In a word… yes. But the Knicks probably aren't the right fit for Mike D'Antoni. This may not make much sense, but that doesn't make it any less true. Given the right personnel, D'Antoni's brand of up-tempo basketball can win over any group of fans, even the rough and tumble fans in New York. But a quick look at the Knicks' roster makes me wonder just how quickly D'Antoni can successfully implement that high-octane attack.
He'll first need to find a quick, pass-first point guard to push the tempo and hit the open man. Last season, the Knicks had Stephon Marbury, Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford running the point. If reined in, Marbury probably has the skills to run D'Antoni's system, but there is just too much history there for him to succeed. Robinson and Crawford are both scoring point guards, and while they have the offensive ability to thrive at the off guard position, they don't have the court vision to run the point like Steve Nash does in Phoenix. So what's the solution? Barring the unlikely event that they can land Derrick Rose in the draft, the Knicks need to jettison Marbury as quickly as they can and do whatever it takes to acquire T.J. Ford from Toronto. Ford is expendable there because the Raptors will want to re-sign Jose Calderon. If that means that the Knicks have to give up Robinson, so be it.
Next, he'll need to surround Ford (or whomever he chooses to run the show) with rangy, athletic shooters...
(Read the rest of the article after the jump.)
He'll first need to find a quick, pass-first point guard to push the tempo and hit the open man. Last season, the Knicks had Stephon Marbury, Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford running the point. If reined in, Marbury probably has the skills to run D'Antoni's system, but there is just too much history there for him to succeed. Robinson and Crawford are both scoring point guards, and while they have the offensive ability to thrive at the off guard position, they don't have the court vision to run the point like Steve Nash does in Phoenix. So what's the solution? Barring the unlikely event that they can land Derrick Rose in the draft, the Knicks need to jettison Marbury as quickly as they can and do whatever it takes to acquire T.J. Ford from Toronto. Ford is expendable there because the Raptors will want to re-sign Jose Calderon. If that means that the Knicks have to give up Robinson, so be it.
Next, he'll need to surround Ford (or whomever he chooses to run the show) with rangy, athletic shooters...
(Read the rest of the article after the jump.)
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