Saturday, April 23, 2011

It's time for more changes on the Knicks

As you know by now the Knicks were destroyed by the Boston Celtics last night.

Some people are using Amare's back and a lack of Chauncey Billups to argue for why the Celtics went up 3-0 last night but it would not have mattered if they both had been 100 percent last night. They still would have lost this game as badly as they did.

What the Knicks needed last night was outstanding guard play and let's finally be honest with ourselves. Toney Douglas isn't capable of taking control of a team and running it efficiently and Landry Fields does not have the offensive game to exploit opportunities or put pressure on opponents to defend.

Landry's success early this season was due to the fact the no one in the league defended him and he was able to capitalize on his savvy around the basket for easy put backs, dunks and he hit the occasional jump shot for which he wasn't tightly defended. Everyone is wise to his game now and dare him to make shots that he's simply not good enough to make consistently. Corey Brewer sure would have helped last night on both ends of the floor.

However, if David Lee could learn how to shoot a mid range jumper consistently between his rookie and second season then so can Landry if he is willing to put in the work.

I applaud Donnie Walsh for the job that he has done with this team and would like to have him back but only if he can abandon the Mike D'Antoni ship and sign a serious coach.

I think Donnie will acquire a legit point guard that can lead this team to success and find another serviceable big man or two which would allow Amare to slide back to his natural power forward position where he can be even more dominant on nights when Carmelo's jump shot is still in the locker room.

But if Donnie insists on seeing D'Antoni have an entire season with this roster under some silly notion of owing him a full year with Amare and Carmelo then the team won't be successful next season when it counts most, in the playoffs.

D'Antoni is not going to become a defensive guru during the summer nor is he going to learn how to think on his feet and make necessary game time adjustments during timeouts that better coaches have done against him this season. And wasn't his opposition to the Suns bringing in a defensive coach one of the main reasons why he and the Suns GM butted heads and expedited his departure from Phoenix? Why does anyone think that's going to work here?

This playoff series is over even if the Celtics gift the Knicks a game on Sunday. It's time for more changes on the Knicks to take this team to the next level some of those changes may need to be coach, team president or both.

Tha Knicks Lose Again, Celtics 113 - Knicks 96