With Opening Day fast approaching, let's take a look at the team that figures to be the chief competition to your Brooklyn Nets in the race for the Atlantic Division crown.

How'd New York do last season? Let's check the numbers:

The big dropoff for the NYK last year was in their defense. In the lockout shortened 2011-2012 season, the Knicks were one of the best defensive teams in the league. They were Top 5 in both defensive efficiency and turnovers forced in '11-'12. They were still able to force turnovers at a high clip, but their defense went from fifth best to sixteenth best in the course of one season. What caused it? A look at the numbers points us to their defense near the basket. In 2011, New York's foes only shot 56.8 percent inside of five feet, good for eighth lowest in the league. For 2012, opponents shot 60.8 percent inside five feet, good for fifth highest in the NBA. The first thing that popped into my head as a reason for this sharp uptick was due to injuries. The big injury hit for NY happened in the 2012 playoffs when Iman Shumpert tore his ACL in Game 1 vs Miami. Shump eventually made his return to the rotation in mid January. The other injury concern for New York was related to Tyson Chandler. The reigning defensive player of the year missed sixteen games as he battled a neck injury, knee injury, and eventually wrist and back injuries in the playoffs. David Vertsberger of HawksHoop, Hickory High, and Knickerblogger is thinking along the same lines that I am:

...the 2012 versions of Iman Shumpert and Tyson Chandler were miles above their levels of play this season. In Shumpert’s case, it was a combination of injury and rust (note: even with Shumpert back into the swing of things and comfortable with his healed body, Mike Woodson failed to play him as many minutes as he should); while Tyson Chandler’s backslide from defensive anchor to passable rim protector came seemingly out of the blue. Look no further than the Knicks’ DRTG with Chandler on/off the court, courtesy of NBA.com/Stats: the Knicks were actually better on defense with Chandler on the pine this season, which, of course, wasn’t the case the season prior. Down the stretch, Chandler even found himself sanctioned on the bench in favor of Kenyon Martin, who makes 50 times lessmoney (salary information from StoryTellers) than Tyson does this season. Yowza.

Despite their issues on defense, the Knicks were able to win 54 games and take the Atlantic Division title. Led by Carmelo Anthony and friends, the Knicks were tied with Houston in three pointers attempted with 28.6 (I would say that the three pointer played a larger role in New York's offense than Houston's. Houston played at the league's fastest pace while New York played at the fifth slowest in 2012-2013.) and fifth in conversion rate at 37.6 percent. Eventually, the Knicks got stuffed by the Indiana Pacers in six games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

We'll dig into what to expect from the Knickerbockers as a whole later, but now, let's dig into the individual players that make up this roster:

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Hey look, no more fat jokes for Feltion! Last season represented a dramatic turnaround from his disastrous post lockout campaign in Portland. He wasn't in the best shape due to the lockout, had possibly his worst professional season, and earned the ire of everyone in the Pacific Northwest. How hated is he up in Portland? Here's Jason Quick of the Oregonian:

Only with point guard play so bad that it created its own vocabulary -- surely you remember Feltdowns, Failtons, and F-Bombs -- could the Blazers have thrown in the towel so emphatically last season. Although nobody would dare touch Felton at the trade deadline, the blowup of the Blazers last March included the fleecing of the Nets, who took Gerald Wallace in exchange for some garbage contracts and their first-round pick, which gloriously turned out to be Lillard.

He came in fat and said he wasn't. He played horribly and blamed it on the coach. He bristled and brooded when some dared to question his play, then turned his nose up to a fan base that grew tired of both his bricks and his brooding. Most will remember him as being overweight, and some will remember his hideous turnovers, but I will always remember that to Raymond Felton, nothing was ever his fault.

It takes a real special sort -- a Darius Miles, Bonzi Wells, Hedo Turkoglu -- to make this city boo and turn on players. And few have made this fan base turn as much as Felton.

