Top 5 Lessons NY Knicks Should Have Learned From NBA Playoffs

To read more of Ronald Monestime's work, check out his page at Examiner.com.

Now that the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have distinguished themselves from the remaining 28 teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA), it’s as good a time as any to examine, no pun intended, how the first three rounds of the playoffs became a teaching tool for its multitude of spectators.

More specifically, there were a myriad of lessons to be gleaned by New York Knicks President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh and his staff as the organization prepares to enter what is anticipated to be, arguably, the most active and critical off-season in team history.

So, without further adieu and any empty rhetoric, based on the last month and a half of action, the top five observations that should have upped the intelligence quotient of the Knick front office going into next month’s free agent melee are:

5. An invitation to Brendan Haywood is warranted

The one position where the Knicks are glaringly lacking is at center. So much so that 6’9” David Lee had to fill this void for virtually the entire season; and did so admirably.

But in Brendan Haywood, who will be an unrestricted free agent come July 1, New York has an opportunity to acquire a true center that will rebound and block shots with the best of them.

Born in New York City, the 30-year-old Haywood averaged 8.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game in 28 games with the Dallas Mavericks after being dealt by the Washington Wizards just prior to the trade deadline. Before the trade, Haywood was averaging 9.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game for Washington.

In the playoffs, Haywood averaged 6.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game in an average of only 23.2 minutes of action.

Although his numbers may be dwarfed by those of David Lee, the presence of the 7’0” Haywood would allow the Knicks to actually play true power forwards, like Lee, at their natural position.

4. Joe Johnson is not a maximum contract player

After averaging 21.3 points per game in the regular season while shooting 46% from the field and 37% from the three-point arc, Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson pulled a disappearing act in the playoffs; especially in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Orlando Magic.

In the series against the Magic, Johnson averaged just 12.8 points per game and shot 30% from the field. The four-time All-Star fared even worse from three-point range, where he shot a horrific 18% in Orlando's four-game sweep.

Johnson, who turns 29 next month, is a quiet star, figuratively and literally, with the unique ability to take over a game as evidenced by his 35-point outburst, including 20 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Hawks to victory in a first-round playoff game against the Boston Celtics in 2008.

However, this is more the exception than the rule when it comes to the Arkansas native. Johnson has never been, and never will be, a franchise difference-making player and, therefore, the Knicks would be grossly overpaying for his services if they were to sign him to a maximum contract.

Johnson’s shoulders are too narrow to carry the hopes of an entire franchise.

3. Dirk Nowitzki and Danilo Gallinari would make for a lethal frontcourt

As any superstar is supposed to do, Dirk Nowitzki took his game to another level in the playoffs, but all he got for his trouble is yet another surprising first round exit; which is much of the reason Nowitzki intends to opt out of his contract next month to become an unrestricted free agent.

During the regular season, Nowitzki averaged 25.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, to lead the Dallas Mavericks, and shot 49% from the field and 42% from three-point range. In the playoffs, Nowitzki once again led the Mavericks in scoring (26.7) and rebounding (8.2) while shooting a blistering 55% from the field and 57% from distance.

It would behoove the Knicks to make some sort of attempt to steal Nowitzki from under the nose of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban because a combination of Danilo Gallinari, whose game improved by leaps and bounds this year, at the small forward and Nowitzki at the power forward would give New York the most offensively gifted and versatile front court in the league.

2. Phil Jackson is headed for free agency as well

For more on this continually developing situation, among others, click here to read the article on why hiring current Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson is the Knicks’ best and last chance to entice LeBron James to come to New York.

1. Ask not what you can do for LeBron James but what LeBron James can do for you

Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the questions Donnie Walsh should ask LeBron James when they finally sit down for a meeting is for a candid response in regards to what happened in Game 5 and Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics. Was it the elbow injury? Did James mentally check out of that series? Because, for whatever reason, the LeBron James that’s come to be expected over the past several years was not on that court.

If this year’s playoffs were James’ curtain call in Cleveland, he certainly didn’t go out on his shield like Dwyane Wade did or Steve Nash, who’s not headed for free agency, did. And God forbid the day ever comes when Kobe Bryant is questioned about whether he gave it his all in any game.

Yes, LeBron James is the grand prize of the 2010 free agent class and much like the pretty girl that all the guys want to talk to and have on their arm. But if there’s no substance behind the style then, as with the case of the pretty girl, there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

To read more of Ronald Monestime's work, check out his page at Examiner.com.

