Jason M. Williams's New York Knicks fan blog

One day after the NBA Trade Deadline passed, many Knicks played like they had a world of pressure taken off their shoulders.  With much speculation swirling around whether or not the Knicks would deal away enigmatic guard Nate Robinson and workhorse David Lee, both were able to breath easier last night knowing that they'd be playing in New York for the remainder of the season.

The team came out strong against the Toronto Raptors, scoring the game's first nine points and never looking back.  At one point the Knicks led by a season-best 38 points, and finished the rout with a 127-97 victory in front of the loyal Garden faithful on Italian Heritage Night.

On the bench in his new number-nine jersey was Chris Wilcox, who was brought over from the Oklahoma City Thunder at the deadline.  Next to him on the bench in street clothes was Larry Hughes, brought in from the Chicago Bulls.  Both were interviewed by the MSG Network and both seemed excited to get integrated into Mike D'Antoni's system. 

Continue reading "Relieved Post-Deadline Knicks Beat Down The Toronto Raptors By Thirty!"

I recently wrote this piece for RealGM.com and it has a thorough comedic breakdown of my thoughts on the Knicks deals at the deadline. 

http://realgm.com/src_feature_pieces/746/20090220/a_trade

I thought they were great.  They got rid of 4 players that meant nothing and picked up two guys who can immediately step in and compete for a starting spot.  We are now about 10 deep and extremely talented.  The best part is that we finally have roster flexibility and have two open roster spots.  We can use these spots to grab the best talents of the NBDL. While many of you Knicks fans would love to see Patrick Ewing Jr., I'm not convinced that his skill set will help us much.  If anything, we need a back up point guard (see: Blake Ahearn or Jason Williams) and a shotblocking big man.  If we can add these, we'd be a force heading into the last 28 games of the season and, hopefully, the postseason.

Continue reading "Trade Deadline Ends With Knicks On Top"

Okay, let's just be honest here.  Nate Robinson may not have fully deserved the 2006 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Title, but he sure earned it this year.  Nate battled the defending champion, Dwight Howard, in the Finals and one-upped the ultimate gamesman in the end.  Together they put on possibly the greatest show in the history of the contest since the days of Michael Jordan battling Dominique Wilkins.

There's one thing from the first round that didn't sit right with me.  Dwight's extremely overrated '12-foot Rim' Dunk drew a perfect 50 from the judges, and I can't fully understand why.  Dwight Howard is a 7-foot man.  His wingspan is greater than 7 feet long.  From the floor that he's standing on to the tips of his outstretched fingers, he can stand and reach a healthy 9-feet, 5-inches into the sky.  So dunking on a 12-foot rim is only jumping 2.5 feet in the air.  

Continue reading "Krypto-Nate Robinson Wins 2009 Slam Dunk Title With Authority"

Today, the Toronto Raptors traded Jermaine O'Neal, Jamario Moon, and a lottery-protected first round pick to the Miami Heat in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.  On the surface this looks like a great trade for the Heat, but it can also cause potential problems for the Knicks as they do battle with the Raptors twice next week and will continue to battle them down the stretch in the Chase For The Eighth Seed.

Marion will immediately allow the Raptors to do two things - move Andrea Bargnani to the five and stick Marion at the three.  A frontcourt of Marion, Bosh, and Bargnani is very troublesome for opposing teams, namely the Knicks. This new front line will be very dangerous in the open floor and gives them a post presence, a big man who can hit the outside shot, and the workhorse in Marion. 

Continue reading "Marion Trade May Put Heat On The Knicks"

Welcome to Jason M. Williams' NewYorkKnicksNews.com blog!  I am an experienced NBA writer for the past 3 years, and have been featured on RealGM.com, COEDMagazine.com, Insidehoops.com, AtomicSportsMedia.com, and BleacherReport.com.  I am a huge Knicks fan and would love to get this blog rolling by doing a series of Knicks related storylines from the first half of the 2008-09 season.

When Donnie Walsh took over the Knicks franchise, he made a deal with the fans by telling them that he would do his best to make sure he had enough cap room to lure some of the key free agents to New York in the summer of 2010.  He held true to his word immediately, by gutting the team and dealing his two leading scorers (and biggest 2010-11 contracts) in one fell swoop.  He unloaded Zach Randolph to the Clippers and Jamal Crawford to the Warriors in exchange for Tim Thomas, Cuttino Mobley, and Al Harrington.  We all know Mobley is now retired, but Harrington and Whiny Tim have fit in nicely since coming over to New York.

Continue reading "Biggest Storylines of the Knicks First Half - Cap Room for LeBron James in 2010"