Hello everyone, I’m here today to show you how I thought the each Knick player individually did throughout the season and throughout the playoffs because there were players that were different in the season than they were in the playoffs. I thought that some people did better in the season than they did in the playoffs. This is why I decided to make to separate grades, playoffs and regular season. We will start off with the reserves on the Knicks. Quentin Richardson and Earl Barron do not qualify.
James White-Regular Season-D, Playoffs- DNQ. What a disappointment! I thought this guy could play! It turns out that all he could do is dunk. I think he only had one highlight the whole season. What more can I say, Knicks, please get rid of this guy! He did absolutely nothing this season except get in the dunk contest and get one highlight! Kurt Thomas (When he was on the Knicks)-Regular Season-D+, Playoffs- DNQ. He did well for his role which was a bench warmer but if he had gotten more minutes, then this grade could have been judged more fairly. Rasheed Wallace (Before Retirement)-Regular Season-C-, Playoffs- DNQ. Rasheed had a good final year of his career this year with the Knicks for the time when he was not injured. He did well for his time, but he could not stay away from injury. So, Rasheed have a good life outside of basketball. Alright! Marcus Camby-Regular Season-C-, Playoffs- DNQ. Camby had some pretty solid work with the Knicks this year and I think that he gave it all he got. If we could get him next year, I would love to have him back! Those were my grades for the reserves, if you do not agree on something, come talk about it with me in the comments because I like to see what other people think about stuff. Anyway here are the role players and the sixth man of the year. Steve Novak-Regular Season-C-, Playoffs-DNQ. Novak was having a fine season for his role at the role player and I thought that we should stick to the same strategy throughout the playoffs. We did not. This guy played about 2 minutes in our whole NBA Playoffs when in a regular season game he had been playing a good 10-15 minutes. Why would Woodson change the strategy? If you are winning, keep doing what you are doing. Don’t fix what is not broken! Amare Stoudemire-Regular Season-C, Playoffs-DNQ. Stoudemire again had troubles with injuries for the second straight year and I think it is time to consider trading him. I gave him a C because he is still dunking out there with all the pain on him. I give him credit because after every injury he went through he toughened it out and came back out on the floor and for that I give him credit. Jason Kidd-Regular Season-C+, Playoffs-D-. Jason Kidd was one of those players that had a great regular season and lost it all in the NBA Playoffs, I cannot even remember if he scored in the playoffs against the Celtics or Pacers. Please write in the comments below if you remember this man making a shot in the Playoffs. In the regular season, however, the whole thing is a different story. He did very fine in the regular season and I thought he was a great addition to the team. Then, the playoffs arrived and all matters with Jason Kidd were downhill. Anyway, he did retire at 40 years of age and is now the Nets head coach and I wish him the best of luck with that. Chris Copeland-Regular Season-B-, Playoffs-B-, Was this guy a shock to us all or what? Nobody even thought he would be on a team this year and it turned out that he is actually a very fine player who hits shots when you need them. Copeland did show up in the playoffs and played the way he did in the regular season. He gave us a huge boost in the season and in the NBA Playoffs, he was phenomenal. Copeland, this is your team stay with us! Kenyon Martin-Regular Season-B, Playoffs-B+. Kenyon Martin was a solid player for the Knicks in both the regular season and the playoffs. He would dunk the ball and give the Knicks the momentum that they needed to win. Then, he would scream at the crowd when he blocked a shot or dunked it and the crowd would jump up and down and they would go crazy. I remember sitting at home watching this guy get me out of my seat going nuts. Point is, Martin thank you for helping us with a great season! JR Smith-Regular Season-A-, Playoffs-C+. Choke in the playoffs! I’m sorry JR but you did not help us after that elbow on Jason Terry in Game 3 of the 1st round. After that happened, JR could not do anything, he was missing shots that he would usually make all the time and he is one of the reasons why I think we got out by the Pacers in the playoffs. In the regular season, though, I