TPB: The Big East Challenge

[Instant Replay]

My first attempt ended in a RTE that crashed my game. This time around I will institute a set of rules to play by.

The Big East conference is undergoing come change in the structure of the basketball league. Out are Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College. In are Marquette, DePaul, South Florida, Louisville and Cincinnati.

I will be starting a career in the new TPB game with a fantasy draft. The team to take over is an easy choice. The Knicks play in MSG and the Big East Tournament is held annually there, so it is a no-brainer.

The simple house rule is as follows:

Every player on my team must come from a New Big East (NBE) school. The only exception to this rule is in future amateur drafts. Because it will be pretty random as to which schools generate players in the draft, I am allowed to pick high school players, but only if there are no comparable NBE players available. For instance, if I hold the top pick and there are no NBE players worthy of a top 5-10 pick, I can go with a high schooler. I will try to pick a high schooler from the NBE states, but again might be a bit limited.

[Instant Replay]

According to my calculations, here are all the NBE players in the NBA right now:


Name Position College Current Potential
Steven Hunter C DePaul 2.5 3
Mark Blount C Pittsburgh 3 3
Amal McCaskill C Marquette 1 2
Samuel Dalembert C Seton Hall 2.5 3.5
Dikembe Mutombo C Georgetown 2.5 2.5
Alonzo Mourning C Georgetown 3 3
Jake Voskuhl C Uconn 2 2.5
Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje C Georgetown 1 2
Jahidi White C Georgetown 1.5 1.5
Othella Harrington C Georgetown 2 2
Adrian Griffin C Seton Hall 2 2
Malik Allen PF Villanova 2 2.5
Kenyon Martin PF Cincinnati 4.5 5
Jerome Williams PF Georgetown 3 3
Mike Sweetney PF Georgetown 1.5 3
Danny Fortson PF Cincinnati 3 3
Troy Murphy PF Notre Dame 3.5 3.5
Donyell Marshall PF Uconn 4 4
Etan Thomas PF Syracuse 2.5 3
Emeka Okafor PF Uconn 3.5 5
Austin Croshere PF Providence 1.5 1.5
Michael Bradley PF Villanova 2 2.5
Derrick Coleman PF Syracuse 2.5 2.5
Ryan Humphrey PF Notre Dame 1 2
Samaki Walker PF Louisville 2 2
Clifford Robinson PF Uconn 2.5 2.5
Omar Cook PG St. John's 1 2
Nick Van Exel PG Cincinnati 3 3
Jason Hart PG Syracuse 2 2.5
Kevin Ollie PG Uconn 1.5 1.5
Allen Iverson PG Georgetown 5 5
Alvin Williams PG Villanova 3 3
Chucky Atkins PG South Florida 2.5 2.5
Reece Gaines PG Louisville 2.5 3.5
Bobby Simmons SF DePaul 2.5 2.5
Carmelo Anthony SF Syracuse 4.5 5
Ron Artest SF St. John's 4.5 4.5
Ruben Patterson SF Cincinnati 2.5 2.5
Pat Garrity SF Notre Dame 2.5 2.5
Eddie Griffin SF Seton Hall 2.5 3.5
Tim Thomas SF Villanova 3 3
Eric Williams SF Providence 3 3
Chris Crawford SF Marquette 2 2
Caron Butler SF Uconn 2.5 3.5
Matt Carroll SG Notre Dame 1.5 2.5
Kerry Kittles SG Villanova 3 3
Richard Hamilton SG Uconn 3.5 3.5
Ben Gordon SG Uconn 3 4
Dwayne Wade SG Marquette 3.5 4
Ray Allen SG Uconn 4.5 4.5
Quentin Richardson SG DePaul 3.5 3.5

[Instant Replay]

Emmanuel Daniel is the owner of the Knicks.

He has a high willingness to spend and an average desire to win. Seems like an odd combination. Is he willing to spend money to be mediocre? Anyhow, to my advantage is his high level of patience, which means I should get adequate time to build a team.

As we head to the fantasy draft, we have a 4 man coaching staff in place. We'll keep them for a season, maybe longer if things work out, but I like to bring my own guys in.

Lenny Wilkins is our head coach. At 71 years old, he is at the end of the line. Evaluating offensive players is a strength of his. He likes an average offensive pace and a low defensive pressure, almost always playing man to man. His game strategy is average.

Dick Helm is our first assistant. He is also 71 years old. He is good at evaluating talent across the board, but poor at developing talent and strategy.

Herb Williams is the 2nd assistant. At 45 years old, he brings some youth to the staff. He is a good evaluator of defense.

Finally, Michael Malone is our 3rd assistant. He is 32 years old and average across the board, but being so young, I guess he could improve his skills.

[Instant Replay]

The Knicks are slated to draft 15th in the first round, and in fact, 15th every round since it is a snake draft.

Looking over the players available to us, we put together a short list of 9 players, hoping at least 2 will fall to us in the first 45 picks of the draft. If we can pick up a 3rd or 4th with high potential that slip down, we might be in good shape.

PF Kenyon Martin
PG Allen Iverson
PF Emeka Okafor
SF Carmelo Anthony
SG Ray Allen
PF Ron Artest
PF Donyell Marshall
SG Dwayne Wade
SG Ben Gordon

[Instant Replay]

Dispersal Draft, Round 1

The first NBE player goes at #11 to the New Jersey Nets. They select PF Kenyon Martin, one of the guys we knew would go early.

Right before us, at pick #14, the LA Clippers select PG Allen Iverson.

The Knicks are on the clock and we have a bunch of great players to choose from. The problem I see upcoming is the lack of a real good PG or C to choose from. This means I will have to have extra depth at SG and PF, and perhaps even have some crossover starters.

At this point, I think it is a pretty easy decision, other than the fact that SF is the position I would least like to pick here. Okafor and Carmelo Anthony have potential that tops out at 5 stars. Anthony is already a full star ahead of Okafor and younger. Ray Allen is the only other player I would take here, but I didn't have to think about it too long.

SF Carmelo Anthony is the Knicks first pick of the Dispersal Draft!


PF Emeka Okafor goes at pick #22 to the Houston Rockets.

Defensive specialist, SF Ron Artest, goes at #28 to the Denver Nuggetts.

[Instant Replay]

Dispersal Draft, Round 2

With the 2nd pick in round 2, SG Ray Allen, who I really wanted to fall to me, was picked up by the New Orleans Hornets.

With the #5 pick in the second round, SG Dwayne Wade goes to the Boston Celtics.

At this point, I am praying for Ben Gordon or the surprisingly good in this game, Donyell Marshall to fall to me.

They both do fall to the #15 pick and already I am not having high hopes for the team in the first year, so I elect to go with youth and draft SG Ben Gordon. He is 21 years old and rated 3 stars already, with 4 star potential.




Round 3

The Phoenix Suns select PF Donyell Marshall with the #5 pick of the third round.

Sg Quentin Richardson goes to Minnesota with the #7 pick.

SG Richard Hamilton goes right after him at #8, to the Chicago Bulls.

PF Troy Murphy goes to the Cavaliers at pick #12.

At this point I can choose from a handful of fully developed 3 star players, or a short list of players who are 2.5 stars with 3.5 star potential. I decide to go with potential. There is no way we are going to be immediately competative, I don't think. With our third pick, the Knicks select C Samuel Dalembert from Seton Hall.

SF Eddie Griffin goes at #19 to Portland.

At #27, Utah selects a player I had hoped would fall. PG Reece Gaines is snatched up though.





Round 4

With the #12 pick in this round, the Portland Trailblazers select C Steven Hunter, from DePaul.

Our pick comes up again, and while I would like to pick up a point guard, the 2 best available, Alvin Williams and Nick Van Exel, are both in their 30's so I will have to pass on them. The flat out best player available is SF Caron Butler, but we have Anthony at that position. That leaves us with a real stretch of a pick here.

The Knicks select PF Etan Thomas from Syracuse. He is 26 years old, currently 2.5 stars with a 3 star potential.

[Instant Replay]

Round 5

With pick #8 in round 5, the Chicago Bulls select C Alonzo Mourning from Georgetown.

With pick #10, the Nets select C Mark Blount from Pitt.

At this point, it is either the best PG availalble, Jason Hart, or Caron Butler. I decide to go with the much better Caron Butler. I will either have to find a place to play him, or use him as trade bait for a draft pick or something. He is currently 2.5 stars with a nice solid 3.5 star potential.

39 year old PG Mark Jackson goes to the Nuggetts are pick #28. No big deal, as we would never draft somebody that old.




Round 6

With pick #15 in this round, right before us, SG Kerry Kittles is stoeln from us!

I overlooked him in that last round, but I quickly grab 30 year old PG Alvin Williams, out of Villanova.

With pick #29, the Raptors select SF Eric Williams out of Providence.

With pick #30, the Pistons select PF Danny Fortson from Cincinnati.



Round 7

Our pick comes up again and I am really just grabbing from the bottom of the barrel now, looking for guys who can give me anything. We go for some bulk with C Jake Voskuhl from Uconn.

SF Tim Thomas goes at #18 to Minnesota.

