I. Personnel Changes

Trades
Glen Rice for Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley

FA Signings
Clarence Weatherspoon

Retired
Larry Johnson
Luc Longley

II. Season Recap

With a 30-52 record, the Knicks finished last in the Atlantic, and 7th worst overall. That's a big falloff from 48-34 playoff spot earning effort from the year before. So what happened?

1. The head coach Van Gundy quit midseason
2. Marcus Camby played only 29 games, leaving the Knicks with the tallest regular a 6-8 (or so) Kurt Thomas, and undersized at every position.
3. Point Guard controversy, three PG's on the roster, who to play? Hard to say when they all under perform so badly. 
4. New additions Anderson, Eisley, and Weatherspoon all had trouble fitting into the rotation, all performing well below their career averages.

III. Roster

Modified version from ESPN.com
PLAYER 		POS.	HT.  	WT. 	BORN 
Shandon Anderson 	GF   	6-6  	210 	Dec. 31, 1973 
Marcus Camby 		C    	6-11 	235 	Mar. 22, 1974 
Howard Eisley 		PG   	6-2  	180 	Dec. 4, 1972 
Othella Harrington 	PF   	6-9  	235 	Jan. 31, 1974 
Allan Houston 		G    	6-6  	200 	Apr. 20, 1971 
Mark Jackson 		PG  	6-3  	195 	Apr. 1, 1965  
Travis Knight 		C    	7-0  	235 	Sep. 13, 1974 
Lavor Postell 		SG   	6-6  	215 	Feb. 26, 1978 
Larry Robinson 		SG   	6-5  	180 	Jan. 11, 1968 
Felton Spencer 		C    	7-0  	290 	Jan. 5, 1968 
Latrell Sprewell 	SF   	6-5  	195 	Sep. 8, 1970 
Kurt Thomas 		F    	6-9  	235 	Oct. 4, 1972 
Charlie Ward 		PG   	6-2  	185 	Oct. 12, 1970 
Clarence Weatherspoon 	SF   	6-7  	270 	Sep. 8, 1970

Stats

Modified version from ESPN.com

NAME

GP

MIN

PTS

OFF

DEF

TOT

AST

STL

BLK

TO

PF

A. Houston

77 

37.8

20.4

0.5

2.8

3.3

2.5 

0.70

0.13

2.2

2.4

L. Sprewell

81 

41.1

19.4

0.7

3.0

3.7

3.9 

1.16

0.17

2.8

2.0

K. Thomas

82 

33.8

13.9

2.6

6.5

9.1

1.1 

0.87

0.96

1.9

4.2

M. Camby

29 

34.7

11.1

3.1

8.0

11.1

1.1 

1.17

1.72

1.4

3.7

C.Weatherspoon

56 

30.9

8.8

2.7

5.6

8.2

1.1 

0.66

0.86

0.8

2.4

M. Jackson

82 

28.9

8.4

0.7

3.1

3.8

7.4 

0.90

0.01

1.8

2.0

O. Harrington

77 

20.3

7.7

1.6

2.9

4.5

0.5 

0.39

0.47

1.2

3.2

C. Ward

63 

16.8

5.2

0.2

1.8

2.0

3.2 

1.08

0.22

1.2

1.6

S. Anderson

82 

19.5

5.0

0.7

2.3

3.0

0.9 

0.59

0.18

1.2

1.6

H. Eisley

39 

15.6

4.4

0.2

1.0

1.3

2.6 

0.62

0.08

1.4

1.4

L. Postell

23 

7.8

4.0

0.1

0.6

0.7

0.2 

0.26

0.00

0.5

0.3

T. Knight

49 

8.8

2.0

1.0

1.1

2.1

0.2 

0.22

0.20

0.6

1.9

L. Robinson

2 

5.0

1.5

0.0

1.0

1.0

0.0 

0.00

0.00

0.0

0.5

F. Spencer

32 

7.8

0.9

0.5

1.1

1.6

0.1 

0.22

0.25

0.4

2.3

Salaries and Contracts 
Modified version from ESPN.com

IV. Coaching/Management

Ummm... what's the name of the Knicks coach again? It's not hard to overlook Don Chaney, who despite a contract for this year, looks a lot like a seat warmer for whatever big name coach the Knicks bring in next. Of course, you could have said the same thing about Jeff Van Gundy a few years ago, now he is a big name coach, looking for a job after jumping ship from the Knicks mid-season. Given the Knicks awkward combination of salary cap, talent, and size problem, it seems like Chaney may just last long enough to absorb the worst of the rebuilding.

