Knicks · ESPN Hollinger East Forecast: Major Diss. (page 1)

Has Knicks ranked 7th behind Sixers and Pacers. Talk about straight disrespect.

7. New York Knicks (35-31)

This might seem pessimistic in light of the hype coming from Gotham, but in the short term, I'm not sure the Knicks have dramatically improved. They've essentially traded Chauncey Billups for Tyson Chandler, which will help, but this is the wrong season to have a thin bench and brittle stars. Between Amare Stoudemire's knees and Chandler's toes, the Knicks are likely to feel the brunt of the schedule-makers' wrath.

Baron Davis, despite his weaknesses, will prove quite useful when he's able to play. Mike D'Antoni's system demands a point guard who can pass, and Davis can do that when he's not jacking up 3s with 20 on the shot clock. It's even more important given the Knicks' other high-profile moves -- they boast three of the best frontcourt finishers in the game, but nobody to get them the ball.

I factored half a season of Davis into my projection, figuring he will miss more than a quarter of the season with his current back injury and then some more with his next injury. When he's out, the Knicks have Toney Douglas running the point, which is less than ideal. While I like him as a player, he's a bad fit at the point in this system because he's blind as a bat.

Otherwise, the roster is a bit of a mess. Landry Fields and Iman Shumpert are nice prospects but aren't ready to be top-seven players on a contending team. Jared Jeffries and Renaldo Balkman are the top two frontcourt reserves. Really. And at some point the Knicks will have to play Mike Bibby in a real game.

About the best thing New York has going for it is, well, New York. Players are lured by the city, and, as with the Lakers, the Knicks have a great shot at signing any decent veteran who shakes free during the season via buyout, waivers or departure from China. Better yet, the Knicks still have their $2.5 million "under-cap" exception lying around to use on such a player.

Nonetheless, I have trouble envisioning a high seed for this team. The Knicks get more dangerous once the playoffs begin. If their three frontcourt stars and Davis make it to May upright, they'll be a very difficult first-round out. Getting to that point is the problem.

He doesn't take into account the stability that the roster has this year, the first season in the last 13 that there are no question marks hanging over the core players. The 9 through 12 might shift a little, but the Knicks you see going into the season is the Knicks you will see ending the season.

No effing way Philly or Indy is better than us. No way.

Wow. ESPN dissing a NY sports franchise. What are the chances of that ever happening?

I think the dark horse in this race is Bibby. People are underestimating him because he has looked like he was done for a while now. Granted that is a legitimate concern but when was the last time Bibby was in a system like this with great supporting talent? You have to go all the way back to the Sacramento days.

He knows the system, we have the talent, he should be able to perform above expectations - and if that's the case we are in good shape.

There are definitely question marks but the team has improved dramatically.

I'm counting on decent production from Bibby this year. I stole the guy with the last pick of a 16 team league. The guy hit something like 130 threes last season.

ATrain wrote:No effing way Philly or Indy is better than us. No way.

Philly, no. Indy wouldn't beat the Knicks in a best of seven, but they have a lot of young talent and I wouldn'y necessarily be shocked if they finish with a better record. Expect it? No. But wouldn't be completely shocked though

easiest way to get hits on your site is to talk smack about a NY team. thanks for copying and pasting it here so i don't have to reward ESPN with a site hit.

also, "might have to play Bibby in a real game" is ludicrous. he was the starting point guard on the NBA finalist Miami Heat last year. was he great? no. was he solid enough to get the job done? yes, most nights he was.

SupremeCommander wrote:

ATrain wrote:No effing way Philly or Indy is better than us. No way.

Philly, no. Indy wouldn't beat the Knicks in a best of seven, but they have a lot of young talent and I wouldn'y necessarily be shocked if they finish with a better record. Expect it? No. But wouldn't be completely shocked though

yeah, i agree with this. Indiana did a nice job putting their team together. when is David West back though? he seems like as much of an injury question mark as Baron Davis. West tore his ACL in April - expecting him to be at full strength any time soon seems ambitious.

crzymdups wrote:easiest way to get hits on your site is to talk smack about a NY team. thanks for copying and pasting it here so i don't have to reward ESPN with a site hit.

yep

Hollinger has been and is a douche

all those points are fine, but Philly is above us? Because the same things he said about our frontcourt doesnt hold true for Elton Brand? I guess he's OK to play 38 minutes a night for 66 games in less than 4 months? Hmm... doesnt Bosh usually wear down? Hasnt Wade missed chunks of seasons? Doesnt Granger have a balky knee? How old are KG and Ray Allen? Who is on the Magic after Dwight Howard again? Vince? Rashard? Arenas? Oh wait.. they have all been dumped.

Saying the Knicks could be affected by injuries is fair. Saying that puts them at a disadvantage over other teams is just dumb.

And did this guy suggest we might not make the playoffs? That there are actually 8 better teams out there in the East??? Thats hilarious.

Im excited about the things this team, these players and this coaching staff has to prove, and Im excited about the pieces that they have to use to prove their point. Im confident it will happen. Time will tell.

matt wrote:Hollinger has been and is a douche

Yet he's been dead on in his Knicks' predictions. People here should take a step back and try to learn from him instead of assuming they're right. 35-31 is probably pretty close to where most non-Knick fans would rank the team. I said 38 but that's probably colored by my rooting for the team.