Looking at Mr. Felton's 2012 season, the big areas of improvement were in his conditioning and ball control. Felton reported that he lost over 20 pounds that offseason, and he was eventually able to give 34 minutes of play a night. But even more important than his numbers on a scale were his turnover numbers. Even though Felton turned the ball over more than the average PG last year, it still represented a career year for him. He had a career year handling the ball, amassing a career low turnover rate and averaging his fewest turnovers per game since his last season in Charlotte.

Heading into this year, I think he'll excel when he's on the court with Amar'e Stoudemire. When they last had an extended amount of playing time together back in 2010-2011, Felton excelled, shooting 36 percent from three and piling up close to eight assists a night in the 32 minutes he and Amar'e spent on the court together. They were a solid pick-and-roll tandem, and provided they stay healthy, they should be a good pairing once again.

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Remember those days when there were comparisons and discussions about who'd become the better player between Shumpert and MarShon Brooks? Me neither.

It's safe to assume that Shumpert will take another step forward this season. Even as he was working his way back from his ACL injury, Shumpert improved on his shooting from his rookie season. He was able to do this with a sharp increase in his effectiveness from three point range. He took the same amount of threes per game, but shot 40 percent from three. His improvement really shone through in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals vs, Indiana, when he went bonkers from downtown as he helped bring the Knicks back from their deficit and almost forced a Game 7.

Where Shumper has earned his reputation has been on the defensive end. In his rookie year, he made a name for himself defending elite perimeter players like Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade.

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Last year, I wrote this about Carmelo:

Whenever three point shooting comes up with Melo, I have one thought: STOP SHOOTING THEM! Seriously, Anthony's bad at it. He's only a career 32% shooter from deep. He's not as bad as LeBron was before this year (averaged over 4 per game even though he only shot 33%), but he should follow LeBron and minimize the three attempts.

And what did Melo do? Only take a career high amount of three pointers (414) and convert at a career high clip (37.9 percent). But in my defense, I did say he was gonna have an MVP caliber season, and he ended up finishing third in the MVP ballot.

He should continue to have success scoring the ball this season. Melo is deadly in the triple threat position, and his quick release makes him an even tougher player to defend. He's always been a capable jump shooter, and last year was no exception. He shot a career high 44.6 percent from the midrange and when he wasn't on the perimeter, he was attacking the basket. He only shot 53 percent inside the restricted area, he was sixth among perimeter players in field goals attempted in the restricted area. Considering the large amount of attempts in close, it's no surprise Carmelo was fifth in free throws made and seventh in free throws attempted.

Expect him to show out when he faces up against Brooklyn this year. He punished the Nets last year to the tune of 35 points per game on 49 percent shooting from the field and 59 percent shooting from three point range. His dominance of Brooklyn along with the failed attempts to bring him to the Nets franchise back in 2010-2011 have made him a very hated man in the Nets fanbase. It also doesn't help that Melo has been crowned King of (basketball) New York by some and considered of the most popular players in the league by many.

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For a player making the amount of dollars he does, Bargnani hasn't been very good. For a player that was expected to be at worst a solid contributor when he was originally drafted, Bargnani hasn't been very good. For a player that is expected to be a competent player in the NBA, Bargnani hasn't been very good.

With that as the backdrop, Bargs joins the Knicks after spending seven unproductive years in Toronto. RaptorsHQ writer and non-Bargnani supporter Kinnon Yee wrote soon after Bargnani was exported to New York:

No, Bryan Colangelo never helped out the situation by how he handled Bargnani. But more importantly, Andrea Bargnani never really did Andrea Bargnani any favours by not changing when opportunities were given.

And yes, for 13 games last year, Bargnani demonstrated that he can do some of the things needed of him when he is motivated to push himself. However, like most people who go on diets only to fall off the deep end again, he returned to even below his statistical mean after his "miraculous change".

In other words, Bargnani returned to being Bargnani.

In addition to subpar play, Bargnani brings with him a troubled injury history. He hasn't played a full season since 2009-2010, and over the past three seasons, he has missed time due to: an elbow injury, calf injury, and an ankle injury.

