Last three on roster

Assuming no trades in the next two months, the top 12 players on the roster are fairly self-evident.

Therefore, the first somewhat interesting question is:

Who will be the last three players to make the roster (players 13 thru 15)?

By the current roster, the choices are:

PLAYER POS AGE HT WT
41 Warren Carter F 24 6-9 220
5 Joe Crawford SG 23 6-5 210
17 Ron Howard G 26 6-5 200
31 Chris Hunter F 25 6-11 240
11 Marcus Landry F 23 6-7 230
13 Gabe Pruitt PG 23 6-4 170
09 Sun Yue SG 23 6-9 205

It is also assumed that the starting backcourt is Duhon and Chandler (with Hughes, N8, and Douglas off the bench) and the starting SF is Gallinari.

The interesting questions are:

Who will start at center (Lee, Curry, or Milicic)?
Who will start at PF (Lee or Harrington)?

Curry/Lee makes the most sense (to me), if Curry can get in playing shape (big if). If not, things get more dicey. Does Milicic/Lee or Lee/Harrington make more sense?

It is doubtful that Milicic is the ideal starting center, but neither is Lee. I prefer Lee at PF, but is this reason to start Milicic over Harrington?

Other issues:

Will Jordan Hill be a solid contributor right away, by the end of this year, or is he a three-year project?
Does Jeffries have a role (other than bench/DL)? If so, what position?
Will N8 or Douglas be the first PG off the bench?
Will Hughes have a regular role, or will he be traded ASAP? This somewhat depends on whether N8 is seen as PG or SG.

The final three on the roster i'm hoping is :
1. Sun Yue - Young, Athletic, Tall, Ball Handing, PG Skills
2. Chris Hunter - We can use him as a back-up Center if Curry goes down
3. Ron Howard - From what i've seen this is kid has skills

For who is going to start at Center, it's Darko. I say we give this kid a chance and let him show us that he can be a starting Center on this team. As stated in other posts Curry pulled a Hamstring. This guy just can't stay healthy. I rather take my chances with Darko and Hill.

For PF i say we let Lee go back to his original position, where he can excel at what he does. Then Harrington can come off the bench where he does great. Nate and him are that offensive duo that come off the bench and provide what we need when the starters sit.

I think Hill showed us a lot in the summer league. I know he didn't play against NBA level competition but he did show his aggressiveness on the court and his ability to score in the paint. He's also pretty quick for someone his size. I think it comes down to minutes. The more he plays, the more quicker he's going to develop.

Jefferies, sad to say is going to have a role. That's because Donnie is going to want him and Curry to showcase what they can do so that trading them would become easier. I'm not going to lie, he does play good defense so he might get minutes in crunch time to hold the opposing star down.

Nate is definitely first off the bench, no question. But i'm not going to be surprised if Coach D'Antoni goes with a Douglas and Nate backcourt. Though undersized, their relentlessness will be a bad thing for the other team.

I really don't know about Huhges to be honest. Will he start over Chandler or will he come off the bench for some minutes. I do think his role is going to be much less than last season.

Thanks for the data

I very much want to see what Jordan Hill will be, because I liked his raw talents.

Thanks for the input on Hunter and Howard because I know next to nothing about them. Anyone who can contribute as a backup center is definitely a keeper because I agree that I want Lee to play forward not center, at least until JHill is ready for prime time. Lee may struggle defensively against the more athletic PFs but at least he will not be getting over-powered at the center role.

I like Milicic's shot-blocking potential but his interior defense against the few remaining post-up centers will always be a concern (not that Curry has ever lived up to his potential in that regard).

I still feel the Hughes/N8 situation is unsettled, especially if they are serious about being better defensively. Douglas is the better defensive backup PG, and Hughes the better defensive backup SG (both over N8). So is N8 just in a Vinnie the Microwave offensive spark role, or is 2nd quarter defense not a real concern?

The pie in the sky question is what happens to either Gallinari or Chandler if they ever do land LeBron...

I dont get why people keep saying what will happen to gallo or chandler if we land lebron. All three of those guys in Mike D's system can play the 2 through even the 5 no joke. I mean I could see a line up being 2010.

pg douglas
sg Chandler
sf Gallo
pf Lebron
C Amare.

hill
duhon
nate

bench.

nixon7 said:

Assuming no trades in the next two months, the top 12 players on the roster are fairly self-evident.

Therefore, the first somewhat interesting question is:

Who will be the last three players to make the roster (players 13 thru 15)?

By the current roster, the choices are:

PLAYER POS AGE HT WT
41 Warren Carter F 24 6-9 220
5 Joe Crawford SG 23 6-5 210
17 Ron Howard G 26 6-5 200
31 Chris Hunter F 25 6-11 240
11 Marcus Landry F 23 6-7 230
13 Gabe Pruitt PG 23 6-4 170
09 Sun Yue SG 23 6-9 205

It is also assumed that the starting backcourt is Duhon and Chandler (with Hughes, N8, and Douglas off the bench) and the starting SF is Gallinari.

The interesting questions are:

Who will start at center (Lee, Curry, or Milicic)?
Who will start at PF (Lee or Harrington)?

