Post by m00sey22 on Dec 7, 2010 23:31:30 GMT -5
The New York Knicks look to be on the right track after a shaky start within their new management. The team seems to be going through a rebuild that surely shouldn't last to long. After a deal was overturned, the new gm stuck with his vision of making the Knicks a younger team.
In his first move, Stackhouse was shipped out of the big apple in return for Sammy Dalembert, Raja Bell, Rick Fox and 3 first round draft picks. Bell looks to be stepping in as the starting sg and Dalembert will be the first big off the bench. Stackhouse's points will be missed but should be picked up by committe.
The next move was to ship last years starting center chris mihm out for some help at the small forward slot. When the oppotunity was presented to aquire Rashard Lewis, the Knicks jumped at the chance. At the draft, the team was very lucky to jump up a couple of spots and land the number three overall selection which was used to select Emeka Okafor. Meka should fill out a young athletic frontcourt nicely along with Amare and Dalembert. All three look to be solid bigs in this league. All 3 are athletic, can alter shots, rebound and play decent defense. A lot of the knicks hopes lie within their froncourt.
Defense and rebounding should be strengths for this squad but where points will come from is a bit of a mystery. Much of the responsibility will be placed on second year power forward Amare Stoudemire. First year center Emeka will be looked upon to chip in whatever possible, but the secondary scoring will be laid on the shoulders of Rashard Lewis, Raja Bell and John Celestand. Knicks fans hope that with a change of scenary and more of a role in the offence, Lewis will produce better numbers.
When asked about his squad, the newly appointed Knicks gm wasn't sure how to respond. "We'll be a great team in a few years, but its going to take some development and experience from our younger players. With the youth we have, salary flexibility after this season and plenty of first rounders, we look to have a solid base to build on. Who knows where we'll finish this year, depends on how the team develops. We are just looking to keep improving. We'll see how training camp goes, but before we get to far ahead of ourselves, I'll just start with a goal of making playoffs in a wekare eastern conference."