When he is on the court, Bargnani looks to make his hay from the midrange and beyond. Throughout his career, Bargnani has been a big that relies more on his jumpshot than his low post moves. In theory, he should be able to help spread out this offense and build on their successes on offense last season. This may not matter much, but Bargnani shot 45 percent from the field in his 22 games away from the Air Canada Centre, a 15 percent improvement from his home games. He's always been a moderate to high usage player (he led the Raptors in usage two of the last three seasons) and that should continue this year. The offense goes through Anthony, and with Smith sidelined at the start of the year and maybe Amar'e as well, he'll have to take on even more responsibility on offense. With opposing defenses placing even more focus on Anthony, look for Bargnani to get some good looks.

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Outside of Carmelo, Chandler is probably New York's most important player. He serves as the anchor to their defense and has been their best rebounder since coming to New York in the winter of 2011.

He's not a major contributor on offense, but when he gets the ball near the rim, he's pretty much automatic. He shot 66 percent inside the restricted area, with the overwhelming majority of his makes coming from dunks. Even though he is completely one dimensional on offense (only 39 of his 400 field goal attempts came outside of the restricted area), he has lead the league in True Shooting percentage the last three seasons. Also, unlike fellow one dimensional offensive player DeAndre Jordan, Chandler can actually make his free throws. He's shot close to or above 70 percent from the free throw line the past four seasons, which is more than acceptable for a big man.

Chandler getting injured late in the season has screwed the Knicks' playoff chances the past two seasons. Over at Knickerblogger, Jonathan Topaz discusses the trouble the Knicks would have if Tyson falls prey to the injury bug again:

For all their forwards, the Knicks have a treacherous situation at the 4 and 5, one that could put serious pressure on Chandler at a time when the Knicks should be decreasing, not increasing, his minute totals. K-Mart and Stoudamire have serious durability questions. Bargnani’s defensive problems and putrid defense rebounding rate (worst among all 55 qualifying centers last year!) make him a laughable option at the 5, if he even stays healthy. [Jeremy] Tyler is a nice piece at the end of the bench, but can’t be trusted for anything more at this point.

The coaching staff would do well to learn from last year and decrease Chandler’s minutes in the regular season. This will invariably lead to decreased rebounding and defensive efficiency rates. But, despite having an extremely deep roster at the moment, the Knicks are thin at the center position. And making sure they keep their defensive anchor in the middle rested and healthy is absolutely imperative.

I agree completely with this viewpoint. With Shumpert back for a full season, Chandler won't have to carry all of the defensive responsibilities on his back. In order to preserve Chandler for the playoff run, I would limit him to about 25 minutes a night. Although they are sacrificing a great amount of defense and rebounding by giving STAT/Bargs those minutes, but their scoring ability might be able to overcome their woes on defense. With the talk this offseason of winning championships, all of their focus will be on maintaining their health come late April.

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Admit it, you're a fan of J.R. Smith too. Between his beef with Brooklyn's Jason Terry, getting fined for posting "inappropriate" pictures on Twitter, and other fun activities, JR is always up to something interesting. Most importantly, he's good at basketball too. Last season he won the Sixth Man of the Year for the first time, averaging 18 points per game in 33 minutes of gameplay a night. Even though he preferred to start, I don't recall Smith squabbling about his role during the season. Along with that, he saw the most minutes on the team and was on the court in late game situations, the ideal situation for any player.

Unfortunately for New York, J.R. won't be around at the start of the season. He underwent knee surgery in July and is expected to miss the start of the season. To make matters worse, when he does recover from the surgery, he'll be suspended five games for smoking weed. Seeing as how we're (unfortunately) in a New York Post world, they reported the news on their backpage with the ever classy "JR Spliff." Welp.

After his suspension, JR will return and look to boost the Knicks bench with his three point shooting. He was eleventh in the league in total attempts and shot close to thirty-six percent.

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So this happened in July. Having surgery is always a concern, but this sounds like it was a minor procedure so there isn't much of a change in his status.

I think there have been two narratives about Amar'e's tenure in New York, and I'll try to discuss both. The first one, of course, deals with his penchant for missing games due to injury. And that is undeniably true. Over the past two seasons, Amar'e has only played 47 (of 66 games) and 29 games. During that time, he has suffered: a knee injury, back injury, and a case of stupidity.

