The Knicks aren’t focused on contending this season, but that doesn’t mean that coach David Fizdale doesn’t have concerns about how his young team is playing. As Zach Braziller writes for The New York Post, Fizdale is frustrated with the lack of defense he is seeing on a nightly basis, and with good reason.
As Braziller points out, the Knicks have allowed at least 109 points in 21 straight games and currently rank 29th in the league with a defensive rating of 113.5, ahead of only the struggling Cavaliers.
Fizdale voiced his concerns regarding the team’s lack of weak side defense and the struggles to adjust defensive schemes. The Knicks may not be focused on the win-loss column, but Fizdale would surely love to see more effort and execution on the defensive end from his young players.
There’s more from the Atlantic division:
- While the Nets currently sit in seventh in the Eastern Conference, Brian Lewis of The New York Post points out that they will have to go through a tough stretch of the schedule in the near future, which will test their playoff chances.
- Speaking of the Nets, they would surely love to see Spencer Dinwiddie snap out of his slump as they enter this stretch of the schedule. As Brian Lewis points out, Dinwiddie is averaging just 11.5 points and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 35.1% and 16.7% from deep in the past four games, far cries from his season averages.
- Hopeful Knicks fans have certainly enjoyed seeing the frustration being expressed by Kyrie Irving recently. Marc Berman of The New York Post wrote about how the Knicks may be able to take advantage of Irving’s frustrations and the Celtics underachieving so far this season.
Not sure why Irving would go from a team of talented rookies and veterans to a team where no rookie is really established but depended on for improvement and their star player has been missing for a year.
Because he doesn’t believe the C’s kids know how to win, that’s why.
His words.
Kyrie may end up being another Knicks signing a la Amare, Allan Houston, Patrick Ewing – All players that signed big deals w/the Knicks and were injury plagued and ultimately never lived up to the contract.
I’ll agree with the first two, Amare was just a mad dash to get at least one Max player after the big three announced their south beach orgy. And to be honest, I loved the half season with Amare as our star (pre Melo-I did like Chauncey tho). I’m sure with Melo or without, he would have got hurt and would have been a bad contract. Allan Houston initial contract with the Knicks was a risk that paid off, but the big contract was an overpay. But please man, how in the world can you say Patrick “tape my Johnson to my leg so it doesn’t pop out my Gym shorts” Ewing didn’t live up to his contract. Dude was the face of the franchise and was still relatively effective until his final year with the Bockers.
Ewing’s last contract – 4/60M he was injured most of that contract and didn’t even appear in the finals vs the Spurs. It was a bad signing.
Agreed. Actually, neither Ewing nor Houston fit the STAT model in the least.
Ewing’s contract didn’t need to be a face of the franchise signing to make it a good one. At the time of that extension, Ewing had played full seasons at an All Star level for the last decade, and averaged 20 and 10 every year. He was averaging the same before he got hurt in the first year of the contract. The injury was breaking his wrist on a freak play, not an instance of his body giving out.
Houston’s original FA contract was a good one. He was the best FA available, and it was one of the few times the Knicks had cap space at that level. He produced All Star seasons in his final two years, and had been healthy. Nobody could argue the extension, only the amount – which was excessive.
The Knicks have made many many bone head moves in the Dolan era, but they usually didn’t involve signing max/equiv FAs – primarily because between the Allan Houston year and summer of 2010 they never had the cap space to participate in the real FA market. Bigger mistakes than signing Ewing were not letting his contract expire, but trading it in the third year along with expiring deals for longer bloated contracts, then (Isiah) doing the same when those contracts when they were just about to expire.
good to hear kyrie send a msg – their youth needs to turn the corner and become more consistent. they’re extremely raw and talented and need to stop playing passive.
Keep dreaming NY fans, not happening!!!!!
Not dreaming of Kyrie myself, it’s Kyrie who’s dreaming of the day he can be a Knick!!!
Funny how as soon as Dinwiddie got paid he has dropped his level, right?
Champagne bubbles can hit hard!