02/25/07 NBA Rankings based on Strength of Wins / Losses

	NBA Rankings based on Strength of Wins / Losses
	(for week ending 02/25/07)
		By Guichard Cadet
Rank	Previous Week	Teams	Total Strength	Most Minutes Played	Most Shots Attempted
1	2	Phoenix	61.32	Marion	Marion
2	1	Dallas	60.19	Nowitzki	Nowitzki
3	6	Detroit	58.04	Prince	Hamilton
4	7	Chicago	57.39	Deng	Gordon
5	5	San Antonio	56.61	Duncan	Duncan
6	4	Utah	56.45	Williams	Williams
7	3	Cleveland	56.40	James	James
8	8	Houston	55.89	Battier	McGrady
9	10	Washington	55.85	Arenas	Arenas
10	9	New Orleans	55.67	Mason	Mason
11	11	Toronto	55.18	Parker	Bosh
12	12	L.A. Lakers	54.81	Bryant	Bryant
13	14	New Jersey	54.48	Carter	Carter
14	13	Golden State	54.14	Ellis	Davis
15	17	Orlando	53.58	Howard	Howard
16	16	Indiana	53.47	Granger	O'Neal
17	20	Sacramento	52.99	Bibby	Bibby
18	15	L.A. Clippers	52.98	Brand	Brand
19	24	Charlotte	52.89	Okafor	Morrison
20	19	Minnesota	52.76	Garnett	Garnett
21	21	Atlanta	52.59	Johnson	Johnson
22	22	New York	52.58	Crawford	Crawford
23	18	Denver	52.08	Camby	Anthony
24	23	Portland	52.03	Randolph	Randolph
25	25	Miami	50.92	Wade	Wade
26	26	Milwaukee	50.82	Bell	Williams
27	27	Seattle	49.93	Allen	Allen
28	28	Philadelphia	49.59	Iguodala	Iguodala
29	29	Memphis	48.98	Miller	Miller
30	30	Boston	45.17	Gomes	Jefferson

02/18/07 NBA Rankings based on Strength of Wins / Losses

	NBA Rankings based on Strength of Wins / Losses
	(for week ending 02/18/07)
	at the All-Star Break
		By Guichard Cadet
Rank	Previous Week	Teams	Total Strength
1	2	Dallas	57.55
2	1	Phoenix	56.52
3	7	Cleveland	53.81
4	6	Utah	53.44
5	3	San Antonio	53.02
6	12	Detroit	52.99
7	5	Chicago	52.87
8	9	Houston	52.72
9	17	New Orleans	52.55
10	4	Washington	52.05
11	16	Toronto	52.02
12	8	L.A. Lakers	51.83
13	11	Golden State	51.49
14	15	New Jersey	51.36
15	10	L.A. Clippers	50.94
16	13	Indiana	50.92
17	14	Orlando	50.86
18	19	Denver	49.87
19	20	Minnesota	49.51
20	24	Sacramento	49.23
21	28	Atlanta	49.16
22	18	New York	48.81
23	21	Portland	48.75
24	23	Charlotte	48.60
25	27	Miami	48.14
26	22	Milwaukee	47.66
27	26	Seattle	47.25
28	25	Philadelphia	47.17
29	29	Memphis	46.59
30	30	Boston	42.44

Knicks At The Break - 2007

Structured Offense vs. Run & Gun

by Guichard Cadet

Isiah Thomas is a better coach than he thinks. During Summer League play, the talk was of his running the “Quick” – basically a hybrid offense to push tempo and hide the team’s lack of shooting deft.

A 6 win, 11 losses start to the season quickly shifted that focus. Initially the losing seemed to be a function of a tough schedule filled with back-to-backs and playing 13 games against teams that made the playoffs the previous season.

It also highlighted a dilemma. The Knicks did not have the offensive firepower to fully go up-tempo, nor the offensive efficiency & defensive mindset to play a slow down game. The third game of the season proved this. In this loss against Indiana, the Pacers shot at will on the perimeter, and shut down the Knicks offense.

Even though the team established a pattern of early first quarter double-digit deficits, the strength of schedule continued to be the excuse, until the Knicks got blown out by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and lost back-to-back to the Chicago Bulls.

Thomas realized he essentially had two teams on his hands – one excelled in a half-court structured offense; the other in an up-tempo run & gun frenzy.

S.O. Players - Marbury, Curry, Frye and Richardson. Though Richardson found some success with the Phoenix Suns, he excels shooting setshot 3-pointers in halfcourt sets and not the break.

R & G Players – Crawford, Francis, Robinson and Balkman. The Knicks fate lies in Crawford’s ability to function in the structured offense. His defense needs improvement, his points come mostly on isolation plays, and his assists primarily to Curry, with little inkling to utilize Frye and Richardson’s offensive talent.

David Lee - Though more suited for an up-tempo game, he has shown the ability to function playing either style while lacking a consistent jump shot. He makes up for it with great shot selection, rebounding and increased accuracy at the free-throw line.

Jared Jeffries – This was a questionable signing because the team already had Lee and Balkman on the roster. Running a structured offense accentuates his offensive woes.

Though Thomas kept the shell of the Quick offense, he abandoned the principles, choosing to focus on establishing Curry as a dominant low-post threat.

This move has paid off to a certain degree because the Knicks have gone 17-19, for an overall record of 23 wins, 30 losses. Curry has improved offensively, but the team continues to struggle defensively against teams that push tempo while having the ability to shoot from the 3-point range.

Thomas needs to take one more step into his basketball roots, and forego some offense by letting defensive-minded players (Jeffries and Balkman) make their offensive mishaps because they hide Curry and Frye’s defensive limitations, much like Chuck Daly did with John Salley and Dennis Rodman.

With the owner’s mandate to show “significant improvement”, Thomas has equated validating the Curry trade as the crux of his argument that last season was due to Larry Brown’s coaching shenanigans and not his General Manger / Talent Acquisition strategy.

Now that the team has matched the previous season’s win total (23), Thomas should now expand his coaching repertoire, perhaps even borrowing a page from Hubie Brown’s coaching philosophy, in which he uses two distinct units, each having different directives.

Shortening the rotation makes no sense because the team has few “two-way” players, and there is too much money tied up in contracts for non-starters (Francis, Jeffries, Rose and James).

02/04/07 NBA Rankings based on Strength of Wins / Losses

	NBA Rankings based on Strength of Wins / Losses
	(for week ending 02/04/07)
		By Guichard Cadet
Rank	Previous Week	Teams	Total Strength
1	1	Phoenix	52.32
2	2	Dallas	51.46
3	6	Utah	48.56
4	5	Chicago	48.40
5	4	Washington	48.31
6	7	Cleveland	47.91
7	3	San Antonio	47.73
8	8	L.A. Lakers	47.48
9	12	Detroit	47.34
10	9	Houston	46.54
11	10	L.A. Clippers	46.52
12	13	Indiana	46.50
13	14	Orlando	46.41
14	16	Toronto	46.15
15	11	Golden State	46.02
16	15	New Jersey	45.95
17	17	New Orleans	45.19
18	18	New York	44.85
19	23	Charlotte	44.79
20	21	Portland	44.34
21	19	Denver	44.26
22	22	Milwaukee	43.85
23	20	Minnesota	43.72
24	24	Sacramento	43.67
25	28	Atlanta	43.26
26	27	Miami	42.75
27	25	Philadelphia	42.73
28	26	Seattle	42.02
29	29	Memphis	41.53
30	30	Boston	38.53