Mets tab Mulvey with first pick
The Mets were one of the first-round wallflowers in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft. Because they signed Billy Wagner as a free agent last fall, their selection in the first round went to Wagner's former club, the Phillies.
When they no longer were forced to sit on their corporate hands on Tuesday afternoon, they used the 62nd pick to select a 21-year-old right-handed pitcher from Villanova University. Kevin Mulvey was their man.
Mulvey was no newcomer to the draft process. He had been selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 34th round of the 2003 draft and opted not to sign. Now after three years of pitching a few Pat Burrell home runs from the home of the Phillies, he has a chance to sign with another National League East team.
Mulvey is 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds. His fastball is considered to be a plus-pitch by big league standards, and he is said to have a sharp-breaking slider. He is developing a curve. Considered one of best prospects in the Big East, Mulvey has been the Wildcats primary starter since his freshman season.
He tied for the team lead with 14 starts this year, pitching five complete games while producing a 3-8 record and a team low 3.61 ERA in 92 1/3 innings. He allowed 91 hits and held opponents to a .254 batting average, Mulvey struck out 88 and walked 22.
Villanova was shut out in three of his losses and scored one run in two other loses.
Charlotte 108, New York 95
Gerald Wallace scored 24 points and Kareem Rush added 22 Wednesday night as Charlotte beat the New York Knicks, 108-95.
Wallace, who had missed the last six games due to a wrist injury, went 5-of-8 shots from three-point range and also collected nine rebounds and four assists while Emeka Okafor had 19 points and a game-high 11 boards for the Bobcats (4-8), who won for just the second time in nine games.
Stephon Marbury had 21 points, eight assists and five rebounds, Jackie Butler had 13 points, and Channing Frye added 12 for New York (3-8, which has lost three of its last four games.
New York out-rebounded Charlotte, 43-33.
Great Preview of the Knicks. Check it our.
2004-05 FINISH: 33-49
OFFSEASON ADDITIONS: Jerome James (C) - Free Agent; Quentin Richardson (G) - Trade with Phoenix; Nate Robinson (G) - Trade with Phoenix.
OFFSEASON SUBTRACTIONS: Kurt Thomas (C/F) - Traded to Phoenix; Jerome Williams (F) - Waived.
2005 DRAFT PICKS: 1. (8) Channing Frye (C, Arizona); 1. (30) David Lee (F, Florida); 2. (54) Dijon Thompson (G, UCLA) - Traded to Phoenix.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP: PG Stephon Marbury, SG Jamal Crawford, SF Quentin Richardson, PF Malik Rose, C Eddy Curry
COACH: Larry Brown
(Sports Network) - A new chapter in New York Knicks basketball will be started in the 2005-06 campaign.
Larry Brown, who was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Pistons just two years into a five-year, $25 million contract, landed his dream job when he was named the new head coach of the Knicks in late July. With the hiring of Brown, who is already a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Knicks have brought in a proven winner. New York's new general has guided his clubs to the NBA Finals in three of the last five seasons. He led the Philadelphia 76ers to the 2001 championship round, won a ring with Detroit in 2004 and was on the bench when the Pistons fell in seven games to the San Antonio Spurs in last year's championship round.
The 65-year-old Brown, who is the Knicks' 22nd head coach, has proven in the past that he knows how to turn around struggling teams and get them back to the postseason. He has 33 years of coaching experience at the collegiate or professional level. Brown, who was a three-time ABA Coach of the Year and was the 2001 NBA Coach of the Year, also spent time as the head man with the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey and the ABA's Carolina Cougars. He was the head coach at UCLA and the University of Kansas, where he captured the 1988 National Championship with the Jayhawks.
New York will be a tough challenge for Brown, who was born in Brooklyn. Unlike Detroit, he does not inherit a club that is on the cusp of winning a title. Instead, Brown will try and fix a squad that still has salary cap issues and is simply trying to find the formula for winning.
Starting point guard Stephon Marbury is New York's best player. The 28-year- old Marbury led the Knicks in scoring (21.7 ppg) and assists (8.1 apg) in 2004-05. He started all 82 of the regular-season contests and played 40 minutes per game. The two-time All-Star shot 46.2 percent from the floor and averaged 1.49 steals per game.
Marbury, who has averaged 20.6 points and 8.3 assists during his nine-year career in the NBA, is one of the league's top point guards, but can he adjust to Brown's system. New York's new general stresses defense first, while Marbury loves to shoot the ball and is not afraid to get into a run- and-gun type game. The Knicks' offense will operate in a half-court set most of the time and that could prevent Marbury from his free-wheeling style of play. The fact remains that if Brown can get his new lead guard to accept his philosophy, the Knicks will be one giant step closer to getting back to the postseason.