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3 Things That Baffled Me Last Week (5/11)

DeSean Jackson’s comments on Donovan McNabb – People just refuse to leave Donovan McNabb alone. The other day, Eagles WR DeSean Jackson said that he was happy with Philadelphia’s decision to trade McNabb, as well as “I don’t think we lost anything, even with McNabb being gone.” Jackson’s not the first former teammate to take shots at McNabb. Remember T.O.? I just don’t understand the logic behind it. Both Jackson and T.O. made the Pro Bowl with Donovan McNabb throwing them the ball!

Of course, McNabb took the high road after these comments, like he always does. I respect the guy for that, but just once I would love to see him hit back and tell all the haters to shut the fuck up.

Bengals sign Pacman Jones – A match made in heaven. Eh, heaven doesn’t work actually. A match made in hell? Maybe jail?

What a bunch of idiots over there in the Cincinnati front office. How can anybody possibly think that Pacman Jones would be a good fit for the Cincinnati Bengals, who are trying to clean up an image problem after having about 376 players arrested over the past few years? I mean, the NFL personal conduct policy was pretty much invented for Pacman Jones.

Atlanta Hawks – Biggest fraud of a “contender” that I can remember in a long time. This is a team that only gets up to play the Boston Celtics, and managed to skate by with a losing record on the road, solely because they dominated at home. No real contender for an NBA championship has a losing record on the road. This is a team that got swept out of the second round of the playoffs (after barely squeaking by the injury-ridden Milwaukee Bucks in the first round), in one of the most lopsided series’ in NBA playoff history. And it was a 2 seed versus a 3 seed! It’s not like it was a 1 vs. 8 matchup. This is a team whose “superstar” player, Joe Johnson, pulled a Magic act of his own by disappearing in the second round against Orlando, and turned the Atlanta fans against him by calling them out for booing when their team was down 30 points at home. This is a team that far too many people got excited about. This is a team… that sucks.

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NBA Top 50: Joe Johnson (No. 20)

OtB is counting down the days 'til the NBA 2009-10 season tips off by ranking the top 50 players in the league. On Wednesday there are/were 20 days left.

Is Joe Johnson great? Yeah. Is he your Tom Cruise on a title winning USS Enterprise? (Not the Klingon fighting kind. Top Gun, not Star Trek, Holmes.) Not really. He's certainly no Goose, but is he the guy who feels the need to iterate the need? In other words, is he going to lead you to the promised land? In a word, no. He's no Moses, but let's say he's a little like Aaron. He makes it all possible. Without guys like Joe Johnson, you can't recognize the brilliance of great teams. They come out in stutters (Like the biblical Aaron, c'mon guy, keep up). Let's try one last one on ya. Johnson's like Queequeg. He's no passive bystander like Ishmael, and he saves more than one game from being swallowed whole by whale heads, alive or dead. Still, he's no Ahab. He doesn't steer the Pequod indelibly toward the looming jaws of fate.

In other words, we can lament Johnson's journey to Hot-lanta, and we can wish he had an MJ to whom he could play the Pippen role, but you get what the sea coughs up to you. Johnson is a Hawk, and he's part of the reason this team is on the rise. He actually reminds me of former Hawk Steve Smith, though Johnson handles a little more competently and consequently hands out a few more dishes than Smith would. In fact, the comparison of the two players time in Atlanta is a little uncanny. They both hit for around 20 points per game. They both pulled in about four boards and dished at a similar clip. They both held a true shooting percentage in the mid .500s, shooting in the mid .300s from distance. They both have first and last names starting with the same letter. In truth, Johnson's stats are a little better than Smith's. Keep in mind, though, that Smith's Hawks were generally 50 win teams, which also translates to Smith's usage rate being a little lower than Johnson's.

Queequeg Finished Light Zoom, originally uploaded by inkysweet.

Here's the real rub, when looking at Johnson's production. Two season's ago, he sat out the last 35 games. This means we get to see what his stats would look like if he stopped playing after February. Johnson, it's been noted, tends to drop off around then. He gets tired. He can't carry the load any further. For you literary types, this is about the point where Queequeg gets fitted, in the throes of a riotous fever, for his own casket. So, what does Johnson's production look like when he stops playing in early March? How about 25 points per game and a field goal percentage of .471? In the last two seasons, he's ended with a fg percetage below .440. This is not to say Johnson's not durable. Since the start of the 02-03 season, he's only missed 8 games excepting those 35 in 06-07. Still, it is saying there's only so much this man can do.

I had Johnson at 13th before the start of last season. Perhaps he fell prey to the number. Perhaps I thought he would have a bounce back year after he was a little less potent in 07-08 than he was in his injury shortened season. It turns out, his production has remained pretty consistent. This is what we're getting from Johnson. To reiterate, per game style: 21 points, nearly 6 assists, four and a half boards, over .800 from the line, over .350 from three. A February fade. Playoff appearances, but perhaps no Finals runs. Perhaps.

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