From: Charlie Zegers
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 7:52 PM
To: Carson Cistulli
Subject: Give and Go: To Be Continued
We were talking about the trade deadline deals last week, only to be rudely interrupted by even yet still more trades. Then, we were interrupted once again by our deadline – several hours shy of the actual deadline, when several other deals were consummated.
As the only significant player movement likely to happen this week is a buyout of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, it should be safe to pick up where we left off without having to worry about another landscape-altering deal throwing off the discussion.
I’ll start – as usual – with the Knicks. But this time, I actually have a valid reason to do so.
I’ll leave the “did Donnie Walsh make the right moves/do the Knicks have a legit shot at LeBron” aspect of the discussion to the salary-cap astrophysicists. (I swear, if I read one more explanation of cap holds, I’ll do something drastic.) Besides, I’m far more concerned about the remainder of this season – and based on Saturday night’s game, it seems the new Knicks are worth a look.
Even after a two-month layoff, Tracy McGrady was the Knicks’ best player for most of the game – which says a lot about McGrady’s talent and the lack thereof elsewhere on New York’s roster, I suppose. T-Mac scored 26, had five assists, four boards and a steal – though he basically ran out of gas and had to sit for most of the overtime period. The other new arrivals, Eddie House and Sergio Rodriguez, looked pretty comfortable in orange-and-blue as well; House scored 24 points in 36 minutes (4-8 from three) while Rodriguez scored five points and had six dimes in 25-and-change minutes. Chris Duhon’s days in the starting lineup, thankfully, seem to be numbered.
But just looking at the new guys leaves out a more important change – at least where fantasy owners are concerned. Mike D’Antoni teams have a reputation of playing at a breakneck pace at all times … but this season, their “pace factor” is 96.1, tied with Houston for seventh in the league, and within a rounding error of the Lakers and Bulls. They have aspirations of playing D’Antoni’s “seven seconds or less” style, but poor guard play (I’m looking at you, Chris Duhon) has slowed the team down a bit. To some extent, they’ve actually been trying to win with defense. (Emphasis on “trying.”)
Last week’s deals change all that. Jared Jeffries was the key to their defense. He’s gone. In his place, they’ve got some perimeter players who can actually push the ball and initiate a seven-seconds offense. Once they’ve had a couple of games to get used to each other, the new guys should benefit the offensive numbers of Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Al Harrington. (I don’t think David Lee’s numbers have much room for improvement.)
Agree? Or is this just the demented musings of a Knicks fan, seeing light at the end of the tunnel and hoping it’s not the 5:38 express out of Grand Central?
via Give and Go: Serg-ing Knicks – Fantasy – Yahoo! Sports.
