The point guards of the Knicks have been pathetic so far this year.  They are probably very thankful that Baron Davis is ready to return to action.  He will have no problem winning the starting job.  25-year old Toney Douglas had the job to start the year and he was so awful the Knicks had to pull him from the starting lineup.  He has played in 20 games (9 starts) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 23.7 minutes, 9.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game on a putrid 32.3% shooting from the floor.  He was replaced in the starting lineup by rookie Iman Shumpert and he has not played well either.  Shumpert has played in 16 games (12 starts) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 30.4 minutes, 10.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game.  Shumpert is only shooting 36.6% from the floor so far this year.  33-year old Mike Bibby is running out of gas.  He has played in 16 games (1 start) for the Knicks this year and he is averaging 14.4 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.  Bibby is 0nly shooting 32.8% for the Knicks so far this year.  Bibby could lose his job completely when Baron Davis is ready to play.

The Knicks really need 30-year old forward Jared Jeffries to step up with Josh Harrellson out for the next six weeks due to a broken wrist.  Jeffries has played in 8 games (0 starts) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 19.1 minutes, 3.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game.  Jeffries isn’t as good of an offensive player as Harrellson is, but he is a solid defensive player and the Knicks don’t have many of them.

The Knicks need to start finding more shots for 23-year old shooting guard Landry Fields.  Fields has played in 18 games (17 starts) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 31.5 minutes, 9.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  Fields has been shooting a lot better than Iman Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire so far this year, so it just makes sense to get the ball to him more in the very near future.  Whether that happens or not remains to be seen.

When the Knicks  decided to deal for center Tyson Chandler, they knew that they were going to have to let Chauncey Billups go.  They felt that 25-year old Toney Douglas was ready to replace Billups as the starting point guard, but it hasn’t went too well so far this year.  Douglas has played in 3 games (all starts) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 32.0 minutes, 10.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.  He is only shooting 34.2% from the floor so far as he has hit only 13 of 38 shots this year.  Douglas is likely just keeping the seat warm until Baron Davis is ready to return to action.  But, in the meantime the Knicks really need him to step up and start playing better.

60-year old head coach Mike D’Antoni is probably running out of time as the Knicks’ head coach unless he turns things around soon.  He was doing a solid job for the Knicks this year until the Carmelo Anthony deal.  Anthony is in N.Y. to stay, so D’Antoni will have to adjust if he wants to keep his job much longer.  D’Antoni led the Knicks to a 42-40 (51.2%) record last year and he was 0-4 in the playoffs.  He now has a regular season record of 103-143 (41.9%) in his three years as the Knicks’ head coach and he is 0-4 in the playoffs.  D’Antoni now has a career record as a head coach of 370-315 (54%) during the regular season and he is 26-29 (47.3%) in the playoffs.  He is now on the hot seat in New York, so the Knicks better not only make the playoffs…but they better advance a round or two.

Ray Allen has been schooling rookie SG Landry Fields in this series and it’s hurting the Knicks.  Fields has played in 2 games (both starts) for the Knicks so far in this series and he is averaging 17.5 minutes, 2.0 points and 0.5 rebounds per game.  He has been shy shooting the ball as he is only 2 for 7 (28.6%) from the floor.  The Knicks need Fields to get aggressive at both ends of the court and make Ray Allen work.

Starting point guard Chauncey Billups will be watching Game #2 of the series with the Celtics in street clothes due to a left knee  injury.  Billups played 35 minutes in the first game of this series and he had 10 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists.  Toney Douglas will take over as the starting point guard for the Knicks tonight.  He played 26 minutes in the series opener and he had 8 points and 2 assists.  Anthoy Carter will back up Douglas tonight.  He played 14 minutes in the series opener and he had 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot.  Losing Billups really hurts the Knicks because he’s a big game player.  Also, the Knicks’ really thin bench will also be hurt by them having to start Douglas.

34-year old point guard Chauncey Billups has played in 8 games (all starts) for the Knicks since coming over in the big deal with the Nuggets and he is averaging 32.0 minutes, 18.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  Those numbers don’t look too bad, but Billups is only shooting 39.8% from the floor and 28.6% from three point range and that sucks.  The Knicks appear to miss Raymond Felton a lot more than they thought they would.

Due to some injuries, the Knicks have given 24-year old guard Toney Douglas more P.T. and he isn’t doing anything at all with it.  In his last five games, Douglas is averaging 24.6 minutes, 6.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.  Douglas is only shooting 29.5% from the floor and 21.1% from three point range in his last 5 games and that’s unacceptable.  He has now played in 45 games (1 start) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 22.8 minutes, 8.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game.  Douglas is only shooting 38.8% from the floor and 34.1% from three point range so far this year.  Don’t be surprised if the Knicks are looking for some backup guards at the trade deadline.

24-year old guard Toney Douglas has really been putting up a lot of bricks lately.  In his last five games, Douglas is only shooting 4 of 19 (21.1%) from the floor this year.  Douglas has averaged 21.3 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists over his last five games.  Overall this season, Douglas has played in 19 games (0 starts) in which he has averaged 23.6 minutes, 10.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  He is only shooting 40.4% from the floor and 33.7% from the three point line so far this year.  Unless Douglas gets back into a nice shooting groove his minutes could start to drop.