Contributor
Move over Patrick Ewing, we have a new New York Knicks player making guarantees.
He may not play come opening day, but JR Smith believes by the end of the 2013-14 NBA season, he and the rest of his teammates will be champions.
CBS Sports columnist Matt Moore reports that during a question-and-answer session at NYC’s Chelsea Piers, Smith was asked if he thought this was the year for the Knicks to finally overcome decades without an NBA Championship:
"I'm 100 percent sure," Smith said.
Smith went on to mention how they added pieces like Andrea Bargnani, Metta World Peace and Beno Udrih, believing that will help put them over the top. But the key, he thinks, is consistency.
"We have to consistently play like we did the first 20 games last year the whole season. We can’t have a middle-of-season lapse. We have to consistently play the same way."
Indeed, the Knicks have to play more like they book-ended their season -- with a strong start and strong end -- but over an entire season.
Beyond guarantees, injuries like what Smith is felled by currently and the troubles New York went through last year may be the actual key to consistency.
We’ll find out for sure soon enough if JR is right. There's only two more months to go until the NBA returns.
