What's Wrong With New York Basketball part 1

 
       The battle of New York between the New York Knickerbockers and the Brooklyn Nets is pretty tight, probably a lot closer than many people would've expected, certainly a lot closer than I ever did. Also, it's a lot more.. hmm.. what's the word i'm looking for?... some sort of hybrid between boring and painful.

       Despite however farfetched you believed this was, coming into the season these teams had dreams of contention and 11 games in they're sitting at 3-8. That's tied for the second worst record in the Eastern Conference and the third worst in the entire league. Not a great place to be whilst on the hunt for the Larry O'Brien trophy. I understand that it is still really early in the season. But I also remember Laker fans yelling that 11 games into last season and if contention was the goal, I'm not quite sure the Los Angeles Lakers ever really turned it around. So is it time to panic in New York, is there serious cause for concern here? My answer to that is a little more complicated than just a yes or a no, to answer this we have to look at what is plaguing these two teams.

       First let's take a look at the New York Knickerbockers coming off their best regular season in over a decade and a half.  This terrible start has to be especially disheartening to Knicks fans after the incredible 18-5 start the team had last year. So what is so different between this season and last, you ask? .... Well as a raptors fan i want to scream and shout "ANDREA BARGNANI THATS WHAT!!!!!" but i won't.  Instead I will say, injuries and lack of depth, bad defence, a stagnant offence and questionable lineups all play a part in the Knicks slow start.


       First let's take a look at their defence. The Knicks are a horrible 22nd in defensive efficiency tied with the Nets. A lot of this has to do with Tyson Chandler being out. On Nov 6th it was announced that Chandler would be out for 4-6 weeks. If I'm a Knicks fan I'm counting down the days until his return like it's Christmas.
       This sort of leads into their lack of depth in the front court. Sure it's an extremely expensive front court and filled with big names and former high lottery picks. Two former number one overall picks play at the 4/5 positions.  But, one of them is almost 36 years old and despite being healthy and practically begging for a roster spot, wasn't even in the league for most of last year and the other, is Andrea Bargnani... need I say more?.. didn't think so.
      With Chandler out, the old and slow Kenyon Martin, the defensively inept Bargnani and the worst defender ever Amare Stoudemire are being called upon to anchor the D. And to the surprise of no one it has been bad. With the winners in all of this being the opposing guards. With little to no rim protection and poor defending at the point guard spot, opposing guards are having no trouble getting to the rim.

Defence the Amare Stoudemire way  

   

Il Mago - blocking shots we can't even see!

credit to Bleacher Report for the GIFs


And the numbers back it up, Here's a look at the opposing point guard play in the games since Chandler's been sidelined.

In the loss to the Indiana Pacers on Nov 20, 
George Hill - 23 pts, 8 rebs, 3 asts on 39 FG%, 40 3FG% and 5-8 FTM-A 

In the loss to the Detroit Pistons on Nov 19,  
Rodney Stuckey - 21 pts, 2 rebs, 5 asts (Jennings had 7) on 57 FG% and  5-5 FTM-A

In the win and loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Nov 13 and Nov 16,
Jeff Teague - 25 pts, 5 rebs, 8 asts, on 41 FG% and  11-14 FTM-A - nov 13 (win for knicks)
Jeff Teague - 16 pts, 5 rebs, 1 asts, 3 stls on 56 FG% and 6-10 FTM-A   - nov 16 (loss)

In the loss to the Houston Rockets on Nov 14,
Jeremy Lin - 21 pts, 5 rebs, 3 asts on 44 FG% and 6-6 FTM-A 

In the win and loss to the Charlotte Bobcats on Nov 5 and Nov 8,
Kemba Walker - 25 pts, 3 rebs, 5 asts on 36 FG% and 8-8 FTM-A (win for knicks) 
Kemba Walker - 25 pts, 5 rebs, 6 asts on 45 FG%, 43 3FG% and 4-5 FTM-A (loss)


The Knicks gave Rodney Stuckey his best game of the season, Jeff Teague lead the Hawks in points, scoring 16 on 56% in only 25 minutes to help defeat the Knicks. Lin and even Kemba looked like all-stars in their teams wins over New York.