could never stop applauding you. Making every shot, putting an incredible dunk in every single night. Awesomeness! If you had only shown up in the playoffs it would have been a totally different story. If it was my choice though I would still get JR back for next season because he did well in the regular season and the Knicks could use someone like that this year. These were my grades on the role players, do you think I was correct or do you think different comment about it below and I can see what you think. Now, the starters and the coach. Raymond Felton-Regular Season-B+, Playoffs: C-. In the playoffs this man was failure. Our starting point guard in one of the playoff games against Indiana scored 4 points! Are you kidding me? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of before. Felton is supposed to be the second scoring option behind Carmelo in the starting lineup and he is giving us 4 points in the whole game! Sorry, Felton but you deserve a C- for that performance in the playoffs. In the regular season he was better but still struggled. At least he did not have 4 points in a game on a consistent basis. Pablo Prigioni-Regular Season-B+, Playoffs-B+. Another shocker right here. Nobody thought that 35 year old Pablo Prigioni was going to be on an NBA roster for his first year in the NBA. He shocked the world, the steals, the threes, the veteran, he had everything. He helped the team so much this year and he was one of the reasons why we even got to the 2nd round and got to six games in that second round. He truly played his heart out and I cannot thank him enough for giving the Knicks another big boost. Thanks Pablo! Tyson Chandler-Regular Season-A-, Playoffs-C. Here is a player who did not show up for the 2nd round of the playoffs. Tyson Chandler got owned by Roy Hibbert in six straight games, oh wait that was the whole series against the Pacers, why would you betray us Tyson! Why? However, in the regular season he was a dominant force on the boards putting up two 20 rebound games and getting an alley-oop jam every single game. Good job by Tyson on the regular season, not so good in the playoffs. Iman Shumpert-Regular Season-A-, Playoffs-A-. Never let this guy go! Iman Shumpert tore his ACL in game 1 of the NBA 1st round against the Miami Heat, and it looked like it really hurt. He came back during this season and worked hard to get back to his normal strength. He played great in that elimination game in the playoffs with those 5 three-pointers and those clutch buckets. Also, how about that ferocious jam in game two of the Conference Semifinals, that was awesome. Shumpert has a lot of time to develop and can become a really solid basketball player when at full strength. Good season, Iman. Carmelo Anthony-Regular Season-A, Playoffs-A. Melo, you are going to win a championship one of these years, just keep working. Carmelo Anthony had one of the best regular seasons of his career averaging 28.7 points per game in the regular season and winning the scoring title, but if you think that is good enough. He averaged 28.8 points per game in the playoffs! Finally, a clutch performer! This is what a star has to do for his team, put up big numbers. Melo did some incredible things throughout the season including a 54 win season, a division title, home court advantage for the first two rounds, and the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Thank you so much Carmelo for everything you have done! Please do this next year and we will keep inching closer to that ring. Melo, next year is the one! Mike Woodson-Regular Season-A, Playoffs-D+. Big Difference! In the regular season, Woodson was up for Coach of the Year in the NBA and was almost able to coach the East All-Stars. He got the Knicks a division title, 54 wins, and the 2nd seed in the East. I give a lot of credit to Woodson for that and I applaud everything that he did in the regular season, but the playoffs were a whole different story. He was screwing up every game and that is why I gave him a D+ in the playoffs. If Iman Shumpert hits 4 straight three-pointers to end the 3rd quarter in an elimination game, would you take Shumpert out for the 4th quarter. Sounds stupid, right! Woodson thinks different, he subs him out in the 4th quarter and we lose the Knicks are now out of the playoffs. What do you think the main reason was? WOODSON!! Mike Woodson just needs to make smarter decisions and he will be fine. These were my predictions on each Knicks players grade, do you have a different opinion on what their grade should be? Tell me in the comments below. Please comment and thanks for reading!
