Recap : Knicks Night Live 09/02/10

Here is the recap for the Summer Finale of Knicks Night Live. It wasn't a very interesting episode, no on set appearances or anything but I'll post the recap anyway for anyone willing to read. Not one guest... Great.

• Show opens up with projected starters

C Ronny Turiaf, PF Amare Stoudemire, SF Danilo Gallinari,  SG Wilson Chandler, PG Raymond Felton

Close to my original expectation of what was going to be put on the floor come game 1. I believed that Kelenna Azubuike would be ready and take the starters slot while having Chandler back him up. I'm not upset at all with the above line-up but I really want to see Buike with the starters and see what he can do.

A tiny snippet of Gallo and Anthony Randolph was shown while they were on court together in Knicks colors. They seemed to be getting along well. They then switched to gallo answering an unknown question in which he replied

The summer has been great, I'm improving explosiveness, my flexibility and I can't wait to play. 

• Offseason grade/ Patrick Ewing Jr./ Playoffs?

Hahn gives us a B grade for the offseason, missing out on LBJ wasn't the plan but we came back with a bunch of young talent. Of course the Amare signing was brought up and Tripucka chimed in stating we have the best finisher in the game. Hahn believes our future looks very bright and he's being brutally honest. He acknowledged that we aren't contenders at this point and we have building to do but with smart moves in the front office and playing to our potential we should be on our way very soon.

Tripucka says our roster is mostly a question mark which is absolutely true. We have so many new faces, who knows how things are going to play out next season. He was glad to see that we addressed the PG situation with the addition of Felton. Going from Chris Duhon to Ray Ray is like going from Eagle's Deli's burgers to Katz's pastrami. He was also glad to see the holes we filled by adding versatility and shooting to our roster. Mason SG/PG, Randolph PF/SF/C/SG, Azubuike SG/PG/SF and some other versatile guys as well. This versatility hopefully puts a wide variety of rotations on the court. Let's experiment until we get it right.

Patrick Ewing Jr. talks arise and Hahn jokingly mentions that he deserves credit for the signing. Last Thursday, when asked who the Knicks should sign as their 15th man, Hahn mentioned Patrick Ewing Jr. He mentioned his hard working nature and his fan favorite status here in New York. He feels like Ewing could actually make it onto the floor and see playing time due to his massive improvements since the last time we've seen him. He gives him the versatile nod as well by crediting his ability to handle 2's and 3s'.

He's big, hungry and wants to be here.

What is his number going to be? He refused to bring down his father's number and he can no longer wear #6 in (In honor of his dad's Olympic team number) because Landry Fields has taken the rights to it. I wonder what he goes with and why. 

So can we make the playoffs? Both Hahn and Tripucka acknowledged that the opportunity has finally arisen and we have a shot at seeing some Knick basketball once again. We have a quality bench that should be able to hold their own and not have the crowd boo when certain players are brought in. Hahn believes that the players will have to fight and fight hard to earn their positions. D'Antoni is known for his "short rotation" and in case he doesn't stray away from that tendency we'll be seeing players fighting for roles on our team. As Hahn previously said, they have to prove versatile, versatile players are golden in a system like this, on a team like this, and the more the merrier. I'm personally hoping D'Antoni plays at least 10 players, we have some talent that can't just absolutely ride pine. Hahn actually believes we will see Chandler AND Gallo playing the 2 during the season. If Gallo at the 2 means Randolph gets in at the 3 while Amare is at the 4 I'll be a very happy man.

• Hahn's Winners, Losers and Honorable Mentions

Winners

Miami, Chicago, New York

Losers

Cleveland, Toronto

Honorable Mentions

Indiana, Washington

The Knicks getting so much better makes us winners in his book. He liked the trade that Indiana made for Darren Collision. He isn't sure if they're playoff ready but I bet Pacer fans are actually just as confident as we are about making the playoffs. He also thinks the Cavaliers and Raptors are pretty much done for this season. They can't recover from this offseason and the team's record will likely show that. The Cleveland fans went from, on top of the world, to the bottom of the pile and they are suffering.

• Fan Question Of The Night

I couldn't agree more with Hahn and his Landry Fields comment. During the second half of the season there's a good chance we might see some Fields slashing to the hoop. Hopefully he gets his time to prove himself and shine.