The other narrative is that he is no longer a productive player and is past his prime. That narrative could use some exploration. In his 29 games last year, Amar'e experienced a bit of a renaissance offensively. He shot 57.7 percent from the field, an almost 10 percent rise from the year before and more in line with what he's done throughout his eleven (!!!) year career. Where he took his shots can help explain the jump in efficiency. Although the majority of his offense has been focused in the paint, compared to 2011-2012, his work last year was even more pronounced. In '11-'12, 63 percent of his offense came from inside the paint, and last season 84 percent of his shot attempts came from inside the paint. Dylan Murphy of Posting and Toasting has more:

Still, there were certainly signs of significant progress last year, and we can safely expect an even more refined post game next season. But as it stands now, he's in an uncomfortable middle ground. This iteration of post-up Amar'e Stoudemire is dangerously close to a pure isolation player, something which the Knicks certainly don't need more of -- especially if he's only going to score on 45 percent of his post-up possessions. Isolation is only worth the ball stagnation if the offensive player can score at an alarming rate.

Not to mention that Stoudemire isn't even a semi-non-passer in the post; he's a complete non-passer. He appears so concentrated on properly executing the technique of each move that he loses track of the right basketball play. 17 of his 19 post passes were merely a consequence of the failure of his isolation move, which is a troubling sign. But to be fair, we couldn't realistically expect Stoudemire to soak up every fine detail of post-up play in one offseason. It's a skill developed and honed over time, and he only had 33 games to experiment last year. The focus, therefore, was on himself -- if he's not respected as a post-up threat in the first place, the passing game is rendered entirely moot.

Amar'e isn't much of a rebounder, but even in his glory days as a Sun he wasn't much on the glass, so don't expect that to change this upcoming season. He's still a bad defender, and his negatives on that end end place extra pressure on his teammates to pick up the slack. With Tyson Chandler back at full strength, he should be able to cover for Amar'e.

Apparently, he's only slated to play about 20 minutes a night, which should work in the long term. Compared to Stoudemire, Bargnani is an inferior shooter (having three point range doesn't help when you're bad at shooting them), rebounder, and defender. However, playing Amar'e 20 minutes a night should keep him healthy for the long slog that is the NBA regular season, and most importantly, will be ready to contribute come playoff time.

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Metta has never been a great shooter, and last year was no exception. He took a career high amount of threes (412) but only shot 34 percent. He also is a player that relies on his teammates setting him up, and he should get some good looks due to Felton's passing skills and the double teams Anthony will encounter.

Where World Peace will help the Knicks is with his defense. While he isn't as quick as he was in his prime, he's still extremely strong and still plays very physical defense. His strength and ability to defend power forwards such as David West will allow for Melo to defend the small forward position. There hasn't been any word as to whether Ron Metta will start, but if he does, look for him to play the power forward.

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With Jason Kidd off doing other things and J.R. Smith gone for a while, Prigioni becomes the first guard off the bench. He's a solid glue guy that will hit his fair share of three pointers (39.6 percent), keep his teammates involved (six assists vs. two turnovers per 36 minutes) and will keep the offense humming along (no real difference between New York's offensive performance with or without Pablo on the court). Along with all of those positive attributes, he's very cost effective.

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Seeing as how every team passed on signing the ex-Net, there weren't many expectations placed on our old friend. But when he did join the Knicks in late February, he brought his trademark intensity and hustle with him.

Entering his first full season with the Knicks, I would expect Martin to see an uptick in minutes. As Jonathan Topaz alluded to in his Tyson Chandler post on Knickerblogger, New York should look to limit Tyson Chandler's regular season minutes. During his 24 minutes of action last year, the Knicks were three points better defensively and did a better job of forcing turnovers with him on the court vs. when he was on the bench. Offensively, the Knicks won't lose anything with Martin compared to Chandler. Martin isn't a person you would call a shot creator, but, like Chandler, is great finishing around the rim. He shot a career high 78.7 percent inside the restricted area on 61 field goal attempts. He isn't gonna give you anything outside of the restricted area, and New York has enough scoring options so they won't need him anyway.

