according to Chris Paul

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Robert Curre submitted a really good post  titled "fixing the defense". Unlike Robert, I have no coaching experience and so I do not presume to argue with him about the technical aspects of the game.

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This series will reveal a great deal about the Knicks' prospects next year.

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Why not?

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in the midst of all this excitmement, we need a reality check

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Wilson is a restricted  free agent this year

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Here are some excerpts from his column in the Times 

So the Knicks are living with a roster full of holes and severe limitations in trying to plug them.

The Knicks desperately need a 7-footer to rebound and defend, an established shooting guard to replace Fields (who should be a reserve), a backup power forward to spell Stoudemire, and more size and shooting off the bench. Billups and Stoudemire listed big men as a top priority.

The Knicks are drafting 17th this June and will probably not be back in the lottery for many years. They have just one first-round pick in the next three drafts. When they do pick, they will have to be nearly perfect.

No N.B.A. team, even with two elite players, can contend for a title without a strong supporting cast.

The team has until Friday to buy out Chauncey Billups for $3.8 million or keep him next season for $14.2 million. If he stays, the Knicks would be over the current cap ($58.5 million). If he is bought out, the Knicks might have $8 million to $10 million to spend, assuming the cap stays the same. (end of quotes)

The future looks bleak for the Knicks, but Dolan doesn't care because he knows  the suckers will still pay the  higher ticket prices?

This is a team with the worst bench in the league.

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Going into the playoffs, This team needs some rest- especially Amare and to a lesser extent Carmelo. I 'm sure that the experts will have all kinds of theories regarding the matchups with Miami or Boston, but I am more concerned with  the health of the key players.

This is not a good time to to take chances. Finishing  6th or 7th is irrelevant if you were to lose a starter to  injury. A few good teams can lose a starter and still survive in the playoffs, but NY is not one of those teams. 

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For 2 years he had to coach a team loaded with toxic waste while being subjected to the often repeated

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  Will D'Antoni jump the sinking ship? He understands better than anyone that this team is in shambles and that he has been left out to hang in a slow death while Dolan hides in the bunker. Soon the rumors from unnamed sources will begin suggesting that  D'Antoni has done a poor job- that he has not properly adjusted  to the Carmelo trade- that he has lost control of the team etc.

     Mike  might just decide to quit rather than to continue working for a looney tune owner who insists on making trades.  Mike is a good coach, and if he does leave, he should have no trouble landing another head coaching job.

if Donnie follows, can we expect Isiah next?

has been reading our blogs. He wrote:

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The NY Post quotes Donnie as taking the blame for the Knicks' swoon. Poor Donnie - what else could he say?

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I read about this notion all the time- D’Antoni does not teach defense.  My answer is that all

coaches in the NBA or even in the college ranks teach and stress defense. It is not possible for

 any coach to reach the NBA level without an understanding of the importance of defense.

It is has been analyzed, computerized, and filmed for years. There is nothing new on the subject,

and all coaches are familiar with the techniques. It’s nonsense to say that Mr X is a defensive

 coach or an offensive coach. All coaches have to adjust to the talent available. If a team has

3 big scorers like Miami, they still have to play tough defense to win. It doesn’t matter what

their style is- whether it’s run and gun or half court basketball, everybody in the league knows

you can not win without defense.

When a team plays poor defense, is it because of the coaching? Possibly, but more than likely

 it’s because the players did not execute. It’s almost always because of poor execution or lack

of effort.

If Amare or Melo fail to box out on rebounds, is it D’Antoni’s fault? If they fail to switch,

whose fault is it? What do you suppose the 3 assistant coaches do every day at practice?

 They try to correct the problems. The problem here is that Amare and Melo are scoring

 machines, but are not adequate on defense. The other aspect is that both are stars and have

 to be treated with some deference. You can shout at a rookie, but you can’t do the same

 to the stars.

Dolan understood what Barnum said 100 years ago about suckers every minute. and so Dolan had to figure out a way to increase prices 50% and still fill the Garden every night- just get  Carmelo and the suckers will come.  He has a perfect win-win scenario. If the team does well, he takes the credit and makes money. If the team does poorly, he still makes money, but he also has 2 ready made scapegoats: D'Antoni and Donnie, both of whom I am convinced opposed the trade. 
Poor Mike D'Antoni never had a chance. His situation is so bad that he had to insert Jeffries as the starting center with Turiaf as the backup. How can any team win with only 4 players on the floor?

The Knicks are a 4 man team. No center and no 6th man,  Turiaf is totally inadequate as a center and Douglas is unreliable as a 6th. (2 points last night). It's a sign of their desperation that Jared Jeffries and Earl Baron are being considered. Last night was an embarrasment for sure, but it was also an indication of things to come.

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In my opinion, Carmelo will never sign an extension with the Nets. After Jersey gives up all those players, and all those draft picks , what's left? Going to Jersey is like going to purgatory, and Carmelo knows it. I don't think the Knicks are going to give up 3 starters when they can get him in 3 months. Sure, I know they can't keep Chandler, but Gallo and Felton will remain and both are valuable pieces.

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The players are Denver, Melo and the Knicks. Who will blink first? Melo is sitting there with pocket aces, the knicks have Ace King, and Denver has 7,2. No  team will accept Melo for the remaining 2 or 3 months without an extension, and he has made it clear that he will not sign. The only risk to him is an injury, which would destroy his value.

 The Knicks can wait because they know  they will get him in July or sooner. Denver has big trouble. The closer we get to Feb. 24, the more pressure on them to do something. They really have no choice but to make a trade. They may not like to deal with NY, but the alternative is calling an all-in bet with 7.2. Furthermore, the constant talk of trades can't be good for the team morale.

