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**USSKittyHawk** · 09-08-2007, 10:20 PM

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Slowly but surely, the Knicks are starting to resemble an NBA franchise. It's been years since they have gambled on an over-the-hill veteran making max or near-max dollars, roster stability has taken over for roster turnover and last season they were even kinda-sorta involved in a Playoff race.
This season the team will look to exploit its advantage in the low-post even more so than last season with newcomer Zach Randolph joining mainstay Eddy Curry in the new look Manhattan frontline. While both are fairly abysmal defenders, they give some serious offensive firepower to a team looking to rejoin relevance before the turn of the century. While neither player comes cheap, they provide New York with its best chance in years to buy its way back into the playoff fray in the Eastern Conference.

Last season, Eddy Curry broke out and started to assert himself as a legit force as an NBA centre. True, part of the reason that happened was that each and every play was designed to find him in the low post and force him into the role of primary scorer for the Knicks, but for the most part the desired effect was achieved; Curry became a 20 point per game scorer and did so at an incredibly efficient 57% shooting clip. His girth and his array of post moves proved troublesome for many teams last year and it is a trend that will likely continue since so few NBA teams employ centres with the sheer size to match up with Curry.

With that said, though, Curry is not only a horrendous defender - as mentioned above - but he's also a pathetic rebounder. Playing 35 minutes per game, Curry only managed to pull down seven boards, which would amount to less than his own teammate Quentin Richardson's output (7.2), a small forward who played two less minutes per game. This lack of defense and rebounding speaks volumes to Curry's lack of intensity and focus during NBA games. While he may have all of the talent in the world at his position, he has to be forced into the game offensively by his coach and teammates, and even when he is scoring at will, he seems disinterested in exploiting his mismatches every possession.

That fact is very likely why Isiah Thomas went out and secured former Blazer Zach Randolph to team with Curry. While Randolph won't improve the defensive deficiencies of Curry, he is a far more active player on the court, demanding the ball on offense when he feels he has an opportunity to score, which he can do in the midrange and in the low post, and he is a tenacious rebounder. In many ways Randolph represents everything that Curry is not as an NBA player on the court because he simply won't be denied. His confidence borders on (and at times passes into) arrogance, but at least he has the game to back it up. Last year was a big turning point in the career of Zach Randolph in terms of slimming down and tapping into his potential, and now he'll be in the NBA's largest market with a chance to show the world what he feels they've been missing.

The question everyone has, though, is whether or not there is enough ball to satisfy these two, along with guards Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson. All need the ball to be effective, and all will want the ball more than they are going to get it. Toss in the fact that last season's standout forward David Lee is going to need at least as big, if not a bigger role than he had last year and that leaves a lot of juggling for coach Thomas to do between now and November 1.

Regardless of whether or not this is the season the Knicks return to the playoffs, they should be commended for their efforts to get their franchise out of the NBA doghouse. This is now a team that seems to have a focus and a direction and each season that passes brings them closer to financial solvency. When that day comes this team may actually be able to go out and secure some much-needed shooting to pull defenders away from Curry and Randolph and allow them to maneuver their way in the post where they are especially effective. Who'd have thought that 'effective' would a word used to describe any part of this franchise even one year ago? But here we are. Let's see how long it lasts.

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/news_story/?ID=217526&hubname=nba

To read the rest of the article click on the link. They have the starters as follows:

PG- Steph
SG-Crawford
SF-Lee
PF-Zach
C-Curry
I don't agree with Lee starting, I rather see Q in the starting lineup if healthy. Lee is better off as a 6th man.

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