Archive for the ‘New York Knicks’ Category

Atlantic Division Preview

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

The Atlantic Division has been one of the least competitive divisions the past few years. The last two the division has been dominated by the Boston Celtics, unfortunately for the other four teams it doesn’t look like anything will change this coming season.

Boston Celtics

Two years ago the Boston Celtics were the NBA champions, they looked poised to repeat before Kevin Garnett got injured in late February. The Celtics were able to remain an NBA elite team, but without their heart and soul they struggled in the playoffs. KG is back now and if he can remain healthy this biggest off-season question mark will be removed.

The Celtics added some interesting pieces during the off-season, the biggest being Rasheed Wallace. Wallace is an insurance policy incase Garnett cannot go full speed all season long. They also added Sheldon Williams and Marquis Daniels to boost their bench.

Expect another stellar year for the Boston Celtics. They will battle with the Cavs and Magic for the best record in the NBA this season and could win themselves their 18th all-time NBA championship.

Toronto Raptors

The Raptors had a hugely disappointing season last year after making the playoffs the two previous seasons. Injuries played a part in the Raptors struggles with various players out at different times of the year. But the Raptors biggest struggles seem to be adjusting to new teammates after the Jermaine O’Neal trade than trading O’Neal for Shawn Marion.

The Raptors had one of the best off-seasons this year. They added one of the top free agents in Hedo Turkoglu, but also added Marco Bellinelli, Reggie Evans, Jarrett Jack, Amir Johnson, and brought back Rasho Nesterovic. Besides Hedo, expect the biggest impacts to be made by Bellinelli and Nesterovic. Bellinelli will give the Raptors the outside shooting they lost when they traded Jason Kapono to Philadelphia for Reggie Evans. Nesterovic will give the Raptors the much needed inside defense.

Toronto made the right moves and now have a really good team. I don’t think they are as good as Boston but I do think they are good enough to challenge for a home court in a first round playoff series. Bosh, Bargnani, Turkoglu and Calderon is a very nice core to build around and now they have a lot of depth as well.

Philadelphia 76ers

The Sixers were a playoff team and gave the Orlando Magic some great finishes in the first round last year, but they lost a lot of core players and didn’t improve much in the off-season. The loss of Andre Miller is really going to hurt the Sixers this season. Louis Williams is a solid player but not a guy who can lead a team in the playoffs in the NBA.

The big off-season addition by the Sixers is Jason Kapono; who is a solid player but isn’t going to help very much. The Sixers are most likely betting on their 2008 off-season acquisition Elton Brand to become a major factor this year. Brand missed most of the season with an injury.

If the Sixers can stay healthy they could be in the playoffs, but as a lower seed. They need Brand and Iguodala to stay healthy to have any chance. I still think their lack of depth will ultimately spell doom for the Sixers.

New Jersey Nets

The Nets had a rebuilding year last year and they look to be continuing with that course of action this year by trading Vince Carter. The Nets had some promising players last year such as Brooke Lopez and this year they will likely continue trying to develop him.

The Nets didn’t add much during the off-season. They did add Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee but neither guy are game changers and are more suited to be role players. The Nets will be going with Lopez as their number one option.

New York Knicks

The Knicks continue to be a mess much like they have been the past seven years. The Knicks are banking on a signing Lebron James or Dwayne Wade in 2010 so they are saving every bit of cap room they can.

The Knicks were able to re-sign their best players David Lee and Nate Robinson which will help them be a little bit better than they would have been otherwise. But the Knicks have nothing and don’t really seem to care. They want to shed more cap space and will try to move Eddy Curry for an expiring.

Expect another horrid season of Knicks basketball.

Predicted Records

 

Boston          60-22
Toronto         50-32
Philadelphia    41-41
New Jersey      31-51
New York        20-62

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Boozer to New York?

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Rich Bucher is reporting that the Jazz and Knicks are discussing a trade that would send Carlos Boozer to the Knicks for David Lee.    My source, who is usually fairly accurate, has confirmed this and says that the Jazz and Knicks have had several discussions about such a scenario all summer long.    The Jazz like David Lee a lot, they feel he’d be a perfect fit for their team, the problem is the Jazz do not want to trade with the New York Knicks because the Knicks owe the Jazz an unprotected lottery pick next year, so adding Carlos Boozer could hurt the Jazz in the 2010 draft.   Utah also wants expiring contracts and draft picks if they trade Boozer.   The Knicks have plenty of expiring contracts, but it’s the draft picks they don’t have.

From my source I have gotten a few scenario’s which have been discussed.   The most unlikely is the Knicks re-sign and than trade both David Lee and Nate Robinson to the Jazz for Boozer.    That is a deal that the Jazz would likely go for, they do not really need Robinson but acquiring him would really weaken the Knicks already pathetic roster.     A more likely scenario is a package of Lee and either Al Harrington or Larry Hughes for Boozer.    In that deal the Jazz would get value for Boozer in Lee, but also get an expiring.

One gamble the Knicks could take is also trying to acquire Andrei Kirilenko in the deal.  Kirilenko has a brutal contract that the Jazz have been looking to get out from, and cap relief in 2010 may make it worth Utah’s while to do a trade.  Something such as Lee, Harrington and Hughes for Boozer,  Kirilenko and Morris Almond or Kyrylo Fesenko.   The Knicks all but end their chance of signing two marquee free agents in 2010, but they do have a much better and more attractive team to lure one, and they would have the Bird rights to Carlos Boozer; meaning they could sign him even while over the cap.   Dwayne Wade, Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, Nate Robinson, and Jordan Hill does not look like that bad of a team.    The deal at the same time improves Utah.  Okur, Millsap, Harrington, Brewer Williams with Lee off the bench would be a formidible foe for any of the western elites.

The latest from my source says that the teams discussed a four way deal with the Sixers and Suns were the Jazz would recieve Lee, filler, 2 first round picks and cap relief while the Knicks got Boozer and the other two exchanged some spare parts with each other.    One problem with this is that the Sixers would want Jazz center Kosta Koufos in the deal and the Jazz are not willing to part with the young project yet.    The Jazz were hoping that Fesenko and the rights to Ante Tomic would appease them but apparently it hasn’t.

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