NBA weekend wrap-up

Posted by Dan Dragicevich.

This weekend had some interesting story lines, especially the emergence of J.R. Smith in New York.

J.R. Smith of the New York Knicks

As a follow-up to my recent article, I wrote about the in-season acquisition of shooting guard J.R. Smith by the New York Knicks. This weekend he made his season debut when he came off the bench against the reigning champs, the Dallas Mavericks. This was a surprise to many because even though Bill Walker was unable to play, Smith was reportedly still a long shot to play with only a few days of practice with his new team. Well, the Knicks made the right decision and are happy they did because Smith came out on fire scoring 15 points and knocking down 3 treys to go along with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. He ended up going 6 of 16 from the field which is a .375 shooting percentage which is right around his average. This is a great sign for Knicks fans because if Smith can stay consistent (which is a big if), he can really take pressure off of Carmelo Anthony who is scheduled to return tonight. Also, Jeremy Lin continued his dominant run by scoring 28 points, dishing out 14 assists, and having 5 steals. The Knicks are starting to develop a great supporting cast for Carmelo Anthony, let’s just hope it doesn’t all fall apart when he gets back.

Another interesting headline in basketball that happened over the weekend was the jab that Kobe Bryant took at the Laker’s front office after their game against the Phoenix Suns. In a post-game interview he explained (with some expletives) that he is very upset about the job that the Laker’s front office is doing with the talks about the Pau Gasol trade. He said, “I'd rather (Lakers management) not trade him, but if they're going to do it, (expletive) do it already. If you're not going to do it, come out and say you're not going to do it.” Bryant didn’t seem too upset when talking about it but he was very serious about it. Although Gasol is playing well, Bryant believes it is having an effect on his game and that it isn’t right what management is doing for him and the team. We’ll see what kind of effect this has on the team because this isn’t the first time Bryant has done something like this. Much like his old coach, Phil Jackson aka the Zen Master, Bryant knows exactly how to fire up his team when he feels they are struggling. For all the Laker fans out there (including myself), I wouldn’t worry about this having a negative effect on the chemistry of the team because Bryant is one of the greatest leaders of all-time to play this game and I think he pulled out the big guns just in time for the Laker’s to make a run leading up to the all-star break.

Knicks making moves

Posted by Dan Dragicevich.

The New York Knicks have been in the news for the last few weeks because of Jeremy Lin’s play. Can another Knick story actually take away from Linsanity?

Everyone by now has officially heard of Jeremy Lin and what he has done to the sports world. He has literally saved his career by performing at a record pace in just a few short games. The fact that Jeremy Lin is such an underdog story is something that everyone can relate to and because he is such a genuine guy, everyone loves to root for him. Jeremy Lin has put Knicks basketball back in the headlines and they are thankful for that, but has the Knicks front office now made a splash of their own?

Yes it is true; the Knicks are back atop the headlines not because of Lin, but because of a free agent signing that they recently made. The Knicks’ front office picked up J.R. Smith from overseas who was playing in China. Smith, who before leaving to go play in China, was a part of the Denver Nuggets organization. He and fellow teammate Wilson Chandler left the NBA because they were afraid of the NBA going into a lockout and were offered a high salary by the Chinese league.

J.R. Smith

This is a big signing for the Knicks because not only do they have the emergence of Lin, a true point guard by definition, but they also have some depth at the shooting guard position now. This will now give the Knicks more options for scoring and will also relieve some pressure from Carmelo Anthony who has struggled at times shooting the ball this season.

While J.R. Smith was a part of the Nuggets, most would say he was an above average player. He has great range, he is a high flyer who can swing the momentum of games, and he has a decent handle on the ball. For his career, Smith averaged 12.5 points a game, 2.8 rebounds a game, 2.0 assists a game, .9 steals a game and shot at an average of .428 from the field. Based on those numbers Smith had a pretty nice NBA career. A few knocks people would say about Smith is that while he can be a tremendous scorer, he can also be very inconsistent. Smith is a very streaky player and when he is hot he can be one of the best scorers in the league but when he is shooting poorly, he is almost invisible out there. The Knicks are obviously willing to take that with a grain of salt and realize that if they want to compete in the postseason with the likes of Chicago and Miami then they need to have all the scoring power they can. The Knicks aren’t worried too much about the other things Smith can do because they are bringing him in for one reason and one reason only, to put the ball in the hoop. They are also hoping that Smith has a bit of confidence in his play coming out of China because while he was there he managed to average an astounding 32.5 points per game. Of course the level of play overseas has diminished, but that’s still very impressive and hopefully can turn into positive play.

The Knicks are doing everything they can to make themselves contenders and the races are heating up. The next few months should be very interesting, starting with all-star weekend.