Risin' New York Knicks [discontinued]

TEAMINFO
Roster: Ben's rosters
Sliders: Ben's sliders
Level: All-Star (I spend too much time on patching, so I can't play this game at all.

TEAMINFO
THEO RATLIFF:
Traded straight up for Tim Thomas, Ratliff is expected to give a defensive spark to the team. On the offensive side, not much is expected from Ratliff. He may go after some offensive boards, but his main task will be defense. The whole city of New York has been complaining about the lack of a true-skilled center on the Knicks roster, Ratliff is here to show why.

KURT THOMAS:
As the most consistent shooter on this team, Kurt Thomas will definately become a go-to-guy this season. With Ratliff as an impressive inside presence, Kurt Thomas can become really decisive in any Knicks' success. He may either draw the defense and give Ratliff the open looks or move away from the basket and hit midrange jumpers.

TREVOR ARIZA:
Although he didn't play any NBA games yet, Ariza impressed so much that Tim Thomas, the previous starting SF, was traded to make room for him. He still has to develop a (consistent) jumpshot, but his atlethicism and ability to guard the league's top swingmen made him a valuable starter and future star.

JAMAL CRAWFORD:
With Allan Houston out for quite some time, Crawford has enough time to prove himself and keep the starting spot, even when Houston returns. Teammates told the press that they were amazed by Crawford's shot, but his shot selection needs to be worked on. Together with Marbury, the Knicks may have the best backcourt in the Eastern Conference.

STEPHON MARBURY:
The absolute star on this team. With new offensive skilled players around, Marbury will have less pressure on him to score, so he can also show his other gift: assists. Press more than once called him: 'the most overrated player in the NBA' and 'selfish', so together with the fact this is his first full season in his hometown, Marbury will have enough reasons to want to prove himself.

BENCH:
Even though the Knicks got Ratliff, they were able to keep Nazr Mohammed. He will be the second center and future starter. Their bench power forwards aren't some of the smallest names either, Jerome Williams and Mike Sweetney, Vin Baker will not be used (often) by Lenny Wilkens though. This proves the Knicks definately have some good big men on their roster. Moreover, their guard/small forward rotation is even more impressive. Moochie Norris and Jamison Brewer are there to replace Marbury. The Knicks biggest quality is the players they have available at the 2 and 3 spots. Penny Hardway, Allan Houston and starters Crawford and Ariza team up for one of the best rotations in NBA history.


KNICKSTRADES
- Traded SF Tim Thomas to Portland for C Theo Ratliff;
- Released C Bruno Sundov, who had 1 year left on his contract;

Last edited by cklitsie on Mon Dec 06, 2004 8:34 am, edited 3 times in total.

Nice start CK, I like the little bit about each player. It great to see you doing a dynasty

Finally, i hope you get out of that salary cap hole. GJ in trading TT, and getting a good Defensive player in the post.

Who is gonna play sg and sf?

sweet, i've never seen one from ck before, this ought to be good

CK! I support this to the fullest! Take NY to the promise land.

i like the faith in ariza and kurt thomas ......good to see you posting a dynasty, it's looking good so far.

I will don't lose this one!
Congratulations!

Glad to see you CK posting your dynasty. Welcome for being an official dynasters. you dynasty looks nice and clean. another dynasty that i will follow. Good luck bro.

takeee the knicks to the promise land for sure. I will follow this. Good luck ck

This dynasty looks excellent , can't wait for the games recap' .

NEW YORK@MINNESOTA
Knicks Steal Season Opener At Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS - If the first minutes of the season opener were to predict the whole Knicks season, they would've been a lottery team. Garnett totally dominated Kurt Thomas, especially on the defensive end. After an early time-out by Lenny Wilkens, Garnett quickly picked up 2 fouls on some smart pump fakes by Thomas, so he got benched. After that the Knicks started playing their own game.

Marbury was looking for his teammates’ success, scoring 0 points but dishing out 4 assists. Thomas benefited from Marbury passing, scoring 10 points in the quarter.

Second round pick Trevor Ariza showed the world what to expect. At the end of the quarter he stole the ball for the coast-to-coast tomahawk. The Minnesota inbound pass that followed, with 6.3 seconds left, was intercepted by Ariza and he quickly dished it out to Penny Hardaway for a 3-pointer, which gave the Knicks a 7-point lead after one, 22-29.
Second period, the Wolves cut the deficit to 2 points, the Wolves kept going through the offensive skills of Cassell and the defense of their big men, which eventually led to a 2-point Wolves’ lead.

The score went up and down in the 3rd quarter, but the Wolves always stayed on top. One minute they had an eight point lead, the next minute it was gone. They still managed to close out the quarter with a 7-point advantage. During this period, the Knicks played excellent defense, led by Jamison Brewer and Trevor Ariza, who respectively shut down Cassell and Sprewell. Lenny Wilkens decided not to double team Garnett, but rather prevent him from getting the ball. “With players like Cassell, Sprewell, Szczerbiak and Hoiberg, it’s way too dangerous to focus on stopping a big man inside, even if it’s the MVP” Wilkens said.

The game completely turned around in the last quarter. With 3 minutes left and a 4-point Knicks lead, the Wolves almost forced the Knicks into a shot clock violation, but a dumb foul on Theo Ratliff by Olowokandi prevented that. That was the most important play of this game actually, because the Wolves never came that close again. Key in the Knicks win was defense, led by Ratliff, Marbury and once again Ariza.

