The recent news as reported by CBS Sports, is that the New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith recently underwent knee surgery and will be out 10-14 weeks. The team also announced it has reached agreement with small forward Metta World Peace (a.k.a. Ron Artest) on a 2 year contract (www.cbssports.com).

 

The fact that Smith had to have these knee surgeries done is a concern to me as a fan on a couple of levels. First, the injuries to Smith’s knees have been chronic and what if these procedures do not fix those problems?

 

Now, the Knicks have signed him to a 4 year contract, and he could hypothetically miss extended periods of time due to nagging injury.

 

However, Smith has battled through injury his entire career and has shown toughness and resilience in the past, but I do think that the injuries have an effect on his shooting capability. It could help to explain the long scoring drought he had in the playoffs this past season.

 

Who is going to help Melo?

 

The second area of concern I have regarding the absence of Smith is that he will miss training camp and the beginning few weeks of next season. That timetable, of course, is if everything involving in his rehab goes well. What if he has a setback?

 

In the absence of Smith, who is going to be the secondary scoring player to help Carmelo Anthony (a.k.a. Melo)?

 

The Knicks are going to need some scoring help from one of the other guards on the roster. I would look to Iman Shumpert as a potentially capable source of that offense.

 

I know so far Shumpert’s calling card is his ability to play lock-down defense, but the Knicks sent him to play Summer League ball in Las Vegas specifically to work on the offensive aspects of his game.

 

The other option is that secondary scoring might have to come from the front court with Andrea Bargnani. He has a very well rounded offensive game, as I covered in a prior post here on “Frank’s Forum”. Any seven foot guy who can shoot the 3 pointer, drive to the basket, and shoot mid-range jumpers is difficult to defend.

 

The opposing team will be looking to stop Carmelo Anthony, so that may open up some shots for Bargnani to knock down.

 

Outside of those two players, I do not know where the Knicks are going to find the points that Smith would normally contribute. In his absence, they need to put together a game plan to figure that out.

 

Metta World Peace: return to NYC

 

It was widely speculated that following the Los Angeles Lakers using their amnesty buyout on the contract of Metta World Peace, he would come and play for the Knicks.

 

The rationale behind that rumor was because he would still be paid by the Lakers the remainder of the money on his contract with them, the Lakers just eliminated those dollars from the salary cap and the luxury tax figures.

 

The Knicks have very little money left to spend on free agents but figured to offset the money he was receiving from the Lakers with half the mid- level trade exception which is around $1.6 million.

 

The Knicks used the other half of the mid-level trade exception to sign Pablo Prigioni recently to bring him back after his successful first year with the team last season. Prigioni will fill an important role in the Knicks backcourt in the upcoming season.

 

Metta World Peace (a.k.a. Ron Artest) figured to resume his NBA career with the Knicks because they are a potential title contender (he has played 14 years in the league so he was not going to go to a bad team at this point) and he is from New York City. The Knicks have a need at small forward, so this is a good move for all sides.

 

I know that World Peace has had a checkered past history, but I believe in redemption and second chances. He has grown into a solid defender and rebounder as well as a locker room leader which Kobe Bryant wanted back with the Lakers. This is a guy who used to drink beers before games when he was with the Indiana Pacers.

 

Then, he famously changed his name and thanked his psychiatrist after the most recent Lakers championship series victory a few years ago. He will fill an important void for the Knicks in their frontcourt and in the locker room. I think Coach Woodson will get a high caliber of effort out of him as well.

 

So, Knicks fans, we have a bad news and good news type of day. The team still has a couple of smaller roster moves yet to make, including the continued negotiations to bring back Kenyon Martin, which I think is imperative for them to do moving forward. Stay tuned.