Eddy's reputation and his 11 M contract make him untradeable. No team  will take him unless it can unload an equally useless player with a similar expiring contract or a decent player with a longer contract. The latter possibility looks like a real long shot. Eddy also makes a Melo trade virtually impossible.

What is the advantage- if any- of a buyout? How much of the 11 M counts against the cap immediately? If the entire amount still counts, a buy out is pointless except to the extent that it might save the organization some dollars.
Eddy remains an albatross literally.

Eddy Curry is scrimmaging but still appears to be overweight and is unlikely to play any time soon. “He has to get in better shape,” Mike D’Antoni said. “He’s not quite there yet.” ... Kelenna Azubuike has been removed from scrimmages and is again working out separately with team trainers to fix what D’Antoni called his “mechanics.” Azubuike has spent the last year recovering from a severe knee injury. “It didn’t seem like he progressed as he scrimmaged,” D’Antoni said. “The trainers want him to have the right gait.” ...

 Eddy "Appears overweight"? Nobody knows his weight?

The trainers have to work on his"gait".  Ominous sign for Kelenna- too bad.

Actually there is no bench. Azubuilke, Mason, Mozgov, Randolph, Walker, Turiaf, and Randolph have been useless.

Azubuilke may never play again and Williams has only recently shown some signs of life. Douglas- who may be injured- has been a major disappointment. Except  for Curry and Chandler, this is Donnie's team and he has made some bad choices.( Darko, TMac, Hill etc.)  With only 5 starters, D'Antoni has done an excellent job. No team can win with onlly 5 players.

there is trouble on the horizon if the bench does not improve. In the last 2 games the bench has produced 8 and 9 points respectively with Douglas getting 7 each game,  Williams, Turiaf , and Mozgov contributed a total of 3. If this trend continues, the Knicks will get destroyed by good teams. 8 points a game by the bench does not cut it. Williams had 2 or 3 good games and then disappeared. Turiaf is no scorer and Mozgov has shown no improvement over the first 25 games. The starting 5 is going to wear down without some help.

He knew that Turiaf could not score and was at best a modest rebounder and shotblocker. He knew that Randolph was a player with great potential, but after 2 years, Nelson was unwilling to wait for that potential to develop. Randolph is a gifted athlete, but was also undisciplined and prone to play out of control. He believed that Azubuike's injury  was so severe that he would never be the same.

So what did we get for David Lee?  We got a 2nd string center and 2 big question marks. We lost a good scorer and a big time rebounder, and it shows in the exhibition games- we are getting killed on the boards. This is a make or break year for the Knicks. Expectations are high and if they fail to make the playoffs, heads will roll.  Who knows, Dolan could go nuts and rehire Isiah.

Player option- Turiaf can take the 4 M next year or walk. Ok simple enough, I think

Early termination option- how is that different from player option?

Team option- Seems simple enough.

Qualifying offer-Gallo 5.5 M in 2 years. What happens if he rejects it? Is he a FA or a restricted RA?

Non guaranteed- Felton 9 M  in 2 years. Why would a player agree to a non guaranteed contract?

Seems to me that a clear understanding of these terms as applied to the Knicks is necessary before we can talk about getting Melo or Paul.

Curry's 11 million expiring contract  has value only if he shows up healthy and in NBA condition.(very unlikely)

Otherwise, how do we unload him? We can't swap him for another  bum  with a similiar fat contract. If it were a package,  we would have to offer some incentive like Tony Douglas, Chandler etc. . What do we get in exchange?Certainly, not a quality player. We would simply get rid of a bad one year contract and lose a good player. Is it better to free up the 11 million in January than to wait until June?  I think Eddy will remain with the Knicks for the full year unless Donnie can pull off a minor miracle.

I doubt that Donnie or D'Antoni reads these blogs, but I'm sure someone at MGS does. An insecure  and possibly paranoid Dolan probably has a staffer monitoring  thousands of threads on a daily basis. Can you imagine the utter boredom of reading everything written about the Knicks every day?. For sure, there are a lot of smart basketball people on this board, but most bloggers are are just spreading rumors and  speculating about trades and deals..

Could there be deliberate leaks? The government does it so why not MSG?  Is Seth  a double agent?

as a number of posters have mentioned, NY has some real depth. this year. On the other hand, look at Miami.  

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The coach didn't give me enough minutes to show my game. How many times do we have to listen to this silly complaint from disgruntled players?. Larrry Hughes, Darko, Nate, and now we have Al Harrington telling us  that D'Antoni did not like him. Of couse there are many others, but these come to mind because they are recent. There are even posts on this board suggesting that D'Antoni was not giving minutes to certain players because he didn't lilke them, the prime example being Nate. All were given many chances (especially Nate) to prove their value and they all failed badly. Coaches dislike players who do not contribute to the team.eg. Eddy Curry.  Common sense should tell us that coaches want to win and that means putting the best players on the floor. Personal feelings are irrelevant. Any coach in the NBA would start Jack the Ripper if Jack  could average 20/10. Actually Amare might be Jack is disguise.

Regarding this recent trip to Cleveland, do the Knicks really believe thay can persuade LeBron to sign up or is it a power play designed to raise the stakes, punishing teams like Chicago, the Nets, etc? We all know about the bias  in the NBA against NY, so if NY is going to lose Lebron, why not squeeze the other teams? Of course, the Knicks may get him, but if they do not, make the others pay through the nose. The game is called "hardball" and everybody plays it.

What's the story with TMac? Is he still in rehab? Will he ever recover? If he regains his health, would the Knicks be interested?  It would surely have an impact  on the the scramble for free agents.

The other wildcard is the Barron. If he can contribute, the Knicks will be in a much stronger position in July. I would like to get an update on guys like Mac, Barron and Walker instead of the current obsession  with LBJ.