He decided to go with a three-guard lineup featuring Raymond Felton, Pablo Prigioni and Iman Shumpert and placed Carmelo Anthony and Andrea Bargnani in the frontcourt for starters. That group has not played so well, however, and Woodson is still working to find productive combinations.

As part of that effort, last season's Sixth Man of the Year J.R. Smith has been inserted into the starting lineup, replacing Prigioni as the third guard, according to Al Iannazzone of Newsday (via ProBasketballTalk).

Even though the Knicks are obviously facing a time of desperation, this couldn't have been a move Woodson made without much consideration. This has been an issue for quite some time, with Smith maintaining interest in being a starter, even as he put together last year's effort, the best of his career. The Knicks had an open competition between Shumpert and Smith for the shooting guard slot entering the season, but a knee injury and five-game suspension set back Smith's candidacy. New York's shortage of bigs is its immediate concern, but the team is equally deprived of bench scoring. Smith averaged 18.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season, and if you take that to the starting lineup, the second group is left with almost nothing.

Metta World Peace, Pablo Prigioni, Tim Hardaway Jr. — these are not guys you want to count on for the majority of your bench scoring. And with Amare Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin still working themselves back to health, who knows when Bargnani can be pushed back to the bench for secondary points.

I make those points to say that Smith is more valuable to the Knicks off the bench. Paired with Anthony in the rotation, his shot attempts could down and his space to operate could shrink. And, if not for scoring, what reason is there would to have Smith on the floor? The Knicks are free to experiment because they have to, but this is not the best move for Smith or the Knicks' bench.


PERKINS' FAMILY


Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins will miss his team's next two games because of the death of his grandfather, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

Perkins will sit out Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers and Thursday against the Golden State Warriors, according to Yahoo! Sports.

Rookie Steven Adams, who has played well of late, will step in at center during Perkins' absence.

Perkins had traveled to Texas a lot recently to spent time with his ill grandfather, according to Yahoo! Sports.


LOU'S HEALTH


Earlier this week, in a game against the Charlotte Bobcats, the Atlanta Hawks played Cartier Martin for extended minutes off the bench.

No offense to Martin, but no playoff team should play him for 20 minutes in early-season games, when the group is still working to find it's identity.

That could change soon with the news from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution that bench scorer Lou Williams, who suffered a torn ACL, has been cleared for full-contact practice and is expected to return soon.

Williams, who has already participated in full-contact drills, is working to get in game shape at the moment, coach Mike Budenholzer told the Journal-Constitution. The team is not sure of an exact date for his return from the season-ending injury suffered in January.

“He is basically competing full-go now,” Budenholzer said Wednesday. “I guess, in that sense, you could say he’s been cleared. He is doing everything. It’s now getting game-ready or game-comfortable. He’s played five-on-five. He is basically cleared to do everything. We’ll get him to where he feels comfortable playing in a game.”

Contributor: DeAntae Prince