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October 31, 2004 -- In a poll of NBA general managers, the Knicks were voted to win the Atlantic Division. "Hopefully they all know basketball," Lenny Wilkens said.
Hopefully Wilkens' vow of having his own training camp will give the Knicks more cohesion defensively, their most glaring preseason weakness. The Atlantic is pathetically weak, without Miami and with the deadbeat Nets, Celtics, Sixers and Raptors.
"It looks like it's up for grabs," Wilkens said.
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Clear sailing for Knicks in Atlantic
- Thread starter newmove
- Start date
The sixers have serious chemistry problems in my opinion. In addition, some of their guys are pretty susceptible to injury.
The Celtics are our biggest competition in my opinion, but they are relying on plenty of unproven guys to go out there and contribute. Their core of Payton, Pierce, Blount, LaFrentz, Jefferson is solid though.
The Celtics are our biggest competition in my opinion, but they are relying on plenty of unproven guys to go out there and contribute. Their core of Payton, Pierce, Blount, LaFrentz, Jefferson is solid though.
I think for the Knicks to win the division, 3 things need to happen:
1. Houston has to come back healthy and not only play well, but gel with the other duo in the backcourt, Crawford and Marbury. If Houston and Crawford end up fighting each other for gametime or starting position then it going to reak havoc with the Knicks chemistry. I think this issue will probably sort itself out ok.
2. The bench needs to perform to their potential. The Knicks have great depth and this year it is going to take Hardaway, Sweetney and even Ariza playing solid basketball for the Knicks to win games. There are quite a few teams who have more talented starting lineups than the Knicks, but New York's advantage is in their incredible depth. Based on the preseason, the Knicks' bench seems to be performing well.
3. Our bigmen have to make a defensive contribution at centre. No-one would argue that the 5 position is the Knicks weakest spot. This is probably the most worrying thing about the Knicks game, but both Nazr and Vin have shown towards the end of the preseason that they are starting to learn their roles. They are there for one thing - Defense! Let the scorers score and concentrate on your rebounding guys. Jerome Williams has to make a contribution on the boards as well and based on the preseason he was a great bonus to the Crawford trade.
IMO the Knicks have the potential to win the division, but they will have to work hard for it.
1. Houston has to come back healthy and not only play well, but gel with the other duo in the backcourt, Crawford and Marbury. If Houston and Crawford end up fighting each other for gametime or starting position then it going to reak havoc with the Knicks chemistry. I think this issue will probably sort itself out ok.
2. The bench needs to perform to their potential. The Knicks have great depth and this year it is going to take Hardaway, Sweetney and even Ariza playing solid basketball for the Knicks to win games. There are quite a few teams who have more talented starting lineups than the Knicks, but New York's advantage is in their incredible depth. Based on the preseason, the Knicks' bench seems to be performing well.
3. Our bigmen have to make a defensive contribution at centre. No-one would argue that the 5 position is the Knicks weakest spot. This is probably the most worrying thing about the Knicks game, but both Nazr and Vin have shown towards the end of the preseason that they are starting to learn their roles. They are there for one thing - Defense! Let the scorers score and concentrate on your rebounding guys. Jerome Williams has to make a contribution on the boards as well and based on the preseason he was a great bonus to the Crawford trade.
IMO the Knicks have the potential to win the division, but they will have to work hard for it.
I think the sixers are the team to watch, especially with Iverson at point. Since Athens Iverson has emmerged as more of a leader and the Sixers should benefit from this. With a core of younger talent like Iguodala & Dalembert, and Glenn Robinson playing for a new contract next year I expect the Sixers to be a beast. If the Knicks can find someone a the C, we could be in for hot year. The Celtics if they start hot will implode by mid season...too many egos not to.
I think Allen Iverson and the sixers will end up #2 in Atlantic right after us. Boston is done. They have to get rid of payton if they want to win. GP used to be a great player but since la he became a cry baby with a huge ego and with pathetic performance. Too pity for him and it's prety much cool for us cuz it takes celts down. Oh did I mention gp has broken his finger? That's it. The other teams are not even close.