Is that Shirt Felton? Unfortunately, Now It Is

Mike Kurylo over at Knickerblogger has been totally spot-on the entire season with his assertions that the Knicks team performance is highly dependent upon Raymond Felton's level of performance. This may seem like it could apply to any team and its point guard, but there is something particularly relevant when the point guard is playing under Mike D'Antoni.

In a post from today, Kurylo takes a depressing, chart-heavy, and insightful look at Felton's recent slump, one that has left a lot of fans feeling just as uneasy as they (read: we) did for the first couple weeks of the season.

I would specifically like to point you to the comment from Owen, who wisely notes:

I just wonder if there is a pattern here with point guards wearing down in the 7SOL offense. Both Duhon and Felton came in and shot the lights out and generally played the best ball of their lives for two months. Then something happened: defenses adjusted, they wore down, regression to the mean, and suddenly the magic was gone.

It’s not easy to play 38 minutes a game at the fastest pace in the league while trying to be a plus defender. There’s probably a reason Nash has never tried. While Felton played great for a pretty long stretch it’s pretty clear that Mike is on to something. And for all that people talk about systems and player interactions, the greatest predictor of what a player will do going forward is what he has done in the past. Playing next to Amare under the tutelage of D’Antoni isn’t alchemy…

This is a very good point, and one that does not bring me much comfort. Here's hoping Ray has a very relaxing and rejuvenating All-Star break.

Uncivil War, Part One

photo via Daily News

If you weren't already aware, you should know that the No Regard staff consists of several passionate Knicks fans and several passionate Nets fans (as well as several passionate Celtics fans). Last night, we got our first glimpse of this year's Battle of the Hudson, as the Knicks and Nets faced off at Madison Square Garden.

Being one of the Knicks fans on staff, I was extremely happy with their 117-111 win. Amar'e dropped a preseason-high 39 points, and Toney Douglas (24 points) and Raymond Felton (13 points, 11 assists) both put in strong performances.

For the Nets, Jordan Farmar (21 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Brook Lopez (19 points, eight rebounds) were surprisingly and unsurprisingly (respectively, duh) effective.

I think all of us here can say that we're hopeful this game was indicative of what we can expect from further Uncivil War battles: fairly high scoring; filled with very strong performances from star big men and solid ones from point guards, and up-and-down enough to keep both sides interested throughout.

For now, we'll enjoy our health, because once the regular season starts, things are going to get bloody.

We Got Now

As a fan of the NBA during the inception of the WNBA, I specifically remember one of their earliest advertising slogans, "We got next." Fair enough. Whose got now then? The golden-era of current point guards in the NBA, that's who.