Bonn1997 wrote:

matt wrote:Hollinger has been and is a douche

Yet he's been dead on in his Knicks' predictions. People here should take a step back and try to learn from him instead of assuming they're right. 35-31 is probably pretty close to where most non-Knick fans would rank the team. I said 38 but that's probably colored by my rooting for the team.

2008-2009, he predicted 28-54, Knicks finished 32-50
2009-2010, he predicted 26-56, Knicks finished 29-53
2010-2011, he predicted 37-45, Knicks finished 42-40
2011-2012, he predicted 35-31, Knicks finished 40-26

So he is always close, but shorts us by about 3 or 4 wins every season.

MarburyAnd1Crossover wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

matt wrote:Hollinger has been and is a douche

Yet he's been dead on in his Knicks' predictions. People here should take a step back and try to learn from him instead of assuming they're right. 35-31 is probably pretty close to where most non-Knick fans would rank the team. I said 38 but that's probably colored by my rooting for the team.

2008-2009, he predicted 28-54, Knicks finished 32-50
2009-2010, he predicted 26-56, Knicks finished 29-53
2010-2011, he predicted 37-45, Knicks finished 42-40
2011-2012, he predicted 35-31, Knicks finished 40-26

So he is always close, but shorts us by about 3 or 4 wins every season.

If he's off by 3 or 4 in a full season, that's gonna be closer to 2 or 3 in a shortened season. I wouldn't grant the assumption that there's a meaningful pattern from a sample of 3 predictions but I'll play along anyway. 2 or 3 more wins would put us at 37-29 or 38-28.

MarburyAnd1Crossover wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

matt wrote:Hollinger has been and is a douche

Yet he's been dead on in his Knicks' predictions. People here should take a step back and try to learn from him instead of assuming they're right. 35-31 is probably pretty close to where most non-Knick fans would rank the team. I said 38 but that's probably colored by my rooting for the team.

2008-2009, he predicted 28-54, Knicks finished 32-50
2009-2010, he predicted 26-56, Knicks finished 29-53
2010-2011, he predicted 37-45, Knicks finished 42-40
2011-2012, he predicted 35-31, Knicks finished 40-26

So he is always close, but shorts us by about 3 or 4 wins every season.

I see what you did there...

BSPN is full of Knick hater sports writers, and it's . To hell with them, and Knicks fans should tell them where they can stick their nonsensical predictions.

The team will prove them wrong this season.

crzymdups wrote:easiest way to get hits on your site is to talk smack about a NY team. thanks for copying and pasting it here so i don't have to reward ESPN with a site hit.

also, "might have to play Bibby in a real game" is ludicrous. he was the starting point guard on the NBA finalist Miami Heat last year. was he great? no. was he solid enough to get the job done? yes, most nights he was.

Bibby only played about 15 mpg for them in the Finals before he got benched. Here's his statline from last year's postseason: 3.7ppg, 28% fg 50% ft, 25% 3fg, 1.2 apg, 20 mpg. That's horrendous. And if you look at his stats from the last several seasons, http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id..., he's been terrible for a while now. If he has to play more than 10-15 mpg, in spot duty, then we're in deep shit.

MarburyAnd1Crossover wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

matt wrote:Hollinger has been and is a douche

Yet he's been dead on in his Knicks' predictions. People here should take a step back and try to learn from him instead of assuming they're right. 35-31 is probably pretty close to where most non-Knick fans would rank the team. I said 38 but that's probably colored by my rooting for the team.

2008-2009, he predicted 28-54, Knicks finished 32-50
2009-2010, he predicted 26-56, Knicks finished 29-53
2010-2011, he predicted 37-45, Knicks finished 42-40
2011-2012, he predicted 35-31, Knicks finished 40-26

So he is always close, but shorts us by about 3 or 4 wins every season.

he's not always close. He ALWAYS undershoots the Knicks. And were the 08-09 seasons that hard to predict? Hollinger adds nothing to this sport. Ive been saying that since he started a revolution with his PER #s. WOW... he comes up with this incredible formula to guage players and we learn that Lebron, Kobe, Dirk, Dwight, etc etc are REALLY good. Thanks John! I will stick to watching the sport

OasisBU wrote:I think the dark horse in this race is Bibby. People are underestimating him because he has looked like he was done for a while now. Granted that is a legitimate concern but when was the last time Bibby was in a system like this with great supporting talent? You have to go all the way back to the Sacramento days.

He knows the system, we have the talent, he should be able to perform above expectations - and if that's the case we are in good shape.

There are definitely question marks but the team has improved dramatically.

I agree. Mike Biddy is a real PG. The dude can pass and can hit the 3. He can't guard a closed door, but neither could Nash, so he will fit right into MDA's system. Picking up Biddy was huge for this team. If MDA can figure out a way to hide him on defense, our offense should be solid. All we need him to do is give us a solid 20 minutes and this team should be fine.

CNNSI has the Knicks ranked 9th.