Blu Flame Blvd.: What Comes Now?????

Another NBA campaign ends in frustration, injury and doubt. It's easy to blame a number of things as to why game 5 in Miami was our end point and not another mark on the path to greater post season success. There's a fine line between reason and excuse. The season of (L)Insanity as I've dubbed it was equally unkind across the league so I guess that made it fair in its cruelty as it didn't discriminate. So now that the off season is here for my Knicks I have to take stock of what was, is and what can be. I waited until now to address this as I didn't want to be caught up in the immediate emotional wave of their elimination. I fell back viewed the reactions of others, media "expert" analysis and now am ready to touch on how I feel towards the Orange and Blue.

It's hard to imagine that the free agency period is only 1 week in. So much has already happened approaching the actual date for official team moves July 11th. My Knicks came into this period with 3 areas that needed to be addressed.

1. Stabilization of the PG position. The majority of past season was played with sub par or no actual pg's in place. Fortunately the Knicks realized this and addressed it.....to a degree. Targeting Steve Nash was the best move possible but once he decided on LA they acquired veteran Jason Kidd to back and mentor Jeremy Lin once they match the current offer on the table from Houston. Nash w/ Lin as the back is a A grade at the PG slot. Lin backed by Kidd is a C+ with potential to be higher. Health is a major factor as we so harshly learned last year.

2. Outside Shooting. The Knicks only have one true shooter on the team. The NBA's leading 3 pt marksman is Steve Novak. Assuming we resign him that's a great spot up option but that is literally all he can do. His lack of other skills is a issue in many situations. Rookie standout Iman Shumpert started to show a much improved perimeter shot after linking up with Allan Houston but rehab will have him out till early 2013. Compound that with the departure of Fields to Toronto and we now have a huge hole at the starting 2 slot. J.R Smith may end up filling that role if no suitable replacement is found. Thats not an idea I'm found of.

3. Bench support for the Front line. 2 All star forwards and a DPOY Center is great to have but they eventually need to rest and when that happens we realized that there is little to nothing to substitute for them. No quality back up center, power forward and then a bunch of undersized swing men. In truth the best the Knicks can do is one good addition, unless we find a diamond in the ruff in the D league or something. The name most talked about is Marcus Camby. A former Knick that maintained good ties with the organization, Camby still has bounce in his game, blocks, rebounds, has that foul extended jumper and could play 4 or 5 when needed. Miami is looking at Camby too. After scooping up Ray Allen from the C's I have to hope they don't add Marcus as well.

The season that the Knicks are now preparing for is vital on so many fronts. What will Lin evolve into? Will the injury bug of last year leave us alone? Will Iman Shumpert return to his All NBA defensive level? Do the intangibles of a J.Kidd really have that much effect. Will Amare return to All Star status & Melo live up to the hype and prove the overzealous media critics wrong? This Knick collective will finally have a full off season and training camp together. No more 4 games in 5 days either so in short there are no excuses. There has to be a significant jump made for this team to really be "back."