At pick #29, the Hornets select PG Chucky Atkins, from South Florida.

[Instant Replay]

Round 8

In this round we pick up PG Jason Hart from Syracuse, only because in my brief dynasty with Charlotte, he played alright for me from the bench.

At pick #26, SF Pat Garrity goes to the Lakers.

At pick #29, PG Rod Strickland goes to Toronto.




Round 9

At pick #4, the Suns select SF Laphonso Ellis from Notre Dame.

At pick #14, the Clippers take PG Nick Van Exel.

The Knicks grab the raw, but potentially talented PF, Mike Sweetney, from Georgetown.

At pick #18, the Timberwolves select PF Jerome Williams, also from Georgetown.

At pick #26, the Boston Celtics take SF Billy Ownes, from Syracuse.




Round 10

With this pick, we really don't have anyone useful to pick, so we take SF Bobby Simmons from DePaul.




Round 11

With pick #6, Philadelphia selects SF DerMarr Johnson out of Cincinnati.

With pick #10, the Nets select SF Monty Williams, out of Notre Dame.

In round 11, the Knicks take PF Malik Allen out of Villanova.

With pick #16, the Magic select PG Clifford Robinson from Uconn.

With pick #21, Memphis selects SF Chris Crawford from Marquette.

With pick #22, the Houston Rockets select SF John Wallace from Syracuse.





Round 12

The Hornets pick up PF Michael Bradley from Villanova with the #2 pick.

I believe SG Matt Carroll is the only SG left, so we pick him up in the 12th and final round.

PF Derrick Coleman, from Syracuse, goes at #16 to the Clippers.

SF Adrian Griffin goes to the Nets with pick #21.

PF Samaki Walker goes to the Bulls with pick #23.

PF Othella Harrington, from Georgetown, goes to the Lakers with pick #26.




Post Draft pick ups.

I round out my roster with to 15 players and place these three guys on the IR, just so I have them when I need them.

C Dikembe Mutombo
SF Ruben Patterson
PG Kevin Ollie

[Instant Replay]

Our payroll is just $31,000,000 and is projected to be under 30 million next year, so we have a chance to grab a FA, if there is a worhtwhile NBE player out there. Iverson?? Plus we should be in the draft lottery.

[Instant Replay]

Opening Night 2004.

We open the season at MSG against the Rockets. Our opening night starting lineup is as follows:

PG Alvin Williams
SG Ben Gordon
SF Carmelo Anthony
PF Etan Thomas
C Samuel Dalembert

We outscore the Rockers 34-25 in the fourth quarter and pull out a 107-104 victory to open the season. Anthony was the game MVP with a very impressive 28 points and 5 rebounds. Ben Gordon was also impressive in his first ever NBA game, putting up 22 points. Alvin Williams added 20. Etan Thomas grabbed 7 boards as the starter, but put up a big goose egg in the scoring column. I think he is going to be a huge weak spot for us. Dalembert had 9 points and 6 boards as our starting center. Caron Butler added 10 points in 30 minutes off the bench. He should be a solid 6th man for us.

[Instant Replay]

Probably the best way to do this is a short report every 15 days (since the game counts days of the season instead of actual dates). I don't want to bore you to death with reports of every game, nor do I feel like typing up that much information. Every month I will report on league wide happenings that are interesting.

I think the best part of the game is the offseason. I like building the team and putting together a lineup. I play in pure GM mode, so the regular season is just basically watching to see if the team I assembled is any good, then the off season comes and I try to fix what is wrong. :)

[Instant Replay]

Days 1-15

vs. Houston W 107-104
vs. Milwaukee W 98-73
vs. Portland W 86-78
at Sacramento L 90-95
at Utah W 97-94
at Seattle L 94-117
at Portland W 88-74
at LA Clippers L 98-99

We sit at 5-3 with 1 more game on a long road trip to go. We are already 2 games behind the undefeated Raptors, who are 6-0.

One thing that is terribly wrong with the game is the amount of injuries. Through 8 games, I have had 6 injuries, all for a number of days. Currently, 5 players are injured at the same time, which means my 3 reserve guys were all already activated. One of them got hurt so I have a roster of 12 guys, with 2 of them injured. I don't know if there is a big outcry about this over at GreyDog, because I haven't seen much talk about it. It is a bit frustrating, but I'll learnt o live with it I suppose.

Tim Duncan, of the Toronto Raptors, was named Player of the Week in the both of the first 2 weeks of the season.

The top 100 college prospect list has been released. I quickly look for NBE guys.

At #15 is SG Brett Caldwell from Cincinnati.
At #17 is SF Flye Martin, who is very fly it seems. He is from Syracuse.
At #24 is PG Michael Campbell, also from Syracuse.
At #28 is C Dennis Williams from Pitt.
At #29 is C Kevin Anderson from Notre Dame.

[Instant Replay]

Days 16-30

at Denver L 90-102
vs. Seattle L 71-94
vs. Dallas L 78-107
at Washington L 92-97
vs. Toronto W 90-88
at Toronto L 78-100
vs. Washington L 87-109
at Miami L 76-90
at Atlanta L 83-102

As our injury problems start to clear up, we start playing like I expected us to. We finish out the first 30 days at 6-11, dead last in the Atlantic Division. Toronto and Boston are tied for first at 9-5.

Orlando and Minnesota have the best records in the NBA at 11-3.

Tracy McGrady, a 76er, leads the league in scoring with 27.1. Allen Iverson is right behind him, for the Clippers, with 26.6. Kevin Garnett, a Piston, is third, with 25.4.

Seattle's Dirk Nowitski was the week 3 Player of the Week (POTW).
Detroit's Kevin Garnett was the week 4 POTW.

Kevin Garnett was also named the NBA player of the month.

The rookie of the month was Houston's Emeka Okafor.


For the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony leads the team in scoring with 20.7 per game. Ben Gordon is putting up a very solid 15.1 in his rookie season.

Sam Dalenbert leads the team with 7.6 rebounds per game.

Alvin Williams leads the way with 4.6 assists.

Caron Butler is our 4th leading scorer with 9.7 per game off the bench as our 6th man.

[Instant Replay]

Days 31-45

at Boston L 88-104
at Cleveland L 91-95
at New Jersey L 99-112
at Milwaukee L 87-112
vs. Denver L 97-106
vs. Miami W 90-87
vs. Minnesota L 61-90

Wow, did we really score just 61 points in a game, at home? That is pathetic. Gordon has been on and off the IR and Anthony is out for 2 weeks with an injury. Losing our 2 best players for long stretches like that will only help our lottery chances. We sit at 7-17, with only Portland and Sacramento having worst winning percentages.

Shaq was the week 5 POTW. He plays for the Phoenix Suns.
Tracy McGrady, from Philly, was the week 6 POTW.


College Prospects:

Notre Dame Sophomore C Kevin Anderson is impressing. He moved up to #20 and is still undecided about entering the draft.

The top NBE player who is certain to be ni the draft is at #40. PF Kevin O'Kelley plays for Marquette.

[Instant Replay]

Days 46-60

at Indiana W 98-92
vs. New Jersey L 88-120
at Houston L 88-99
vs. Utah L 87-103
at Phoenix L 88-116
at LA Lakers L 95-115
at Golden State L 92-110

The worst thing about this is that we are hardly in any of these games. Most of our losses are of the blowout kind. I can't say I expected big things this quickly, but this is bordering on the ridiculous. We are 8-23 on the year and 11 games out of first place.

The week 7 POTW was Paul Pierce of the Dallas Mavericks.
In week 8 it was Tracy Mcgrady of the 76ers.

The NBA player of the month was Phoenix's Shaquille O'Neal.

Allen Iverson (LAC) and Tracy McGrady (PHI) are tied for the league lead in scoring at 27.5 ppg.

Toronto's Tim Duncan is a league best 11.8 rebounds per game.

Jason Kidd, of the Boston Celtics has the first and only triple double of the season so far.



For the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony leads the team with 20.6 ppg. Ben Gordon is second with 14.6 and Alvin Williams is the only other player over 10, with 11.2. Caron Butler is on the cusp, averaging 9.9 points per game.

Anthony and Dalembert both are averaging over 6 rebounds per game.

[Instant Replay]

Days 61-75

vs. Atlanta W 91-88
vs. Sacramento W 89-79
vs. Detroit L 89-99
vs. Golden State L 69-87
vs. Boston L 81-100
at Philadelphia L 86-103

We put together a 2 game winning streak against a couple really bad teams. Seeing the Kings with only 4 wins when we played them made me feel a tiny bit better about my team. Our record is 10-27. Only the Kings have fewer wins, with 5.

Shaq (PHO) won the week 9 POTW.
Allen Iverson (LAC) won the week 10 POTW.


Junior SF Flye Martin from Syracuse is ow listed as the top NBE player in college, but he has not declared yet.

The highest rated player who has declared now is #57, PG Courtney Poole, of St. John's.


We have a handful of trades to report.

