Help Wanted: A Knick Player that Plays Defense

It doesn’t matter what the defensive category is, The New York Knicks
are close to the bottom in all of them. With that it should not be a
surprise to anyone that The Knicks are a .500 team, even with star
players Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire
on the team. To call this team defensively inept would be a huge
compliment. The Knicks are tied for 27th in The NBA in points allowed
and 26th for opponents rebounds. With current Knick head coach Mike D’Antoni’s “fun and gun” system, The Knicks are lacking their trademark, which is defensive toughness.

During The Patrick Ewing era at Madison Square Garden, opponents thought twice about driving to the lane against The Knicks. Ewing and his counterparts such as Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, and John Starks had a toughness about them that led them to The 1994 NBA Finals.
Those Knicks played tough defense and grabbed rebounds. Oakley spent as
much time in the court side as Spike Lee. This tradition carried into
the late 90’s  as The Knicks once again made The Finals in 1999, with a new cast of Latrell Sprewell, Marcus Camby, and Larry Johnson.

The ’94 and ’99 squads had something in common, they rarely allowed
opponents to score over 100 points. The current squad is allowing it to
happen on a nightly basis. With only a handful of games left, The Knicks
are closing on allowing opponents to go over the century mark 50 times,
which does not bode well going into the playoffs.

If and when The Knicks qualify for the playoffs, they will most likely face The Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, or Chicago Bulls
in the first round. Aside from having star-studded lineups, these three
teams get after opponents on the defensive end. All three teams rank in
the top ten for fewest points allowed while The Knicks are bringing up
the rear.

Knick President Donnie Walsh
has brought hope back to a franchise that has looked for it for a long
time. With that hope comes expectations. Stoudemire is already asked to
do a lot for this team as a big man. For Knick greats such Willis Reed and Patrick Ewing
had help on their respective front lines. If Amare is not grabbing
boards then boards aren’t being grabbed. With the possibility of big men
such as Kevin Garnett and Joakim Noah looming in round one The Knicks need to find rebounding help real soon.