The Knicks finished the 2004-05 season with a disappointing 33-49 record and did not qualify for the postseason for the third time in four years. New York, which was swept in its last appearance in the playoffs by the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the 2004 postseason, looked like a team that needed a complete overhaul in the offseason.
New York's president of basketball operations Isiah Thomas tried to piece together an athletic roster during the offseason. Thomas drafted Arizona's Channing Frye with the eighth overall pick and David Lee of Florida at No. 30. He also dealt center/forward Kurt Thomas and the draft rights to Dijon Thompson, who was the 54th pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, to Phoenix for swingman and three-point specialist Quentin Richardson, the draft rights to guard Nate Robinson, who was the 21st pick in this year's draft, and cash considerations. The Knicks also inked free agent center Jerome James, who had spent the previous four seasons with Seattle and will turn 30 on November 17, to a multi-year contract.
The big gamble in the offseason was the acquisition of center Eddy Curry from the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls dealt Curry and veteran forward/center Antonio Davis to the Knicks in exchange for forwards Tim Thomas and Mike Sweetney and guard Jermaine Jackson. Chicago also received a conditional 2006 first-round draft choice from New York as well as the Knicks' second-round selections in 2007 and 2009. The Bulls also have the right to switch first-round picks with New York in 2007, provided that the Knicks' selection is between numbers one through 24 in the draft order.
Curry has a heart issue that made teams reluctant to sign him. He had an irregular heartbeat which caused the budding star to miss the final 13 games of the 2004-05 season. The 6-11 center did not participate Chicago's seven postseason contests. The 22-year-old ended the campaign averaging 16.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.
Chicago had apparently wanted Curry to take a DNA test to see if his heart was going to be a problem where he wouldn't be able to play. Curry though, according to Chicago general manager Jim Paxson, refused to undergo the genetic testing. Curry was cleared to play by doctors who ran tests on him for the Knicks.
Guard Jamal Crawford will also figure prominently in Brown's new game plan. Crawford averaged 17.7 points and 4.3 assists in his first season with the Knicks in 2004-05, while Rose, who was acquired from San Antonio at last year's trade deadline, will team with fellow veteran Maurice Taylor to give New York depth up front.
Brown does have some pieces of the puzzle in place. The players will need to adjust to the coach. He has proven that he can turn struggling clubs into winners, and has always been able to get the most out of his teams. It's not going to be a walk in the park, but if anyone can get the Knicks back on track it's Brown.
BACKCOURT
Marbury is the key here. If Brown has the same success on the court that he had with All-Star Allen Iverson in Philadelphia, then everything else should be able to fall into place. Brown's patience was put to the test during his six years with the Sixers, but the 76ers did reach the NBA Finals once and qualified for the playoffs in five of the six seasons under Brown. Bottom line, he made Philly a winner once again and helped make Iverson a better player. Can Brown do the same for Marbury?
The 6-5 Crawford gives Brown an athletic shooting guard with decent size. Like Marbury, Crawford will have some adjusting to do to Brown's offensive schemes as well as his defensive philosophy. The 25-year-old Crawford and Brown may also go through some growing pains.
Brown will try and figure out how to use high-priced veteran Penny Hardaway. The 34-year-old Hardaway played just 37 games last season and is without a doubt on the downside of his career.
The rookie point guard Robinson could be a spark plug off the bench, but Brown is not know for playing rookies.
FRONTCOURT
Curry and James will share the middle and will also play side-by-side. The pair give Brown a lot of size up front and will allow Frye to learn the NBA game at his own pace. If Curry is healthy, he will log 30-plus minutes and will be expected to provide scoring down low, while the Knicks will look for James to rebound and block shots.
Richardson, who will also play shooting guard, give the Knicks a solid shooter from the perimeter. The 6-6 swingman is athletic and will work well with Marbury and Crawford in transition. He was a solid addition and should be a nice fit into Brown's game plan.
Malik Rose, who was acquired from San Antonio at last year's trade deadline, will team with fellow veteran Maurice Taylor to give New York solid depth up front. The 30-year-old Rose averaged 7.0 points and 4.5 boards in 76 games for the Spurs and Knicks in 2004-05, while the 6-9 Taylor netted 7.3 per game in 65 contests for New York and the Rockets.
Second-year pro Trevor Ariza will fill up some time off the bench at small forward, while Frye and Lee will have to deal with Brown's playing philosophy for rookies.
OUTLOOK
There will be some growing pains for the coach and his new players, but Brown will get the Knicks back into the postseason. Brown will convince Marbury and the rest of his teammates that they need to play "the right way," which will result in 43-45 wins and a berth in the Eastern Conference playoffs. There will be plenty of fans and a lot of excitement at Madison Square Garden in the 2005-06 campaign.