The Celtics traded a 2nd round pick to Indiana for PF Christian Laettner.
The Rockets traded a 2nd round pick to Denver for PG Mark Jackson.
Portland traded a 2nd round pick to Minnesota for C Theo Ratcliff.
Indiana traded Pf Michael Ruffin and C Olden Polynice to Portland for PG Gary Payton.
Seattle traded SF Sergei Monia to the Clippers for SF Vladimir Radmanovic.

The Clippers put PF Derrick Coleman on the trading block, but we definitly do not have any interest there.

[Instant Replay]

Days 76-90

vs. New Orleans L 99-118
at Minnesota L 106-115
vs. Toronto L 90-101
at Washington L 83-97
vs. Charlotte W 88-86
vs. Miami L 99-104
at Charlotte L 91-110
vs. Phoenix 93-81

A couple of highlights here. First, we manage to beat Shaq and his Suns. Second, despite the loss, Carmelo put up 41 points against the Timberwolves.


Shaq won the week 11 POTW Award.
Iverson won it in Week 12.

Shaq won his second consecutive NBA Player of the Month Award and has to be the early favorite for MVP at this point.

Emeka Okafor won the Rookie of the Month Award and is virtually a lock to win Rookie of the Year.

Allen Iverson (LAC) has taken the small lead in the scoring department with 27.8 to Tracy McGrady's (PHI) 27.5. Predrag Stojakovic (ATL) is in third with 27.3.

Jermaine O'Neal (ATL) and Tim Duncan (TOR) lead the league with 2.7 blocks per game. Ben Wallace (DEN) is right there with 2.6.


For the Knicks, Anthony is still over 20 per game, averaging 20.5.

[Instant Replay]

Day 91 – 108 (The All-Star Break)

at Indiana L 68-109
vs. Washington W 99-97
at San Antonio L 93-103
at Cleveland L 88-117
vs. Detroit L 91-102
vs. Philadelphia L 98-107
vs. LA Clippers W 116-95
vs. Chicago W 100-92

Three wins in a chunk of games is an improvement for us and brings our season record to 15-38. We are still cemented into last place in the division, 10 games behind 4th place and 20 out of first place.

In weeks 13 and 14, the Detroit Piston's Kevin Garnett won the POTW Award.
In week 15 it went to Allen Iverson.

A couple of notable trades went down in the last week.

Charlotte traded their 1st round pick to Indiana for PG Sam Cassell.
New Jersey traded with 1st round pick to Dallas for PG Steve Nash.


PG Courtney Poole, of St, John's is still the highest NBE player that has declared for the draft. He is ranked #47. We are still watching some players ranked higher to see if they will be declaring or not.

[Instant Replay]

All Star Break Report

The All Star Break opens with the Slam Dunk Contest. Our very own Carmelo Anthony beats the 76ers Linton Johnson, 62-51 in the Finals to take home the trophy.

Steve Nash outguns Eddie Jones and Vladimir Radmanovic in the finals of the 3 point shootout.

The sophomore beat the rookies by a wide margin, 127-82. Anthony again led the way with 28 points for the Sophomores. Ben Gordon probably would have been on the rookie team, but he was recovering from an injury and left off the team.

The Eastern All Stars beat up on the West, 134-104. the Knicks did not have any representatives on the team.

[Instant Replay]

Days 113-120

at New Jersey L 86-108
at Detroit L 88-108
vs. LA Lakers L 91-93

We pick up right where we left off after the All-Star break. Our record on the year is a miserable 15-41. Only Sacramento is worst and they are way behind us with only 5 wins still.


Dirk Nowitski (SEA) was named POTW in week 16.
Allen Iverson (LAC) won it again in week 17.

Nowitski was also named the player of the Month.

Emeka Okafor won the rookie of the month award. He has won it all 4 months of the season so far.

Allen Iverson is pulling away for the scoring title. He is averaging 28.3 right now. McGrady is in 2nd place with 27.5. Predrag Stojakovic is a close third with 27.3.

Tim Duncan has recorded 33 double doubles this season. Kevin Garnett is a close second with 30.


fior the Knicks, anthony is still just over 20 points per game, at 20.2. Ben Gordon, Alvin Williams and now Caron Butler are all over 10 points per game this year.

[Instant Replay]

Days 121-135

at Dallas W 79-75
at Memphis W 95-90
at New Orleans L 69-76
at San Antonio L 77-120
vs. Atlanta L 95-118
vs. Orlando L 72-99
vs. Philadelphia L 68-92
at Boston W 118-110

Another chunk of games with 3 wins. While still embarrassing, at least we are picking up a few token wins.


In week 18, Kevin Garnett (DET) was named POTW.
In week 19, the honors went to Pregrad Stojakovic.

All of the college players have made their decisions. The top NBE guy coming out is ranked just #78. He is PF Kevin O'Kelley, from Marquette. It appears we will be after a high schooler in the first round, where we should have a top 5 pick.

[Instant Replay]

Days 136-150

at Milwaukee W 103-93
vs. Cleveland L 102-115
vs. Chicago W 94-81
at Philadelphia W 100-99
at Orlando L 87-101
at Miami W 107-100
at Atlanta L 95-114

In terms of wins and losses, this was probably our best chunk of games for the whole season. 4-3, which is a winning record. Baby steps.

Garnett and Stojakovic won the POTW awards in weeks 20 and 21 respectively. They have switched back and forth with this award for the last 4 weeks.

Allen Iverson has won the Player of the Month Award for the 5th month of the season.

Okafor is a runaway for the rookie of the year award, winning the rookie of the month honor for all 5 months of the season.

Allen Iverson is clinging to the scoring title with 28.8 ppg, while Stojakovic is quickly cutting into his lead, now down to just 0.1. Predrag is averaging 28.7 per game.

The rebound title looks to be Ben Wallace's (DEN). He has 11.5 per game. Duncan (TOR) and Garnett (DET) are tied for second with 10.5.


For our Knicks, Anthony is remaining steady, averaging 20.3 points per game, along with 5.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

Ben Gordon's season line looks like this: 14.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.0 apg and 1.0 steals per game.

[Instant Replay]

Games 151-170 (end of regular season)

at Charlotte L 98-114
vs. Milwaukee W 111-84
vs. Memphis L 102-112
vs. Orlando W 108-86
at Chicago L 93-103
vs. Indiana L 89-104
at Toronto W 89-82
vs. New Jersey L 90-100
vs. Boston L 88-95
at Detroit L 92-94
vs. Cleveland W 92-87

At least we finish off the season with a win. Our regular season record was 26-56 for a 0.317 winning percentage. We finished 27 games out of first place, behind the Toronto Raptors.

We finished ahead of 3 teams in the league, Milwaukee, Portland and Sacramento. Anything in the top 5 picks of the draft should land us a pretty good, but raw high school player.


Allen Iverson was named the POTW for week 23 and Shawn Marion won it in the 24th and final week of the season.

Allen Iverson won the NBA Player of the Month award for the 6th month of the season.

Ben Gordon, for our team, snapped Okafor's string of 5 straight Rookie of the Month awards and took home the final one. That's a good sign for his future with us.


Allen Iverson (LAC) finished strong and won the scoring title with 29.3 points per game.

Andre Miller (ATL) led the league in assists with 8.8 per game.

Ben Wallace (DEN) easily led the league in rebounds with 11.4.

Andrei Kirilenko (CLE) and Ben Wallace both averaged 2.8 blocks per game to lead the league.

Allen Iverson also led the league in steals with 2.2 per game.

A special note about Jason Kidd (BOS). He had 5 triple doubles this year, and nobody else had more than 1.


For the Knicks, in order of games started...

C Sam Dalenbert: 8.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg
SG Ben Gordon: 14.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.0 apg
PF Etan Thomas: 7.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg
SF Carmelo Anthony: 20.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.9 apg
PG Alvin Williams: 11.2 ppg, 4.3 apg
SF Caron Butler: 10.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.0 apg

Carmelo is clearly our player of the year. Ben Gordon a distant second, but a nice season for his first in the league. Caron was our 6th man of the year.

[Instant Replay]

Playoff Results

Round 1

East:
1 Detroit over 8 Charlotte
7 Atlanta over 2 Toronto
6 Miami over 3 Orlando
4 New Jersey over 5 Washington

West:
1 LA Lakers over 8 LA Clippers
2 New Orleans over 7 Memphis
6 Seattle over 3 Minnesota
4 Phoenix over 5 Utah



Round 2

East:
1 Detroit over 4 New Jersey
7 Atlanta over 6 Miami

West:
4 Phoenix over 1 LA Lakers
2 New Orleans over 6 Seattle



Round 3

East:
7 Atlanta over 1 Detroit

West:
4 Phoenix over 2 New Orleans



NBA Finals:

Shaq and his Phoenix Suns defeat the Atlanta Hawks with their star, Predrag Stojakovic to win the 2004-2005 NBA Title!

[Instant Replay]

Post Season Awards

MVP: Kevin Garnett (DET)
Defensive POTY: Kevin Garnett (DET)
Rookie of the Year: Emeka Okafor (HOU)
6th Man: Chris Anderson (NJ)
coach of the Year: Larry Brown (DET)

1st team:
PG Stephon Marbury
SG Kobe Bryant
SF Dirk Nowitski
PF Kevin Garnett
C Yao Ming


The Knicks did have one award winner. Ben Gordon was on the All-Rookie team as the SG.

