The Knicks boast three of the league's top 10 preseason scorers, including Carmelo Anthony, who leads the NBA at 21.3 points per game. Teammates J.R. Smith and Amare Stoudemire come in third and 10th respectively, while Brook Lopez of the crosstown rival Nets is sixth. Lopez is also sixth in another preseason category, and that's a part of our roundup of items out of the Atlantic Division.
- After his rebounding rates declined in each of the last three seasons, Lopez is the league's sixth-leading rebounder in the preseason, averaging 9.0 boards in 27.0 minutes per game. If he keeps it up, Zach Harper of CBSSports.com believes there will be much less reason to think the Nets overpaid him with the four-year, $60.826MM contract he signed this summer.
- The Knicks made a strong recruiting effort to land Ronnie Brewer, who signed a minimum-salary deal with the team in July. The 27-year-old swingman turned down larger offers from other teams to do so, as he told HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy (Sulia link). "At the end of the day, it didn’t come down to money," Brewer said. "It came down to the best situation for me, as a person and as a player. I wanted to go somewhere I could win and have success. I wanted to go to a situation where playing basketball would be fun and I would enjoy doing it."
- Raptors guard Landry Fields said a personal issue hampered his play on the court for the Knicks last season, and isn't surprised the Knicks let him and Jeremy Lin go over the summer, given the team's unwillingness to stand pat, as Marc Berman of the New York Post documents. "The last two years with the Knicks, it’s been such a roller coaster pretty much. I’m used to that. If things were consistent, that would surprise me."
- Courtney Lee's improved defense and diversified offensive game have been pleasant surprises for the Celtics so far, writes Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe.