David Lee has been having an outstanding season for the New York Knicks, but his right knee has been bothering him lately and he is sitting out tonight’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers because of it.  This is the first game of the season that Lee has missed, and he is being listed as day-to-day since it is just knee tendinitis.  Tendinitis can linger for a while though, so it looks like Lee will have to play through some pain as the season winds down.  It’s a shame, because Lee has been one of the few bright spots for the disappointing Knicks this season.  He was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team, and is averaging 20.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.04 steals, and 0.5 blocks.  He has shot the ball great as well, hitting 55% from the field and 79% from the line.  Lee’s injury is not a good sign for the Knicks, who are 24-44 on the season and are also without Eddy Curry (calf) and Wilson Chandler (groin), leaving their front court in disarray.

Tracy McGrady’s knee doesn’t look anywhere near 100% and the Knicks’ newly acquired guard has been getting limited minutes because of it.  He had microfracture knee surgery over a year ago, yet he is still “working his way back.”  His knee bothers him most when the Knicks have games on back to back nights.  His first game with the Knicks was on February 20th, and he had 26 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal in 32 minutes of action.  The next game was the 22nd, and he was able to play 30 minutes and finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist.  The very next night the Knicks played the Celtics, and McGrady looked a step slow.  His shot was off and he played 27 minutes, finishing with 6 points, 8 assists, and 1 rebound.  He bounced back very nicely after the Knicks had a few days off, playing 26 minutes with 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in a win over the Wizards.  The Knicks had another game the very next night against the Grizzlies, and T-Mac could only play 15 minutes and sat out the second half.  His knee was still bothering him in the Knicks blowout loss to the Cavaliers, but he was able to play 24 minutes for 6 points, 5 assists, and 2 rebounds.  TMac seems to be a different player when he gets enough time to rest his knee, but whenever the Knicks have back to back games he is almost useless with his sore knee.

The New York Knicks have acquired Tracy McGrady in a three team deal that also involved the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets.  The Knicks also get Sergio Rodriguez from the Kings, while the Rockets get Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries from the Knicks, as well as Kevin Martin and Hilton Armstrong from the Kings.  The Kings get Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey from the Rockets, and Larry Hughes from the Knicks.  There were also some agreements made about future draft picks in this deal, with Rockets getting the Knicks first round draft pick in 2012 along with having the option of swapping their first round pick with the Knicks in the 2011 NBA draft.

These were some great moves by the Knicks, as it freed up even more salary cap space for the big 2010 free agent class coming up this summer.  The only problem is if a lot of the big-time free agents decide to re-sign with their teams, then the Knicks are stuck with no big draft picks the next two seasons.  McGrady could help the Knicks some this year, even though he has been a disgruntled player battling knee problems and has played in only 6 games this season.  It was his expiring contract that was the biggest thing to lure the Knicksthough, as his $23 million contract expires July 1st.  Another $16 million will also come of the books with both Al Harrington’s contract and Chris Duhon’s contract expiring. That means the Knicks will have over $30 million to go after LeBron James and possibly another big free agent like Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, or Joe Johnson.  If LeBron doesn’t stay in Cleveland, the Knicks are pretty much a lock to land him this offseason.

David Lee has been one of the few players on the New York Knicks’ roster that has played consistently this season and he goes for a double-double nearly every night.  So far this season, Lee has 20 double-doubles, which is sixth best in the league behind superstars Chris Bosh (28), Dwight Howard (27), Carlos Boozer (24), Zach Randolph (23), and Steve Nash (23).  Lee makes an impact on both ends of the court, averaging 19.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.1 steals.  At 6’9″ Lee is shorter than most centers in the league, but he is a very good athlete and has a strong 250-pound frame.  Lee goes hard night-in and night-out for the Knicks, and there are more than a few players on the Knicks that could take note from Lee’s hard work and intensity.  Lee will be a free-agent after this season and will be looking for a long-term deal worth at least $12 million a year.  The Knicks should pay Lee what he wants since he has earned it, but there are quite a few teams out there that would love to have Lee on their roster.

The New York Knicks’ (8-16) 4-game win streak came to an end Tuesday night, as they fell to the Charlotte Bobcats (10-13) on the road.  The Knicks had an 8-point lead going into the 4th quarter, but were outscored 28-13 in the final quarter to lose the game.  Turnovers really hurt the Knicks in this one, with the Bobcats scoring 29 points off 21 Knick turnovers.  They shot 45% from the field, but they jacked up 25 threes and only hit 7 of them (28%).  The scoring was balanced, with all five starters scoring in double figures.  Chris Duhon led the way with 18 points, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds.  They only got 15 points from their bench.  Stephen Jackson led the Bobcats with 24 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

The New York Knicks (4-15) played poor defense once again and fell to the Orland Magic (15-4) last night on the road.  The Knicks had a rough first half and only scored 16 points in the second quarter.  The Knicks have not had too many problems scoring points though, and it has been their defense and rebounding that has been hurting them.  David Lee seems to be the only who hits the boards hard, but he only had 6 rebounds last night.  The Knicks were out-rebounded 46-36 and they let the Magic shoot 55% from the field.  Wilson Chandler was the Knicks’ top player last night with 24 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal.  It wasn’t enough though, as Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis both had double-doubles.  The Knicks really have to get better at making stops if they ever want to get out of the basement of the Eastern Conference.

The New York Knicks (2-9) got a rare road win tonight against the Indiana Pacers (5-5).  Al Harrington seemed like he wanted to send a message to his former team and he led the Knicks to the win.  Harrington had 26 points and 5 rebounds, with 13 of those points coming in the fourth quarter where the Knicks outscored the Pacers 34-17.  The Knicks played very well in the second half after doing a very poor job defensively in the first.  They gave up 43 points in the second quarter, but only gave up 34 in the entire second half.  You don’t see a team score more points in a quarter than in a half in the same game very often.  The Knicks were not able to contain Danny Granger very well, as he had 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.  The Knicks got a great game from their bench and not just Harrington.  Larry Hughes nearly had a triple double of the bench with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists.  Eddy Curry added 10 points and 4 rebounds in only 11 minutes of play.  The Knicks need more defensive efforts like the one they put up tonight in the second half.

Chris Duhon played allright in his first season as a starter in the NBA but the Knicks need him to do more. The 27-year old Duhon played in 79 games for the Knicks last season and he averaged 36.8 minutes, 11.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. The Knicks would like it if he took more shots this season. 23-year old Gabe Pruitt would likely be Duhon’s backup if the season started today. Pruitt played in 47 games for the Celtics last season and he averaged 7.8 minutes, 2.0 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Starting SG Larry Hughes can handle the point if need be but the Knicks would be smart to bring back Nate Robinson who is a restricted free agent.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE POINT GUARDS IN 2009-2010: C-

UPDATE: With the recent signing of Nate Robinson the projected grade is now a C+