The Knicks have few reliable scorers beyond Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, so the offense has a points void to fill in Stoudemire’s absence.
The $100 million power forward is sidelined with a ruptured cyst in the back of his left knee, and as The Post’s Marc Berman reported, Stoudemire’s former orthopedist with the Suns is going to examine the MRI exam results and provide a second opinion. The season starts in Brooklyn on Thursday, and when Stoudemire will be able to play is unclear.
Mike D’Antoni’s fast-paced offense is gone, replaced with a more methodical system under Mike Woodson, who is missing several of his top scorers from last season. Stoudemire (second on the team with 17.5 points per game) and the promising Iman Shumpert (9.5, sixth) are hurt, and Jeremy Lin (14.6, third) departed for Houston. Among the Knicks’ top six scorers from last season, just Anthony (22.6, first), J.R. Smith (12.5, fourth) and Tyson Chandler (11.3, fifth) — who is nursing left knee bone bruise, but plans to practice tomorrow and play in the season opener — are currently available.
“I think now it’s just, we’ve got to find [scoring] from other places. I don’t think we just can rely on myself and J.R. to do all the scoring,” Anthony said yesterday. “I think now we have guys, the way we’re starting to play, the way we’ve been playing this preseason, scoring’s been coming from everywhere. Guys have just been contributing that way.”
Last year, the Knicks averaged more points in their 19 games without Stoudemire (99.1) than in the 47 with him (97.4). Near the end of the lockout-shortened season, the Knicks played 13 games without Stoudemire and Lin and went 9-4.
Woodson said he thinks the Knicks have more scoring options this time around.
“I think our team is a little bit deeper than what we had last year,” he said yesterday.
Anthony said, “We’re definitely a deep team. As far as the scoring goes, I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that.”
None of the Knicks’ offseason additions is known as a potent scorer. Point guard Raymond Felton put up 11.4 points per game for the Trail Blazers and averages 13.4 for his career. Ronnie Brewer averaged just 6.9 points last season for the Bulls. Jason Kidd averaged 6.2 for the Mavericks. Marcus Camby was at 4.9 points for the Rockets and Trail Blazers, and Kurt Thomas was at 3.0 for the Blazers.
Woodson was unsure if Stoudemire’s timetable — which was set at 2-3 weeks last Sunday — has changed at all.
“Amar’e is a big piece of the puzzle, make no mistake about that,” Woodson said. “He brings offense, he brings rebounding, he brings a number of things to our ballclub. We’re going to miss him. But until he gets back, it gives other guys an opportunity to step up and play. That’s what I’m going to be pushing guys to do.”
Happy Walters, Stoudemire’s agent, yesterday posted what appeared to be an encouraging tweet: “To all of the Knicks fans sending me messages… Stat will be fine. He’s working w/ team trainers – will b back ASAP.”