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On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Knicks have their last battle of the regular season against the Nets at Madison Square Garden at 3:00 PM. The last time that these two teams played together at the Garden was on December 19th, back in 2012. Now it is 2013 and the Nets are doing great to start off the New Year only losing one game! That’s stupendous! The Knicks, however, have not been looking very good getting their first three game losing streak while having Mike Woodson as head coach during the regular season. I still think though that the Knicks and Nets will play some phenomenal basketball. In my opinion, I think that Carmelo Anthony will easily hit 30. The reason I say that Carmelo will get 30 points because against the Nets he averages 37 points per game. Here is how many points he scored in each of the battles: Part I: 35 points, Part II: 45 points, Part III: 31 points. I’m saying: Part IV: 30 or more points. This game should definitely be a very rough one, but still a close game. I believe that it might come down to the very final shot, maybe even at the buzzer of the 4th quarter. Just like Parts I and II of the battle. Part I: Overtime Thriller as Nets hold on to win 96-89, Part II: Jason Kidd hits a three pointer and the foul with around 15 seconds left, misses the free throw, but the Nets could not tie the game, Knicks win 100-97, Part III: Knicks win in blow out 100-86. As you can see, it will be rough, for neither team has gotten one point more than 100 in all three battles. That is some good defense and hustle! Raymond Felton will not play in the game because he fractured his right pinky finger on Christmas Day against the Lakers. Next up are the matchups. They are: Point Guards: Jason Kidd vs. Deron Williams. I think that it will be tough for D-Will to score on Jason Kidd because Kidd has an extremely high basketball I.Q. However, I think Deron Williams will win this matchup because he has speed over the 38 year old Jason Kidd. Also, as being one of the rising stars in the NBA, Deron Williams can hit contested shots over Kidd. In my opinion, the point guard matchup goes to the Nets. Shooting Guards: Iman Shumpert vs. Joe Johnson. I think that Iman Shumpert will play great defense on Joe Johnson, but has still not fully recovered from his big injury yet, so I think the shooting guard matchup goes to the Nets, as well. Small Forwards: Chris Copeland vs. Gerald Wallace. I know that most people are going to disagree with me on this, but I think Copeland wins this matchup. Chris Copeland shoots with such confidence over defenders and makes it in. He also has had about 4 or 5 games this year where he started and got 20 or more points. Gerald Wallace, on the other hand, gets injured way too much. That’s why they call him CRASH! In my opinion, the small forward matchup goes to the Knicks. Power Forwards: Carmelo Anthony vs. Kris Humphries. This is probably the easiest choice to make and I have got to go with Carmelo. I think this matchup goes to the Knicks. Centers: Tyson Chandler vs. Brook Lopez. I think that Brook Lopez is really overrated and Tyson Chandler is clearly better. The centers matchup goes to the Knicks. I think and hope that the Knicks win. I think that the Knicks can win the season series against the Nets as 3 wins and 1 loss. I cannot wait to see this game Brooklyn vs. Manhattan, Nets vs. Knicks. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day and please comment! The countdown to the start of the NBA’s regular season is over and I think the Knicks season opener is going to be very exciting! Yet before we jump ahead, let’s take a look back and recap the preseason for the Knicks. In their first preseason game, the Knicks played the Wizards and won 108-101. The player that was best on the Knicks for that game had to have been Steve Novak. He was the leading scorer with 21 points and he also made all 7 three pointers that he took (impressive!). The next game was against the Boston Celtics, which the Knicks won in overtime 98-95. In my opinion, the main reason they won this one is because of backup forward Chris Copeland. He scored 21 points throughout the game and also got the game winning block. Carmelo also scored 23 points but that is to be expected from him at this point.
The third game, the Knicks faced the Toronto Raptors and lost 107-88. The Raptors were led by former Rockets point guard, Kyle Lowry. He had a phenomenal game with 17 points, 3 steals, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. Carmelo and Amar’e combined for 42 points but it wasn’t enough. This game was followed by another game against the Celtics but the Knicks luck ran out this time. The Celtics claimed an 11 point victory, with the final score of 109-98. Chris Copeland had another phenomenal game for Boston, scoring 34 points. However, in my opinion, the reason why the Celtics won was due to the support of Jeff Green, who scored 25 points. In our second to last preseason game, the Knicks fell to Philadelphia, losing 98-90. The Sixers had the best preseason record in the league going into the game. Jason Richardson scored 23 points and Thaddeus Young scored 22 points. Finally, our last preseason game was the much anticipated game against the Brooklyn Nets. It was definitely the most fun game to watch for me in the preseason. Before I say who won, let me say that Tyson Chandler got injured in the beginning of the game. Gerald Wallace was trying to cut through the screen and he hit Tyson’s knee. Fortunately, it was only a bone bruise. As you probably know by now, the Knicks won against the Nets in overtime 97-95. MarShon Brooks went up for a layup at the end and missed. The Knicks then ran out the clock. |
Mike V.
My name is Mike V. I am an enormous basketball fan. I also am a die-hard Knicks fan. After graduating 5th grade, I started writing this blog at the age of 10 in the summer of 2012. Archives
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