The New York Knicks are not off to the start they wanted this season to say the least and now that they are 1-3 and playing the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night, Mike Woodson said that with Tyson Chandler out with an injury, there is a chance he will use Andrea Bargnani at the center position.
Bargnani is not known for his defense, especially when compared to Chandler, but the Knicks will be without their former defensive player of the year for at least a month and possibly longer with his leg injury and that means some new options. The team has lost three in a row and James Dolan is liable to snap and fire Woodson if things don't improve and now his seat is getting very hot and Bargnani could be someone to help cool it off. The Knicks acquired Bargnani in the offseason for a pretty big haul and he has been off to a rough start so far this season and fans are starting to get frustrated, making a road game against the Bobcats a nice thing to look at, although they just beat the team to snap a double digit road losing streak at the Garden this week.
The defense has not been too good for the Knicks and according to ESPN.com, the team is giving up 116.3 points per 100 possessions with Bargnani's 84 minutes and that is a tough number to look at, as they are much better when he is off the floor. While it's still early in the season, that trend is troubling and he comes in with just eight points per game with two rebounds and now he will have the chance to turn things around. The heat will only get hotter on Woodson and with Chandler out, players like Bargnani and Metta World Peace will need to step up.
Bargnani was a former number one overall pick in Toronto, but he hasn't played like that in quite some time and that may mean the Knicks bench is stretched a bit with names like Cole Aldrich and Kenyon Martin getting more minutes as well as Amar'e Stoudemire and they will have to make up for the nine rebounds per game that Chandler has been pulling down and this could be a tough injury for the Knicks to overcome. This season the team is ranked third in points allowed, but they have given up way too much in the first half and they come in ranked 26th in rebounding with less than 40 per game and that will have to improve this season and Bargnani is being looked at as a solution.
