Predicting the final records of each NBA team
By Brad Rowland
New York Knicks
The Knicks were one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA last season, allowing more than 106 points per 100 possessions, and if you can believe it, New York might be significantly worse on that end in 2014-2015. Their defensive anchor is in Dallas, as Tyson Chandler was sent back to the team where he won a title, but regardless of whether New York acquired a nice haul for his services (I would argue that they did), it certainly won’t help their defense.
Of their top nine players, only two can be portrayed as even “average” defensively (Samuel Dalembert, Iman Shumpert), and with players like Amar’e Stoudemire, Jose Calderon and Tim Hardaway Jr., the more accurate adjective would be “horrendous” on that end of the floor. You would have to assume that New York is fully aware of their limitations, but a) the Knicks have not proven that to be the case in the past, and b) there is almost nothing they can do, within reason, to deploy lineups with enough defensive help.
The positive side of things in New York comes on offense, and that has to begin with Carmelo Anthony. Melo inked a long-term deal to captain this Knicks team, and he can be penciled in for nearly 30 points and 8 rebounds per game. Anthony doesn’t fit in the “terrible” class among defenders, which is a positive, and he will likely be the main reason that the Knicks remain competitive despite significant issues.
To be frank, this should be a top-ten offense. Jose Calderon is one of the most efficient offensive players in the league, with great passing ability and historic shooting numbers, and with Anthony paired with any of the J.R. Smith/Iman Shumpert/Tim Hardaway trio on the wing, that is a nice core of offense. It will be interesting to see if new head coach Derek Fisher simply embraces their defensive limitations and elects to bury Dalembert while deploying more of Andrea Bargnani and Stoudemire, simply because, at the very least, that would be fun.
Knicks fans won’t enjoy this projection, but the 2014-2015 season should be viewed as a transition year for the club.
Projected Record: 39-43, 8th in East