Knicks Start Tonight!

You will probably look back on this post as an invitation to pain. That said, I have some hopes for this year. As with every Dolan owned team, the Knicks have had a two pronged assault on rebuilding. The first prong has been young player evaluation. This prong has added Curry, Frye, Lee, Robinon and Balkman to the team. Of course, the other prong has been adding hideously overpriced vets (sometimes at the cost of draft picks) to clog the roster and deny the youngsters the playing time they need to grow. For another example of this unique approach, see the Rangers, if you can stomach watching them these days.

So here are my hopes: Anyone remember the `79-`80 Knicks? They were a young team featuring Bill Cartwright, Toby Knight, Larry Demic (Brick!), and the Rays. They won a surprising number of gamesand went to the playoffs by getting the ball to Cartwright and Knight, while still getting exciting play from Michael Ray and Ray Williams (plus Mike "The Stinger" Glenn off the bench).

I'd love the see this year's Knicks run through Curry and Frye while the guards still provided exciting play. The big problem I see, aside from a complete lack of team D (I actually expect development here), is that neither of our starting guards - Marbury and Francis - is good at getting the ball to the bigs. Marbury has especially shown he can rack up assists in the past, but a lof of those with the Knicks have come in a high post two man game.

They need to get the ball to Curry in the low post as a function of possessing it at all. At the same time, he needs to develop some high post moves (he's been flashing a little jumper from foul line extended in pre) and stay the hell out of foul trouble. Same note for Frye, who along with Lee and Nate, was really screwed with by last year's coach. That said, he's got to use that high basketball IQ of his to stay out of foul trouble. He's come back a lot stronger this year and so far all it's yielded is harder fouls. He needs to recallibrate his shot and game to his new strength. When we get Jared Jefferies back, I think we'll be getting a big lift. He doesn't need the ball, is a good defender who can guard anyone, and showed an instinct to get the ball to the bigs, in his limited view in pre.

The Knicks are deep - not philosophically - but with players like Jamal "I pass to Curry and try to play D" Crawford, David "Every time I take a breath I get a rebound" Lee, Quentin "When healthy I bring toughness, grit, points and rebounds" Richardson, Nate "Vertical!" Robinson, and Renaldo "I was not a reach!" Balkman. These guys all looked ready to play in preseason, and they are fun to watch.

Kelvin Cato will also see lots of time backing up the Foul Guys, and so far he has looked game to play and game to help them. They didn't get that help from Antonio Davis last year. Malik Rose and Jerome James are also taking up cap space, but they don't figure to do much. Neither does Mardy Collins, who was coming on a bit as the preseason ended.

As we all know, it's do or die for Zeke, let's hope they do a little more and die a little less this season. Dolan wants to see "solid progress" this season. So do I, but I actually know what it is! Try to enjoy, my friends.