Berman: Baron Davis is almost ready for contact drills.

The Knicks, particularly in the last game and a half without Carmelo Anthony, have looked pretty rudderless. Thankfully, the rudder they hastily purchased off the scrap heap days before setting sail (let's see how long we can ride this metaphor, shall we?) seems to be nearing sea-readiness. From Marc Berman, seaman of the New York Post:

Davis is getting closer and closer to returning from a herniated disk and a person familiar with the situation said the guard will take a big leap in his rehab this week by starting full running drills and some contact basketball drills.

It's not out of the question for him to be cleared for practice by next weekend and a late-January debut has become more likely than not.

The Knicks mustn't rush to deploy the rudder, for breaking it again would be a disaster. That said, the burden of powering and steering the boat simultaneously has worn out poor Captain Melo, and, in his absence, a vessel powered by Amar'e Stoudemire's frantic hand-paddling just isn't going anywhere. Steve Novak is a merman.

Ahoy.