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New York Knicks still needs some more firepower
2011-02-08

The New York Knicks have earned respect this season with the arrival and stellar play of Amar’e Stoudemire, but former Knicks superstar John Starks believes that the team needs to add a few more pieces in order to contend for an NBA title.

Starks, who have been a constant follower of the Knicks since he retired, said that the sky is the limit for the team, but the Knicks would be more formidable if they would be able to add two or more solid players in their fold.

“We definitely need a couple more players,” Starks said. “I know there's been talk about certain players coming here and Donnie Walsh understands what it takes in order to put together a championship squad. He did it when he was in Indiana and he's doing a masterful job here in New York.”

Starks, who have been a crowd favorite during his eight seasons with the Knicks from 1990 to 1998, remains confident that Walsh is the right man for the job and he believes that the veteran general manager would be able to build a championship contender like what he did when he was still with the Indiana Pacers. Walsh had a successful stint with the Pacers, putting together a team that reached the 2000 NBA Finals, although they vowed to the Shaquille O’Neal-led Los Angeles Lakers.

“You always have to continue to improve. You can't just sit still in this league and hope for the best,” Starks said. “And what Donnie is trying to do is he's trying to put together that team can definitely get us back to the Finals.”

The Knicks have the ability to add another marquee player in their fold because they are expected to be a huge player when the trade deadline approaches. New York was reportedly Carmelo Anthony’s preferred destination.

The Denver Nuggets forward has been involved in a lot of trade rumors since the off-season, and the Knicks are one of the most aggressive suitors for the superstar forward. The Knicks are willing to unload players other than Stoudemire plus first-round draft picks on order to acquire Anthony.

Although Starks did not directly talked about acquiring Carmelo Anthony, Starks said that acquiring an elite player, while giving up a hefty package of players would be a good gamble depending on the quality of player the Knicks would acquire.

“It's happened before in the past and it worked out,” Starks said. “Depending on what player you're going after and what you have to give up. That's the business that's we're in. You sometimes have to give up a little bit more to get the type of player that you want.”

Starks, who was a member of the Knicks that reached the 1993-94 NBA Finals, also expressed excitement about the renewed hope and energy of the Knicks fans. Starks said that the recent decent showing from the Knicks have brought Madison Square Garden to its status of being the best basketball arena in the World.

“You can see the intensity, the energy that's in the building again and it's just exciting to see the city lit up right now,” Starks said. “Walking down the street yesterday and you can hear the rhetoric about the Knicks now, and you haven't heard that in some years.”

After being a regular cellar-dweller in past few years, the Knicks are on pace to return to the playoffs this season and adding another marquee player like Carmelo Anthony would make them an instant title-contender this season. The Knicks are +900 to win the Eastern Conference championship according to the Basketball Odds at Sportsbook.com the home of NBA betting.

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming out for the season
2010-12-28

After making his much-awaited return Football Live Betting Odds nfl football betting Online Bingo Online Sportsbook this season from an injury, Houston Rockets center Yao Ming absorbed another setback and will be out for the rest of the season because of a stress fracture in his left ankle that also caused him to miss the entire season last year, much to the disappointment of NBA betting.

Yao, who averaged 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in 18.2 minutes per game this season, has been sidelined since November 10, but the Rockets team training staff didn’t immediately discovered that Yao sustained a stress fracture that was related to his previous injury.

Rockets head coach Rick Adelman was saddened with the news, saying that they were excited to have Yao back in their fold. Adelman also added that they were planning to give Yao more minutes after limiting him to less than 24 minutes early in the season, which was a plan to prevent Yao from absorbing another stress fracture injury.

“It's just really sad, and you have to really feel for him because he's worked so hard to come back and then to have this happen,” Adelman said. “He was talking about getting out to play pretty soon, and now to get the news, you really feel for him and feel for our team.”

The Rockets team physician Walter Lowe said that they are still weighing their options, but having a surgery that would need 10 months of recovery period is on top of their list. Lowe also pointed out that the surgery Yao had last year was not a fluke because Yao has been prone to stress fracture for his entire career.

“When you look at the course of Yao's career, stress fractures have been part of his foot,” Lowe said. “So to say he's not at a risk to continue to have stress fractures would be crazy. So he is at a continued risk. The new position of his foot should make those stresses lower.”

The new stress fracture injury that Yao sustained could put his career in jeopardy, but Rockets general manager Daryl Morey remains optimistic that Yao would eventually recover again from the injury and help them in the future.

“We need to continue to talk to the doctors and see where that goes,” Morey said. “Yao Ming's an All-Star center and when you look throughout the league there's not very many of them. So if it looks like there's a good prognosis here and we're still learning how good that prognosis will be, for sure we're going to look at Yao Ming past this season.”

The Chinese superstar center is in the final year of the contract he signed in 2005, and GM Morey is not disclosing the possibility of dealing Yao to another team, although he prefers to make a move later in the season or next summer. Despite losing their starting center, Morey is still confident that they can still make the Playoffs, although it would be a tough goal to reach after winning in only 12 of their first 27 games this season.

“We still feel like we're a team that can make the playoffs this season,” Morey said. “We feel like we're fighting with about four or five other teams for maybe the seven, eight seed this season. I know our guys in the locker room aren't writing the season off. I know I'm not. I know coach Rick Adelman isn't. We still think this can be a great season.”

Yao Ming will be a big loss for the Rockets this season and without him, reaching the Playoffs this season will be a difficult task for them, unless their big men like Jordan Hill and Luis Scola will have a drastic improvement this season.

With Yao out the Rockets have dropped to +7500 to win the Western Conference championship this season according to Sportsbook.com. As an NBA bettor are you wagering on the Rockets this season? Get over to Sportsbook.com the home of NBA betting and get into the action today.