NBA JAM: NEW YORK KNICKS

In our continuing rundown on the NBA season, Neil Acharya looks at the Atlantic Division, specifically the New York Knicks.

Last season: 23-59, 15th and last in the Eastern Conference
Coach: Isiah Thomas
New faces: Renaldo Balkman
Funny-looking white guy: Is Bill Bradley still playing?
Blogs: Father Knickerbocker, KnickerBlogger

On Draft Day 2006, Isiah Thomas was comfortably hunkered down in a bunker north of the Big Apple in a war room. Although this is commonplace in baseball and football, it says here that Isiah was thinking ahead that day.

He must have known the fallout that was going to occur when the whole world thought he was going to draft guard Marcus Williams out of UConn, a projected lottery pick, who had slid all the way down to 20th position. Knick fans were going crazy, something was actually going right for them, and then, the announcement was made by David Stern: The Knicks were taking South Carolina forward Renaldo Balkman.

Boos rained down. Balkman was slated to go in the second round, if at all. Isiah is no stranger to having his draft day choices bood. In 1995, Raptor fans booed the choice of Damon Stoudamire and he turned out pretty well.

The much-maligned Mr. Thomas has built himself quite a backcourt. He has Stephon Marbury (pictured) at point and last year traded for Steve Francis at shooting guard. This was perhaps his dumbest move, although taking Eddy Curry's contact off Chicago’s hands last year comes close. Francis has loads of talent, his real nickname should be Stevie Franchise Killer.

He cried on draft day and helped bury the Grizzlies in Vancouver. In his five years with Houston they never won a playoff series and he sulked his way through a losing season in his one full year with the Orlando Magic.

The real shame is that the Knicks have two backup guards who always play hard in Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford.

What the Knicks have in guards, they lack in forwards. Jared Jeffries and Channing Frye still have a lot to prove. Curry's contract is bad for the Knicks, but he is pretty much the only true centre who can score in the Atlantic Division.

When asked about the Raptors last year, GM Bryan Colangelo said they were a finese team. Losing teams are usually not described in such fashion. The same can be said for the Knicks. There is a lot of talent but not a lot of players such as Robinson. Look for the club to have stretches of 3-5 games, especially early in the year where they look much better than last year. However, they don’t look like they will hold up against grittier teams, especially once Feb. 1 rolls around.

By the way, with Jalen Rose's buyout, the Knicks are paying $52 million to guys who aren't playing for the team. Hey, it's not your money.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neil__acharya@hotmail.com.