[Instant Replay]

The Draft Lottery

The Knicks have the 4th best chance at the top pick in the draft. Here we go, from #14 counting down:

14 Philadelphia
13 Chicago
12 Cleveland
11 Golden State
10 Dallas
9 San Antonio
8 Boston
7 Denver
6 Indiana
5 Houston
4 Portland (was 2nd)
3 New York Knicks (was 4th)
2 Sacramento (was 1st)
1 Milwaukee (was 3rd)




Coach Hiring Phase

Nothing against our head coach, Lenny Wilkins, but I want somebody younger and full of fire to take this team from the bottom to the top. I fire him.

I keep all three assistants around for at least 1 more year.

We sign Mike Fratello to a 4 year contract as our new coach. He is rated Good across the board for everything except personality, where he is just average.




Scouting the Draft

It is apparent we will be taking a high school kid in round 1. Let's take a look at the top candidates here.

C Lincoln Johnson is to drool over. He has a potential of 5 acording to my top high school scout and already has a current rating of 4. chances of him dropping down to #3 are remote. I think he will go #1 overall.

SF Alvan Randle is the second best guy out there. A potential of 5 with a current of 3. Too bad this is our strongest position on the Knicks.

After that, there is nothing for us to choose. If both of these guys go 1 and 2, we are stuck with trading way down in the draft. I will try to move up to #1 or #2 though, but I am sure I will have to give up a lot. Moving Caron Butler might help....

...And we pull off a huge trade with Milwaukee to move up to #1 in the draft! We send our #3 overall pick and SF Caron Butler to Milwaukee for the #1 overall pick and PF Brian Cardinal. We end up taking on about 3 mil of salary in the player part of the trade, but we have no problem with that.




The Draft

With the first pick in the 2005 NBA draft, the New York Knicks select Center Lincoln Johnson! We have a stud to play center now. A huge draft day trade lands us the best player in the draft.

In round 2 of the draft we pick up PG Kedric Gray from Pitt.





The Summer League

Our top draft pick, Lincoln Johnson was named the Summer League MVP. He scored 20.3 per game, and had 13.0 rebounds per game.




Free Agency

We have some cap room to work with, about 13 million. Our biggest needs at this point are PF and PG. We have guys who can get by there, but we are clearly in need of an upgrade. We look through the FA pool for NBE players and find the following:

SG Ray Allen 4.5 stars
PF Troy Murphy 3.5 stars
PF Donyell Marshall 4 stars
PG Nick Van Exel 2.5 stars
SF Billy Owens 2 stars
SF Eddie Griffin 3 stars
SF John Wallace 2 stars
SF Chris Crawford 2 stars
SF Ruben Patterson 2.5 stars
PF Clifford robinson 2.5 stars
C Travis Knight 2 stars

and a host of others who might be fillers after FA or in the final rounds.



The thought process here is to go after Troy Murphy or Donyell. Donyell is better, but is asking about 1 million more than our cap room. Troy is asking just about what we have for cap room, so we either take a risk at signing Donyell or offer Troy the max we can and hope to land him.

On day 5, Troy Murphy signs a contract with the New York Knicks for 80 million over 6 years. Yeah, we overpaid for him, but our options are limited so I figure it is money well spent.

On day 8, we resign Sam Dalenbert to another overpaid contract. He will make 41 million over 5 years to be a backup.

On day 9 we resign Matt Carroll to a minimum contract. That will be all we do for now. We will pick up a couple minimum contract guys before the season starts to fill in for injuries during the year.

[Instant Replay]

2005-2006 New York Knicks Roster

PG Alvin Williams, Villanova. Alvin is rated 3 stars. He held down the job last year and we expect about the same from him this season. He won't carry the team, but is a capable starter.

SG Ben Gordon, Uconn. Ben is 3.5 stars and still has some potential. A solid rookie season hopefully is a sign of continuing improvement.

SF Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse. Carmelo is our star. 4.5 stars and he still has not reached his potential.

PF Troy Murphy, Notre Dame. Troy is rated 3.5 stars and he is about as good as he is going to get. We just need him to be steady.

C Lincoln Johnson, High school. Lincoln is already rated 4 stars as an 18 year old. The sky is the limit.


The bench

PG Jason Hart, Syracuse. 2 stars
SG Matt Carroll, Notre Dame. 1.5 stars
SF Adrian Griffin, Seton Hall. 2 stars
SF John Wallace, Syracuse. 2 stars
PF Etan Thomas, Syracuse. 2.5 stars
PF Mike Sweetney, Georgetown. 2 stars
C Sam Dalenbert, Seton Gall. 3 stars.


The IR

PG Kedric Gray, Pitt. 1 star
C Jake Voskuhl, Uconn. 2 stars
PF Brian Cardinal, Purdue. 2.5 stars. Brian cannot come off the IR as he is not a NBE player. We will put him on the trading block, probably with little success.

[Instant Replay]

Days 1-15

vs. Houston W 94-83
vs. Milwaukee L 93-101
vs. Portland W 94-74
at Sacramento L 93-97
at Utah W 101-91
at Seattle L 102-103
at Portland W 91-76

We open the season 5-3. A nice turnaround early on, but I am not getting too hopeful yet. We played a bunch of teams that were really bad last year. Still, we are just 1 game behind the 76ers at this point.

Allen Iverson (LAC) was the week 1 POTW.
Kevin Garnett (DET) was the week 2 POTW.


The college rankings are out. The highest rated NBE player who is going to be in the draft for sure is SF Flye Martin from Syracuse. He is rated #13. There are 3 other NBE players rated higher than him, but they are all underclassmen.

[General Mike]

Good stuff so far. :)

[Instant Replay]

Days 16-20

at Denver L 80-98
vs. Seattle W 104-94
vs. Dallas L 69-90
at Washington W 98-79
vs. Toronto W 101-62
at Toronto L 70-109
vs. Washington L 70-83
at Miami L 79-93
at Atlanta L 86-87

Dropping our last 4 games has dropped us below 500 on the year with a 8-9 record. We are in third place in the Atlantic Division, 2.5 games behind both Boston and Philadelphia. We are 0.5 games out of the 8th playoff spot.

Kevin Garnett (DET) won the week 3 POTW.
Allen Iverson (LAC) won the week 4 POTW.

Allen Iverson also was named NBA Player of the Month.

Our very own Lincoln Johnson was named the Rookie of the Month.


Allen Iverson is off to a good start in defense of his scoring title with 33.2 points per game. Kevin Garnett is second with 27.8 and Shaq is third with 27.6.

In the assist department, Stephon Marbury (SA) leads the league with 10.2 while Andre Miller (ATL) is second with 9.4.


Knicks statistic report:

Anthony still leads our team in scoring but his average is down from last year. He is at 18.5 right now. All 5 of our starters are averaging double figures. Gordon is at 14.9. Alvin Williams is third on the team with 11.8, along with 4.9 assists. Lincoln Johnson is 4th with 11.5 and also 9.8 rebounds. Troy Murphy is at 10.4 with 7.2 rebounds.

Dalembert and Jason Hart are splitting time as the 6th man for us. Combined they are averaging 17 points, 8 boards and 5 assists. Not a bad 1-2 punch off the bench.

[Instant Replay]

Days 31-45

at Boston W 105-90
at Cleveland W 100-89
at New Jersey L 78-120
at Milwaukee L 83-123
vs. Denver L 76-106
vs. Miami L 75-94
vs. Minnesota W 92-71

We had a bunch of injuries to a few of our big men and we proceeded to get blown out for 4 straight games. We got them back into the lineup and finished up with a solid win to get to 11-13 on the year, but we have fallen to last place in our division.


Allen Iverson was the week 5 POTW.
Tracy McGrady (PHI) was the week 6 POTW.


The #1 ranked college player right now is a freshman from St. John's, SG Dan Montague. He has not declared yet though. At #20 is SF Lance Robinson from Seton Hall. He is the top NBE player to declare. Flye Martin slipped to #25 for now. These rating have some pretty dramatic swings through the season though. I think there will be a good 5 or 6 guys to choose from out of the NBE this year.

[Instant Replay]

Days 46-60

at Indiana W 107-101
vs. New Jersey L 90-105
at Houston L 94-102
vs. Utah L 76-95
at Phoenix L 82-118
at LA Lakers L 74-94
at Golden State L 80-89

Just when I think we might be coming around a bit, and playing competatively, we just get it handed to us for 6 straight games. We fall all the way down to a 12-19 record and any hopes we had of remaining in contention for that 8th playoff spot have been wiped right out it would seem.


In week 7, Dirk Nowitski (SEA) was named POTW.
In week 8, the honors went to Kevin Garnett (DET).

Allen Iverson was again named the NBA Player of the Month.

Alvan Randle of the Houston Rockets was named the Rookie of the Month.


Iverson is still scoring over 30 points a game. His average is at 31.7. that is 5 points per game better than Garnett and Shaq, who are still 2nd and 3rd in scoring.

