Category Archives: Toney Douglas
Here it is everyone. Your first open thread for the first preseason game of the season. I would venture to guess that Turiaf gets the start along side Stoudemire and the starters will play significant minutes.
There are potential issues, but the bottom line for me is can the team create second opportunities and can they limit the other team to a lot of one and done situations, and I don’t mean makes.
I’m looking forward to fans seeing Anthony Randolph’s jumper, which has been on display all training camp. Same with Ray Felton’s. I’m looking forward to seeing when the team goes small with Randolph at center, can they rebound.
I’m looking forward to seeing if Gallo makes a huge step forward, especially in his home town.
I’m looking forward to seeing if Bill Walker can be the player he was at the end of last year, and if Roger Mason Jr. can be a major contributor.
I’m really looking forward to watching the development of Toney Douglas.
Can STAT continue to play with the same energy and leadership he clearly displayed all training camp.
Are Landry Fields and Mozgov as good as I think they are at this point in their young careers?
Can Rautins prove he can consistently make open jumpers?
Will Ewing Jr. make the team?
When will Kelenna Azubuike be ready?
And of course how D’Antoni manages the roster.
It’s about an hour away. And I’m really pumped.
There’s no doubt that there needs to be a two-way street between players and the coach for locker room harmony. Definitely something to keep an eye on, but it just seems to me that the sense is that younger players will be compliant.
The coaching staff will tell you nobody has worked harder than Douglas this offseason. The second-year Florida State product has done two-a-days at their Westchester compound since the beginning of May — save for a two-week break in July.
Douglas, the Knicks’ most tenacious defender, said one of the reasons he has worked so hard is he wants to be a leader this season. There were none during last season’s 29-53 campaign.
“I had an OK rookie year, but this year I want to be more vocal and be one of the leaders on the court,” Douglas said. “At the same time, you can’t be a leader if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain. If people are slacking, I’ll tell them. If I’m slacking, I want them to tell me.”
We’ve talked about at length how leadership was an issue in the locker room last year. No one is a bigger fan of what Douglas brings to the table than I am. I know the coach wants him to see the floor more and learn how to be a traditional point, but as far as I’m concerned the guy possesses all the great qualities in a young rotation guard. Defensively, he’s a pest on the ball and is tremendous in the passing lanes. How many steal/layups did he have when he started getting regular minutes last year? He fights over screens and can rebound. Offensively, he can knock down shots in catch and shoot opportunities, he can get past his man and hit mid range and he can move the ball when not looking to score. And he’s very adept at the pick and roll. Aside from defense, I wouldn’t say he’s great at anything yet, but he’s a complete player who I’m looking for to have a really strong sophomore campaign.
And it looks like he’s putting the work in to make that happen. Add that to the list of great qualities.
But as the season dragged on, Douglas seemed baffled by D’Antoni’s offense. He lost his place in the rotation and didn’t re-emerge until March.
After seeing his NBA dream turn into a brief nightmare, Douglas showed that unheralded players can thrive under D’Antoni if they have the right attitude.
“Since the first week of May I’ve been doing two-a-days in New York,” Douglas said. “I want to become a complete basketball player.”
And on this team, efforts like that don’t go unnoticed.
“Toney is going to be a competitor,” D’Antoni concluded. “He shoots the ball extremely well and he plays hard so we expect him to be in the rotation contributing next year.”
I don’t think TD was baffled by the offense, I think he was being asked to get more people involved. He’s worked on that all off season and thusfar in the summer league. He’s a perfect rotation guard. He can play behind, and learn from, Ray Felton, and will also see minutes with him. He’s already a well-above average defender. And when you look at the roster, the players that have been brought in, as I suspected, all are good defenders. They should be better as a team.
Listen here
Tune into TKB Radio tonight at 9 PM with Anthony “Rice Balls” Donahue and special guest Toney Douglas. The draft is tomorrow and a lot of rumors are circulating. A year ago, Toney Douglas was one of the college prospects anxiously waiting to hear their name be called by an NBA team. The Knicks acquired Douglas then, so will Donnie Walsh try to do the same this year? All of that draft talk and your awesome phone calls.
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Despite having told the University of Kentucky he is going to stay, John Calipari seems to have the NBA itch according to Yahoo.
“…Adrian Wojnarowski states that without the Wesley-James connection, Calipari would not be able to get an NBA position after his tenure in New Jersey.
“Rest assured, if Calipari finds a way to get one of these teams to believe his hiring will bring James – or keep him, in Cleveland’s case – he’ll be on his way back to the pros,” writes Wojnarowski.
