As we begin another NBA season, the hope that our New York Knicks will take a step or two closer to title contention rises anew. For a more sobering evaluation of our team’s chances of making a serious run at another top 6 finish, we will examine where each of our starters and our 6th man stand in relation to their peers. Places 1 thru 5 will be given points, 5 for first and 1 for fifth.
PG: 1. Jrue Holiday is the pick here on all around ability. He is a complete player. 2.Tyrese Haliburton is also a complete player, a step below Holiday. 3 Damian Lillard leads a list of scoring PGs. He is the best of the final three. 4.Trae Young is a notch below Lillard as a scorer, but is a better distributor. 5. Jalen Brunson rounds out the top five. Like 3 & 4, his defense is poor.
SG: 1. Jaylen Brown is a fierce competitor and defender as well as a prolific scorer. 2. Donovan Mitchell is a great scorer. 3. Jordan Poole will be the alpha scorer for the first time in his career. 4. Tyrese Maxey/James Harden will light it up. Who’s the PG? 5. Zach Lavine delivers points every year, but they some how seem empty.
SF: 1. Jason Tatum has begun to be considered a super star. 2. Jimmy Butler is a great player, very high BB IQ, fierce competitor who does whatever needs to be done to win. 3. OG Anunoby’s splits .476/.387/.838 on 15 FGAs and leads the NBA in steals. Underappreciated. 4. Mikal Bridges is another complete player just coming into his own. Strong on both ends. 5. DeMar DeRozan edges out a group of deserving players like Khris Middleton & Franz Wagner. Big shot maker a la DWade.
PF: 1. Giannis Antetokounmpo is aptly named the ‘Greek Freak’. He is still learning the game. 2. Julius Randle is a three level scorer and double double machine. 3. Pascal Siakam is also a three level scorer. He is edged out because Randal is the better rebounder and also because Siakam’s ball dominance adversely effects the Raptors more than Jules’ ISO hurts the Knicks. 4. Evan Mobley is coming off very good season. There is no reason he won’t continue to improve and grow stronger. 5. Tobias Harris is a very solid and dependable performer on both ends of the floor.
C: 1. Joel Embiid was last year’s MVP. 2. Bam Adebayo is a very good two way player. He has superior quickness and excellent mid-range offense. 3. Brook Lopez is a three level scorer and an excellent shot blocker. Complements Giannis perfectly. 4. Nikola Vucevic splits are .520/.349/.835 and he averaged 11 boards and 17.6 pts last year. 5. Kristaps Porzingis splits are .498/.385/.851 with 8 boards and 23.2 ppg. It’s close, but Vuc is tougher and sets better screens.
Scores: Celts – 16; Bucks – 11; Sixers – 8; Heat – 8; Cavs – 6; Raptors – 6;
Knicks – 5; Pacers – 4; Bulls – 4; Wizards – 3; Hawks – 2; Nets – 2 Orl – 1.
6thMan Immanuel Quickley came in second to Malcolm Brogdan, now in the West.
As many worthy candidates may have become starters, we will begin and end with IQ
Utility Knife: Scottie Barnes deserves a place on this list. Unfortunately he plays and defends all five positions. It could be the Sixers and Joel Embiid one night and the Pacers and Tyrese Haliburton the next. There is room for improvement in his shooting %, but the rest of his game is first rate
The Knicks are competitive at three positions, C, PF and PG. Mitchell Robinson is a one dimensional player, but he dominates as an offensive rebounder and shot blocker. As much as we root for Quentin Grimes, although we applaud his D and see his offensive potential, SG is a major Knick short coming.
The other position of weakness is SF. Perhaps because we see RJ Barrett on a nightly basis we are too familiar with his faults. He ranks 10th behind the Saddiq Bey/DeAndre Hunter SF tandem in Atlanta. Both of these players are superior defenders. Washington and Detroit may start very athletic rookies who are superior defenders at SF, Bilal Coulibaly and Ausar Thompson. Benedict Mathurin and Aaron Nesmith will play SF for the Pacers. Nesmith is the better all around player right now, but Mathurin is a very athletic scorer. If his head is in the right place, he will be a force this year. There is a greater chance that RJ Barrett will sink to the bottom third of SFs in the East than rise to the top five.
Talentwise, the Celts, Bucks, Sixers, Heat and Cavs are ahead of the Knicks. The Raptors are a bit better, as well. We could pass the Sixers and still be fighting for sixth place. Much of Orlando’s success rests on the PG position. Three early first round PG picks, the latest being Anthony Black, will compete to start. Since they drafted Black over Fultz and Suggs, it seems Anthony will be the floor leader of an otherwise talented Magic team. The Hawks, Pacers and Bulls, with Coby White taking over at PG, have 6th place aspirations and the talent to avoid the play.
A very talented draft class may add a break out player or two who could improve the dynamics of their teams. Ausar Thompson, Bilal Coulibaly and Jarace Walker were early selections and have performed well in preseason. Ben Sheppard, the 26th pick to the Pacers, was surprisingly impressive. He exhibited a high IQ on both ends of the floor and a consistent stroke.
It is going to be a very challenging year.