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As a long-time Knicks fan, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. From trends over the last few seasons, it is obvious to me and  most basketball fans, that the Knicks will once again miss the playoffs this season. Here are the 7 reasons I came up with:

1. Their starting shooting guard is Larry Hughes – I have been a Hughes fan since his days in Golden State, but I realize that he is not the player he once was. He is now in his 11th season in the league, and he just cannot produce the kind of stats on offense and defense that will be needed from him at a key position. Is he really the guy you want defending the Kobes and Wades of the league? Where is a good 5th year shooting guard on this team? They NEED one.

2. They signed Darko Milicic in the offseason - If you can ever show a sign of desperation as a ball club, it is by signing a big-time draft bust in hopes of resurrecting his career. The ”Ryan Leaf” of the stacked 2003 NBA Draft has been a huge disappointment ever since he came to the league. By the Knicks taking a chance on him, even though there is minimal risk involved, it shows a lack of depth and overall talent by the rest of the team. Although I like the move by the Knicks because of the potential upside, it is an act of desperation nonetheless. At the end of the day, that is not the message you want to send to your team and its fans.

3. Nate Robinson is their backup point guard - As a fan of this team, I am a huge supporter of Kryptonate. He is fearless, his size does not affect the way he plays, and he is the heart and soul of this team. The thing is, he is not a point guard, he plays more like a shooting guard. Right now, according to Yahoo!, Robinson is listed as the backup point guard to Chris Duhon. If that is indeed the role that he is going to play, it will not work. Robinson is a score-first player with an incredible ability to put the ball in the hoop. Unfortunately, because of that, he is not the greatest of facilitators. Duhon, on the other hand, is a pass-first point guard. I feel the different styles between the point guards will ultimately hurt the team when they try to get into a flow. Another pass-first point guard would help this team a lot. Ramon Sessions would have been perfect.

4. Eddy Curry is the only true center on this team - The Knicks have clearly had problems at the center position since Ewing and Camby departed from this team. They have lacked a presence, especially on defense, from the center position, and they have not really solidified anything there. They drafted Jordan Hill, who is more of a power forward, and he is not yet proven. Then there is Eddy Curry, who has shown a lack of commitment to this team with his weight issues. After the ’06 season, I thought Curry would be the starting center for years to come, but that has not been the case. He followed up a productive ’06 season with absolutely nothing, and he has proven to be unreliable. Plus, even in his productive season, he was never that defensive stopper that this team needed. His offense was good, but the defense still lacked. Until they get a big man with shot blocking capabilities, this team will continue to struggle at the center position.

5. Jared Jeffries has too big of a role - If the Knicks plan to use Jared Jeffries as much as they did last season, this team will have no chance. Jeffries played about 24 minutes per game last season, which is a half a game, and there is no reason that a guy of his caliber should have that big of a role on an NBA team. This is a guy who is supposedly known for his good defense, yet I watch him and he does not seem like that good of a defender. He constantly gets burned by the opposition, and he does not do anything noteworthy for the team’s defense. Also, his offense is outright offensive. I have not seen a player with such anti-offense in a long time, and when I did, he was not playing half a game. His minutes have to be cut down.

6. A lot is riding on the youth - Coming into this season, the Knicks are too reliant on the production from their younger players. Between Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Jordan Hill, and Toney Douglas, the Knicks have 4 guys under the age of 24 who they are expecting to contribute heavily to the success of this team. In my opinion, it is never a good thing to depend on the youth of your team so much. They should definitely have roles on this team because of the talent that these players possess, I just feel that they should not be relied on too much for the team’s overall success. If they just had some more depth, which included reliable, talented veterans, the youngsters could just be the sprinkles on the cake instead of being the cake itself.

7. They lack a true leader - This team has a lot of spread out talent all around, but they do not have that go-to guy that the better teams all have. This team is not built around one or two particular players, and I think that will hurt them as it has in the past. They do not have a player who will consistently put up the big shots in crunch time, and that can easily be the sole reason why this team misses out on the playoffs once again. This team has lost a bunch of close games in recent seasons simply because when it comes down to taking a game-winning shot, they become passive and indecisive. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this team down by 1 or 2 with one possession left, and they failed to even get a shot up. With a leader, they might not make every buzzer shot they take, but the percentage goes up much more when you actually get a shot up!

Filed under: NBA