Carmelo Anthony is ready to lead the New York Knicks into 2013-14. (Flickr.com photo by Keith Allison)
The New York Knicks made noise last season. After spending a decade showing the NBA how NOT to build an NBA contender, Carmelo Anthony led the Knickerbockers to 54 wins, an Atlantic Division title and a No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Not bad, but this is New York. The bar has been raised and expectations are through the roof for 2013-14. While they may not be ready to compete for an NBA title (see LeBron James), the Knicks certainly have improved this offseason. Here are five reasons why:
5. The addition of Metta World Peace: The Knicks showed an extreme lack of toughness in the conference semifinals against the Indiana Pacers last season. That, along with a complete dearth of shot-makers to take the pressure off of Carmelo Anthony, helped lead to New York’s demise. Metta World Peace isn’t the player he once was, but he can still bother perimeter players on defense and he has become a terrific post defender as well. His addition gives New York the versatile defender they lacked last season, as well as a player who can knock down corner 3-pointers consistently. This should help create space for Anthony to operate in the post, an area where he flourished throughout the 2012-13 season.
4. Iman Shumpert‘s development: Everyone knew Iman Shumpert could defend, but who knew he could shoot? Shump knocked down 40.2 percent of his 3-pointers during the regular season in 2012-13 and that number improved to 42.9 percent in the postseason. Couple that with his athleticism and the sky is the limit for a guy who has shown pretty clearly that his knee injury is far in the rear view mirror. Can Shumpert become the complimentary star to Carmelo Anthony the New York Knicks desperately need?
3. Drafting Tim Hardaway Jr.: The Knicks set an NBA record for 3-point attempts last season. The deep ball proved an integral part of the offense and surrounding superstars with shooters is a formula that’s worked for NBA teams since the beginning of time. Enter Tim Hardaway Jr., a guy with a perfect stroke, a good attitude and a terrific pedigree. New York hasn’t been great in the draft in recent seasons, but its easy to see the fit here.
2. Unloading the turnstiles: Chris Copeland and Steve Novak both proved to be knockdown shooters. In the case of Cope, that led to a lucrative deal with the enemy in Indiana. For Novak? He was sent packing to Toronto. The problem with both of these guys is neither could guard a chair if asked to. Shot making is all well and good, but when players are a defensive liability to this degree, often times it leads to a net negative on the court. That was the case for both Novak, who fell out of the rotation during the regular season in 2012-13, and Copeland, who was decimated by Indiana forwards in the postseason.
1. Andrea Bargnani: With Amar’e Stoudemire‘s health (along with his chemistry with Carmelo Anthony) in question, it was clear heading into the offseason that the New York Knicks needed a second scoring option capable of shouldering some of the offensive load. Easier said than done with a superstar as ball-dominant as Melo and a cap situation that appeared to be less than ideal. The Knicks took a gamble on a guy who was stuck in a bad situation and on paper, Bargnani is a great fit. Defensively, Bargs isn’t ever going to garner any merit as a true stopper. But at 7’0″, he can defend in the post at least admirably. Plus, having a guy like Tyson Chandler in the middle should alleviate some of that responsibility. Offensively, Bargnani can stretch the floor as a 3-point threat and crush closeouts with his ability to put it on the floor. Are there question marks here? Sure. But with the Eastern Conference getting better, New York needed to add some help. If Bargnani can return to form (he averaged 21.4 points per game in 2010-11), the Knicks will be a force in the East throughout the 2013-14 season.
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