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Udrih will look to serve as the team's backup point guard. He's been in the league nine years and the former first round pick has been serviceable throughout his stays in San Antonio, Sacramento, Milwaukee, and Orlando. He's a decent three point shooter and passer, but doesn't really provide anything else. As the season progresses, I would expect him to see fewer minutes.

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Here's Udrih's competition for the backup point guard position. I don't know much about Tim Hardaway Jr., so I'll defer to people who have seen and researched him. Leading off, Zach Travis of Maize n Brew:

The one thing that I worry is missing are questions about his ability to impact the game in different ways. He was never an elite defender at Michigan, and his rebounding got better as he got older, but was still never great. If he hits scoring ruts in the NBA, will he have enough impact elsewhere to not make him a liability? I don't know the answer to this, but I think it is a good question to ask for a player that sometimes goes cold.

And Paul Chillsap of Posting and Toasting:

Hardaway is a solid fit for the roster. His presence provides the Knicks some insurance against the possible departure of talented guard J.R. Smith. His ability to stretch the floor and hit perimeter jumpers fits right in with the offensive philosophy of last season, as does his low turnover rate. THJ possesses all the characteristics associated with the best shooters using screens: He gets good elevation, has great hands, keeps his feet under him, and has good shooting form. While he will likely see much of his offense in pure spot-up situations, THJ gives the Knicks a player who can score off of down screens and attack the paint off of close-outs. He isn't a great ball-handler, but there is some potential for him to work in the pick-and-roll a little given his unselfish nature and feel. Should the Knicks retain Smith, they would find themselves with a somewhat crowded backcourt, but having too much talent isn't the worst problem to experience. It would be more ideal if THJ could guard both wing positions, but that seems unlikely. He does not provide any answers to NYK's current situation in the frontcourt, but he's a skilled guard who can get the ball moving in transition and hit the three.

Hardaway figures to be a key part of this rotation. He projects to be a solid rotation player for this roster and a boost of energy off the bench. Hardaway has a history of being a capable scorer, but he won't have to worry about scoring when Smith gets back.

The early schedule

There are some challenging games in October/November. After the home/season opener against Milwaukee on October 30, they head out to Chicago to face Derrick Rose in his home debut on Halloween. After the Bulls, the Knicks don't run into a Championship contender until the Spurs come into MSG for a noontime matchup on November 10. After playing Indiana on November 20, the Knickerbockers head out on a four game road trip that will take them to Washington, Portland, Los Angeles (they'll get the Clippers), and Denver.

They blew out Miami three times last year (altough, Wade and LeBron took the last game off), and they match up against the back-to-back Champions for the first time on January 9 in the Garden. Seeing as how the Heat are the team to beat and the foe New York will have to vanquish if they want to reach the NBA Finals.

Can they win the division?

Absolutely! Their only competition will come from Brooklyn as Boston and Philadelphia are in the midst of rebuilding projects and Toronto will probably be a non-factor. The Knicks first meeting with Brooklyn will be a primetime road affair on TNT. It doesn't seem likely that J.R. Smith will be there for that matchup, but after a month, the Knicks' role players should be able to pick up some of the slack. Their next game will be the MLK day matinee at the Garden on January 20. They'll both be well rested as Brooklyn will go into that game on three days while the Knicks will have two days rest. After that, they don't cross paths until April 2 and 15. At that point, both teams should have locked up playoff spots and will be battling for the Atlantic Division championship.

Can they win a Championship?

Here's where it gets tricky. They have a good amount of talent and one of the league's most prolific scorers. But if they want to make it to the Finals, they're gonna need the benefits of seeding and a bit of luck to go in their favor. I think it's safe to assume that the Miami Heat will be the #1 seed in the East, so New York can aim for the second seed. There, they will face competition from Brooklyn, Chicago, and Indiana. These four teams will be fighting for the 2 and 3 seeds, and more importantly, the right to avoid Miami until the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Knicks will certainly be a playoff team, but I don't see them making it to the Finals. Miami is still the best team in the league, and I don't think the Knicks have made enough strides to close the gap.