Morning Tip Mailbag: Your questions on New York Knicks, Houston Rockets and more

A New New York? From Dana Tofig:

A question about the Knicks. They certainly are performing above expectation this year, but if memory serves: wasn’t their record about the same this time last year? And we know how that turned out. Is there reason to be more optimistic that this will continue and what small moves could they make this year to wedge their way into the playoffs (and would it be worth it, long term?

You are correct on your first question, Dana: the Knicks are exactly one game better through 32 games this season than they were last season. But I certainly believe they’ll finish better than 31-51 this year, assuming injuries don’t consume the Unicorn and their other key rotation guys.

Enes Kanter has been a very solid presence in the middle compared to last season, when the Knicks had to trot out a game but inexperienced and undersized Willy Hernangomez at center for long stretches after Joakim Noah was lost for the season. Assuming Tim Hardaway, Jr., returns next month, New York should get solid scoring nightly at two guard, and what can you say about Michael Beasley’s production of late? I can tell you that while it’s never a bad thing to make the playoffs, that wasn’t the long-term plan going into the season. It’s probably best for the Knicks to gamely fight for but ultimately fail to get that eighth playoff spot, and fade just enough late in the season not to be stuck in the late portion of the Lottery. There’s a significant dropoff in the quality of the ’18 Draft after the first four or five guys, according to most of the birddogs I speak with.

Hot Tub Time Machine, Part III. From Mike Chamerinik:

What would the Western Conference look like today if the Rockets had found a way to make a trade for Carmelo Anthony this summer?

Good question, Mike. It’s hard to believe Houston would be better than it’s been so far, but I don’t believe the Rockets would be much worse. You’d have to assume the Rockets traded Ryan Anderson as part of the deal, though, and while Anderson’s still inexplicably shooting much better from deep on the road at home, he’s still shooting better from deep than Anthony, and 3s are the whole thing in Houston. Yet James Harden creates so much space for his teammates, there’s no telling how much better ‘Melo’s numbers would be if he was playing off of him rather than Russell Westbrook. I guess that’s a long was of saying I don’t think the West would look a whole lot different with Anthony in Houston rather than OKC: the Rockets would probably have the best record in the West, or second-best, maybe.

This is what we mean by snark, people! From Jeff Pryor:

Isaiah Canaan hit three free throws to put the Suns ahead of the TWolves on Saturday with 6 seconds left off a shooting foul behind the arc. I know shooting fouls are a point of emphasis for the league this year, although I had thought the emphasis was for referees to be more critical of shooters initiating the contact… On this particular play Canaan was not square to the basket, in fact he was perpendicular, facing the lower corner of the court. I’m not sure if the league keeps stats on how many sky hooks from downtown Canaan has nailed this season, but with his body position as such it seemed like he could only be ready to dazzle us with a Kareem rainbow from behind the arc… instead he leaped forward, initiating contact, driving his shoulder into Teague’s chest, before tossing up a shot that made Lonzo Balls shooting mechanics look reasonable (almost).

You can imagine how confused I was when Canaan didn’t assume that same posture for the free throws. Why, I asked myself, wouldn’t he angle himself 90 degrees away from the basket facing the sideline to toss up his free throws just like he had on his foul award winning shot moments before? But as luck would have it he made all three freebies with this more conventional stance, so what do I know, and the refs didn’t have to step in with an assist either. I guess my question is, what is the point of “point of emphasis”, when shooters with no intention of actually scoring the ball get continually rewarded?

So…I take it you didn’t agree with the call, Jeff?

Send your questions, comments and koalas settling things, Phascolarctos cinereus a Phascolarctos cinereus to [email protected]. If your e-mail is funny, thought-provoking or snarky, we just might publish it (and peep the lady lamenting that the bear wrasslin’ is going to make her late for work)!

MVP WATCH

(Last week’s averages in parenthesis)

1) James Harden (42.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 7.7 apg, .500 FG, .894): First player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63 to post back-to-back 50-point games that his team lost. Chamberlain — and, do yourself a favor, just go onto basketball-reference.com sometime and look up Chamberlain’s Game Logs in the early ‘60s — scored 51 and 70 (!) points in back-to-back San Francisco Warriors losses on March 8 and 10, 1963. The crazy thing about that season for Chamberlain: that happened to him two other times that year, both of which involved three-game losing streaks! Wilt scored 59, 61 and 53 points in consecutive defeats from Nov. 18-23, 1962, and 53, 59 and 51 points in three straight losses from Nov. 29-Dec. 7, 1962. During that season, which was the year after Wilt scored 100 points in Hershey, PA, against the Knicks on March 2, 1962, Chamberlain had three games where he scored 70 or more points, six games where he scored 60 or better and 21 games with 50+ points. He averaged 44.8 points and 24.3 rebounds that season, neither of which represented his highest single-season average. The Dipper was insane.

2) LeBron James (36.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 8 apg, .578 FG, 1.000 FT): The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s columnist and great NBA historian/author, Terry Pluto, pointed this out last week: James has never missed a playoff game in the 12 years his teams have made the postseason. That’s 217 consecutive playoff games started and played since 2006, averaging 42 minutes per game.

