Mike Dunlap is ahead of the curve thanks to coaching his summer league team… Wilson Chandler ready to make a playoff push… Patrick Patterson talks about the Rockets situation.
Jul 202012
Jul 052012
Let’s face facts. The New York Knicks are not a title contender.
Was 2010 really that long ago? The New York Knicks had made some big moves to re-engage the fanbase bringing in Amar’e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton.
Stoudemire played at an MVP level for the first three months of the season. Raymond Felton had a career-year. There was the emergence of young talents Danillo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler.
In other words, hope.
Two years later, all Knicks fans can see the writing on the wall. The Knicks are a playoff team, but unlikely to make noise.
The Knicks’ roster is still in disarray with many questions yet to be answered. Let’s take a look.
Jul 052012
Let’s face facts. The New York Knicks are not a title contender.
Was 2010 really that long ago? The New York Knicks had made some big moves to re-engage the fanbase bringing in Amar’e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton.
Stoudemire played at an MVP level for the first three months of the season. Raymond Felton had a career-year. There was the emergence of young talents Danillo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler.
In other words, hope.
Two years later, all Knicks fans can see the writing on the wall. The Knicks are a playoff team, but unlikely to make noise.
The Knicks’ roster is still in disarray with many questions yet to be answered. Let’s take a look.
Jul 022012
The New York Knicks had it all in front of them in the summer of 2010.
Isiah Thomas was gone, and he had taken his army of overpaid shooting guards with him. New GM Donnie Walsh had meticulously put everything in place—draft picks, salary cap space and a core of young, inexpensive talent. A historic crop of free agents was about to hit the market, and the Knicks had all the assets they needed in a league now driven by the max contract. This time, we were going to do it the right way.
Man, were we wrong.
Flash forward to the summer of 2012, when Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and the Knicks were completely outclassed in five games by the Miami Heat in the opening round of the playoffs.
Those draft picks? New York is without a first-round pick in 2012 and 2014, as well as two more second-rounders they lost to Denver in the Carmelo trade. That cap space? Melo, Amar’e and Tyson Chandler will take up an average of $57 million over the next three years. That young, inexpensive talent? Danilo Gallinari looks like a star in the making with the Nuggets, as did Wilson Chandler before an injury cut his season short.
What the Knicks and their fans are realizing now—and what we all should have realized two years ago—is that their assets were spent giving max contracts to two guys who weren’t max contract players.
Stoudemire is a great competitor, but he doesn’t look anything like the player he once was. His greatness was always predicated on his athleticism and explosiveness, but he’s now pushing 30 with chronic back and knee problems. He lacked any ability to elevate and finish at the rim last year. Without Mike D’Antoni’s pick and roll system, he looks lost.
I fully admit Carmelo is one of the most efficient and talented pure scorers in the league, but that doesn’t justify what the Knicks gave up to get him.
Scoring is Carmelo’s only great quality, and he shows it in the most unproductive way. As Phil Jackson recently pointed out, Carmelo is an isolation ball-stopper who can’t seem to make his teammates better on offense. He stands 6’8”, 230, and is somehow still soft on the glass and rarely commits on defense. The truly elite players—the guys you sell the barn for—have an impact on every facet of the game, and that has never been, nor ever will be, Carmelo Anthony.
Does anyone really believe that these Knicks can challenge Miami or Chicago in the East?
They don’t play consistent defense or rebound, and with no draft picks and almost $60 million tied up in three players, they aren’t going anywhere. The financial commitment required in this new, star-driven NBA makes their roster almost completely inflexible. So now, Knicks fans, we’re back here again: a team with a Conference Semifinals ceiling and no room for improvement.
This time really was going to be different, except it somehow ended all the same.
Read more New York Knicks news on BleacherReport.com
Jun 272012
The Golden State Warriors dodged a bullet when they won the No. 7 pick in the draft lottery, meaning they didn’t have to relinquish their top-seven protected pick to the Utah Jazz. But now the Warriors must get out of their own way if their reported trade proposal, which would swap the No. 7 pick to the Denver Nuggets for Wilson Chandler, has any validity.
As was reported by ESPN’s Chris Broussard this morning, the Warriors are in discussion with the Nuggets for Chandler.
Lots of teams calling Denver to trade for Nuggets’ young players. 1of several moves being discussed: Wil Chandler to G State for 7th pick
https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard/status/218004174405767168
In a vacuum, this trade could make sense for the Warriors. Wilson Chandler is a solid NBA player, and at 25-years-old, he’s just now about to enter his prime. At small forward, Chandler plays a position of need for Golden State, as well. And unlike most rookie draft picks, Chandler will be able to contribute immediately.
The problem is that in this year’s draft—which is one of the deepest drafts in recent memory—the long-term value of the No. 7 pick is much greater than Chandler’s long-term value to Golden State.
For one, Chandler is a nice player, a contributor, but he’ll never be much more than that. He has a high floor compared to a draft prospect, but his ceiling isn’t nearly as high as the players Golden State could draft.
Secondly, Chandler signed a five-year, $31.7 million contract back in March, so there’s a lot of money invested in him. On the one hand, that’s a good thing, because there’s cost certainty. You know Chandler isn’t leaving in free agency any time soon.
On the other hand, the Warriors already don’t have much cap flexibility. By adding a player like Chandler, not only are they taking up much more cap space than they would with a draft pick, but they’re doing it with a player that’s not an established star.
Furthermore, and this is the clincher for Golden State, there’s no guarantee that the Warriors are close to contention. Sure, they do have some good building blocks in Stephen Curry, Andrew Bogut, David Lee and Klay Thompson.
Two of those players—Curry and Bogut—have been injury-prone in the past. More importantly, none of them has established himself as a go-to guy or a bona fide star. However, if Golden State keeps the No. 7 pick, that’s exactly what they could get.
