GT would be a fun rematch I wouldn't feel comfortable calling either way. Well VT needs them to lose both now right? With losses to UNC and GT and losing that tie-breaker. Long shot at best. If we make it I anticipate GT being there.
Either way Clemson makes for the most interesting Atlantic champion, so I'll be hoping they come through.Thats the frustrating thing, I don't doubt we'd present a better challenge to anyone than BC, but unfortunately our loss to Maryland has opened the door for BC to sneak in.
ACC is proving its toughness again though this year. Yea teams like Maryland, Virginia, NCSt., etc. are real bad, but I can't name another conference other than the SEC that is as deep say 1-6 as the ACC (GT, VT, Miami, Clemson, BC, UNC). I mean the PAC-10's a 3-4 team conference. Big XII is pretty bad outside Texas and others having down years (Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, from what was expected) and don't get me started on the Big Ten.
Makes you wonder who would be the best teammate for LeBron in 2010 if Danilo can even remotely keep this up. Mo is an All-Star (HAHA!) playing with two fellow All-Stars, in fact the last two All-Star MVP's (and Kobe was one too, I know). Danlio doesn't have that kind of help in getting his own shot as others focus on more serious threats that Mo gets.
How good might Danilo be if he had and MVP making plays for him? It would be fun to find out...
