Knicks · As the Roster stands right now (page 1)

C Turiaf, Jordan, Harrellson
PF Stoudemire, Jeffries
SF Anthony, Walker
SG Shumpert, Fields
PG Billups, Douglas, Rautins

I only put players who i think are likely to return. I really believe Shumpert ends up becoming the starting SG because of his defense and ability to run the P&R while Billups plays off the ball. It seems to make a lot of sense on offense. Fields becomes a great 6th man, and that automatically improves our bench. Shumpert fills multiple needs that we had prior to getting him: perimeter defender, SG and PG depth. Now i believe we have two more needs, a starting center and one more shooter off the bench.

We will remain flexible because it is looking like there will be a great chance of adding CP3 next summer. Of the available FA centers who could come over for one-year contacts, Nazr Mohammed, Kwame Brown, and Jeff Foster appear to be solid options. Any of them would start on this team, and the 3 other centers can fight it out for backup minutes. For shooters who will be cheap, i see Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono, Michael Redd, and Steve Novak all as viable options. Hopefully this player becomes an instant offensive spark off the bench for 15-20 minutes a game, maybe fighting Walker for those minutes.

I think without making any trades this plan makes us a 50+ win team while keeping flexible for next summer. We end up starting one of the centers listed above alongside Stat, Melo, Billups, and Shumpert. Fields becomes 6th man, still playing 25-30 mpg. Douglas is 7th man, also average 25 or so mpg. 8th man becomes either Walker or the shooter we sign, playing 15-20 mpg. Lastly, Turiaf, Jordan, and Harrellson can fight for 12-15 backup center mpg.

Any other moves we can make to fill out the roster that don't affect 2012 plans?

Shawne Williams, Brown too

Jeffries isn't coming back!!!

You forgot Shawne Williams. I don't think they let him get away.

As for adding another vet big, it would make sense to see about Nazr, Kwame, Foster etc. Adding a vet SG shouldn't be hard either. IMO if they can make those moves this team will be pretty good. Definitely a 50+ win team.

Where is Williams and where is AC please put AC before Rautins

Where is our rebounding coming from?

Center: Harrellson is raw but likable, Jordan is a HUGE question mark and Summer League is on the rocks. We desperately need a Mozgov-like signing here, which will be the first move for the new suits.

Big Forward: Stoudemire, Turiaf (fingers crossed) in case of emergency - Jeffries

Skill Forward: Anthony, Shawne Williams, Derrick Brown (who could backup Stoudemire if he comes ready)

Guards (in order of appearance) Billups, Fields, Douglas, Shumpert and a player to be named later. The only thing Rautins has shown is the ability to turn the ball over.

Panos wrote:Where is our rebounding coming from?

I think this is why the O Poster mentioned bringing in a vet C like Nazr, Kwame or Foster. We have to hope we can get something done. I don't believe the Knicks feel all their work is done after the draft.

I can't see Shumpert starting over Fields just don't see it. One thing that MDA likes is a player to be able to shoot and Shumpert just doesn't have that in him. You look at his stats and he is aweful shooter. I'm not saying he can't improve but that takes a lot of time. Even with all his athletic ability he only managed to shoot 40%. I know he is suppose to be some defensive specialist, but I can't see MDA taking defense over scoring and Fields defended the sg position OK for a rookie last year. I personally feel Fields is the better of the two going forward. Iman has to show a lot more before he even get off the bench for MDA.

Panos wrote:Where is our rebounding coming from?

I always thought a lot of the poor rebound from the Knicks was a consequence of both Amare being a poor rebounder and the composition of the Knicks players and starting units.

Both Turiaf and Amare are poor rebounders, and they started a majority of games at C/PF. That's too much.

And then Chandler played a lot of PF minutes, and for that position he is not good a good rebounder; at SF he is not bad.

And Gallo was decent at his position.

Move Amare to PF and switch Melo in at SF and you have better rebounding (slightly). Knicks still do need to find a legit rebounding, defending, intimidating C. But one step at a time I guess.

Vmart wrote:I can't see Shumpert starting over Fields just don't see it. One thing that MDA likes is a player to be able to shoot and Shumpert just doesn't have that in him. You look at his stats and he is aweful shooter. I'm not saying he can't improve but that takes a lot of time. Even with all his athletic ability he only managed to shoot 40%. I know he is suppose to be some defensive specialist, but I can't see MDA taking defense over scoring and Fields defended the sg position OK for a rookie last year. I personally feel Fields is the better of the two going forward. Iman has to show a lot more before he even get off the bench for MDA.

I'd really like to see a breakdown of Iman's shooting percentages based on catch and shoot and shooting off the dribble. From what I read his poor %s are due to his shot selection and not his shooting skill. If he were put in a spot up position and less of a creative off the dribble shooting situation he could bring similar offensive production.

Andrew wrote:

Vmart wrote:I can't see Shumpert starting over Fields just don't see it. One thing that MDA likes is a player to be able to shoot and Shumpert just doesn't have that in him. You look at his stats and he is aweful shooter. I'm not saying he can't improve but that takes a lot of time. Even with all his athletic ability he only managed to shoot 40%. I know he is suppose to be some defensive specialist, but I can't see MDA taking defense over scoring and Fields defended the sg position OK for a rookie last year. I personally feel Fields is the better of the two going forward. Iman has to show a lot more before he even get off the bench for MDA.

I'd really like to see a breakdown of Iman's shooting percentages based on catch and shoot and shooting off the dribble. From what I read his poor %s are due to his shot selection and not his shooting skill. If he were put in a spot up position and less of a creative off the dribble shooting situation he could bring similar offensive production.

We will know pretty quickly if he is a spot up shooter because that is mostly what the Knicks do on offense.

