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Early season assessment

It has been quiet out of New York so far.

It was quiet after their rocky 1-3 start that included two re-sims.

It was quiet when they bounced back to sweep their second week with Bobby Portis returning to the lineup from his suspension and was immediately inserted into the starting five.

It was quiet they went deep into their bench to test players for week three and promptly bombed out with another 1-3 week.

But with week four underway it is time to give some insights into what is going on in the Knicks organization.

For the first time in almost two decades the Knicks GM doesn't have 'the game' at his disposal. There are no tests trying out different lineups. No attempts to increase players' performances with playbooks and coach settings. No scrimmages with trade prospects.

Feels odd and early returns for this strategy are not great. But there are no plans in the books to remedy the situation. The Knicks will play this season by the ear. Make adjustments on the fly and run with it.

The first change that seems to have had a positive effect was unclogging the lane. Howard and Randolph can't co-exist in the current engine. And since Nenê made a better impression as a backup center, that pretty much eliminates Z-Bo from a healthy rotation.

Portis will hold down the four-spot for now. His raw numbers are mediocre at best, but he wont get any touches next to three 20-point scorers. He is just expected to clean the defensive glass, set screens and foul the heck out of whoever ventures into the paint.

After a slow start, Jingles is finally feeling comfortable in the offense. After just 7 threes over the first three weeks, he made 8 in week four's first three games. Where he passed up open shots earlier, he is currently stepping right into them, making them at a high clip.

Dwight started out dominating the offense. He averaged 26ppg in week one, but he left 18 points at the line that week. The restructured offense has mostly removed Howard post-ups and turned him into a finisher of lobs. The 32-year old currently leads the league with 58 dunks.

Harden was terrible in week one, averaging a measly 14ppg on 37% shooting. After a shift to point guard he averaged 30 over the next two weeks, connecting on more than half his stats. His turnovers rose, but that was to be expected.

Meanwhile Irving moved over to the two-spot, while running the offense with Harden on the bench. He also only shot 40% in week one and also improved his effectiveness by 10% by coming off screens and driving against slower opponents.

Comparing the passing and playmaking abilities of the Knicks' two star guards, this lineup should have been obvious from the start, no matter traditional positions and size.

The player who most stands out in dunadan's beloved Net 48 number is Kyle 'Slomo' Anderson.

While his overall numbers are eerily similar to last year, the magic number is 18.7. That's how much better the Knicks are with him on the court. The versatile guard has already played all five positions on the floor, filling in as a stop-gag center a couple of times and even taking over point guard duties in spot minutes here and there.

The team still has to find a way to cut down on turnovers, but so does every team in the NLL this season.

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