5 BOROUGH SPORTS

Too bad our least favorite person, James Dolan, had to ruin this exciting moment for the Knicks

If the Knicks are going to next the step in 2012, then their sign and trade of Tyson Chandler is going to be the biggest part of it. Chandler is a league veteran known for size and defensive prowess. Last season he was a quiet contributor for the World Champion Mavericks, as he brought in nearly 10 rebounds a game. Expect Chandler to give the Knicks a double-double performance a lot this year with an increased role over last year. The Knicks now feature a front court of Chandler, Amare and Melo, that’s a lot of talent right there. The question now becomes how to the Knicks get the ball to these guys.

That question was given a partial answer yesterday when the Knicks picked up free agent point guard Mike Bibby. Once a key member of the Kings in the early 2000’s, Bibby now is more of a role player with experience. He spent last year as part of the Heat and contributed nicely at times. The question is where for not his style of game fits with the Knicks up-tempo offense? Bibby has been more of a score first 1-guard throughout his career but perhaps he can distribute the ball more now with his aging game. The Knicks now have Bibby and Toney Douglas to man the point, both solid players who can score, but perhaps not the best distributors. Only time will tell to see how they can mesh with the rest of the roster, particularly Amare and Melo.

Additionally the Knicks signed on their two draft picks Iman Shumpert and Josh Harrellson. Both were peculiar picks in the draft, and might not get a lot of playing time in their first season. If one of them emerges as a surprise it could help the Knicks establish some more depth. Additionally Jared Jefferies was re-signed and once again will torment Knick fans with his invisible play. Landry  Fields figures to start at the two guard, giving the Knicks a very big starting 5, but can Fields follow up his rookie campaign with another strong performance, or will he suffer the feared sophomore slump? Only a couple weeks remain before the season tips off, and Knicks fan should be enthusiastic about the upcoming campaign, but how good the Knicks will be remains to be seen.

This entry was posted on December 11, 2011 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Knicks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.