Editor's Note: I love you guys for picking up the slack when I'm having trouble finding time to write. We make a perfect team.

So, the first thing many Knicks fans considered when hearing of the Randolph trade was "Will this cut into David Lee's playing time?"

And this is a reasonable concern. Assuming Lee doesn't play more than a couple of minutes here and there at 3, and Curry and Randolph stand pat at their MPG numbers for last year (35.2 and 35.7), that leaves about 26 minutes left at the 4 and 5. Lee got about 30 MPG last year. Could his minutes actually go down after that awesome year?

Here are what I see as the necessities and options with regards to the frontcourt:

Necessity #1:

Jerome James and Malik Rose CANNOT receive minutes. Any. At all. I don't care about their supposed defensive prowess. If this team is going to win, it's cause Curry, Randolph and Lee manage to play defense, not cause Malik comes in for 10 minutes, pulls the chair on Tyson Chandler, and then blows five consecutive layups. Nor will it be by playing Jerome James for 8 minutes, having him block a shot or two, and brick three running hooks.

Curry/Randolph/Lee are the guys in the post, they must play defense. This is the only option.

Necessity #2:

Lee CANNOT receive fewer than 28 minutes a game. He's our brightest young player, has a tremendous impact on the floor, and could end up being better than we're even imagining. After he reworked his free throws last year, do you really doubt his ability to develop a fifteen-footer? And if/when he does: ALL-STAR.

Semi-Necessity #3:

Randolph Morris needs to get some minutes. Not huge. Somewhere in the area of 10-15 MPG. He looked pretty solid at the summer league, and we have only one more year to evaluate this guy. Backup centers can be very valuable in this league, and he looks like he's got the skill set and body to be a very good one. Plus, he might already be a better shot blocker than any of Curry/Randolph/Lee.

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So, if we assume these three things, what are Isiah's options:

OPTION 1: Lee at the 3.

Not a huge fan of this one. Even playing Lee at the 3 for 10-15 minutes is problematic. That means that poor defense is likely being played at the 3,4, and 5. Lee simply can't keep up with good small forwards laterally. This isn't his position. Plus, it cuts into the time of probably our two best on-ball defenders (Balkman and QRich).

OPTION 2: Status Quo.

This would be just sticking with what happened last year. 35 a piece for Curry and Randolph, about 25 for Lee, and spot minutes for Morris. Here, you reduce Lee to a role player, when I think we all believe he could develop into more than that. We never see Morris and probably let him go. And we put all our eggs in the Curry/Randolph high post/low post basket. Fair enough. Somehow, this seems to be the most likely scenario.

OPTION 3: Reduced minutes for Curry/Randolph.

Why not reduce the minutes for Curry and Randolph, especially Curry? Couldn't Curry be a much more efficient player in 28 minutes? We don't need him to carry the offense in the post now with Zach, so approaching this from a TEAM persepctive (forgetting about stats) it seems to make sense.

If we reduce Curry's minutes, I suspect his rebounding rate would go up a bit. We could have more time with a very efficient rebounding duo of Lee and Randolph on the floor. And everyone's more fresh. The crunch time lineup could be based on who's playing well at the moment, and I suspect it would often be Lee paired with the hot hand of Curry/Randolph.

Check out this breakdown:

Center/Power Forward
Randolph - 30-32
Curry - 28
Lee - 28-30
Morris - 6-10

This seems to make the most sense to me. I find it hard to believe that Isiah will adopt this plan, but there really is no reason to slavishly adhere to giving Curry 36 minutes, when the team could benefit from a more balanced approach.

Editor's Note: Here's b schac with a splendid post on none other than H20. Arichmix is up next with his post on LJ.

Allan Houston taught me how to shoot without saying a word.

