Knicks Improving Amid Unsettled Atlantic Division
”With injuries and teams not playing well…” Thomas shook his head in frank amazement. “It’s January, and it’s not at all what I thought it was going to be. New Jersey is the perfect example: they’re used to running off ten-twelve wins in a row -- and then the Division is over. But this can be a year where one player moves, or one player comes to a team, and it changes everything.”
Can Chris Webber, just released by the Philadelphia 76-ers, be that kind of a player? “A guy like that can still be a difference maker,” said Thomas. “Not him individually, but him added to a group of guys that just needs a little bump.”
Would that mean Thomas has an active interest in acquiring Webber? “It’s my job to be interested, to look and see,” he understated. “He’s out there and…” The Knicks, at any rate, appear to be in Webber’s second tier of his interest at best -- the five-time All-Star power forward has stated that he prefers to go to a primary NBA championship contender at his point in his career. “I would say there are other teams ahead of us. The upper echelon of the league, Detroit, San Antonio, Miami when Shaq comes back, those type of teams,” said Thomas.
Of course, the mere fact that Thomas would even consider regarding the Knicks as a team that might be in need of just “a little bump” towards the playoffs signifies tons. “Our rebounding effort has been excellent,” acknowledged the coach. “We’ve limited our turnovers, except for last night. And we’ve really found a low post presence that we can play through. The consistent double teaming of (center Eddy) Curry… And when he’s not double-teamed he’s cashing in, he’s moving people off the court, he gets us into the bonus getting to the foul line. Those factors have been the reasons why we are winning basketball games.”
Thomas is “comfortable and satisfied with the way things are right now” with his improving team, but that doesn’t necessarily mean no lineup or personnel changes, or the promise of an unchanged rotation for that matter, for the rest of the season. “No,” he stated with emphasis. “No. You just try to win each game with the resources that you have.”
What this all seems to add up to is that while the door remains open for change, Thomas certainly doesn’t want to trade any of his young players. “No,” he stressed. “I would say that is correct. That is VERY accurate, in fact. We won’t be shortsighted and give up tomorrow for today. Our future is very bright and we don’t want to compromise that at all. So we are just doing our job -- and that is all we’re doing.”
Meanwhile, the matter at hand is the Charlotte Bobcats, a team that has been a scratchy match-up for the Knicks of late -- and a team that beat the championship contending Detroit Pistons on the road last night in spite of a 10-23 record. “(Coach) Bernie (Bickerstaff) does a great job,” said Thomas. “He knows all the tricks and he has his guys playing hard. And they have some talent, too. They can beat just about anybody in the league on a given night. They are very competitive and a team we definitely respect. We don’t take them lightly. I’m sure we’ll have our hands full tomorrow night.”
