Amar'e Stoudemire

Further to this, the new and considerably not improved version of Amar'e Stoudemire is nevertheless having some effect in his offensive bench role. Over the five games, Stoudemire has totalled 51 points and 33 rebounds - more Carl Landry than Karl Malone at this point, Amar'e is nevertheless providing size, offense and bench firepower from a team starved of all three. And further to that, the man who started the season as the team's fourth point guard (out of five), Toure Murry, has provided a welcome defensive influence. Barely playing to begin the season, Murry has seen more time recently in the absence of Pablo Prigioni, and used his combination of size, speed and good hands to become a significant defensive presence at the point guard position. Whilst he himself is limited offensively, Murry nevertheless brings energy, speed, a full-court game and intensity to a point guard spot normally manned by the antithesis of that, Raymond Felton. Prigioni brought the defense, but not the dynamicism, and with an extended run, Murry could potentially oust both him and Beno Udrih in the point guard rotation.

The Knicks rather put themselves in this situation by assembling a roster with only five recognised big men. They never gave themselves enough ammunition to weather a storm of injuries, and they especially needed to do so in light of how injury prone their big man rotation is. Included in those five are Chandler (who once failed a physical exam, rescinding a trade that would have affected the outcome of at least one NBA championship), Kenyon Martin (who gets injured so often that his contract this year becomes unguaranteed if he misses more than 15 games due to pre-existing knee injuries), Andrea Bargnani (66 games combined over the last two seasons) and Amar'e Stoudemire (so famously fragile he's on a minutes limit).