Ben Wallace (DEN) leads the league in rebounding with 12.0. Tim Duncan (TOR) is 2nd with 11.1 and Shaq and Garnett are tied with 10.5. the Knicks rookie, Lincoln Johnson is 8th in the league with 9.4!

Carmelo Anthony is scoring 18.6 per game. The rest of the team is also holding steady at about where they were. Dalembert and Hart's production from the bench has slipped a bit, and as a team defense we have totally lost it.

[Instant Replay]

Days 61-75

vs. Atlanta W 91-75
vs. Sacramento W 106-82
vs. Detroit W 110-91
vs. Golden State W 98-91
vs. Boston L 105-106
at Philadelphia L 87-90

Carmelo Anthony put this team on his back and led us to 4 straight wins. Even with the 2 losses, Carmelo scored at least 20 per game, including a 29 points game and 2 30 plus point performances. If he can keep this up, we can get back into contention maybe. We stand at 16-21, still in last place though.


Shaq (PHO) was named the week 9 POTW.
Iverson (LAC) was named the week 10 POTW.


The top 2 NBE players that will be in the draft for sure both come from Syracuse. At #24 and #25 we have PG Michael Campbell and SF Flye Martin. There are 4 NBE underclassmen in the top 10 ranking right now.

[Instant Replay]

Days 76-90

vs. New Orleans L 64-97
at Minnesota L 62-92
vs. Toronto L 84-111
at Washington L 82-111
vs. Charlotte W 95-85
vs. Maimi L 81-92
at Charlotte L 77-107
vs. Phoenix L 99-106

After an encouraging couple of weeks, we again completely fall apart and have a 1-7 stretch to fall to 17-28 in the league. That is the second worst record in the Eastern conference.


In week 11, Predrag Stojakovic (ATL) was named POTW.
In week 12, the award went to Shaq (PHO).

Shaq was also named the NBA Player of the Month in the 3rd month of the season.

Alvan Randle (HOU) won the Rookie of the Month award again.


There was some insane scoring performances these past couple of weeks. Iverson and Shaq both had 50 point games and there were a number of 40 point games.

Iverson's average has come down a bit, but he still leads the league with a 30.8 ppg average. Shaq is second with 28.4.

Andrei Kirilenko (CLE) leads the league in blocked shots with 2.9. Jermaine O'Neal (ATL) is second with 2.8 and Tim Duncan (TOR) is third with 2.7.



For the Knicks, Carmelo's scoring average is up to 19.0 per game. He is also grabbing 6.4 rebounds. Ben Gordon's average is up slightly to 15.5. Alvin Williams is scoring 11.2 and his assists are up to 5.6. Johnson and Murphy are both scoring double figures on average as well.

[Instant Replay]

Days 91-108 (All Star Break)

at Indiana W 91-89
vs. Washington W 113-90
vs. San Antonio L 100-107
at Cleveland L 84-113
vs. Detroit W 99-92
vs. Philadelphia L 95-121
vs. LA Clippers W 105-76
vs. Chicago W 113-85

This team is tough to get a read on. We have a good couple of weeks, followed by a terrible one, followed by a 5-3 week. Our record is 22-31 heading into the All-Star Break. Amazingly, we are just 3 games out fo a playoff spot with this record. That just doesn't seem right. Boston holds the 8th spot right now with a 25-28 record.


In week 13, Shaq (PHO) won the POTW.
In week 14 it went to Kevin Garnett (DET)
In week 15, it went to Dirk Nowitski (SEA)



In the latest college reports, the top NBE draft eligible player is #23 SF Lance Robinson from Seton Hall. The two Syracuse guys are in the top 30 still.

[Instant Replay]

All Star Break

Day 1:

Brent Higgins (LAC) beat Andrei Kirilenko (CLE) in the finals of the dunk contest, 71-63 to win the title. Carmelo did not return to defend his title.


Day 2:

Steve Nash (NJ) outgunned Predrag Stojakovic (ATL) and Chauncey Billups (SEA) to win the 3 point shootout.


Day 3:

The Sophomores hammered the Rookies 137-100. The Knicks Lincoln Johnson was named the player of the game though, scoring 26 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. Ben Gordon led the Sophomores with 23 points. The Knicks had the 2 highest scoring players in the game. Good for us!



Day 4:

The West won the All Star Game, 128-114. Ray Allen was the MVP with 19 points and 8 rebounds. No Knicks were invited to play.

[Instant Replay]

Days 113 – 120

at New Jersey L 103-111
at Detroit L 83-98
vs. LA Lakers W 88-84

We are 4 months into the season and our record is 23-33. We are a full 4 games out of the 8th playoff spot, and baring a late run, we have a very slim chance. We have 27 games to play.


In week 16, Kobe Bryant (LAL) was named the POTW.
In week 17, Allen Iverson (LAC) was named the POTW.

In the 4th month of the season, Kevin Garnett (DET) was named the NBA Player of the Month.

Alvan Randle (HOU) won the Rookie of the Month Award for the third straight month.


Iverson looks like he will cruise to another scoring title. He is averaging 30.2 per game. The cloest person to him is Shaq (PHO) with 27.4.

Jason Kidd (BOS) and Stephon Marbury (SA) both have 2 triple doubles on the year.

Tim Duncan (TOR) leads the league in double doubles with 38. Yao Ming (MEM) has 37.



For the Knicks, Carmelo is our leading scorer with 19.1. Ben Gordon is up to 16.0 points per game.

Lincoln Johnson leads the team in rebounding with 8.6 per game. Troy Murphy is second with 6.9.

Alvin Williams leads us in assists with 5.7, a nice improvement from last year. Ben Gordon is second with 3.6.

Sam Dalenbert leads the team with 1.3 blocks per game and is the only player over 1.0 on our team.

[Instant Replay]

Days 121-135

vs. Dallas W 109-107
at Memphis W 97-87
at New Orleans L 71-108
at San Antonio L 97-99
vs. Atlanta L 74-113
vs. Orlando L 79-95
vs. Philadelphia L 88-102
at Boston W 109-106

The highlight of this chunk of games was our rookie Lincoln Johnson scoring 24 points and getting 20 rebounds in a win against Dallas. Hopefully, this is a sign of great things to come from our big man in the center. Our record is now 26-38. We are 19 games out of 1st place in our division. We are also third from last in the conference. We fell to 5 games out of the playoffs. Boston holds the last spot with a pretty lousy 31-34 record.



In week 18, Dirk Nowitski (SEA) was named POTW.
In week 19, the honor went to Kobe Bryant (LAL).


The college season has ended and all players have made up their minds about entering the draft.

The top NBE player is from Seton Hall. Senior SF Lance Robinson is ranked the #4 college player in the nation.

SF Flye Martin from Syracuse is ranked #15.

SG Adrian Jones from Providence is ranked #20.

PG Michael Campbell from Syracuse is ranked #68.

SG Cliff Davis from Pitt is ranked #86.


This all means we will probably end up with Flye or Adrian, but we might have an outside shot at Lance Robinson. It will depend on how strong the high school and internation crop of players are and where exactly we end up in the draft.

[Instant Replay]

Days 136-150

at Milwaukee W 105-79
vs. Cleveland L 80-84
vs. Chicago W 112-70
at Philadelphia L 103-110
at Orlando L 83-112
at Miami L 102-104
at Atlanta W 100-92

With just 11 games to play this season, we are 29-42, assuring ourselves of a second straight losing season.


In week 20, Shawn Marion (MIA) was named the POTW.
In week 21, Paul Pierce (DAL) was named the POTW.

For the 5th month of the season, Shaq (PHO) was named the NBA Player of the Month.

Lincoln Johnson was named the Rookie of the Month.


Allen Iverson's scoring average has slipped uder 30, to 29.7 points per game, He is still going to walk away with the scoring title, as Shaq is a distant second with 27.2.



For the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony needs a strong finish, as he is averaging 19.8 points per game. I would like to see him over 20.

Gordon is averaging 16.5, up almost 2 points per game from last year.

[Instant Replay]

Days 151-170 (End of Regular Season)

at Charlotte W 99-90
vs. Milwaukee L 90-107
vs. Memphis L 73-92
vs. Orlando W 107-74
at Chicago W 125-100
vs. Indiana W 92-88
at Toronto L 91-98
vs. New Jersey L 79-97
vs. Boston L 98-101
at Detroit L 73-99
vs. Cleveland W 89-86

We finish up the regular season with a 34-48 record for a 0.415 winning percentage. We were last in the division, 18 games back of division winning Philadelphia. We finished 11th in the Conference, 6 games out of the 8th and final playoff spot.

The week 22, POTW was Chris Webber (CHI)
In week 23, it was Allen Iverson (LAC).
In week 24 it was Kevin Garnett (DET).

The player of the month was Paul Pierce (DAL)

the rookie of the month was Alvan Randle (HOU).



