New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz - Teams on the rise - NBA Feature (Part-1)
In every NBA season, some dominating teams experience a drop in their winning percentage while some reeling teams from the last season makes a substantial improvement.
Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder are the two classic examples of the franchises which experienced a major turnaround last season. After having finished as the league leaders in the regular season during the 2009-10
season, the Cavaliers they faced a dramatic downfall last season and finished with the worst record in the East and second worst in the league overall.
On the other hand, after shifting to the new city, the Oklahoma City Thunder struggled in the first two seasons. However, this season, they emerged out of nowhere and startled the world of NBA by making it to the Western Conference
Finals, a conference that was crammed with the war hardened elites of NBA including San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.
The next season will not be a different one from the preceding years as there will be some exciting turnarounds once the league gets back to the business after the lockout.
Even though the free agency has become the first causality of the lockout, and it has in effect prevented us from getting a look at the refurbished lineups of the teams, however based on the possible trade combination and the 2011
draft picks, we have sorted out three teams who will more than likely rise in the upcoming season.
New York Knicks
The New York Knicks have a number of reasons that make them a team on the rise in the next season. The team bolstered up their offense big time by acquiring All-Star small forward Carmelo Anthony and veteran point guard Chauncey
Billups in the middle of the 2010-2011 season. Knicks fought very hard to make it into the play-offs after seven years in the cold, but were nailed down by a team of well primed veterans in the form of Boston Celtics, who exploited the defensive weaknesses
of the team. Injury problems and lack of options at various positions also became major issues as the series progressed.
However, the Knicks will be having a complete training session before the next season starts to form a better chemistry with the new superstars. This will give power forward Amare Stoudemire some more time to understand Anthony
and the duo will be able to understand their individual roles in a much better way.
Anthony and Stoudemire are still young and have a long way to go in their careers. Together with the experience of point guard Billups, the Knicks will have no problem to advance in the play-offs next season and with all the pieces
of the puzzle sorted till then, they might well be on of the hottest contender for the NBA title. However, one thing that can restrict them from doing so is their fragile back court. They desperately need a seasoned centre and in the weeks leading to the lockout
there were rumours that the Knicks were looking at Kurt Thomas to fill that gap. There are also rumours that the Knicks front office is looking hire a defensive specialist to complement their coach Mark D’Antoni, who is renowned for his offense based strategies
and plays.
If the Knicks succeed in pulling off these moves, then the days of the long lost glory are certainly not far away.
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