(NOTE: in NYK's win over the Bobcats where Kemba shot a bad 36%, Felton looked stellar and Bargnani was engaged both on the offensive end and defensive end, both contributing factors. The obvious point here being, the Knicks need Andrea and the starting pg who ever that may be to step it up. )

       The Knicks struggled defensively last season too and with Chandler coming back in a few weeks, things should start to look up for them. That is not to say that everything will be fixed, he isn't a miracle worker and he is still playing along side Melo, Amare and Bargs.....Poor Tyson... But, what I'm getting at is, a bad defensive team can still have a great regular season, just  not when they're bad offensively too. That mix simply creates a bad team. Currently the Knickerbockers boast a 23rd best offensive efficiency rating. 23rd out of 30 teams, I've never been too good at the mathematics, but even I know that's not very good. It is also a huge drop off from where they were just last season, sitting as the third best offensive team. So what's changed, you ask?... You mean aside from number 77? ... Well let's see.

       Injuries play big a part, JR smith was out for all of training camp and was suspended for the first 5 games of the season, Felton a big part to this team's offence is currently hurt. And with Tyson gone and Barg's as your centre - second chance opportunities become rare. But that's not all of it, or even most of it. The Knicks aren't shooting like they did last season..... well.... yes they are, they just aren't knocking them down like they did last season. The Knickerbockers are shooting 32.2% from three this year, that is the 5th worst percentage in the league. Last season they shot 37.6% that was tied for 4th best with the San Antonio Spurs.

      The idea behind bringing Andrea Bargnani over was that the team was adding another floor spacer, a stretch four that would make the deadliest 3pt shooting team, even deadlier. What the Knicks should've known though, is that the only thing Bargnani kills is his team's offence. (Sorry, I had to.. But seriously, the Toronto Raptors needed a stretch four too, to pair with their wings that can't shoot from downtown and were still considering amnestying Andrea and openly discussed trading him. Why the Knicks jumped on that trade is still beyond me.)

      Since arriving to the Big Apple, Il mago has shown Knicks fans the good, the bad and the hideously ugly. You've seen it all, some nights he's stellar but most nights he leaves you frustrated. When he's playing well the team plays well and the offence looks good and when he's not the team struggles.

      Despite how Bargs is playing,  one thing is for sure, he stagnates an offence. Bargnani needs the ball in his hands and so does Melo. This becomes an even bigger problem when you throw a guy like JR Smith into the starting line up. The ball movement the Knicks entertained us with last year doesn't exist anymore with these guys and I'm not sure it can. Thankfully though I think the JR experiment in the starting lineup is over. But I don't believe that replacing JR with Iman Shumpert is really going to drastically improve the ball movement. There are just too many ball stoppers.

      I'm a big fan of "if it aint broke don't fix it" and the Knicks offence last season certainly wasn't broke and yet they tried fix it, moving away from what worked for them. Also, in trying to fix their offence, the knicks somehow managed to further break their already broken defence. So it's all a big ol' mess over at the Garden. Still though, we haven't seen this team entirely healthy and it is only 11 games into the season they deserve time to gel. So while I don't think anyone should be hitting their panic button or firing their coaches, I do see cause for concern. Barring a major trade, or a trip to the wizard of OZ where Amare gets new knees, Bargnani asks for the ability to want to exert himself everyday and JR lands himself a brain, I don't believe this team is in contention for anything besides a 4-6 seed.

This is only part 1, part 2 will come out soon featuring the Nets and I pick what team I believe has a better chance of turning it around and who will finish with the better season.

Why Kobe was Ranked 25th

 
    OMG DID YOU HEAR? - never mind of course you've heard, everyone has and boy are people upset. ESPN ranked Kobe Bean Bryant as the 25th best player. The Kobe Bryant, the 5 time NBA champion, 15 time NBA All-Star, 2 time NBA scoring champion, and a whole list of other accomplishments, that guy. He's consistently been one of the best if not the best players in the league. And the audacity of ESPN to list him as number 25.

     Oh.... Wait... This is the ranking for the 2013/2014 NBA season? Well then that makes sense, does everyone else know this? HEY LAKERNATION IT'S ALL COOL, THESE RANKINGS ARE MEANT FOR THE UPCOMING SEASON.