Curry/Lee makes the most sense (to me), if Curry can get in playing shape (big if). If not, things get more dicey. Does Milicic/Lee or Lee/Harrington make more sense?

It is doubtful that Milicic is the ideal starting center, but neither is Lee. I prefer Lee at PF, but is this reason to start Milicic over Harrington?

Other issues:

Will Jordan Hill be a solid contributor right away, by the end of this year, or is he a three-year project?
Does Jeffries have a role (other than bench/DL)? If so, what position?
Will N8 or Douglas be the first PG off the bench?
Will Hughes have a regular role, or will he be traded ASAP? This somewhat depends on whether N8 is seen as PG or SG.

Click to expand...

Good observations.

Crawford, Hunter and either Gabe or Sun Yue will be final three. I vote for the Sun. Ron Howard has outside chance, after all, he was Opie!

Starting players should be same as last year, with addition of Gallo. Chandler takes over Q's SG spot, Gallo starts at SF, Harrington at PF, and Lee playing center, again. This keeps some continuity in the offense.
Gallo >>> Q - makes Knicks a better squad.

Curry is already injured, we can see where this is heading... 3rd off the bench behind Darko, until he's 100% basketball ready to prove himself. Walsh and No-D'Antoni hope so, in order to trade his fat ass.

Duhon/N8/Douglas
Chandler/Hughes/Crawford/Sun
Gallo/Jefferies
Harrington/Hill/Hunter
Lee/Darko/Curry

It's interesting how interchangeable Knicks can be. We finally have a pretty big lineup, thanks to Donnie, and No-D'Antoni mentioned he can have a team of 6'9"+ players on floor at one time.

Jefferies is a multiple role player, no need to stick him into any one role.
Jordan Hill can play center or PF, I think he'll excel and get better as year progresses.

N8 can be PG or SG, he's got the experience, he'll be first backup G off bench. Douglas and N8 are said to be playing together well, looking forward to that.

Hughes...hugh knows? who cares?

i dont get why we are so down on hughes, realistically he did nothing to hurt the knicks so far. If he played good minutes off the bench I really dont mind having him as an exp contract on our team this year. He is a vet, and he does play defense. whats the rap on him that gets people so down about the guy. I understand he has flaws, but at no point during his career was he considered to be a number 1 guy, and he helped the Cavs get to the finals.

DontForgetDerekHarper, you have a valid argument. Hughes is a good defender, but it stops there. I mean maybe it was the situation he came in from Chicage. He didn't get to play over there and came to the Knicks while he had some rust. Still he had more than enough time to get back to his playing self.

He shooting was just awful last season. Those shots can be given to others on the team. Some of the shots he took were in crunch time. Do you really want Hughes to be given that, well I don't. I mean if players get tired he can come in for defending but besides that he's not what he used to be.

I highly doubt that he can be that player he was in Washington, who averaged 22.0 PPG, 6.3 TRB, 4.7 AST, and 2.9 STL. But if he does show any signs of that ( which i doubt ), i will the be the first person to say im wrong.

Crawford, Pruitt, Sun Yue/Warren Carter

What happened to Morris Almond? This guy looked good in the summer league and was said to be the top guy in the summer league likely to make summer camp, as said by Mike D.

The likely three are Joe Crawford, Gabe Pruitt, and Sun Yue/Warren Carter.

Herb Williams spoke highly of Crawford after the sumer league as one of the locks to make training camp. Signing Gabe Pruitt who played with Boston should get him on the team because Rajon Rando and Eddie House took up all of his minutes, and Pruitt did very well in college. Sun Yue looks like an athletic big man who has good ball handling skills and can block some shots so its a showdown between him and Warren Carter, when Carter didnt impress me enough to recieve a contract in the first place. Warren Carter did have good numbers when he played in Turkey last year averaging 18 ppg.

Thats my top 2 with Sun Yue and Carter battling it out.

Down on Hughes

TheChosen1 said:

DontForgetDerekHarper, you have a valid argument. Hughes is a good defender, but it stops there. I mean maybe it was the situation he came in from Chicage. He didn't get to play over there and came to the Knicks while he had some rust. Still he had more than enough time to get back to his playing self.

He shooting was just awful last season. Those shots can be given to others on the team. Some of the shots he took were in crunch time. Do you really want Hughes to be given that, well I don't. I mean if players get tired he can come in for defending but besides that he's not what he used to be.

I highly doubt that he can be that player he was in Washington, who averaged 22.0 PPG, 6.3 TRB, 4.7 AST, and 2.9 STL. But if he does show any signs of that ( which i doubt ), i will the be the first person to say im wrong .

Click to expand...

:agreed::agreed::agreed:
i'm not down on Hughes, DontForgetDH, as an expiring contract, i'd rather see his minutes & shots given to anyone else. I have him as 1st SG off bench, to be part of 15th best defense 2nd squad. As The Chosen1 says, let's see him show some Washington-like signs of life, and i'll be happy to care about him.

Cut all those guys and sign PATRICK EWING JR.!!!!!

Allan Houston and Sprewell tbh.