NBA Leaders:

Scoring: Allen Iverson (LAC) 29.4
Assists: Stephon Marbury (SA) 9.6
Rebounds: Ben Wallace (DEN) 12.1
Blocks: Andrei Kirilenko (CLE) 3.0
Steals: Allen Iverson (LAC) 2.5
Double Doubles: Tim Duncan (TOR) 51
Triple Doubles: Jason Kidd (BOS) 4



Knick Statistics, in order of games started this year:

Carmelo Anthony 20.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.0 asp
Troy Murphy 10.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg
Ben Gordon 16.7 ppg, 3.7 apg,
Lincoln Johnson 10.6 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 0.6 blocks per game
Alvin Williams 11.0 ppg, 5.8 apg, 1.0 steals per game

[Instant Replay]

Playoffs

Round 1

East:
1 Atlanta over 8 Boston
5 Orlando over 4 Miami
6 Toronto over 3 Philadelphia
2 Detroit over 7 New Jersey

West:
1 Phoenix over 8 San Antonio
4 LA Lakers over 5 Denver
3 New Orleans over 6 Seattle
7 Memphis over 2 Minnesota



Round 2

East:
5 Orlando over 1 Atlanta
2 Detroit over 6 Toronto

West:
1 Phoenix over 4 LA Lakers
3 New Orleans over 7 Memphis



Round 3:

East:
2 Detroit over 5 Orlando

West:
1 Phoenix over 3 New Orleans



NBA Finals

The Detroit Pistons, led by Kevin Garnett, knock off the defending champion Suns, and deny their Star, Shaquille O'Neal, a repeat title.

[Instant Replay]

NBA Awards

MVP: Kevin Garnett (DET)
Defensive Player of the Year: Andrei Kirilenko (CLE)
Rookie of the Year: Larry Watson (MIN)
6th Man: Chris Anderson (NJ)
Coach of the Year: Larry Brown (DET)

All League First Team:
PG Stephon Marbury (SA)
SG Kobe Bryant (LAL)
SF Dirk Nowitski (SEA)
PF Kevin Garnett (DET)
C Yao Ming (MEM)



The only post season award for the Knicks went to C Lincoln Johnson, who was named to the NBA Rookie 2nd team.

[Instant Replay]

The Draft Lottery

Out of the 14 teams in the lottery, the Sacramento Kings have the best chance at the #1 overall pick. The Knicks have a 3.4% chance, which puts us 9th among the 14 teams. Chances are we will be drafting 9th this year. Here are the results of the lottery:

14 Chicago
13 LA Clippers
12 Cleveland
11 Washington
10 Dallas
9 New York
8 Indiana
7 Utah (was 6th)
6 Milwaukee (was 5th)
5 Charlotte (was 2nd)
4 Sacramento (was 1st)
3 Golden State (was 4th)
2 Houston (was 7th)
1 Portland (was 3rd)




Coach hiring Phase

All three of my assistants are gone. Their contracts ran out and I didn't extend them. This is all part of the process of putting together a team with my guys.

Here are the new assistants:

Kevin O'Neill, 1st assistant: strengths are evaluating defense and potential, exceptionally good at developing potential

John Outlaw, 2nd assistant: strengths are evaluating potential

Lon Krueger, 3rd assistant: strength is developing players





Scouting the Draft

I am not thrilled with the way the NBE players have panned out. My top two choices are both of the kids from Syracuse. SF Flye Martin is rated 2 stars with a 3 potential. PG Michael Campbell is rated 2.5 stars with no more potential.

I guess PG is going to be the way to go, unless there is a great high school player left at pick #9, which is pretty doubtful.





The Draft

With the #9 pick in the draft, the Knicks trade it to Memphis for their #1 pick (#17 overall) and their 2nd round picks in the next 3 drafts.

I am feeling pretty certain that PG Michael Campbell will fall to at least #17, and it was about the best I can do in terms of trading.

Of course, I get burned, as Boston takes Campbell with the #15 pick and SF Lance Robinson from Seton Hall goes at #16. That pretty much limits my choices to....

With the #17 pick, the Knicks select SF Flye Martin, from Syracuse University.

With the #9 pick in round 2, the Knicks select SG Jason McKarney from Uconn.

With the #17 pick in round 2, the Knicks select C Adam Evans from West Virginia.


I am not all that pleased with the way the draft worked out, but considering the circumstances, I think I got some decent players where my picks were.




Free Agency

We didn't have any room to manuever, so we just pick up Mike Sweetney, John Wallace and Matt Carroll to very low contract as basically filler material for our squad. Brian Cardinal is killing us. We have to keep him on the IR since he is not a NBE player and his contract is forever and longer at a ridiculous cost of over 6.5 million a year. Etan Thomas is slowly being phased out of our plans, but he is on a long contract as well, at an inflated price. Putting them on the trade block has garnered no offers at all.

[Instant Replay]

2005-2006 New York Knicks Roster

PG Alvin Williams, Villanova. Alvin is not going to fool anyone into thinking he is a superstar, but he is going to give us solid minutes every night off the bench. At 32 years old, we hope his production doesn't slip until we can find a suitable replacement. 3 star player.

SG Ben Gordon, Uconn. Ben has improved from his first to second year and we are thinking this could be his real breakout season. 3.5 stars with a 4 star potential.

SF Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse. A budding superstar is the only way to put it. Only 22 years old and he possesses the skills that most players could only dream of. 4.5 stars with a 5 star potential.

PF Troy Murphy, Notre Dame. Troy has the ability to play with anyone in the league. Some think he has All-Star potential. With a little more work, it could happen. 3.5 stars.

C Lincoln Johnson, High School. He has the talent to be an MVP in this league. Just 19 years old and already becoming a force inside. Our scouts were a bit down on him last year, but given his youth, I think he just needs a bit of time. 4 stars with 5 star potential.


The Bench.

PG Kedric Gray, Pitt. 2nd year. 1.5 star with 2.5 star potential.
PG Jason Hart, Syracuse. 5th year. 2 star with 2.5 star potential.

SG Matt Carroll, Notre Dame. 3rd year. 2 star with 2.5 star potential.

SF Flye Martin, Syracuse. Rookie. 2.5 star with 3 star potential.

PF Etan Thomas, Syracuse. 5th year. 2.5 star with 3 star potential.
PF Mike Sweetney, Georgetown, 3rd year. 2 star with 3 star potential.

C Sam Dalenbert, Seton Hall. 4th year. 3 star with 3.5 star potential.


The IR (for emergencies)

SG Jason McKarney, Uconn. Rookie. 1.5 star with 2 star potential.
C Adam Evans, West Virginia. Rookie. 1 star.

[Instant Replay]

Days 1-15

at Houston W 94-70
at Milwaukee W 117-105
at Portland L 97-99
vs. Sacramento W 100-89
vs. Utah L 90-113
vs. Seattle W 106-88
vs. Portland W 103-81
vs. LA Clippers W 88-77

6-2 is about as good of a start to the season as I could have hoped for. Although we opened decent last year, this just has a different feel to it. The younger guys are a bit more mature and our two main guys off the bench are almost seasoned vets now (Jason Hart and Sam Dalembert). First place early on and I cannot complain one bit.


Dirk Nowitski (SEA) was named the week 1 POTW.
Allen Iverson (LAC) was named the POTW in the second week of the season.




The top rated NBE player who is a senior and will be in the draft is C Kevin Anderson out of Notre Dame. He is ranked #12. There are 3 other NBE underclassmen ranked ahead of him, but experience has told me that early season rankings are nearly meaningless.

[Instant Replay]

Days 16-30

vs. Portland W 87-69
vs. Sacramento W 98-86
vs. Golden State W 95-89
at Dallas W 98-83
at Seattle L 93-102
vs. Minnesota L 78-98
at San Antonio W 106-103
at Sacramento L 72-76
vs. Toronto W 102-91


After a great start to the chunk of games, we stumbled to a 1-3 stretch, but finished off with a win against Toronto, bringing our season record to 10-7, just one half of a game out of first place, behind Toronto. That last win was a big one.



Shaq (PHO) was named the POTW for both weeks 3 and 4.

Allen Iverson (LAC) was named the NBA Player of the Month for the first month of the season.

Shannon Campbell (SAC) was named the Rookie of the Month.


Iverson again has the early lead in the scoring title this year. He is at 31.7. Shaq is second with 28.6 and LeBron James (WAS) is third with 27.6.

Kevin Garnett leads the league in rebounding with 11.0 per game. Tim Duncan is second with 10.8 and Shaq is third with 10.7.


for the Knicks, Carmelo is still the leader on offense with 20.1 points per game. Ben Gordon is closing the gap quickly though, as his average is up to 19.4 this year. I am starting to become concerned about Lincoln Johnson ever living up to that 5 star potential. His scoring average is still around 13.5. I was counting on 3 players near 20 per game this year.

[Instant Replay]

Days 31-45

vs. Boston W 100-93
vs. Cleveland L 84-102
vs. New Jersey L 72-111
vs. Milwaukee L 82-91
at Denver L 79-91
at Miami W 111-86
at Minnesota L 74-88

We are just 1-5 in our last 6 games. We need to stop this slide, and very quickly before it gets out of hand. Our record is 12-12 on the year, 4 games back of Toronto in the Atlantic Division. We are a half a game out of the 8th playoff spot right now.


In week 5, Allen Iverson (LAC) was named the POTW.
In week 6, it went to Elton Brand (GS).