Scott Layden is the well-compensated Knicks GM who has yet to make any noticeably positive roster moves. Trading Rice for Anderson and Eisley, Childs for Jackson exacerbated our already bad salary cap situation, but there's actually little chance the Knicks would have been under the cap anytime soon anyway. People blame Layden for Houston's max contract, but the word was that the deal was already agreed upon by previous management, so I can't blame Layden for that. Really where Layden seems to have failed is keeping young players coming in. Trading Stickland for Harrington, and the Ewing deal cost us 18th and 27th pick in the 2001 draft. The Jackson trade cost us the 20th pick in this years draft as well. Incidentally, those 2001 picks were used on Jason Collins and Jamal Tinsley. 

V. Previous Drafts

Well, there's a cause for every effect, and here's one of the primary causes of the Knicks recent demise. The Knicks have consistently failed to evaluate talent available in the draft. Previous years have been analyzed to death, so I'll just pick on last years draft.

Given the obvious lack of size on the front line, drafting a PF and C in 2001 was the obvious course of action, but let's break down the picks:

#39 Wright, they can't be faulted for this pick too badly, it was not a deep draft for PF, and only Jarron Collins succeeded out of this group (big time I might add), but no one sounded too keen on him pre-draft. The primary knock on the pick is: with 3 undersized PF, why draft another? Still, may have been the best talent at a need position.

Remaining PF drafted
47. Ousmane Cisse
51. Alton Ford
52. Andre Hutson
53. Jarron Collins

#43 Chenowith, what is it with Layden and big slow Kansas Centers? I wonder if Layden is a Kansas Alum... Loren Woods was the obvious pick and the one the Knicks got most maligned for passing on. Then again, he was projected to go top 20, and 26 others passed on him as well, so it's not hard to imagine why the Knicks thought something was wrong with him. I think the primary issue is that there were FOUR better centers on the board. THREE made their club and earned playing time. Only Ken Johnson didn't make the cut, but Miami is letting him get better in the bush leagues, hoping to sign him again. Don't expect to see Chenowith anytime soon.

Remaining C drafted
46. Loren Woods
49. Ken Johnson
50. Ruben Boumtje Boumtje
57. Alvin Jones

* the following is an updated version of Dean Carrano's list last year

• 2001
  • #39 PF Micheal Wright: Last cut of training camp. Went to Europe last year for IDEA SLASK WROCLAW in Poland.
  • #43 C Eric Chenowith: Cut in summer camp after showing himself to be too soft, played in NBDL last year.
• 2000
  • #22 PF Donnell Harvey: Traded to Dallas for Erick Strickland, who was not a success for the Knicks. Strickland did land Othella Harrington. Harvey is now in Denver, and starting to look like he could bust out soon.
  • #39 SG Lavor Postell: Showed flashes of being a pure scorer when given time, including a 20pt game. It'll be interesting to see if someone gives him a shot as a 6th man this year.
• 1999
  • #15 C Frederic Weis: French center most famous for has a history of serious back problems. He refused to let doctors examine him, but the Knicks drafted him anyway. By all appearances, he will never play in the NBA and is a huge flop of a pick. 
  • #48 PF J.R. Koch: Never made it. 
• 1998
  • #38 PF DeMarco Johnson: Never made it. Played in Europe for SCAVOLINI PESARO last year
  • #44 PF Sean Marks: Was a throw-in in the deal that sent Charles Oakley to Toronto for Marcus Camby. Played ok in small minutes in Miami last year.
• 1997
  • #25 PF John Thomas: Never made it. Traded to Boston along with three other players for the mighty Chris Mills. 
• 1996
  • #18 SF/PF John Wallace: A useful scoring forward off the bench, but the Knicks didn't like his defense and traded him to Toronto in a three-way deal, receiving Chris Dudley from Portland. 
  • #19 SF/PF Walter McCarty: Now a bit player for the Celtics. Dealt in Mills trade. 
  • #21 SF Dontae' Jones: Never made it. Dealt in Mills trade. 

VI. Team Needs with Positional Analysis

A surprisingly compilcated question for a team with a glaring lack of size. The fact that the Knicks have only one legitimate player (Marcus Camby) over 6'9" indicates and obvious need for more depth in the front-court. 

There are other things to consider though. The Knicks have 3 PG (Jackson, Ward, and Eisley) that don't seem capable of starting at this point in their careers, 3 undersized PF (Thomas, Weatherspoon, and Harrington), 2 aging SG (Houston, and Sprewell), one of whom is their starting SF, who are their 2 star players, a oft-injured C who may really be a PF(Camby) and a swingman that doesn't seem to fit their offensive scheme (Anderson). 

