New York Knicks: Dishing and Swishing Will Lead to Winning and Grinning

The New York Knicks have had a rough go of it for sure through the first quarter of the NBA season.

The good news is that all the problems they've had early on can be fixed.

It's a simple formula for the Knicks. Passing the ball to the open man and getting better looks at the basket will result in wins.

We saw some of that last night in a victory over the Charlotte Bobcats, which broke a six-game losing streak.

Don't get to excited about that performance, though. The Bobcats are awful. The Knicks should do that to teams like Charlotte.

Much of the problem so far has been the lackluster guard play.

That gets better by default with the Knicks debut of Baron Davis.

While I don't view Davis as the savior for the Knicks, he is what he is, and he's an upgrade.

The offense as a whole should run much smoother once Davis is able to play major minutes. He's a guy that will make sure the ball moves.

Movement is the key for the Knicks offense to have success, not only ball movement, but player movement.

Carmelo Anthony has taken some heat lately for taking too many shots, and he has, but the point is that Anthony knows he needs to get his teammates involved more and will do exactly that. But when there are four guys standing around watching Anthony shoot the ball 25-30 times per game, what exactly is he to do?

That's why having Davis in the lineup will pay dividends. The Knicks need a guy who can quarterback the offense. Davis will make sure both Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire are both getting their shots.

He's a guy that will keep everyone involved, but can also knock down enough shots on his own to keep the defense honest.

Davis knows tempo as well, which is very important. He knows when to push the tempo and when to slow it down. The current Knicks guards don't know how to do that.

But the biggest thing is that the ball and the players on the court will move.

Will we still see Melo-Ball and a ton of isolation sets? Absolutely. That's his game.

But take a page from the Lakers and Kobe Bryant over the years. Bryant's game is based on isolation, but his teammates are consistently cutting and setting screens. If it's not there, Bryant makes a play for someone else.

That's what Anthony can do, but it requires everyone else on the court not standing around every time he touches the ball.

The Knicks will get it figured out on the offensive end. They have too much talent not to.

At the end of the day, though, it all depends on movement. New York averages barely over 18 assists per game, and that's not an acceptable number.

The more movement and open looks generated because of it will lead directly to more wins.