The New York Knicks will be on the hunt for center help when free agency and trading begin on December 9th.  If the season started today, 28-year old Ronny Turiaf would be the starting center.  He played in 64 games (21 starts) for the Knicks last year and he averaged 17.8 minutes, 4.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game.  Turiaf has now played in 358 games (90 starts) in his his NBA career so far and he is averaging 17.9 minutes, 5.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game.  22-year old, second round pick Josh Harrellson would be the likely #2 center for the Knicks right now.  His game is built around rebounding and blocking shots.

29-year old power forward Amare Stoudemire played in 78 games (all starts) for the Knicks last year and he averaged 36.8 minutes, 25.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.9 blocked shots per game.  He has now played in 594 games (577 starts) so far in his NBA career and he is averaging 34.6 minutes, 21.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 blocked shots so far in his career.  The Knicks need Stoudemire to keep up with his very solid presence in the paint both offensively and defensively in 2011-12.  27-year old Renaldo Balkman might get a chance to backup Stoudemire in 2011-12.  He played in 8 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets & Knicks last year and he averaged 7.8 minutes, 2.0 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.  Balkman has now played in 207 games (12 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 14.2 minutes, 4.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.

27-year old small forward Carmelo Anthony is ready for his first full year with the Knicks in 2011-12.  Anthony played in 77 games (all starts) for the Knicks & Nuggets last year and he averaged 35.7 minutes, 25.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.  He has now played in 591 games (all starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 36.4 minutes, 24.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  I look for Anthony to score close to 30 points per game for the Knicks in 2011-12.  24-year old Bill Walker will backup Anthony this year.  Walker played in 61 games (1 start) for the Knicks last year and he averaged 12.9 minutes, 4.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.  He has now played in 125 games (14 starts) so far in his NBA career and he is averaging 14.1 minutes, 5.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.

The Knicks are pretty young at shooting guard, but they aren’t without a lot of talent there.  23-year old Landry Fields stepped into the starting lineup for the Knicks last year as a rookie, and he did a great job.  Fields played in 82 games (81 starts) for the Knicks last year and he averaged 31.0 minutes, 9.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  The Knicks have enough scorers to cover for Fields while he does a lot of the dirty work.  25-year old Andy Rautins didn’t get on the court much for the Knicks as a rookie last year.  He played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Knicks last year and he averaged 4.8 minutes, 1.6 points, 0.2 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.  His game is shooting the ball, so he might get more of a shot this year for the Knicks.  21-year old Ian Shumpert was a first round pick out of Georgia Tech last June.  He only shot 39.6% from the floor in his career in college, so he might take some time to develop in the NBA.