I'm not the only one either. A generation of young Knicks fans were lucky enough to see nine years of the man with perhaps the most picture perfect jumpshot in the history of the NBA. Not to say he's the greatest shooter of all time. He was a great shooter, but not the best. His jumper, though, the way in which he shot, was about as good as it got. All the advice your youth coach gave you--elbow in, shooting hand under the ball, off hand guiding it, etc.--could more easily have conveyed by just saying "Do it like Allan does."

I tried. I really did. Fifth grade was the peak of my hoops career. I was a straight baller out of the Marbury mold. My penetration to the right side was practically unstoppable, but I lacked a jumper. Opposing coaches were beginning to catch on.

"FORCE HIM LEFT!" "GIVE HIM THE SHOT!"

Lucky for me, it happened to be the following summer that the New York Knicks, my heart and soul, signed sweet shooting Pistons guard Allan Houston to a free agent deal worth about $35 million over 5 years. I remember first reading about it (along with the companion Chris Childs signing) on the cover of the now non-existent Inside Sports, as part of a story about a lucrative summer for NBA free agents.

I didn't really get the money issue, as I was only 10. I was intrigued by this guy, though. "Can he shoot like Starks?" was my immediate thought, not realizing I was probably aiming a little low. But that was the first I heard of the player who would soon be my favorite. Whose jumper I would spend hours in the park trying to emulate (with varying levels of success). A guy with whom my love for the Knicks grew from a childhood interest into a full blown obsession. Allan's tenure just so happens to coincide with the years I fell in love with the boys from MSG, and I think it's safe to say that his sweet J had a lot to do with it.

I'm 21 now, so while I remember rooting for the Knicks in the 1994 Finals against the Rockets, I can't have really understood what was going on. I'd just turned 8. I knew the players' names and loved the game of basketball (as I said, I was a world class point guard at this point), but I didn't really get the ins and outs of the game. Allan, LJ, Spree, Camby, a declining Pat, and a few others, are the real Knicks team of my youth. When I really started to understand the game as it was happening. And it was a hell of a team to root for. Terrific defense, a ton of heart, and the best shooter in the NBA.

Allan was beautiful to watch. He wasn't the best player in the NBA, far from it. But when it came down it, he accomplished the primary object of this game about as well as anybody in the else. He put the ball in the basket. All the other stats are about setting up the shot, preventing the shot, getting more shots. Allan just made the shots. One particular shot, of course, stands out. 1999. 1st round upset against the Miami Heat. Strangely, it was a runner that Allan hit. And it wasn't pure like so many of his jumpers. It bounced twice on the rim before falling. It was a shot perhaps more fitting of Spree than the set-and-swish Houston. But he made it. One of the most memorable shots in playoff history. Cause that's what Allan did. He made shots.

I finally met Allan two years ago, after more than half a decade of idolization and imitation. I was in college at Michigan now, and the Knicks were coming to town to face the Pistons. This was the Larry Brown year, so needless to say, the Knicks had their asses handed to them. It was still fun to see them live, though, now that I was living a few hundred miles away. At the end of the game, I was standing around with my friend. We'd moved down from our nosebleed seats to around courtside when I saw Allan dressed in a charcoal suit, standing by the sideline. At this point, his status was up in the air, but it looked like his retirement was forthcoming.

I didn't know what to say really. I shook his hand, and attempted to appear as sincere as possible when I said "I'm a huge fan, man." I wanted him to know I really was, not like the others (who in my mind were just sycophants). I was too nervous to say much, and I've never really been into autographs, so I just said "We're all hoping to see you back." He smiled and I walked away.

Allan's career wasn't generally characterized by dramatic or emotional moments. He wasn't that kind of player. Just an incredibly nice guy who went to work every day draining jump shots for my favorite team. And a real inspiration to anyone who works his ass off to become a better player. Best coach I ever had, and the dude doesn't even know my name. That's how perfect that J was.

I'm sitting in a boring hour and a half lecture right now, so I figured I'd take a look at the remaining schedules for us, ORL, NJ, and IND and see how it looks for us.

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