Good Job Isiah: Knicks Are a Much Improved Team

The Knicks have showed a whole lot of improvement this year under Isiah Thomas, and they might actually wind up with a playoff spot when it's all said and done. Eddy Curry is playing like the dominant center many thought he could be when he was drafted. David Lee is near the top of the league in rebounds per game. They have already matched their win total from last year at 23 and unlike Larry Brown, the players seem to actually like him. Eddy Curry has endorsed the coach as well as several other players. They are sitting within 3.5 games of a playoff spot with 30 games to go, and Steve Francis is back from his injury. Quentin Richardson has proved to be a great addition to this team and has found a nice little niche at the starting small forward spot and Jamal Crawford put up 50 points a few weeks ago starting in the back court along with Marbury.

These Knicks have a whole lot of young talent on this team so fans have to be excited about the coming years. Channing Fyre, David Lee and Nate Robinson all seem like they are going to have very promising careers in this league and props to Isiah for drafting them. Renaldo Balkman brings a lot of energy of the bench and despite the criticism the Knicks received for not drafting Marcus Williams, they have way more then enough players in the back court and drafting another solid player in the front court was a good decision.

James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks, issued an ultimatum at the beginning of the season citing the Knicks needed "significant progress" for Isiah to save his job. I already see significant progress and a very good developing young team playing at the Garden. This team is exciting and it plays hard for its coach and the team plays like any given night they can beat any team. Isiah has built a good team and while some of his moves have been questionable overall fans have to be happy with the young talent the see on this team. They have an extremely deep team in the front and back court, it is really just a matter of playing growing into there roles and getting used to playing with each other.

As the Knicks get ready for the stretch run to try to get into the playoffs, with a team full of believers, they might be able to make some serious noise. With the East as weak as it is and the Heat floundering, they could do a lot of damage. The Nets are about to self destruct and blow up there team, so they no longer have to worry about them. The Raptors are the team they will end up competing with for the division the rest of this year and next year, and I look forward to watching these two teams battle it out, they are both young teams with a whole lot of talent. Isiah Thomas has got a good thing going on in the Garden and hopefully he is here to stay.

Sources:
Espn News(TV)
MSG Network(TV)