In the last 18 months, the Knicks have added Amar'e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler to their roster.
Given the results they generated last season and the hype they generated during the truncated run-up to this season, you wouldn't imagine that the Knicks would be looking for another savior quite so quickly. And yet, 13 games into this season with a 6-7 record, that's just the situation the Knicks find themselves in.
The savior in question isn't from central casting. Baron Davis, better known for indifferent effort and an expanded waistline in recent seasons, is seen as the man who can save this Knicks season once his back is well enough to let him get back on the court.
Davis is getting closer to a full practice and there's some talk that he could get on the court for a game during next week's road trip -- something that would spark celebrations among Knicks fans to rival anything we've seen since the 1973 title.
With a disjointed offense and a backcourt populated by players who are bench-worthy, at best, Davis offers the hope of a team that doesn't play like they get penalized for moving the ball around before taking a shot at the basket.
The hope is that Davis will come and rescue Stoudemire from his current role as guy who stands around a lot before settling for a bad outside shot or driving toward the hoop with his head down and no chance of converting the shot. Visions of pick and rolls dance in heads all around New York with Stoudemire piling up points the way he did last season.
Under this view, Anthony should benefit as well. With Davis, the team shouldn't have to run isolation set after isolation set to get points in the final minutes and Anthony should get more clean looks at the basket as a result of ball movement that doesn't allow the defense to focus on him at the expense of everything else.
How realistic is this view? It's impossible to say for sure without seeing Davis in the lineup, although, at the very least, there figures to be an adjustment period necessary for everyone to figure out how they fit together offensively.
Sports
The truth of the matter is that Davis has never been a player who totally fits the profile of the distributor point guard. He does provide a fair amount of assists that come with a very high value (i.e. layups and dunks), but he also forces a fair number of shots that don't come within the flow of the offense.
He'll obviously know that his role in New York isn't to do that, but Chauncey Billups knew the same thing last season and he couldn't resist looking for his own shot at the expense of the offense. We'll see how that plays out, although we don't need to see Davis to know that he's a better option at the point than anyone else currently on the Knicks roster.
That's the most, perhaps only, important thing to note about Davis. The impact he'll have on the team is unclear, but we've seen enough to know that the offense isn't going to crackle without him so the Knicks have no choice but to put all the eggs in his basket.
Fittingly, Davis' personal website is called the Boomiverse. The Knicks season will be the Bustiverse if this doesn't work out.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