NEW YORK 106
35 pts - Jamal Crawford
7 reb - Theo Ratliff
6 ass - Stephon Marbury
MINNESOTA 97
24 pts - Latrell Sprewell
10 reb - Michael Olowokandi
3 ass - 3 players tied

Last edited by cklitsie on Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:46 pm, edited 6 times in total.

I will be a follower here

yeah me 2 im a big fan of ariza, prolly cuz hes so young and athletic...then again i used to like d-miles. look how he turned out. keep it up

Oh..had to bring up D-miles. Hopefully he will blossom in that system. I want that kid to do well. Keep playing him CK.

Whoa, awesome... nice recap' here.
Btw, check your PM.

wow thats a great written summary and images.

NEW YORKvs. BOSTON
Boston Gets Completely Blown Out At The Garden
NEW YORK - After two games it’s clear: the Knicks need some time to really get into games. Their season opener against Minnesota showed it and their home opener versus Boston started bad for the Knicks too. They quickly picked up 5 team fouls, two of them coming from Kurt Thomas. They didn’t make many more after the 5th though. After trailing by 7 points, the Knicks answered with consecutive 3-pointers by Crawford and Marbury. Moochie Norris once again proved to be a valuable sub for this team.

There only was a one point differential left when Ariza missed from half-court at the buzzer. The second quarter was full of unnecessary mistakes from both teams. Boston kept the score tight because of some impressive long range shooting from Ricky Davis and Jiri Welsch.

Boston gave it away in the third, allowing Kurt Thomas and Theo Ratliff to grab some offensive boards and slam them home. Paul Pierce took on four Knicks in the paint and posterized them for the ‘and one‘.
Heading into the last quarter, the Knicks extended their lead to 14. The Celtics just didn’t find a way to get the ball to the low post and score and they weren’t hitting their shots either. Ratliff showed some playoff spirit, knocking down Payton from behind because he didn’t want to give him the open layup. Payton got fouled almost every time he got into the lane, which got the self-claimed ‘king of layups’ out of his game.

Every single player on the Knicks roster had some highlights in this game, but the score of 111-89 says it all: total domination. Paul Pierce and Jiri Welsch tried to prevent a blowout, with respectively 10 and 4 points in the fourth, but all in all it didn’t help. The Knicks outrebounded the Celtics 37-20 (23-15 defensive rebounds).

BOSTON 89
24 pts - Paul Pierce
4 reb - 3 players tied
4 ass - Gary Payton
1NEW YORK 111
17 pts - Stephon Marbury
8 reb - Theo Ratliff
3 ass - 2 players tied


Jamal Crawford didn't score 35, but had a good game
Jiri Welsch pulls up from downtown
Jerome Williams, already a fan favorite, worked hard as always
Brewer sets up the offense

Last edited by cklitsie on Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

NEWSUPDATE
INJURIES
ATLANTA
SF Boris Diaw - sprained toe
CLEVELAND
PG Eric Snow - sore wrist
DETROIT
PG Chauncey Billups - dislocated shoulder
TORONTO
PG Rafer Alston - sore toe

TRANSACTIONS
CHARLOTTE
PF Jamal Sampson - released
UTAH
PG Keith McLeod - released
PF Donnell Harvey - signed

INJURY - ALLAN HOUSTON
Knicks SG Allan Houston won't return to play this year. He will only be able to begin practicing in January 2005. Houston is the only Knicks player on their Injury List.
Allan Houston:"I feel really sorry for the fans. This year, our team is looking good and I want to be part of it, play games. Jamal Crawford is doing a good job right now, he doesn't play exactly the same type of ball as me, so when I come back, I know I can add something to this team."
Lenny Wilkens: "In my opinion it's really important to get Allan back, since he's a terrific player. Sometimes Crawford or Marbury have off-nights when they can't hit shots. Luckily for us, they haven't had that yet. But imagine they have off-nights on the same night, that's when I can really use a guy like Allan."
Jamison Brewer: "Of course man, we need to have Houston back as quick as possible, but for me personally, let him take his time. There's only 12 spots on our active roster and with no injuries, one guy will be sitting out games unnecessary. I need some more games to prove my value, but I'm confident.

That's a shame...More playing time for J-Creezy and Ariza!

Nice highlights in the minny game. The gif is ill.

well crawford and marbury will have more time to show their stuff. if they got an off-night there's ariza to rescue.

nice gif there man, but i think that may slow the pages down for some users, and not even load for others cause its so huge, i like how you did the 2nd part there where you just make a high quality image

Guess what? Bad news.
I will cancel this dynasty, for more than 1 reason.
First off, it takes me too much time to update, I'd rather spend the time on playing.
Also in the Netherlands we've got 2 santa's, december 5th there's one too.
I got Live 2005 for PS2 tonight, so I will probably use it more to play dynasties, PC for patch previews and quick matchups.
I'm not doing this because I want to check if you guys are going to say the same as you did with Cocobee almost quting, I think my reasons are quite clear, but anyway...

I'M STILL GOING TO DO SOME STUFF FOR ALL YOU DYNASTY FANATICS!!!
I will create cyberfaces for all next year's prospects, to use in your dynasties.

I'M STILL GOING TO DO SOME STUFF FOR ALL YOU DYNASTY FANATICS!!!
I will create cyberfaces for all next year's prospects, to use in your dynasties.

yes!!! all hail CK!

That sucks.

When I get my Live for PC, I may start a Knicks dynasty to continue bringing that NY pride.

sad to see this one go so soon. well good luck with those CF's