     All jokes aside, this ranking for Kobe isn't pretty and it's hard to see, but so was watching him tear his Achilles. And that is just the reality of where Kobe is right now. Kobe is injured and old, which is never a good mix. It isn't the mid 2000s, Kobe isn't young and in his prime. If anything a ranking of 25 shows respect for one of the greatest competitors to play this game.

    Vino, that is what he's calling himself these days, because he was getting better with age and its true. Last season he played exceptionally well, dragging his star studded team to the playoffs. Unfortunately however, he was hit with a serious injury. Without ripping off from this deadspin post, I suggest you read it to try an understand the severity of the injury and what Kobe faces. http://deadspin.com/how-an-achilles-tear-affects-nba-players-or-why-kobe-472944871


    As you've read, this injury isn't kind to players and has ended many careers and hindered others. Dominique Wilkins was the exception to this, he like Kobe was on the wrong side of 30 when hit with the injury. Kobe may only be a couple of years older than Wilkins was when he suffered the tear, but Bryant has logged nearly double the amount of playing time. Despite getting finer with age, the amount of mileage on Kobe's legs can't be helping his recovery. The article mentions another star player in Isiah Thomas. Isiah was the same age as Wilkins when he tore his achilles, however Thomas had many more minutes than Wilkins under his belt and he unfortunately never returned from that injury.

      All this is not to say that I think Kobe is done and should retire. I don't believe that, I believe that Kobe can be a top 25 player in the NBA next season. But that is a huge feat for a 35 year old coming back from such a severe injury, no one else would be ranked so high. So, instead of seeing the ranking as disrespect I see it as a testament to Kobe's greatness.

      I understand the fandom freaking out at lesser players being ranked ahead of an all time great, it is odd to see Kobe so low. And no Chris Bosh isn't better than a healthy Kobe Bryant. But Kobe Bryant isn't healthy, Kobe doesn't have a concrete timeline for his return and Kobe is old. Chris Bosh is healthy and ready to contribute. So, if I had to pick between the two for the upcoming season it would have to be the young healthy stud that I know will play from opening night and what level he'll play at. It's really that simple.

All the best to Kobe though, I do hope he comes back looking more like a top 5 player, where he was last year.

Tanks and Dynamite

     DUCKKKKKK, SHES GONNA BLOW!!!-  nothing like a cheesy quote to start off my first blog.
      I'm imagining tanks and all kinds of explosives entering the raptors training camp as I type this, with Masai Ujiri leading the way ready to pull the trigger and blow this squad up. Clearly I don't watch many movies with explosives because that would make a horrible scene. But I've got it on replay in my head and really it's quite entertaining. Just picture Valanciunas in a camouflage getup and Rudy Gay running somewhere for cover, using DeMar DeRozan as his shield. Ok, now its getting kind of creepy. End scene.

      If you haven't guessed already, I'm pro tank, I have been for awhile now. I was part of the fan base that was quietly praying for the Rudy Gay trade rumours to not come true. And with a little more volume, praying that Andrea Bargnani wouldn't be traded for Carlos Boozer or Amare Stoudamire or any of the other players named at that time. But that was last season.
      This season Rudy Gay is on our team and Bargnani isn't. Bargnani was traded for a nice little haul - cap relief, an elite sharp shooter in Steve Novak (who does nothing else remotely well) and not 1, not 2, but 3 DRAFT PICKS (gotta love new york and their detest for picks). Along with Gay, this raptors starting squad features Kyle Lowry who is looking slimmer, Derozan who has been beast in preseason, Amir Johnson who is everyones favourite, and the bigger and bulkier Jonas Valanciunas. Besides the fact that this group seriously lacks 3 point shooting. And all the other problems a Demar/Rudy wing duo creates (something I'm sure, I will write about). It is a decent starting unit, there is potential, its a young unit with room to grow and the talent to do it as well.
     The question is, how much can they grow? Can this starting unit grow to be one of the best in the east? I'd argue no, especially with this bench behind them - theres a turnover joke I want to make here, but someone just stole it ( haha that was horrible, don't hold it against me)  which is the simplest explanation for why I'm calling for a tank.
    I know, I know, most of you guys are rolling your eyes and saying that that isn't a good explanation, but it is. It's just the beginning and I plan to write all my reasoning in detail in later posts. So if you're not already on board the tank, you might want to make sure you're carrying your boarding pass because who knows, I may just convince you.