Well we are almost 2 weeks into #Linsanity, and I have to say i’m impressed with what Jeremy Lin and the Knicks have done so far. I can only imagine what kind of shooting nights we could see in the future, and how many overs and Knicks covers we could see. The crunch time lineup for the Knicks isn’t going to include Shumpert or Fields (except on a real hot streak, always a possibility in D’Antoni’s offense). This team now has the one thing Mike D’Antoni’s teams need, 3 point shooters and a PG who can run the O. If Lin can stop with the turnovers we have the making a perfect storm
PG Jeremy Lin – Mike Bibby – Baron Davis – Toney Douglas
SG JR Smith – Iman Shumpert – L:andry Fields – Bill Walker
SF C.Anthony – S. Novak
PF Amare Stoudemire – J.Harrellson
C T. Chandler – J.Jeffries.
This needs closer examination, i see a lot of glue guys I like here. It looks like a great NBA Live team with all those shooters
Jeremey Lin: nuff said
B.Davis: explosive player when he cares and decides to get in shape. He’s had an ailing back all season, but if he can get healthy he becomes a difference maker who can handle the ball and play an uptempo style (GS Warriors beating the #! Mavs in the first round anyone). That was Baron Davis abusing people.
M.Bibby: very slow nowadays but he can still stand behind that three point line and shoot with ice in his veins (because he’s dead, the guy moves like a corpse).
T.Douglas: 10 min a game, total sub
J.R. Smith: The new guy on the squad brings some shooting and playoff experience to the team. He has always come off the bench while he was in Denver, but he shoots and scores in bunches, when he’s on fire it’s like old school NBA Jam “He’s on FIRE!!!”
Landry Fields: this guy plays 35 minutes a night, now will prob shift to 25 to allow some JR Smith time
Bill Walker: 2nd round pick getting some play, but i see a decrease in his future to make some space for the afore mentioned JR Smith. He’s getting 22 minutes a game, JR Smith will dig into that number quickly.
I.Shumpert: In 30 minutes a night he touts 10 points, 3.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds over the past month. Toss in 2 steals agame and you’ve got solid production but a lot of minutes to get there. Those minutes could be used elsewhere
Melo: Still the #1 guy, but when teams have to pick their poison on who to cover Anthony might actually contribute in other catagories besides points. Top 3 scoring talent, but that is all he does. When he’shot he’s unguardable
S.Novak: 20 solid minutes a night with the scond unit, but unless they need size on a given night he might be riding the pine.
Amare: The #2 option on the team, but he’s a top 20 NBA player. He’s a 20 point 9 rebound a game guy at 34 min a night. He’s tough to guard but is just average on Defense (1 block a game doesn’t show a lot of hustle on D). The Pick and Roll with Lin could be one of the best give and go PG/PF combo’s we have seen in a while.
J.Harrellson: 6 and 6 a night, 18 min a game. eh
Tyson Chandler: Anchored the Mavs defensive effort on the way to a title last year steps up again this year. He’s been having huge games all season long (i’ve got this guy in fantasy basketball, beast mode some nights), and he’s a rebounding machine. A double/double guy every night of the week who plays D and get 2 blocks and a steal every night. He’s the heart of that team.
Jared Jeffries: He’s a hustle guy who grabs some rebounds (5-6) plus a few steals a night. backs up both C and PF spot. He’s solid
But it’s the crunch time 5 I wonder about. It’s obviously Chandler, Melo, and Amare to start. but the other two? Most likely Lin right, but he needs to stop with the turnovers he’s also had the most turnovers in 7 starts as an NBA player also at 45, the next closest is Glenn Robinson at 38. This obviously needs to change if Lin plays at the PG. Who is the other guy? It’s gotta be a guard of some kind, and that leaves us pretty thin for those big NYC moments. There are lots of guards on this team, but I only see four getting any real consideration in Smith, Fields, Bibby, and Shumpert (and Bibby is the only PG by the way). I see Fields and Shumpert as the same guy, and Smith can score in bunches but has never seen a shot he doesn’t like. Bibby can’t play defense or hustle anymore.
I hope it’s Smith for our betting sakes, big scorers are tough to come by!
Feb 20th update
JR Smith came out guns blazing, hit three in row to start (“He’s On FIRE!!!!”) as predicted. But the bad JR showed up too. . . “You know what, i can take 33 footers all day long and hit them, i’ve been balling in China.”
Going 6 for 16 over the entire game was pretty a pretty average 37.5% clip, but over the long run you gotta be hitting that for your 3 point percentage. You general shooting percentage needs to be over 41% to demand 30 minutes a game like what happened on JR’s first night. This means he will need to go to the basket and gettting some high percentage looks, while hitting some free throws at a high percentage also.
The only issue here is JR Smith has never seen a 32 foot shot he didn’t want to take, and at the same time truly believe he can hit those 3′s all the time. It could be D’Antoni’s personal nightmare in his uptempo system, a guy who could end up handeling the ball in crunch time if Lin keeps turning the ball over who believes more in his shot than Melo or Amares.
Let’s hope for the good JR Smith to show up so we don’t have to imagine how terrible that sweep out of the 1st round would be for NYK fans. Or Lin fans
Now if the good JR shows up and he hits those free throws the Knicks might not need to play good D all the time to advance in the playoffs. Free points and getting in the bonus early is what i’m sure D’Antoni has seen wanted to see all the time so his bigs get to rest. “If the slashers slash to the rim then our bigs get to rest when the guy gets fouled. Oh and now we can try for some easy rebounds at the foul line and follow our guards on the break because we are athleticlly superior to most teams now. Rebounds/putbacks should go up also. Scoring is all that matters.
The future could be bright for the Knicks. . .