Knick Maintenence

I cant wait to tell my kids one day about the 06-07 Clippers. Wait , I mean the 08-09 Hornets, no no I'm sorry I meant the 10-11 Bucks. Now there are perhaps five or six people on this planet that can tell you anything about any one of those squads of The Association (Dubroff being one of them), however each of them offers a lesson for this edition of the New York Knicks.

The Garden right now is pandemonium. Amare has been beyond great playing with enthusiasm and fire we haven't seen of him in at least four years. Wilson (potato salad) Chandler has put together a classic contract year (guaranteeing he gets overpaid by roughly 3 billion dollars in the off season). More importantly New York is buzzing to the point that you can barely go ten feet in the city without seeing the blue and orange jersey, including when I saw a 65 year old woman wearing an Amare jersey dress. Yes life is good in Knickland. Careful now, careful.

All of the teams mentioned above have one thing in common, they had seasons ranging from mediocre to dreadful the season after they had breakout campaigns. All three of those teams the year before took advantage of soft early schedules to build confidence , all three had an emerging alpha dog playing at historic levels, and all three left their rosters virtually the same going into the next season. The Clippers and Hornets each had very impressive round 1 playoff victories in those previous seasons, and took better teams to the brink in round 2 before falling (the Bucks did this except they lost in round 1 after their best player Bogut went down with an injury). The Bucks Clippers and Hornets all had tremendous promise going into the next season only to disappoint.

As excited as I am as a Knick fan about this season, I fear that next years Knicks could await a similar fate as the aforementioned teams. This years Knicks will more than likely win a round 1 series, and will probably lose a hard fought series to a high seed. Thats where I want to hit the pause button and give the Knicks a game plan on how to avoid the classic let down season in 11-12, and build a title contender. My non-expert, biased opinion should be flawless.

Step 1: SELL HIGH ON FELTON...GO FOR CP3 AFTER NEXT SEASON

Raymond Felton has been superb for the Knicks this year BUT-Does anybody honestly think you can win a title with Raymond Felton as your point guard and number two scoring option unless your team is playing a regional final at the Carrier Dome and it's award for the top player in the finals is called the M.O.P. Maybe it's because I can't imagine looking at his lack of a neck for the next five years, or maybe it's because well, at the end of the day he's Raymond Felton, but he will never be more valuable than he is right now. I say that you include Felton in a package for a player that will be involved in the long term plans of the Knicks. As a matter of fact, are you telling me that the Hornets wouldn't jump on a deal of something along the lines of Felton, Wilson Chandler and Anthony Randolph for Chris Paul. The Hornets know that he is bolting in another season, and this deal makes a ton of sense for both teams.

The very thought of CP3 and Amare teaming up in New York gave me a nocturnal emission last night. If Chris Paul can make David (Johnny) Qwest and Tyson Chandler dominant pick and pop/alley-oop partners, than can you even begin to imagine what Paul could do with Stat. Another season of recovery from knee surgery should put Paul back where he was two years ago and then some. People seem to forget how much the rest of the Hornets have actually sucked these past few years while Paul has dragged their sorry corpses to respectability. Getting Paul either in that scenario or via Free Agency is a no brainer, over keeping the red hot Felton, and no this has nothing to do with me owning Paul in a keeper league and dreaming of teaming him with D`Antoni and Amare.

STEP 2: KEEP CARMELO FOCUSED ON THE GARDEN

If I were Donny Walsh, everyday I would have my editors at the garden edit a tape where they show a great moment at the Garden (LJ's four point play), and splice the tape so at the end of the clip it flashes to a Nets game at the IZOD center with Kris Humphries missing a 12 footer in front of 3000 people. Promise Melo the world, and get his juices flowing by making it impossible for him to want to sign off on a trade with the Nets. Despite all of the rumors the Knicks seem to still be the front runners for the Knicks, and he will play for them by no later than next season.

STEP 3: TRADE ALL THE OTHER GUNNERS

A team that features CP3, Melo and Amare is such an unreal combination of offense that compliments each other that I just slapped my cat in her teeth in excitement. This means two things however. One is that there wont be many more shots to go around, and two...wow that is a terrible defensive team (particularly in the front court). Since there aren't many shots to go around, why not trade shoot first assets like Gallinari and Chandler for defensive minded swing men who can hit open threes. Players like Corey Brewer, Martell Webster, or Shannon Brown would all be perfect, and it would give them another stopper with size to pit with Paul. So the next logical step would be...

STEP 4: SIGN A DEFENSIVE CENTER

My final dream scenario includes signing Old Greg Oden to a one year deal, and asking him to rebound, block shots, and keep his crusty draws on. I think it's become pretty clear that Portland's medical staff is made up of a bag lady, Ruben Patterson, a kitten wearing a doctors coat, and a bag of chips. Obviously Oden will never live up to being the number one pick in a draft where Durant went number two, but he's still in his early 20's. Perhaps anothe set of team doctors can get him back to health. If Oden is even 70% of the player that we thought he would be after the injuries, than he would fit perfectly wiht the Knicks. A starting five that includes Chris Paul, Shannon Brown, Melo, Amare, and Oden is a team that compliments each other perfectly. For now, all we can do is sit back and hope the 11-12 Knicks give us more to cheer for than the 06-07 Clippers.