Let me guess who’s next. Antonio McDyess! OK, so the Knicks aren’t looking at him, but it would only follow the pattern of the Knicks signing former drafted number two overall picks this offseason. Jason Kidd was the second overall pick in 1994 by the Dallas Mavericks out of the University of California, while Marcus Camby from UMass was drafted number two by the Toronto Raptors in 1996.
Well hey, maybe it’s every two years starting from 1994
where the Knicks take second overall picks! Let’s look at 1998: Bibby, Mike. Oh
God.
While some people do not like the fact that the Knicks are
getting older this offseason, I think both of these deals make the Knicks more
of a legitimate contender. Look back to last season as everyone on the Knicks
at some point or another went down due to injury.
Let’s start with the point guard situation from last year.
It went something like this: Toney Douglas starting and handing it off to Melo.
Then Iman Shumpert pretended to be a point guard…and that didn’t work very well
either. LINSANITY!!!!!!! LINSANITY!!!!! LINSANITY!!!!! After the LINcredible
and LINternational sensation went down to injury, Mike Bibby and Baron Davis
tried to recapture their skills from the early 2000’s…and that REALLY didn’t
work well.
That’s what makes signing Jason Kidd to the mini mid-level
exception so important. Although Kidd is 39 years old, he is arguably one of
the best pure passers in the history of the game. He is a defender that you can
rely on. He can rebound the ball and can nail a three-ball when he’s left open.
But most importantly, he can mentor Jeremy Lin and demand respect from the rest
of the team.
Moving over to the bigmen. When Tyson Chandler was out,
there was not a presence like his to replace him. You can ask anybody: I am a
HUGE Jared Jeffries fan, but the 38-year-old Camby is a whole lot better than
JJ. There are reports that Jeffries would like to come back to New York for the
veteran’s minimum, and I hope he does. The thing is he would definitely have a
reduced role because Camby is a player that has always been a tough force
inside the paint, both on defense and rebounding the basketball. And for his
entire career, Camby has averaged nearly a double-double (9.7 ppg and 9.9 rpg).
By the way, the last time the Knicks won a playoff series was when Camby was in
a Knicks uniform (back from 1998-2002)!
If you are a Knicks fan, you already have a better team this
year than last. Depth is always key to playoff teams. And last year, the Knicks
didn’t have that. By signing Kidd and Camby, it provides the Knicks with great
leadership, experience, and depth.
I just wonder how old the Knicks backup shooting guard is going
to be!
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