We have a lot of questions to be answered before we can be sure about which kind of team we will sport next season. We picked up two important players in this draft. Whether one of them starts or both come of the bench right now is too early to tell.

So far I'd say this is where we are:

C- Turiaf, Jordan, Harrellson
PF- Stoudemire
SF- Melo, Walker, Balkman
SG- Fields, Douglas
PG- Billups, Shumpert, Rautins

This is the group we have right now. We are probably gonna add Shawne Williams at PF and Derrick Brown at SF because both can be signed at a low price and will help a lot from the bench.

Now, what is gonna happen with Douglas? Supposedly we were shopping him intensely but now with Iman, he could actually be a keeper as he could play more off the ball with Iman as backup PG. Or is he still trade bait for a true SG or C?

What about Balkman? Seems like we couldn't find any takers for him at draft night but it is important to unload his contract at some point. It seems like he won't be used again bu D'Antoni so he is a wasted roster space.

And what with Rautins? Needing depth, can we keep up with this project that doesn't seem to lift up? And Walker? He sometimes help, sometimes disappear.

As of our main questions, I'd say Fields is a big one. Can he show he can play with Melo and Billups and be the effective player we know he really is? Can D'Antoni make the offense work so well that we can count on Fields as a starting 2? I think, unless he wows the coaching staff, that Shumpert will come off the bench as a 1 and 2 sometimes. On paper it would be great to count on him at 2 and balance things with Billups, but is it asking too much from him? Fields did it, though.

Who will start at C? Can Jordan prove he can handle the duties? Harrellson isn't an option here, at least not yet and maybe his best value will come as the energy big man off the bench. Turiaf is too injury prone and may be better off being used at PF to spell Amare. Can we get a 1-year center like the ones proposed: Nazr Mohammed, Kwame Brown, and Jeff Foster? Mohammed may be the best option as a starter, but not exactly for the way we play offensively.

"Simply put, Shumpert could fit beautifully into a major hole for the Knicks. He might just need some sanding around the edges. Maybe a lot of sanding. Some have mentioned the possibility of Shumpert pushing Douglas out the door, but that doesn't appear imminent. Ideally, the new guy learns to play point so that Douglas can settle comfortably into the shooting-guard spot and do what Toney Douglas do around the perimeter. Then they could cross-match and swarm however they please on defense. It'd be kind of awesome, actually.

As for the other guy? Josh Harrellson is by no means the next great big man, but there's reason to believe he'll stick with the Knicks. He might even get minutes. Jorts instantly becomes the biggest guy on the Knick roster, and the word on him is that he hustles his jorts off and fights for defensive position and rebounds. Again, take a short walk down memory land and recall Shawne Williams and Jared Jeffries defending the likes of Dwight Howard, and the fit becomes obvious. He's not the most polished, and he definitely ain't springy, but the Knicks probably would have settled for a six-foot-ten, 275-pound slab of whale meat. A functional human with that size who works hard and improved tremendously in his senior year? We'll take it!

So, there it is. You may not have heard of these guys before the draft, but I think you'll grow to like them both. Shumpert and Harrellson, particularly with a bit of sharpening, could fit quite nicely into the holey Knick depth chart. That's cool!"

- NYMagazine

Can anyone tell me whether we actually have any contractual control over Derrick Brown at this point?

I don't see that he is under contract with us at this time.

Vmart wrote:I can't see Shumpert starting over Fields just don't see it. One thing that MDA likes is a player to be able to shoot and Shumpert just doesn't have that in him. You look at his stats and he is aweful shooter. I'm not saying he can't improve but that takes a lot of time. Even with all his athletic ability he only managed to shoot 40%. I know he is suppose to be some defensive specialist, but I can't see MDA taking defense over scoring and Fields defended the sg position OK for a rookie last year. I personally feel Fields is the better of the two going forward. Iman has to show a lot more before he even get off the bench for MDA.

I can see. Fields shooting is not great(unless of course he comes back with more confidence and consistency). Billups, who can shoot, has shown(in my opinion) to not be that great in the pick and roll. Iman does well in pick in roll situations. As Alan Hahn said, you move billups to the two and let Iman play the one in pick in roll situations. Fields would make a great six man. His energy would be great of the bench.

Time to go: Turiaf, Douglas, Rautins, Walker

You can stay: Shelden, Carter, Shawne

GTFO right now: Jeffries

Chances are most of the guys I just listed will be gone.

Childs2Dudley wrote:Time to go: Turiaf, Douglas, Rautins, Walker

You can stay: Shelden, Carter, Shawne

GTFO right now: Jeffries

Chances are most of the guys I just listed will be gone.

I was with you until I saw Shelden in the "you can stay" row.

I really hope Grant Hill plays here for a season or two. I'd also like to see Shane Battier and Aaron gray signed to short term deals. But Grant Hill would be a great edition because he can fit a couple roles

SupremeCommander wrote:I really hope Grant Hill plays here for a season or two. I'd also like to see Shane Battier and Aaron gray signed to short term deals. But Grant Hill would be a great edition because he can fit a couple roles

Is Gray a free agent? He would be a nice pick up. I think he is the type of player Harrellson has to try to become. If the two of them got some minutes the Knicks would have some size to help with their front line.

CrushAlot wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:I really hope Grant Hill plays here for a season or two. I'd also like to see Shane Battier and Aaron gray signed to short term deals. But Grant Hill would be a great edition because he can fit a couple roles

Is Gray a free agent? He would be a nice pick up. I think he is the type of player Harrellson has to try to become. If the two of them got some minutes the Knicks would have some size to help with their front line.

player option, but he's making peanuts so I would guess he opts out, even with the CBA uncertainty