Many of the Knicks role players are solid guys who deserve their roster spots, but the combination of so many problem areas is bad for chemistry and matchups, leaving the Knicks vulnerable to a variety of attacks and defenses. Compounding the problem, many of these role players have outrageous contracts that will make it nearly impossible to trade them.

The Knicks:

1. can't defend quick PG's
2. can't stop opposing strong post-up big men
3. don't have a post player to keep opposing shot blockers home
4. during Camby's (frequent) injury stints are without a shot blocker

1. A better-rounded PG who can defend AND set up teammates
2. Another shot blocker
3. A post presence
4. Depth in the front court
5. A young scorer to allow post-Houston/Spree era continuity
6. Better overall size

Chris Wilcox - PF Maryland

Player Analysis
Wilcox is a solid fit, who meets the Knicks needs for a power player with ready shot-blocking ability. Unfortunately, he's not going to be really ready for a year or two as a full-time contributor. Still, his contributions in the mean time will probably complement Camby and Thomas nicely, and he should see 15 minutes or so a game as a rookie.

Usenet Analysis
Well, at this point, no bargains have fallen to us on the draft board. Selecting from the remaining group, I think Woods and Wagner may have the best draft upside, as they could climb to 5 or so in the real draft. Wilcox is a realistic 6-10 pick guy, and a good pick, though he has little upward mobility at this point.

Curtis Borchardt is the fly in the ointment for the draft board, and could shoot up to consideration. Until he commits and works out, he's still too big a risk.

VIII. Other Players Considered

Knicks Draft Board
1. Yao Ming - can't teach 7'5", couldn't find 7'5" with 3 point range till Yao.
2. Jay Williams - Knicks would love him running point ( ok, who wouldn't? )
3. Drew Gooden - polished front-line with some inside moves, 3pt range
4. Mike Dunleavy - well-rounded star to build around, Bird-like? wow
5. Caron Butler - ready to start, maybe star soon, sure thing is hard to pass up
6. Nene Hilario - will see him again after Chicago, word is he's a true center 
7. Chris Wilcox - No workouts yet, may hurt status, Shaq-esque at the FT line
8. Dajuan Wagner - Layden says he can run a team, even so, does he fit team?
9. Qyntel Woods - Amazing scorer, rumor is, no "D", fits Knicks style?
10. Nickoloz Tsitishiviv - huge SF, NBA is moving towards guys like this
11. Jared Jeffries - could move up based on new muscle, is he a PF?
12. Curtis Borchardt - if good workouts, could shoot up to 7

Other Mock Draft Comparisons
* NBADraft.net
^ SportingNews.com

Mock Draft Comparison	ESPN	ND.net* 	cnnsi	SN^	AVERAGE
Yao Ming		3	1	1	1	1.5
Jay Williams 		2	2	2	2	2
Mike Dunleavy		4	3	4	4	3.75
Caron Butler		1	7	5	5	4.5
Drew Gooden		6	4	6	3	4.75
Dajuan Wagner		9	8	3	7	6.75
Chris Wilcox		7	9	7	6	7.25
Nickoloz Tsitishiviv	8	5	9	8	7.5
Qyntel Woods		5	10	11	9	8.75
Jared Jeffries		10	11	10	11	10.5
Nene Hilario		11	6	13	13	10.75
Curtis Borchardt		12	12	8	12	11                    
                    

VIII. Other moves that the team should make

Precluding the overly optimistic idea of anyone taking some of our overpriced role players off our hands, a major trade seems unlikely. Even the possibility of trading Sprewell mentioned above would likely be a trade deadline move. I would rather not see the Knicks trade Camby, instead I believe they should try to add depth behind him, and add a post player to the mix to complement his game.
That leaves us with our Salary Cap Exemption for Free Agents. There is a decent, but not exciting group that may go for the exemption slot this year . There is always a possibility of a sign and trade for one of the big names like Rashard Lewis or LaFrentz, but again, the Knicks cap numbers are hard to match up.

• Travis Best - PG (will get bigger contract)
• Popeye Jones - PF (probably a half-slot guy)
• Chauncey Billups - PG (should command a bigger salary)
• Michael Doleac - C (probably a half-slot guy)
• Chris Gatling - C (has an option with Miami?)
• Malik Rose - PF (another undersize PF)
• Gary Trent - PF (see Rose)
• Lee Nailon - SF (good up and coming player)
• Robert Traylor - PF (probably more)
• Ruben Boumtje Boumtje - C (2nd rounder could get paid, beware Calvin Booth syndrome)
• Chris Dudley - C (just kidding)
• Scott Williams - PF (good size veteran)