Thoughts on the Clippers and Knicks

   Given my ramblings on the fact that only a few multiple star teams have any real shot at winning the title this year, it is worth looking at a few teams with two star caliber players, the Clippers and the Knicks, that will be hard pressed to even make the conference finals this coming season. Both of these teams have stars, but will not be threatening the Heat, Thunder, or Lakers anytime soon.

    The Knicks problem, is they that their two stars have a serious synergy problem. Amare Stoudemire needs a pick and roll partner, a la Steve Nash, to be at his best. In order to use his (rapidly diminishing) athleticism to its fullest he needs to be rolling to the basket, which is fine if the Knicks ran a pick-and-roll offence-they do not. Because they traded the farm for Carmelo Anthony (which by itself is a solid move), a devastating isolation ball player with little to no interest in the pick and roll game, the Knicks rarely run the offense through the pick and roll. While neither player is at fault as they are both capable of being effective offensive players, they do not mesh well. In fact Amare scores more, and scores more efficiently, with Carmelo on the bench (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7510082/dwyane-wade-play-carmelo-anthony-new-york-knicks-miami-heat-battle), which is a problem as they are not getting  the fearsome one-two offensive punch that a team like the Heat can generate. We have all seen LeBron and Wade go on a tear and take the opponent out of a game by stringing together fast breaks and nifty assists- Carmelo and Amare rarely, if ever, do something similar. So, while the Knicks may have the raw talent, the sum of the whole is less, not more, than that of the pieces, making them a threat on paper, but a second round out at best in practice.

   The Clippers meanwhile, have a problem of a different kind. Chris Paul is excellent, one of the best point guards in the league and a player who elevates the play of those around them. The Clippers short comings fall solely on the shoulders of Blake Griffin. He is an incredible athlete, capable of dunks that register on the Richter scale, and the surest game to game highlight reel since Dominique Wilkins. What he is not is the issue,  and that is a well-rounded enough offensive player able to assist Paul in beating defenses late in the playoffs. Blake has a limited mid-range game, and is a terrible free-throw shooter (http://www.nba.com/advancedstats/player.html#Blake-Griffin|201933;year=201112;season=r), meaning that when it comes to crunch time, you can single cover him and focus on containing CP3, without being made to pay dearly for it. Until Blake fixes this and becomes a more well-rounded offensive player, the Clippers will not be the best team in LA, let alone the Western Conference.