If you ask the Warriors, they’ll tell you they’re on the cusp of contention. Only a few tweaks need to be made to get them there. The problem is we’ve heard that for a few years now. Yet the Warriors still have only made the playoffs once in the past 18 years.
Trading the No. 7 pick for a player like Chandler is something a proven contender might consider. If you knew he’d take you from a back-end playoff team to a championship contender, it would be worth contemplating. That does not describe Golden State’s current status in the NBA.
The Warriors are better off holding on to the No. 7 pick this year. If they make their dramatic leap to contender status in the upcoming season, then trading next year’s first-round pick for an established role player might make sense.
For now, the Warriors need to take their chances in the draft and hope they get the impact player that they desperately need.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Jun 212012
The draft is a time of mystery and wonder for NBA franchises.
Each year, teams select players in the first round with the hope that they will be able to eventually become long-term contributors for them.
Some end up working out, others don’t.
From the 2007 class alone, nine first-rounders are already out of the league, while two others will likely be joining them soon. Aaron Brooks, Wilson Chandler and Jeff Green were all excluded from this count, as they are expected to be making comebacks next season.
That was just five years ago.
Now, let’s examine this year’s crop of prospects and try to predict which of them will experience this same fate within the next five years.
Jun 182012
Jeremy Lin may be on track to become an All-Star one day soon, but it’s far less clear that a title will similarly be in his future.
If Lin leaves New York—either this summer or later—there’s obviously no telling what will happen. Should he remain with the Knicks, our best guesses will still be marred by a number of uncertainties thanks to a number of variables impacting this organization’s future.
There’s no question that New York has looked like a legitimate contender at times.
Unfortunately, at times it’s also looked like a franchise that’s entirely unable to take that next step. There are two very different faces to this team, and which one we see going forward will depend heavily on the following considerations.
The Amar’e Stoudemire Factor
The last two seasons have been a mixed bag for Stoudemire. In his first campaign with the Knicks, he put up over 25 points per game and looked to have settled in comfortably as Mike D’Antoni’s first option. A year later, the addition of Carmelo Anthony and the mid-season departure of D’Antoni seemed to derail Stoudemire.
Injuries didn’t help.
Chances are that the once-explosive power forward can bounce back and at least improve upon the 17.5 points he averaged in 2011-12. However, he may struggle to remain the offensive juggernaut he became with the Phoenix Suns. Unless he can find a way to better mesh with Carmelo Anthony on the court, the Knicks are almost certain to entertain prospective trades.
The problem is that few teams will have any interest in such a deal given that Amar’e is set to make over $23 million in 2014-15, the final year of his deal.
Iman Shumpert and the Non-Existant Youth Movement
There’s a case to be made that the 23-year-old Lin would have been better off with the roster as it stood prior to the acquisition of Carmelo Anthony. Young guys like Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler could have grown and evolved into their prime years with Lin at their sides, potentially forming a dangerous core in another two or three years.
Without a first-round pick in this summer’s draft, the closest thing to a young counterpart for Lin will be second-year guard Iman Shumpert. Shumpert had a fantastic rookie campaign this season, and impressed with his on-ball defense and surprisingly well-rounded scoring ability.
Free agent Landry Fields is the next closest thing to an up-and-coming talent, and the Knicks will almost certainly attempt to keep him in the fold.
Otherwise, though, New York is likely to be in “win now” mode for at least the next three seasons. If the franchise is unable to cash in during that window, Lin could be in store for an untimely rebuilding process afterward.
Roster Flexibility
Perhaps the most troubling sign for Lin’s near-term title hopes is that New York has made an all-or-nothing gamble with its decision to assemble a core compromised of Anthony, Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler. Each player is signed through 2014-15, a season in which they alone will be paid over $61 million.
That clearly impedes the team’s ability to bring free agents into the fold, and it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Anthony attracting much interest on the trade market. Insofar as Anthony is the last guy with whom New York would want to part, that likely leaves the Knicks to make the best of its current assets while undoubtedly tinkering around the margins of the rotation.
Perhaps New York’s in-house talent will attract free agents willing to sacrifice dollars for a chance at a ring, but the Knicks will have to compete for those services with perennial contenders like the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers or Oklahoma City Thunder.
Lin’s Own Development
It goes without saying that Lin will at least partially control his destiny. As promising as his season with NYC proved him to be, he still has some work to do. His decision-making is suspect at times, and he’ll obviously need to work on his ball control.
That said, the sky is the limit for his potential as a premier floor general. He can shoot, get in the paint and is a consummately deferential teammate. Those are the kind of qualities that any team wants in its back court, and they’re also the characteristics of a championship-caliber point guard.
If New York becomes a legitimate contender, Lin’s own improvement will be a principal reason.
Read more New York Knicks news on BleacherReport.com
May 012012
May 012012
DENVER (AP) The Denver Nuggets say forward Wilson Chandler is expected to be ready by the start of training camp next season after undergoing surgery to repair a labral tear in his left hip.
Apr 192012
A look around the league and the web that covers it. It’s also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren’t always listed in order of importance. That’s for you, dear reader, to figure out.
C : Larry Brown Sports . Though the NBA clocks only register for 48 minutes, a typical game lasts around three hours. So if you decide to text through a portion of clock-burning time that only takes up barely over a quarter of your time at the arena, you deserve what’s coming to you.
PF : SI.com . I say it every week: Britt Robson’s power rankings are your must-read power rankings.
SF : Indy Cornrows . Take your last look at “assistant coach Brian Shaw” before he becomes a top dog.
SG : ESPN . The Blazers would really, really like you to know they’re looking for a GM.
PG : Denver Post . Wilson Chandler’s frustrating season is coming to an end.