A former Nets owner was asked his advice to any team considering hiring Calipari. “My advice?” the former owner asked after pausing. “Well, I guess my advice would be this: Don’t…”
I still don’t get how a guy who can’t win with the most pros in college is somehow the missing piece to an NBA franchise.
In other news, I spoke to yet another source with ties to Chris Bosh who told me there is “zero chance” Bosh goes back to Toronto. “It sounds like his bags are already packed, just don’t no where yet.” Expect the Raptors to shop for the best sign and trade, but expect agent Henry Thomas to be the orchestrator. And don’t expect Dallas, Bosh’s birthplace, to be of much interest to the All-Star forward.
I also heard from a pretty informative mole that Amar’e Stoudemire turned down a max-extension from the Suns during the season. That’s very interesting to me because the Suns can pay him a ton more money than anyone else. That also would appear to answer the “who are the max players” debate that we’ve been having. If Amar’e is a max player, then I pass if I’m the Knicks.
How good is Rajon Rondo? See, for me, it’s obvious that he had talent, but teams were scared off by his inability to shoot jumpers. In his rookie year he didn’t have to, then last year, minus Kevin Garnett, teams forced Rondo to beat them from the perimeter by sagging off him mid-range.This year it’s different. Garnett can play away from the basket and be a good safety valve for Rondo if he gets too deep and can’t finish. Bottom line for me is that there is no reason to believe that Toney Douglas can’t become an excellent NBA player if given the chance to develop with talent around him. Maybe not Rondo good, but they have similar skill sets. Superior defenders, long arms which allows them to slither in the lane and finish, open court speed, etc. And Douglas is a better catch and shooter. That’s serious expectations from here, but Toney himself knows how good he wants to be and will work his tail off to get there.
We analyzed TD a few weeks back, and Big C from Fromthebaseline has taken it a step further. I couldn’t agree more that I’d like to see Douglas work on his mid-range game a bit more. That, to me, seems to be what separates guards in this league.
Click here for the full video breakdown.
This is a post that I’ve held off from for a long time. I wondered this way back in November, when Brandon Jennings took the league by storm. My friend Dan from knicksfan.net was chatting about it on Twitter last night.
I’ve been somewhat critical of Jennings, but the addition of John Salmons (a TKB favorite) has helped Jennings and the Bucks to the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference. Jennings, after hitting the rookie wall at 100mph, has regrouped and been very efficient over the past few weeks.
To me, Douglas is a classic two-way player. This is not to say that Jennings doesn’t play the passing lanes exceedingly well, he does, but Douglas is the better defender. It will be interesting to see how Jennings plays defensively in the playoffs, as it’s a given that he will be posted up by a bigger guard matchup. If I’m the Bucks, I’m hoping to face the Hawks, since Jennings and Mike Bibby would somewhat negate that.
Jennings is younger, but from a scouting standpoint I like Douglas’ frame better. Something about Jennings’ legs scares me a bit more than his attitude, which came into question before, during and after the draft. Jennings, in all fairness, aside from an issue with Twitter where he was fined $7,500 dollars, hasn’t been a problem whatsoever.
Douglas appears to be a more efficient shooter and maybe scorer, but the team still may not be sure he’s the PG of the future. If the team has Douglas coming off the bench, though, that would be a sign of ridiculous back court depth. Jennings has proven to be an effective starter, but Douglas in his short tenure has really opened a lot of people’s eyes.
That said.
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“…When Anthony came out, he talked about the gall of Gallinari, who was trash-talking with the all-star. And he also discussed the not-so-ambiguous comments Knicks president Donnie Walsh made to the New York Post, suggesting that even though the Knicks have money to spend this summer, they are looking at rebuilding over the next couple years — and Melo could be available after 2011.
“I really don’t know what’s going to happen the next year,” Anthony said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I don’t see why anybody wouldn’t want to play here in New York…”
As I’ve said, Melo is great leverage for this summer. Would Lebron allow for the opportunity to pass him by with the idea of having to GET THROUGH the Knicks should Carmelo make the jump? This is what the plan is about to me. They have the opportunity to give Lebron everything, should he pass the team can add pieces this season in the form of a max player and vets maybe on 1 year deals, the possibility of sign and trades, then have space to add the game changer.
At least that’s what I’ve always felt.
What does that mean for fans? Well, if Lebron stays, I would think a team ready to make the playoffs in the bottom tier and make a push. Have another year of development with added piece, particularly defensively, around Gallinari, Toney Douglas and Wilson Chandler. The chance to add a 1st round pick this year and/or two possible quality second rounders as well.
Then be ready to become a Eastern Conference contender in 2011 if they can convince Melo, who doesn’t seem like he needs all that much convincing.
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