Friday, November 19, 2010

Status of the NYK

Oh the New York Knicks. Every year I tell myself that this year will be different than the previous year of failure. Every year I have new hope in the form of new GMs, players, coaches, new draft picks, whatever it is, there is always a reason to see that the glass is half full. Every year ends the same way, me saying, "what was i thinking?" The Knicks will never ever be a good team while I am a fan, I guess I have to get used to that. the truth is that this year the expectations to be better were way beyond my delusions. The preseason power rankings on CBS and ESPN had the Knicks in the top 20 teams in the NBA (out of 30) rather than in the bottom 5 as in previous years. Some analysts projected the Knicks to be a playoff team, as high as a 7 seed. I had the Knicks in the playoffs, I had them winning 43 games, and I had them being at the least a fun team to watch. Well everyone was wrong on this one so far, at least through 12 games.

The Knicks sit at 4-8 and after starting 3-2 have lost 6/7 including home games against Philadelphia and Golden State, and losses on the road to Minnesota and Milwaukee. In the offseason the Knicks made some serious moves, bringing in All-Star PF Amar'e Stoudemire for 5 years and $100 million. The also got PG Raymond Felton, former NCAA Champion MVP from the UNC Tar Heels. They also drafted SG Landry Fields from Stanford and combined with the aging of Danillo Galinari, Wilson Chandler, and Toney Douglas, things were looking up. It was the third year for head coach Mike D'antoni and the players were beginning to learn his system. All signs were pointing to a rebound year for the Knicks. D'antoni has always been known as a run and gun offensive guru and defense is of secondary importance. No matter what, this team would score and be competitive...umm not so much.

The Knicks are extremely disappointing and it is because of these primary 5 factors:
  • Falling in love with the tree point line- Mike D'antoni has preached many times that shooting 33% from 3 point land is the same as shooting 50% from 2 point field goals. While this may be true, it doesn't justify shooting 30 threes a game and shooting them early and often. I've always said when you are wide open, sure, shoot a three. I don't support bringing the ball down the court and launching a three with 21 seconds left on the shot clock with a hand in your face from 30 feet out. We can always find better shots than that. We should be shooting threes when we are open, late in the shot clock, or Danillo feels like it. That's it. That equates to 10 open threes, 3 late possession prayers, and 2 Danillo specials (a phenomenal shooter who has the range and ability to hit any shot any time and he feels like launching, go for it I say, nobody else has this right however). That makes for 15 threes a game, not 30. What shooting so many threes does is lead to fast breaks for the others team and takes the Knicks out of position. It also creates bad percentages when we shoot them too often and it makes offensive rebounding difficult, which leads to the next point.
  • Terrible rebounding- The Knicks are terrible at rebounding on both sides of the ball. When on defense they fail to box out and give the other team far too many second chance points. When leading in Minnesota by 20, they allowed Kevin Love to get 31 rebounds, 15 offensive, and create 26 second chance points...in the 2nd half alone!!! That is inexcusable. It also takes away from the Knicks strength, their ability to push the ball in transition and get easy buckets. when you don't rebound you give the other team too many opportunities to beat you and you minimize our greatest asset. Knicks must box out! On offense, the Knicks camp out from the three point arch and sit around watching or waiting for a pass so they can launch threes. This makes it hard to get second chance points when no one is in the paint. More penetration, less threes, and more boards as a result.
  • Ignoring the pick and roll- The Knicks bread and butter for the last ten years (and perhaps longer) has been the pick and roll. The point guard has the ball at the top of the arch and the big man sets a pick and immediately jumps out to the elbow or even into the paint. This leaves a chance for a wide open three if the big man's defender is late helping, or creates a double team on the PG and opens up a lane for the big man to catch and drive. The Knicks have used this to perfection to open up the lane and create mismatches and open looks. This year though, Amar'e Stoudemire has struggle to set legitimate picks and he rolls to the hoop too early, leaving his defender no reason to cheat. It hurts Raymond Felton and ruins the opportunity. It also creates stagnation and leads to the Knicks becoming and launcher spider type offense. More pick and rolls, more penetration, more hard screens, and more hustle and the offense will click.
  • Lack of help defense- When a player beats you and scores a bucket, your team is as responsible as you personally. this isn't street ball where we look at our friend and say, "tighten up". This is the NBA where when a man blows by you, it's because the man is unbelievably quick and talented and it is on the team to rotate and make every shot increasingly difficult. The San Antonio Spurs have always been a great defensive team, and why not with Tim Duncan as your best player, but they also have maintained greatness because the team is always shifting and sliding into position to cut off the open man and NEVER allow an easy shot. The Knicks have preached great help D from day one and in the early going showed it was a priority, but in the last 8 games have failed to demonstrate that. When the opposing team's best player drives the lane, no one steps up and denies penetration, everyone rotates late and that is also why they are out of position and don't get defensive rebounds. A change here starts with the coaching staff continuing to push for help D. It also takes some interior presence, Amar'e Stoudemire has to become more of a leader inside and stop preaching greatness without showing it. His play must demonstrate who he is, not his vocalization.
  • Clutch performance- I've read books where analysts have argued that clutch play is a myth and is not true. That players are likely to hit shots 44% of the time and that number remains the same throughout the game and there is nothing but coincidence for missing shots late in games or for making ones. I beg to differ, I understand the statistics speak highly, but there is something to be said for the effect of tighter defense, fatigue, and pressure. The Knicks are a well conditioned team and are good free throw shooters, which generally makes for a good team to close out ball games. The Knicks however, fail to win close games, EVER, and this is because they have an inferior mentality late in games. They look to not lose games instead of to win. They aren't battle tested and don't have the experience of winning close games to fall back on. At least this year they all want to shoot the big shots late, but late game turnovers are keeping them from getting opportunities. We have been in numerous 5 point or less ball games this year and lost to Portland, Denver, and Philly. 2/3 of those games are home, and the home court advantage does count for a lot late in games. These are games we need to learn how to win, because 40 wins gets you the playoffs in the east and if we win 35, we'll think back to 8-10 games where we lost in the last few minutes and wonder if half of those had gone our way if we might be a playoff team.
Fix these issues, and maybe we'll go somewhere. Until then they will remain a team that has potential and never lives up...surprise surprise. Knicks on Friday night, they don't win I'm gonna get in a fight. No David Lee for GS, this should be fun...