In A Lot Can Happen to the Knicks, we discussed the top three draft candidates and how the Knicks had a 10% chance of landing each of them. Well, the cards fell as they may and the Knicks received expected #8 (70% chance), which they used to select 6'10" power forward Jordan Hill out of Arizona State.
The Knicks also made a pair of trades on Draft Day: one in the form of $3,000,000 in exchange for the Lakers' #29 pick 6'2" shooting guard Toney Douglas out of Florida State, and the other in the form of guard/forward Quentin Richardson for Memphis Grizzlies center Darko Miličić.
Let's take a look at what these specific transactions mean immediately, and the impact they could have as pre-cursors to bigger trades for New York.
Jordan Hill
The athletic power forward comes out of Arizona State standing at a commanding 6'10.25" (3+ inches above the NBA league-average 6'6.98") who loves to play deep and run the floor. Targeted 2nd by the Knicks (1st being prolific shooting guard Stephen Curry - selected heartbreakingly at 7th by the Golden State Warriors), Jordan Hill will add size and quickness to the front court, the perfect compliments to the D'antoni system.
When asked if he would like to play for D'antoni and the comparison to Amare Stoudemire, Hill responded:
"Definitely; he’s an up-tempo coach and I love to run the floor. When Amare was [in D'Antoni's offense], he was running the floor like no other, getting dunk after dunk after dunk. They’ve got Chris Duhon who is a pass-first guard and if I run the floor with him and I know he’ll be able to hit me with a pass for a dunk or whatever. It would definitely be a good fit for me."
Averaging 18.3 Points, 11 Rebounds, and 1.7 Blocks per game, Jordan Hill looks like, on paper at least, a numerical large presence at both ends of the court. Physically and characteristically, Jordan Hill has been described as a better-rebounding Chris Wilcox, a faster Ronny Turiaf, and a talent-blessed(woohoo) Amare Stoudemire. However, the selection of Hill clearly puts a question mark over the head of David Lee. Although Lee was, admittedly by Donnie Walsh, the hot topic before the '08-09 trade deadline with his league-leading 65 double-doubles (2 more then #2 Dwight Howard and 15 more then #3 Chris Paul), the concept of trade value for David Lee is much more realistic to Knicks fans then play value with the insertion of Jordan Hill into the organization - if still merely by a sign-and-trade. I believe David Lee's extraordinary double-double figures are not flukes, and he is only going to get better. Double-double players breed other double-double players on a team (more rebounds, blocks, assists, and steals means more points, rebounds, blocks, assists, and steals for others.. stats breed stats in basketball more then any other sport!). I believe Eddy Curry is now off the map for an '09-10 Roster after this acquisition, and Hill will have to earn his minutes as a bench player, but his mere presence adds much-needed depth in the middle.
Toney Douglas
Anyone reading New York sports news in the past week or two have already had their brains overwhelmed with the same names in the projected top 10, but how about the surprise trade with the Lakers for their 29th pick in Toney Douglas? It has been reported that Donnie Walsh had his eye on Toney Douglas for some time. Two pick-purchasing options existed for the Knicks dependent on Douglas' availability: If Douglas was still available at #29, the Knicks would pay the Lakers $3,000,000 to draft him and give New York his rights... if Douglas was taken by #29 the Knicks already had a taker for another 1st round pick in 2010 for $3,000,000. Why "Douglas or Bust" for Donnie? Toney Douglas has been characterized and recognized in college ball by his super-aggressive defense. Remember in They Should Go For Thabeet we mentioned that the Knicks were 4th in the league offensively at a 105.2 p/pg average, while 2nd to last defensively, being outscored by a staggering 107.81 p/pg average. Although only a -2.61 margin, still enough to not even come close to the playoffs...yet again.
With noted strength-buzzwords as "aggressive defense", "toughness", and "leadership" it is pretty obvious that Donnie Walsh and Mike D'antoni are addressing the defensive achile's heel of the Knicks. Toney Douglas could be the player that fills Quentin Richardson's shoes, or a specialty-defender for clutch situations [remember all the 1-2 point losses last year!?). Speaking of Quentin Richardson...
Darko Miličić
If you are unfamiliar with the likes of Serbian center Darko Miličić, allow me to paraphrase. 2nd overall pick in 2003, the 7' center rotted on the bench in Detroit averaging 5.73 minutes per game in blowout games that were 10 minutes-over before he even touched the court. After his short, yet championship-winning, time as a Piston, Miličić was traded with Carlos Arroya to the Orlando Magic for Kelvin Cato and 1st round pick in '07 (who wound up being Rodney Stuckey, who I am personally impressed with). Darko Miličić would enjoy his best years productively in Orlando with 2.1 blocks/game in '05-06 and 8.0 points/game in '06-07 before being moved again to the Grizzlies where his minutes and productivity declined. Miličić has said, with 7 years of stats as proof:
"I've said it 10,000 times, the best way for me to improve is to play. All the work in practice and individual workouts can only help me so much."
If Darko Miličić and David Lee could share the court (see: Shaq and Alonzo Mourning in '06), the Knicks could keep their offensive paint presence and fill the void in their defensive paint presence. Don't get me wrong, I think Quentin Richardson played a much better game under D'Antoni [what a fantastic coach], but his $8,800,000+ contract and the Knicks' record featuring Q as a starter (.338 in 204 games) speak for themselves.
The Knicks have addressed their defensive woes with the additions of Hill, Douglas, and Miličić. The futures of David Lee, and for that matter fan-beloved Nate Robinson, in New York have become hazed by uncertainty. Donnie Walsh, who has shown no hesitancy in correcting Isiah Thomas' mistakes, has already set a meeting with David Lee and his agent on July 1 to make an the top double-doubler an offer. Lee has perfect reason to decline the first offer to gauge what the rest of the league could offer, which Walsh could either reject or match. Walsh said he already has his 1st and 2nd pass numbers figured out; maintaining that his top priority is 2010. Let's hope Lee loves New York as much as New York loves Lee.
No comments:
Post a Comment