Will Knicks Quit on the Quick?

The New York Knicks completed the 2006 Las Vegas Summer League season with a record of 4-1. During the competition the team unveiled its offense termed “the Quick” by its creator Isiah Thomas. I first heard of the new offense when MSG TV commentator Gus Johnson described the offense as embodying the principles of 3 very successful offenses:

• John Wooden’s UCLA High Post Shuffle Cut
• Bobby Knight’s Passing Philosophy
• Tex Winter’s Triangle Offense

Thomas employed the same offense when he coached a young and rebuilding Indiana Pacers team to three straight playoff appearances, bowing out in the first round each time.

Since it is only summer league it is hard to gauge whether the Knicks will be as or more successful with Thomas as their coach employing this offense. The Vegas SL success was clearly a function of having better talent on the floor, as it relates to the Knicks younger players. In the two games where the other team had superior talent – Amare Stoudamire (Phoenix Suns) and Ron Artest (Sacremento Kings) – the Knicks lost to the Suns, and trailed big in the first half, only to rebound and win against the Kings because Artest did not play in the second half.

The major factor in the team’s success was the steady play at the Point Guard position by Nate Robinson and Walker Russell, Jr. Although during an on-air, in-game interview, Thomas stressed that the offense is not predicated on the PG being “the brain”, it was apparent that summer league head coach Mark Aguirre felt differently. In the first two games, he pulled Robinson at key intervals and by the third game Robinson ran the offense to perfection, which enabled other players to carry the offensive load.

Can this success carry over into the regular season? This brings us back the question of talent and where exactly the Knicks are. Did they quit on their coach last season? By all accounts and specifically because of the results of the Larry Brown era – I mean season, of 23 wins and 59 losses.

From now until the start of training camp, the team might make some moves but in the meantime, I will provide a series of articles to pick-up where I left off - Who’s Zooming Who?