# Calling It: Early Predictions of the Upcoming Season....



## TwinkieFoot (Jul 8, 2006)

Every season we do predictions about the Knicks record, for all you freshers out there. Maybe we could do something a little different for this upcoming season and expand it to include anything related to the NBA. 

I guess I'll go first and say that I think the Knicks made a huge mistake not tendering Tracy McGrady a contract for this season. Although his play last season was well below the standard we have come to expect, it is clear that his skills and ability to think the game are still intact. The obvious impediment has been his knee but as much as it has been a recurring problem, I think with the added rest and rehabilitation he's gotten, he'll experience a Bernard King-type comeback. 

I certainly don't think he'll be consistently dunking on people but Tracy is more than capable of adopting his game to the limits of that knee, which is something he demonstrated on the court at times last season. I still regard him as our best defensive player/passer last season and still had enough skill to put the ball in the basket. His very first game back he scored 26 points on 10-17 shooting. Although his down-games were pathetic, he's had a few more performances similar to this that demonstrates he still has "it."


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## ChosenFEW (Jun 23, 2005)

I am more interested in seeing if bill walker can continue to improve instead of hoping if T-mac has one last push left in him.

remember joe johnson with the celtics? never liked him..... when he was in phoenix in the d'antoni system he basically turned into a star.... now I am not saying bill walker is even close to holding joe's jocks but you never know.....


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## Da Grinch (Aug 17, 2002)

i think t-mac's days as a star are over although i expect he'll be a better player than last year, but if he's not gonna be a full fledged star again i just dont see him being a decent role player and playing without the ball so much.


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## TwinkieFoot (Jul 8, 2006)

ChosenFEW said:


> I am more interested in seeing if bill walker can continue to improve instead of hoping if T-mac has one last push left in him.
> 
> remember joe johnson with the celtics? never liked him..... when he was in phoenix in the d'antoni system he basically turned into a star.... now I am not saying bill walker is even close to holding joe's jocks but you never know.....


The thing is, I'm not sure that signing McGrady would have negatively impacted Walker's room for growth anymore than it already has been. We already have Roger Mason Jr., Kelenna Azubuike, Wilson Chandler and potentially Rudy Fernandez ahead of Bill Walker on the depth chart at the 2. If you want to include the 3 spot, Danilo Gallinari and Anthony Randolph are both expected to get time over him. As much as I liked what Walker did last season, he's not better than these aforementioned players and his uninspiring summer league play definitely didn't help matters for him.


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## TwinkieFoot (Jul 8, 2006)

Da Grinch said:


> i think t-mac's days as a star are over although i expect he'll be a better player than last year, but if he's not gonna be a full fledged star again i just dont see him being a decent role player and playing without the ball so much.


I don't ever see him putting up 25ppg+ (making the Bernard King comment a little overstated) but I think 20ppg is very realistic assuming his knee is healthy. When it was feeling fine and he got a decent number of shots up (more than 9), he consistently scored more than 15ppg on 45%-50% shooting. Now imagine what he can do with another offseason of rest and strengthening. Even if it wasn't healthy, what did we have to lose by offering him the minimum especially considering the price we paid to get him?


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

ChosenFEW said:


> remember joe johnson with the celtics? never liked him..... when he was in phoenix in the d'antoni system he basically turned into a star.... now I am not saying bill walker is even close to holding joe's jocks but you never know.....


Joe Johnson was a pretty good player his half season in Boston, he always would have ended up being good (in fact, playing for Jim O'Brien he probably would have ended up becoming Boston's de facto PG). The reason Boston traded him had nothing to do with his play and everything to do with the fact that he was Jim O'Brien's pick, while Keddrick Brown was the Pilsbury Draftboy's pick, and Wallace wasn't going to let the Suns cheat him out of a future draft bust.


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## Da Grinch (Aug 17, 2002)

TwinkieFoot said:


> I don't ever see him putting up 25ppg+ (making the Bernard King comment a little overstated) but I think 20ppg is very realistic assuming his knee is healthy. When it was feeling fine and he got a decent number of shots up (more than 9), he consistently scored more than 15ppg on 45%-50% shooting. Now imagine what he can do with another offseason of rest and strengthening. Even if it wasn't healthy, what did we have to lose by offering him the minimum especially considering the price we paid to get him?


he's been gimpy for years at this point and the t-mac in a knicks uni was at least 20 lbs overweight...and even then i'd say go for it if not for my perception that he cant fit in, my main concern is whether he would accept a role (basically be the all around player he was in toronto, a t-mac that tries to fit in outside of scoring can easily start at the 2 ) instead of the "the man" i dont know he has yet accepted his limitations and when a player was a superstar and cant accept he has lost something significant it can sabotage a team , i dont deem t-mac worth the trouble and apparently so did some other teams , he interviewed with a few squads b4 detroit and that was the reason he wasn't signed before then


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## ChosenFEW (Jun 23, 2005)

TwinkieFoot said:


> The thing is, I'm not sure that signing McGrady would have negatively impacted Walker's room for growth anymore than it already has been. We already have Roger Mason Jr., Kelenna Azubuike, Wilson Chandler and potentially Rudy Fernandez ahead of Bill Walker on the depth chart at the 2. If you want to include the 3 spot, Danilo Gallinari and Anthony Randolph are both expected to get time over him. As much as I liked what Walker did last season, he's not better than these aforementioned players and his uninspiring summer league play definitely didn't help matters for him.


lets stick with what we have for now.
walker will be coming off the bench thats for certain.

our starting 5 as of now potentially
felton
chandler
gallo
amare
ronnie

2nd unit
douglas
mason
walker
randolph
mozgov

signing tmac would move one of those starters into the bench which would definitely eat at walkers minutes. if not move him further down the depth charts with tmac being the first forward called in to sub one of the starters. remember this kid has had 2 acl injuries within 2-3 years and very limited playing time. 


as far as the joe johnson thing instead of "never liked him", it was supposed to be "I never liked him" i wasn't referring to boston not liking him and trading him I was saying that i never really thought much of him. definietly didn't think he would be the player he is today. I mean even when he got that big contract from atlanta he was avg like 14 points a game


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