Free Agents who can help New York Knicks become legitimate title contenders (Part-3)
Marc Gasol
Marc Gasol is another restricted free agent who will not be easy to trade especially when he had a breakout season for the Memphis Grizzlies. The superstar trio Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol and Rudy g*y finally helped their team to
name a victory in the play-offs after years of struggle.
Memphis Grizzlies, who were rated as the underdogs in the post-season and everybody was anticipating their early exit, toppled the top seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round which supplied an absolute shock in the league.
The Grizzlies continued their aggression in the Western Conference semi-finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder and stretched the series to game 7.
The tremendous success of Memphis Grizzlies came on the back of dominating performances of Gasol on the big platform. Marc Gasol registered an average of 15.0 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in the play-offs which
is rated among the best performances.
Even though Gasol has become a valuable asset for the Grizzlies and they won’t want to see the big man leaving. However, if New York Knicks offer a huge contract to Gasol which he deserves, they might be successful in bringing
the Spanish basketball player on board.
With the presence of Marc Gasol, New York Knicks will not only become strong on the defence, the team will become a hard-hitting power on the front court. If Gasol can transform the underdogs into a formidable threat, the big man
can definitely help Knicks race away into the NBA Finals.
J.R. Smith
Apart from the defensive weakness, another major concern for New York Knicks is the absence of an active and versatile shooter down the stretch. While Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony strengthen the starting five of the team,
the Knicks have no prolific scorer off the bench to keep the momentum going.
Denver Nuggets shooting guard J.R Smith is one man who scores in double figures every day by consuming less amount of playing minutes. This is exactly how a player needs to be coming off the bench which makes the team strong in
the crunch time.
Landing J.R. Smith will give a much needed boost up to New York Knicks from down the stretch and it will also alleviate some pressure from the duo Anthony and Stoudemire.
Samuel Dalembert
Although the gigantic centre Samuel Dalembert is not the kind of a player to rely on completely. His career average of 8.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game gives an impression of a player who supports the best players
on the team and is an integral part of the supporting cast.
This is exactly what New York Knicks need at the moment to make a deep run in the play-offs. The team has a couple top players of the league on the squad and they only need an aggressive and dependable newcomer to keep the momentum
going. Samuel Dalembert has experience and great defensive skills. If Knicks are able to trade him and push him a little, Samuel can become more dangerous and might earn the reputation of a constant double-double threat which is something not too far from
his current stats.
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