Knick fans, while I am an optimist, I am not a complete fool.  As the Atlantic division stands today, I would love to tell everyone that the Knicks are at the top, but I just don’t think that I could bring myself to do that.  This off-season has been a busy one for the Eastern conference, and an especially busy one for the Atlantic division.  The Celtics won the NBA title in June.  The Raptors picked up a motivated and potentially 100% Jermaine O’Neal. The emerging Sixers re-upped with Andre Iguodala and brought in Elton Brand.  The Nets seemingly overhauled their entire team, having replaced Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson with a large mix of both young and veteran players.  Personally, I think that Rod Thorn has done a great job dating back to last season’s trade deadline.

And then there is the Knicks, whose three biggest recent moves have been bringing in 1) Donnie Walsh and 2) Mike D’Antoni, while demoting 3) Isiah Thomas.  Donnie Walsh has done a nice job this off-season by bringing in the young and talented Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Ewing Jr., and picking up a future 2^nd round pick.  And let’s not forget about Chris Duhon, who may start this year.  If there is one thing that I can take away from Walsh’s first off-season as the head of the Knicks, it is that he is very patient.  Walsh understands that the general value of his players is as low as possible after last year’s debacle of a season, and thus he has not made any rash moves just for the sake of doing so.

Regardless, Walsh has not overhauled the team this off-season, even though I initially thought he would.  Walsh changed the philosophy and culture surrounding the organization, not so much the players.  The problem for the Knicks going forward is that the rest of their division not only changed players, but brought in big-time players at that.  So how will the Knicks match up against the rest of the Atlantic division?  The Celtics blew the Knicks away last year and have essentially maintained their core.  The Knicks have no shot against them.  But can Zach Randolph match a player like Elton Brand?  I am very interested to see that match-up (if Z-Bo isn’t traded first), but let’s face it, the Knicks do not match up against the Sixers.  Can the Knicks frontline of Eddy Curry and Randolph go toe-to-toe with a healthy Jermaine O’Neal and Chris Bosh?  I can already see both of them putting up 30 points a piece on the Knicks’ frontline.  As for the Nets, I have a feeling that they will surprise many people this season, but I am not sure if they will surprise in a positive or negative way.  I can envision both scenarios.

Now I know that the NBA is not the MLB in that divisional games do not account for half of a team’s season.  But about 20% of the Knicks’ game this year will come against Boston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Toronto.  With the Celtics being the reigning champions, and the Sixers and Raptors bulking up their frontlines, this season the Knicks have to deal with a much improved division, perhaps the best division in the Eastern conference.

That all said, I am not sure how the Knicks roster will adapt to Coach Mike’s new system.  Call me crazy, but the Knicks absolutely have the talent to be a very good team and a definite postseason team.  But in an improved division, Mike D’Antoni better hope his players respond well to change.