3) Giannis Antetokounmpo (26.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 6.5 apg, .500 FG, .900 FT): A Nike Signature shoe is the latest sign of dominance for the Greek Freak.

4) Kevin Durant (27.3 ppg, 8 rpg, 4.5 apg, .384 FG, .895 FT): They didn’t invite him to the after party.

5) Kyrie Irving (30 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 5 apg, .494 FG, .929 FT): Fine. Whatever you say, my man. I’m not taking the bait on this one.

BY THE NUMBERS

3 — Mavericks players with their jerseys retired, after the team announced that longtime point guard and current TV analyst Derek Harper will have his number 12 retired on Jan. 7. Harper will join Brad Davis (#15) and Rolando Blackman (#22) in the rafters at American Airlines Center, though one expects they’ll be joined in due course by a certain German-born forward who wears #41.

0 — Home games that the Celtics had played on Christmas before today’s game with the Wizards at TD Garden, per the league. This stuns me. Boston has played 30 Christmas games in its franchise’s history — 28 on the road, and two at a neutral site. The C’s are just 13-17 in those marquee games over the years.

$470,250 (est.) — Amount that Washington’s John Wall may have spent to buy each of his 15 teammates a Presidential Day-Date Rolex watch for Christmas. TMZ estimated the watches cost $40,000 apiece, based on its discussion with a jeweler, for a total outlay of $640,000; this site lists a retail price of $31,350 for the Presidential Day-Date Rolex (it’s in the fine print; the $18,150 is the sale price). For purposes of this discussion, we’ll go with the more conservative $31,350 price. That’s still a lot of cheddar, and quite generous of Wall to include two-way guys Devin Robinson and Michael Young on the gift list — even if he does have that $207 million extension kicking in in 2019.

I’M FEELIN’ …

1) Watching Kobe Bryant get his number(s) raised to the rafters at Staples Center in person last week was terrific. The love affair between Bryant and the Lakers fans never was headed: not by his feud with Shaquille O’Neal, not by the sexual assault charges filed against him in Colorado in 2004 (the charges were dropped later that year, though Bryant subsequently apologized to the woman who’d accused him as part of the settlement of the case), not whatever happened in the second half of the deciding game of the Lakers’ first-round series with Phoenix in 2005, when he only took three second-half shots, not his trade request in 2007, not his injuries or eventual decline as a player. They loved him, and the list of NBA lights that came out to watch — not just old Lakers teammates, but the likes of Allen Iverson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell — were testament to the respect Bryant had around the league.

2) You rarely see moments of genuine honesty and emotion. I’m so proud that NBA TV produced one of those by getting Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas together again, to acknowledge the wrongs done and to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. Kudos — and, hopefully, Emmys — to everyone that was involved with pulling that off.

3) A lot of y’all killed me for saying the Bulls didn’t get as snookered in the Jimmy Butler deal as everyone seemed to think on Draft night last June. I’m pouring tea now, Kermit style, and taking a sip: Dunn is starting at the point for Fred Hoiberg, averaging 12.8 points, 5.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds, and is shooting 35 percent on 3s. His net rating has fallen from the abysmal -19 he sported last season in Minnesota to a still-bad but much better -9 currently in Chicago.

4) Coming to a theatre near you: A Jerry Bruckheimer/Dr. Seuss Production:

The US Coast Guard rescued a sea turtle entangled in bundles of cocaine off the coast of Florida pic.twitter.com/woQfUEMDWv

— CNN (@CNN) December 20, 2017

NOT FEELIN’ …

1) RIP, Dick Enberg, who was the genial voice of sports for those of us of a certain age growing up. I knew him best, and earliest, for his calls of college basketball — the Enberg-Billy Packer-Al McGuire booth was must-see TV before the term was invented. It was that trio that introduced most of the world to Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the 1979 NCAA championship game between Michigan State and Indiana State.

But Enberg seemingly called everything else, too:

• John Riggins’ fourth and one Super Bowl-winning run in 1983
• Payne Stewart’s U.S. Open-winning putt at Pinehurst in 1999
• Notre Dame ending UCLA’s 88-game win streak in 1974 (Enberg, of course, was the voice of the Bruins locally in Los Angeles throughout the ‘60s)
• The Drive, featuring John Elway
• Magic’s MVP performance at the 1992 All-Star Game after his HIV announcement

Wimbledon, baseball, occasionally boxing — I recall vividly his broadcast of a Muhammad Ali TKO of England’s Richard Dunn in 1976. Enberg called all of it for NBC for decades, before leaving the national scene and doing San Diego Padres games locally the last several years. And, by all accounts I’ve seen, he was a pleasant and decent person to be around, not at all affected by his celebrity. What a remarkable, remarkable life.

2) If he’s genuine about following through and getting all the details down, competition is never a bad thing. I hope he’s genuine about following through and getting all the details down, and not just looking for another way to promote his shoe brand.

3) That turned quickly in Orlando, didn’t it? With Nic Vucevic now out six to eight weeks, and Chicago’s unlikely turnaround in December, the Magic’s plummet to the bottom of the east is picking up warp speed.

4) Godspeed, production crew.

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Longtime NBA reporter, columnist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here andfollow him on Twitter.

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