TwinkieFoot

I think the perfect remedy to that may just be experience. It kind of reminds me of myself growing up as a ball player. When I first played organized ball when I was 8 years old, I was immediately placed at the 5 position? Why? Because I was the biggest, strongest and one of the fastest kid on the team that had no skill to speak of beside an uncanny knack for finding the ball on rebounds and playing solid defense. As time progressed, I began developing an all around game but that was because I was not good enough of anything to get playing time. Guys like Eddy never had that problem because he was so much bigger than his competition and so skilled offensively that they could not afford to sit him. As a result he probably never got the chance to analyze what he needed to improve on in his game. On a high school level, do you honestly believe there was a match for a 6-11 300lbs kid with the agility of a ballet dancer and scoring ability of a young Shaq? IMO, I think his real test has come in the NBA where he's no longer some abnormality and where he can find competition capable of making him work. So far, I think he's only in about his 4th year of improving his game and so far, he has proven he is capable of being a scorer on a NBA level. The question now is whether he can develop into a focal point of an offense after being that just one year before (the season before he left the Bulls). As far as the rest of his game, we have yet to see if that will ever change but he still is growing. Maybe we could see some progress in the fact that his rebounding per minute rate has gone up with the Knicks which is a very positive sign along with his defensive intensity (which saw him actually challenge defenders by poping up against the pick and roll several times). I'd like to see what he'd do this year capable of playing basketball in the offseason and training for a season unlike last when he had the heart issue.

Gotham2krazy

The most I'm giving the knicks this year is 43.

Banjoriddim

You are insanely optimistic... Yes Isiah is decent coach you have talent your team should have some balance and rotation but... Who of last playoff teams is going to fall of? Bucks? Maybe put they improved also... Then you have Magic who won 13 of theire last 15 games making strong case to become playoffs bound... Boston improved. Toronto was picked apart. You have some serious problems to overcome befor you can improve that much (like for example rebounding). 40 wins would surprise me 35 might not but...

TwinkieFoot

Of 30 teams in the NBA, we ranked 13th in the league in rebounds per game which is only 1.69 less than first place. We rebounded 41.4 rpg but held our opponents to 38.6 rpg last year and I believe that deficit to have been one of the best in the league. As far as us amongst other East Coast teams, you do take into consideration the fact that no one has regressed from last year. I think though that you underestimate the importance of what balance and a rotation could do for the Knicks. Last year with that, we went on a 6 game winning streak against some of the best in the league including the Cavs, Mavericks and Suns. In short, our improvement from just becoming accostomed to each other and taking advantage of what most teams have to work with might make our improvement much better than any other.