Knicks Rumors: New York Targeting Mo Evans with Shawne Williams to the Nets

The New York Knicks have finally molded themselves into the somewhat-wise team that we always thought they'd become.

Instead of playing the waiting game with Chris Paul like they did with LeBron James, the team dropped out of the race early and went on to pursue and then sign center Tyson Chandler to a deal worth $58 million over the next four seasons. $14.5 million may be a little much for a player who has no offensive skill set and can basically only play defense, but the acquisition does give the Knicks arguably the league's top front court.

With Chandler rounding out a front court of scorers in Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, he could possibly allow his defensive influence to rub off on his offensive-minded teammates. 'Melo and "Stat" have been criticized throughout their careers for their lack of commitment on defense, and adding a player like Chandler may be the key to making the two more well-rounded.

It turns out that defense is going to continue being preached, as the Knicks have now set their eyes on another defensive specialist.

Now that three-point specialist Shawne Williams is set to join the New Jersey Nets and Jamal Crawford is set to join the Portland Trail Blazers, the Knicks now have one more roster spot to be filled at the guard and forward position. Word is that they have begun targeting former Washington Wizards swing man Maurice Evans and have offered a deal worth $2.5 million. 

Evans spent last season with the Wizards and Atlanta Hawks and managed to take advantage of the increased role with Washington by averaging 10 points and three boards per game. He also managed to average a three-pointer per for only the third time in his career while converting on 35 percent of his shot opportunities.

Maurice won't be look to for any offensive support, even though the Knicks could use it in the back court, but he will be looked at for defensive support, with the small forward being in specific. The Knicks are well off with the lengthy Landry Fields playing the two, but they could use a great deal of depth and support on both sides of the ball in the front court.

The current depth chart has rookie Iman Shumpert, Mike Bibby, Bill Walker and Toney Douglas getting the majority of the minutes at the one and two, along with Fields, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that these players won't get the job done. Shumpert is unproven, Bibby is abysmal in the postseason, Walker is athletic and not much else and Douglas is basically the only player who could possibly be relied on to run the point.

Bringing in Chandler was the right idea, but going after Samuel Dalembert might have been the smarter buy if it meant having to amnesty point guard Chauncey Billups. The 2004 NBA champion is still a considerable threat on offense at the age of 34 and could have provided the veteran experience and court awareness that the team needed to become a legitimate contender.

With no Billups, the team will now rely on Carmelo Anthony to control the facilitation of the offense. Anthony has never proven been the greatest facilitator, as he's only never averaged more than four assists per, and this could cause a disruption in the flow of the offense since he's definitely a shoot-first player more than he's a pass-first player.

The team is expecting him to be a LeBron James type of facilitator, but he's not as expert of a distributor than James, and he's certainly not willing to give up the ball as much as his fellow small forward, either. Losing out on a true point guard like Billups could hurt a team that's coached by Mike D'Antoni, as he has usually relied on pure point guards to lead the way.

Back to Evans. For only $2.5 million and not many quality defensive specialists left on the free agency block, Evans may be the smartest buy of the offseason for the Knicks as they look to add some depth and add another wise defender to this team that's looking to improve on its defensive capabilities.