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Hamilton: Knicks Frontcourt Among Best In NBA

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Our professional sports culture has turned into a contest of “I told you so,” so most are quick to dismiss the notion that what Glen Grunwald and Jim Dolan have built could work in the short term. At the end of the day, there can only be one champion.

All teams have just a 1/30 chance of being that champion. So odds are, if you predict that a particular team is not going to have a good season—depending on how you define “good,”—you have high odds of being correct.

Today, I still believe that the Celtics and the Heat are better basketball teams than the Knicks.

But if Steve Nash, at 38, and Kevin Garnett, at 36 can continue to contribute at a high-level despite their advanced ages, it’s possible that Marcus Camby, Rasheed Wallace, and Kurt Thomas can as well.

So while most others try to find reasons to predict another disappointing season for Knicks fans, those that want to be a bit more optimistic can look at the fact that the Knicks have a defensive-minded coach in Mike Woodson and, for the first time in a while, a platoon of frontcourt players that can play capable interior defense and control the rebound battle..

So if the Knicks can manage to get Wallace in shape and keep Thomas, Camby, Chandler and Stoudemire healthy, they will give opposing teams fits on both ends of the floor. Thomas and Wallace can both hit mid-range jumpers and either would play nicely rolling off of screens set for either Carmelo Anthony or Raymond Felton.

Chandler and—to a lesser extent—Camby are lanky and springy and are perfect alley-oop targets for Kidd.

If Stoudemire developed enough of a low-post game over the summer to allow him to score on opposing power forwards, then the conference may be in trouble, because neither Shane Battier nor Brandon Bass could stop the 2010-2011 Stoudemire, an advantage that will be even bigger if he adds an efficient back-to-the-basket game.

So as we look toward the beginning of another NBA season, the Knicks have a deep frontcourt that should be able to do the things good frontcourts do. At this point, though the regular season is yet to begin, that means something.

For Carmelo Anthony, Mike Woodson and their Knicks, they hope it means Ws.

I’m willing to bet it will.

Moke Hamilton covers the New York Knicks and the NBA for SheridanHoops.com as a Senior NBA Columnist. Follow him on Twitter.

 

Comments

  3. How do you get 4 hall of famers on the Heat.
    4 yes. 5 not a chance. Please explain who your 5th hall of famer is on the Heat

  4. 5 Hall of Famers for both the Heat and Lakers? I understand 4 for both, but I can’t imagine who the 5th is. Rashard Lewis? Metta World Peace? Ehh..

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