2009-10 NBA preview: New York Knicks

It may be kind of hard to rebuild a team in New York City because the fans are so impatient for a winner. However this may be a very long year for Knicks fans since it seems this team is intent of giving away the coming NBA season to strike it rich in the Free Agent market of 2010. They have been cutting payroll and hope to clear enough space to land Lebron James, or Chris Bosh, or Dwayne Wade. The New York Yankees did land CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and AJ Burnett all in one off season, might the Knicks try to do the same?

Knicks Head Coach Mark D’Antoni is trying to convince his current group of players that 2009-10 is not a throw away year. It seems this team will have to work to find that delicate balance between the lowering NBA cap, and staying competitive in the current season. These are not the Isaiah Thomas Knicks who seemed utterly without talent, because the Knicks have a few very interesting pieces. David Lee, the Forward/Center, is at the top of that last having scored 65 double doubles last season.

They also have a few unproven young players. Danilo Gallinari, the 2008 6th overall pick, has yet to play significant time since he only played in 28 games last year due to a back injury. Wilson Chandler followed up his poor rookie season by averaging 14.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, the Knicks are counting on him to take another step forward in his third year.

This is D’Antoni’s second year in New York, and he and new General Manager Donnie Walsh have made multiple trades to improve their roster. They appear to be headed in the right direction, but they will need to focus more on defense if they want to win. Last year they were 28th in Point allowed, 28th in field goal defense, all while they were able to score 105.2 points per game. That simply won’t do.