Notre Dame's C Kevin Anderson is up to #3 in the latest college rankings. Nto only is he the top NBE player, but he is the top college player who is certain to be in the draft.

There are 2 other guys, both from Villanova, who are seniors and entering the draft, but those two guys are ranked pretty low at this point.

[Instant Replay]

Days 46-60

vs. Indiana L 104-110
at New Jersey W 106-92
vs. Houston W 96-83
at Utah W 104-71
vs. Phoenix W 118-93
vs. LA Lakers L 94-96
vs. Golden State W 98-94

We come back to win 5 of our last 6 games, with the only loss just a 2 point one to a very good Laker team. This brings our season record to 17-14, just 1 game behind Toronto for the division lead. Carmelo Anthony scored over 30 points in each of our last three games.


Elton Brand (GS) won the POTW award in week 7.
Tracy McGrady (PHI) won it in week 8.

Elton Brand was named the NBA Player of the Month.

Zviad Rusishvili (DAL) was named the rookie of the month.



Allen Iverson (LAC) remains on top of the NBA in scoring with a 30.8 average. Shaq is second with 27.7 and LeBron James makes a jump up the leaderboard with a 26.7 average.

Taking a look at assists per game, Andre Miller (ATL) leads the league with 9.0 per game. Stephon Marbury (SA) is right there with 8.9 and Baron Davis (MIN) is third with 8.5.


For the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony's scoring average is up to 21.4 per game. He is also getting 6.0 rebounds per game.

Ben Gordon is second on the team in scoring with 17.7 per game. He also has 3.7 assists per game.

Lincoln Johnson is finally showing signs of improving. He leads the team in rebounding with 8.7 per game and is also scoring 13.1.

Troy Murphy remains steady with 11.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Alvin Williams is up to 6.0 assists per game, but his scoring has tailed off to just 9.5.

Rookie Flye Martin is is seeing about 12 minutes per game and scoring 3 points.

[Instant Replay]

Days 61-75

at Atlanta W 105-98
at Sacramento L 90-109
at Detroit L 96-101
at Golden State L 85-92
at Boston L 77-91
vs. Philadelphia L 79-82

That loss to a Sacramento team, which had only 2 wins when we played them, sent us into a massive tailspin. We lost 5 straight to fall to 18-19 on the year. We are only 2.5 games out of first, and 1 full game out of the final playoff spot. Carmelo Anthony has reamined red hot though, putting up another few 30 plus point games for us. His scoring average is up to 22.2.



In week 9, Allen Iverson (LAC) won the POTW award.
In week 10, it went to Tracy McGrasy (PHI).



C Kevin Anderson from Notre Dame slipped a spot to #4 in the rankings. It looks like Georgetown is producing another monster Center as well. Sophomore Kenroy Bonney is the #2 ranked player in college.

[Instant Replay]

Days 76-90

at New Orleans W 91-88
vs. Minnesota W 98-90
at Toronto L 74-88
vs. Washington L 89-97
vs. Charlottte W 96-94
at Miami W 91-77
vs. Charlotte W 89-86
at Phoenix L 76-107

Now this is a much more acceptable couple of weeks. We go 5-3 to get back over 500 on the season. Our record is 23-22, which puts us 4 games out of first place in the division and a half a game up on chicago for the 8th and final playoff spot.


In week 11, the POTW award goes to Tim Duncan (TOR).
In week 12, it goes to LeBron James (WAS).


Kevin Garnett (DET) won the NBA Player of the Month award.

Shannon Campbell (SAC) won the Rookie of the Month award for the second time.



Allen Iverson slipped below 30 a game with a 29.6 average, but still has a healthy lead over Shaq, who is averaging 26.7.

Ben Wallace is on top of the rebounding list with 11.4 per game. Shaq is second in this category as well with 11.0.

Andrei Kirilenko (CLE) leads the league in blocked shots with 3.8 per game. Nobody is even close, as second place is Jermaine O'Neal (ATL) with 2.6.



For the Knicks, Carmelo leads the team in scoring with 21.8. Ben Gordon remains second with 16.1. Lincoln Johnson is third with 12.9 and Troy Murphy is also in double figures with 11.8.

The key guys off the bench are Jason Hart with 6.7 points and 3.1 assists in about 20 minutes per game. Sam Delnbert has 7.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in about 25 minutes. After that Flye Martin, Mike Sweetney and Etan Thomas are all around 10 minutes per game.

[Instant Replay]

Days 91-108 (All Star Break)

vs. Indiana W 108-87
at Washington W 97-91
vs. San Antonio W 95-92
vs. Cleveland L 83-101
at Detroit L 83-104
at Philadelphia L 90-95
at LA Clippers W 97-89
at Chicago W 119-110

We hit the All-Star Break with a nice win over Chicago, one of the team that will probably be pushing us for a playoff spot. Right now we stand at 28-25, 6 games behind Toronto, who is slowly pulling away. In second place in the division is New Jersey, 3 ahead of us. We still hold the 8th spot in the playoffs, 1 game up on Chicago.


In week 13, Shawn Marion (MIA) was named the POTW.
In week 14, it was Dirk Nowitzki (SEA).
In week 15 it was Allen Iverson (LAC).

C Kevin Anderson from Notre Dame is holding steady at #4 this month in the college player rankings. St. John's has a sophomore SG named Dan Montague who has moved up to #1 in the rankings.

[Instant Replay]

All Star Break

Day 1:

Lance Robinson (SA) beat Brent Higgins (LAC) in the Slam Dunk Finals, 66-59.



Day 2:

Jason Richardson (CLE) won the 3 point shootout over Cuttino Mobley (IND) and Mike Miller (CLE), in the finals.



Day 3:

The Rookies laid a beating down on the Sophomores today, 129-83! SF Shannon Campbell was named the game MVP with 20 points. Lincoln johnson, from the Knicks, started for the Sophs, but only scored 7 points.



Day 4:

The West beat the East, 121-115 this year. Iverson was named the game's MVP with 25 points. Carmelo Anthony was snubbed from the team and the Knicks had no representatives on the Eastern squad.

[Instant Replay]

Days 113-120

vs. New Jersey L 93-109
vs. Detroit W 91-64
at LA Lakers L 76-90

Not much action for us after the break yet, but we still stumble to a 29-27 record, losing 2 of 3. We are tied with the Bulls for the final playoff spot. 6-11 in the conference are all seperated by just 3 games now.



In week 16, Dirk Nowitzki (SEA) was named the POTW.
In week 17, it was Predrag Stojakovic (ATL).


Stojakovis (ATL) was also named the NBA Player of the Month.
Zviad Rusishvili (DAL) was named the Rookie of the Month.



Allen Iverson is back into the 30's, with a 30.2 scoring average, leading Shaq by over 3.5 points per game.

Iverson (LAC) and Shawn Marion (MIA) lead the league in steals with 2.2 each per game.



Not much change to report for the Knicks this month. Stats have pretty much leveled off.

[Instant Replay]

Days 121-135

vs. Dallas L 84-92
vs. Memphis W 91-74
vs. New Orleans L 96-110
vs. San Antonio W 111-93
at Atlanta W 93-87
at Orlando L 87-106
at Philadelphia W 104-103
vs. Boston W 102-95


Another 5-3 chunk of games brings our record to 34-30 on the year. We are solidly entrenched in third place in our division. We are 8 back of Toronto and 2.5 back of New Jersey for 2nd place. However, we are 6 up on Philadelphia, who sit in 4th place. In the playoff race for the 8th spot, we are a half game out on Detroit, along with Washington. The race will come down to the wire for sure.



In week 18, Tracy McGrady (PHI) won the POTW award.
In week 19, it went to Allen Iverson (LAC).


The final college rankings are out, as well as everyone who declared for the draft. The top NBE player is C Kevin Anderson from Notre Dame. His final ranking is #6. After that, there is a huge drop off. The next best player is PF Desmond Evans from Villanova, at #84. His teammate, PF Darcel Fletcher is last on the list at #92. Going to be slim picking, maybe I will try to move up.

[Instant Replay]

Days 136-150

vs. Milwaukee W 98-78
at Cleveland L 99-101
at Chicago L 91-97
vs. Philadelphia L 83-104
vs. Orlando L 81-107
vs. Miami W 116-93
vs. Atlanta L 99-102

Losing 5 of our last 6 has really put a hurting on our playoff chances. Our record has fallen to 36-35 on the year. We have slipped to 2 games out of the final playoff spot, with Chicago ahead of us in 9th place. We need to finish very strong to have a chance.



In weeks 20 and 21, Kevin Garnett (DET) was named the POTW.

Iverson (LAC) was named the NBA Player of the Month.

Shannon Campbell was named the Rookie of the Month.




Iverson will get another scoring title. He leads the league at 30.3 points per game. Shaq is second with 26.7.

Full recaps after the next 20 days which brings us to the end of the regular season.

