The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

A Return to Glory?

Sure, the NBA season does not officially begin until October 28, and the “meaningful” games that draw high TV ratings are still six months removed. But for many, each day that goes by is another day in a seemingly perpetual offseason of anxious anticipation. Much is being said about a Knicks organization that has done an impressive job in the past decade and a half of alienating lifelong fans via head-scratching managerial decisions and player personnel transactions. In March 2014, a messianic figure by the name of Phil Jackson, who helped win the Knicks’ only two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973 as a player, took over basketball operations for his former club. As a coach, Jackson has won an NBA record 11 Larry O’Brien trophies with the Lakers and Bulls. He looks to bring that success to the Big Apple with his former point guard Derek Fisher now drawing up plays on the sidelines.

After a disappointing 2013-2014 campaign in which the Knicks finished at 37-45, Jackson has executed a personnel overhaul this offseason, attempting to maximize the potential of his famous offense, The Triangle. Carmelo Anthony, who will fill in the “wing scorer” role which the likes of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan once perfected, was re-signed for a maximum contract after a two week long saga. A shrewd trade with the Dallas Mavericks dumped the contracts of an aging and injury-prone Tyson Chandler and a perpetually out-of-shape Raymond Felton off the salary cap, and also brought a true point guard to New York in Jose Calderon for the first time since Mark Jackson, who played with the Knicks from 1987-1992 and 2000-2002. New York also acquired a 2nd round draft pick, which was used to select Cleanthony Early, the New York native and Wichita State star who has the potential to be a valuable rotation player for the Knicks. In addition to that, Shane Larkin, formerly of the University of Miami (FL), was acquired and adds youth, energy, and depth to the Knicks bench.

While the player personnel did change substantially, there will still be some familiar faces out there on the Madison Square Garden court. Coach Derek Fisher has not identified a potential starting lineup, but it is almost certain that José Calderon will run the offense at point guard, and Carmelo Anthony will be the dominant wing scorer. Anthony could start at either the 3 or the 4, depending on whether Fisher wants to play a ¨small ball¨ lineup or not. Assuming Anthony will play at the 4, as he did much of last season where he flourished against bigger, slower defenders, that leaves the two wing positions and the center position to fill. Any combination of Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and Tim Hardaway, Jr. could start on the wings. Smith’s experience coming off the bench (he won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in the 2012-2013 season) could compel Fisher to hold him out of the starting five, adding potent scoring to an otherwise run-of-the-mill bench. With Smith on the bench, the complementary youngsters of Shumpert, a defensive stalwart, and Hardaway, Jr., a lethal shooter, join Calderon and Anthony in the starting five. The center position is an even hazier crystal ball to read. Vying for the position are Andrea Bargnani, former #1 overall pick who has never reached his potential, Sam Dalembert, a veteran defensive-minded big who has started for different teams in the league at many points in his career, and the now-notorious Amar’e Stoudemire, often injured but, to his credit, always hard-working. The safe bet would be Dalembert; he brings interior toughness, shot-blocking, and rebounding to a starting five that boasts two offensive-minded players in Calderon and Anthony. Bargnani is a complete enigma. Some games he looks like a poor man’s Dirk Nowitzki, other games he looks like a poor man’s Steve Urkel. The latter is, unfortunately, more often the case. At this point, it is very difficult to rely on Stoudemire to be able to play more than 25 productive minutes every night for 70 games in a season – not much to ask for from a starting (and maximum contract) big. Look for Big Sam Dalembert to round out that starting lineup in an attempt to bring toughness to this Knicks team. J.R. Smith would return, reluctantly or not, back to the sixth man role, accompanied in the second unit by energetic young guard Shane Larkin, neophyte Cleanthony Early, the aforementioned Bargnani and Stoudemire, and fringe players such as newly acquired forwards Travis Outlaw and Quincy Acy.

With the Eastern Conference making up ground on the far more competitive Western Conference this offseason, do not expect much more than a first round playoff loss from this Knicks team. The Cavaliers and Bulls will be tough 1- and 2-seeds, with the Raptors, Wizards, Hornets, Hawks, and Heat all shaping up to be more dangerous than the Knicks this season. In reality, they will be lucky to experience post-season basketball at all. However, with the added youth, a smarter basketball mind calling the shots, a new coach (alongside a new team identity), and Carmelo Anthony for five more years, Knicks fans can honestly say for the first time in more than a decade that the future is looking strangely bright for the Orange and Blue.