Friday, December 31, 2010
Knicks Talk to Wolves, Ridnour to New York for Anthony Randolph?
According to Alan Hahn of Newsday and a report from NBC Sports, there have been talks over the holiday between the Knicks and Timberwolves about a deal that could bring Luc Ridnour to New York in exchange for Anthony Randolph. A few week back, there was other reports that said it was Sebastian Telfair that was to be dealt instead. In between that time and now, the Knicks front office came to their senses and realized they'd be giving away a raw, but very talanted power forward with a high ceiling (All-star potential), for an inconsistant, mediocre back-up point guard at best. As of now, Randolph is buried on Mike D'Antoni bench. Lack of maturity is the main reason Don Nelson and D'Antoni seem to be impatient with him and he can't seem to crack their rotation.
If this deal is completed though, believe that there will be minor tsunami in Knick fan universe, especially if he goes to Minnesota and becomes the all-star we all believed he could be. But in the same token, Ridnour would tremendously improve the Knicks back-court, and provide much depth at that position. Will this translate into more wins? It will address one problem, but the Knicks still will not be great at defense, and at the moment there are still major issues when it comes to rebounding. As much as I criticize the Knicks deficiencies and question their moves, I'm still thrilled about their early success.
40 Point 2nd Quarter for Magic Seals Knicks Fate
A blog written by Timofey Mozgov stated (the full article in english),"After the Cleveland game where I got another DNP – Coach’s decision, I have read – yet another time – that Mozgov is losing is losing the trust of the coach.
I’ll say this: on my part there’s no panic!
First of all, I’ll repeat myself: coach has talked several times about the different rotation schemes. Second, we have talked with him about it, even though briefly. He promised to get me back on the court, and I have no reason not to trust him. Third, I think right now he’s just found the game he was looking for and that got us rolling.
This tempo and playing style have helped us win eight straight games. And, by the way, it also helped to calm down [Amar'e Stoudemire] who got a little disappointed. Did you read anything new about him not being happy? There you go. And morale of the leader is very important."Now, I commend Timofey for downplaying his whole "DNP" situation, however I, myself am now questions coach Mike D'Antoni's use of the rotation. I admit, I was very delighted to see the Knicks go on the 9 game "dream streak", but the minutes that Raymond Felton and Stoudermire were posting did worry me, along with others. So we now have three centers on the bench, (Ronny Turiaf is is only seeing about 12 mins on the court) and a very talented, but raw Anthony Randolph rotting away on the bench while the Knicks get out rebounded just about every night. By no means am I saying that Randolph would be our rebounding savior, but I think the guy should get some playing time to help him develop so he can potentially help in the areas the Knicks are deficient in, such as rebounding. It maybe the fear that if Randolph gets injured, he will lose trade value and in the end, ruin our chance of bring Carmelo Anthony back home to the Garden. But news around the league is that lack of the playing time is actually hurting his value.
All in all, the Knicks played ok after the second quarter, with major contributions from Amar'e who had 30 points on 12 of 22 shooting and Wilson Chandler who scored 29. Dwight Howard scored 24 and added 18 rebounds. Hedo Turkoglu added 17 points while JJ Redick and Ryan Anderson scare 17 off the bench.
However after watching us get annihilated on the glass, I think D'Antoni needs to tinker a little more with this line up to strengthen the Knicks presence on the glass otherwise, there will be more losses to come.
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