[Instant Replay]

Days 151-170 (End of Regular Season)

vs. Charlotte L 91-117
at Milwaukee W 104-71
at Memphis W 106-93
at Orlando W 98-94
vs. Chicago L 109-114
at Indiana L 68-85
vs. Toronto L 91-98
at New Jersey L 87-97
at Boston W 100-87
vs. Detroit W 98-95
at Cleveland L 91-118


The 4 game losing streak towards the end did us in. We finish up the season 41-41, a clear improvement over last year, but 2 games short of the ultimate goal of reaching the playoffs this year. Next year is pretty much do or die. We have to step it up and make the playoffs.



In week 22, Predrag Stojakovic (ATL) was named the POTW.
In week 23, it went to Kevin Garnett (DET)
In week 24 it went to Kobe Bryant (LAL)


Garnett was also named the Player of the Month.

Germayne Matthews (GS) was named the Rookie of the Month.



As expected, Jason Kidd won the scoring title again with a 30.6 average.
Stephon Marbury led the league in assists with 8.9 per game.
Ben Wallace led the league in rebounds with 11.8 per game.
Andrei Kirilenko led the league in blocked shots with 3.7 per game.
Iverson led the league in steals with 2.3.
Our very own Lincoln Johnson led the league in FG% with 0.565.
Tim Duncan led the league in double doubles with 58.
Duncan also had the most triple doubles, with 3.


for the Knicks, in order of games started:

Carmelo Anthony: 20.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.0 apg
Lincoln Johnson: 13.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg
Ben Gordon: 16.4 ppg, 3.5 apg
Alvin Williams: 9.8 ppg, 5.6 apg
Troy Murphy: 11.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg
Sam Dalembert: 8.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.4 blocks per game.
Jason Hart: 6.2 ppg, 3.1 apg
Flye Martin: 3.5 ppg,
Matt Carol: 2.8 ppg
Etan Thomas: 3.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg
Mike Sweetney: 2.0 ppg
Kedric Gray: 1.5 ppg
Adam Evans: 0.8 ppg
Jason McKarney: 1.5 ppg

[Instant Replay]

Playoffs


Round 1

East:
1 Toronto over 8 Indiana
5 Orlando over 4 Atlanta
3 Cleveland over 6 New Jersey
7 Detroit over 2 Miami

West:
1 LA Lakers over 8 LA Clippers
5 Seattle over 4 Phoenix
6 Utah over 3 Dallas
2 Denver over 7 Minnesota



Round 2

East:
5 Orlando over 1 Toronto
3 Cleveland over 7 Detroit

West:
5 Seattle over 1 LA Lakers
6 Utah over 2 Denver



Round 3:

East:
5 Orlando over 3 Cleveland

West:
5 Seattle over 6 Utah



The Orlando Magic defeat the Seattle Supersonics for the 2005-2006 NBA Title!

[Instant Replay]

Awards

MVP: Tim Duncan (TOR)
Defensive: Andrei Kirilenko (CLE)
Rookie: Tim Willis (WAS)
6th Man: PJ Brown (LAL)
Coach: Sam Mitchell (TOR)

1st Team:
PG Jason Kidd (BOS)
SG Allen Iverson (LAC)
SF Dirk Nowitzki (SEA)
PF Tim Duncan (TOR)
C Ben Wallace (DEN)

The Knicks received no awards at all this year.

[Instant Replay]

2006-2007 New York Knicks

PG Alvin Williams, Villanova. Alvin is in his 11th year in the league. He is a solid role player on this team, but if we could upgrade him to a real presence on the team, we would elevate our game to a whole new level. Weakest position on the team. 3 stars.

SG Ben Gordon, Uconn. Ben is entering his 4rd season now and his production continues to go up every year. 3.5 stars with 4 star potential.

SF Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse. Now entering his 5th season, Carmelo is the heart and soul of this team. He has not taken his game to that next level just yet though. 4.5 stars with a potential for 5.

PF Troy Murphy, Notre Dame. Now entering his 7th season, Troy is a steady presence for us. If we had a better point guard, I wouldn't mind having Troy start, but he presents a second weakness in the big picture. 3.5 stars.

C Lincoln Johnson, High School. This will be his third year in the league and he has not progressed much since his rookie year. He is stilla fine player, better than most, but I am starting to doubt if he will ever reach that 5 star potential he has. Currently still at 4 stars.



The Bench:

PG Kedric Gray, Pitt. 2 stars, 2.5 star potential.

SG Matt Carroll, Notre Dame. 2 star with 2.5 star potential.

SF Flye Martin, Syracuse. 2.5 star with 3 star potential.

PF Etan Thomas, Syracuse. 2.5 stars.
PF Mike Sweetney, Georgetown. 2.5 stars with 3 star potential.
PF Desmond Evans, Villanova. 2 stars with 2.5 star potential.

C Sam Dalembert, Seton Hall. 3 stars with 3.5 star potential.


Gone is Jason Hart and I had to bite the bullet and release Brian Cardinal and eat all that salary.


IR:
Rookie PG Oliver Boyce, Louisville. 2 stars.
SG Jason McKarney, Uconn. 1.5 stars with 2 star potential.
C Adam Evans, West Virginia. 1 star with 2 star potential.

[Instant Replay]

Days 1-15

vs. Houston W 112-92
vs. Milwaukee W 104-90
vs. Portland W 75-71
at Sacramento W 100-73
at Utah L 82-114
at Seattle L 82-95
at Portland W 104-96
at LA Clippers L 94-105

We started off great and had very high hopes early on, but we came back down to earth when we went on an extended road trip. Still, a 5-3 start to the season is not too bad. The Nets started off 6-1 so we are 1.5 back early on.


Kevin Garnett (DET) was named the POTW for the first 2 weeks of the season.



We have 2 NBE players that are seniors that start the season in the top 25. C Dennis Williams out of Pitt is ranked #21 and SG Brett Caldwell out of Cincinnati is ranked #23. There are 5 other NBE players in the top 25 early in the season, so we may have a ncie draft class if a few of them declare early.

[Instant Replay]

Days 16-30

at Denver W 93-92
vs. Seattle L 93-103
vs. Dallas L 80-86
at Washington L 76-110
vs. Toronto W 94-93
at Toronto L 72-105
vs. Washington L 105-108
at Miami W 91-89
at Atlanta L 79-87


Just a really horrible performance after a decent start to the season. 3-6 in our last two weeks drops us below 500 on the year with a 8-9 record. We fall 3 games out of first place.


In week 3, Yao Ming (MEM) wins the POTW award.
In week 4, Tracy McGrady (PHI) wins it.

Kevin Garnett (DET) wins the Player of the Month Award.

Otis Jones (WAS) wins the Rookie of the Month Award.



Iverson still sits on top of the scoring leaders list with 26.6 points. But he has competition after the first month of this season. Predrag Stojakovic (ATL) is second with 26.4 and Kevin Garnett (DET) is third with 25.6.

Ben Wallace (DEN) is once again the top rebounder with 12.1 per game. Yao Ming (MEM) is close behind at 11.9. Garnett is third in this category as well with 10.8.



Carmelo Anthony leads the Knicks in scoring again with 20.9 per game. Ben Gordon's production has slipped a bit early on. He is averaging 15.7. On the other hand, Lincoln Johnson's scoring average is up a bit, to 14.9. Troy Murphy is at 10.9 and Alvin Williams is at 9.9.

Johnson is doing a great job on the boards early on in the season with a 10.6 average.

[Instant Replay]

Days 31-45

at Boston W 95-89
at Cleveland W 98-72
at New Jersey L 104-113
at Milwaukee W 95-93
vs. Denver L 68-98
vs. Miami W 97-56
vs. Minnesota L 79-122


A 4-3 record in this chunk of games is a little better, but we really need to put together a lenghty winning streak and establish ourselves this season as a playoff team. Our record stands at 12-12, which is 3.5 games behind the Nets and 1 game behind Toronto.


Kevin Garnett (DET) was the POTW in week 5.
Paul Pierce (DAL) was the POTW in week 6.


Only the Cincinnati SG, Brett Caldwell, is in the top 25 college players as the season moves on. It is still early and these rankings will shift a lot as we go on.

[Instant Replay]

Days 46-60

at Indiana L 61-95
vs. New Jersey L 91-99
at Houston W 84-79
vs. Utah L 96-108
at Phoenix W 89-85
at LA Lakers W 97-90
at Golden State L 77-106

Our hopes for the season took a huge blow as Carmelo Anthony went down with an injury in the win at the Lakers. Carmelo is going to miss about 2 months of the season. Our record is 15-16, and we drop to 4th place in our division.



In week 7, Paul Gasol (POT) was named the POTW.
In week 8, the award goes to Allen Iverson (LAC).

Iverson was also named the Player of the Month.

Darnell Seymour was named the Rookie of the Month.



Iverson is pulling away once again as the scoring leader with 28.7 per game. Garnett is second with 25.3.

Stephon Marbury (SA) is once again the assists leader with 9.3 per game. Andre Miller (ATL) is second with 8.8.


Carmelo is averaging 19.7 per game, and I don't know where we are going to replace that for the next 2 months. Gordon is producing a bit more, up to 16.2 per game. Lincoln Johnson is at 14.1. Murphy and Williams are both over 10 per game.

Alvin Williams leads us with 5.4 assists.