Balk makes the most sense because he would be the only frontcourt starter (besides Curry and Zach) that can impact the game without having to touch the ball much. His energy would also be a plus since our starters got off to notoriously slow-starts.

Q could slide to the 2, alongside Marb and would give us our best perimeter defensive tandem along with Balk. Offensively, I'm not a big fan of Q starting at the 2 because other than that standstill three, he doesn't offer much else. Q is not a good ball handler which can hurt if teams decide to trap Marb in the backcourt. Q is also a very unimaginitive passer. Craw makes more sense offensively because of his handle and passing ability.

Craw, along with Marb, and Zach for that matter can put tremendous pressure on the opposition by breaking down thier opponent and creating easier opportunities for themselves and others, namely Curry and especially Balk who is always slashing to the basket.

If Craw can tone down his game a little, become more of a distributor and take the open looks he's going to get from the doubling of Zach and Eddy (as opposed to always trying to cross-up his man and jacking up off balanced fade-aways) Craw offers more balance to the starting unit. But Q offers the biggest need. Defense. Tough call.

[Edited by - bigbeast on 12-08-2007 12:48 PM]

[Edited by - bigbeast on 12-08-2007 12:50 PM]

Posted by EwingsGlass:

I prefer Craw as 6man.

Marb
Q
Balk
Zbo
Ebo

this is my preferred lineup too.

Posted by SupremeCommander:

Posted by martin:

Posted by EwingsGlass:

I prefer Craw as 6man.

Marb
Q
Balk
Zbo
Ebo

this is my preferred lineup too.

Not mine... Balkman should get the bulk of the minutes at SF this year. Q, while the Knicks best player last year, is a major injury risk with the burden of starting. He's a much better SF than SG too... so all things considered, Q should come off the bench and give the team 20-25 outstanding MPG.

Exactly. If Q starts and gets major minutes he will probably will be in a hospital by December.

Watch his handle and his finish. He knows what he can do and does only that. No fancy pass, no weak layup attempt and definitely no reason to slow it down.

Q should be OK if we limit his minutes. I've said this before, but his operation is said to have a very high success rate. It was a minimally invasive surgery. I don't know that we should expect any recurrance of his back problems. From what i've read it would take a major impact or long term stress to re-rupture his disk and obviously cause bone fragments to be knocked loose again. He could've had this surgery done earlier, but it's more a last resort type of thing. They always recommend therapy over back surgery, for obvious reasons.

Still you have to realize that most of the source of the problem was removed during the operation and once the swelling goes down there shouldn't be a problem unless he has something traumatic happen, which could happen to any athlete at anytime. It's like breaking a bone. Once it heals you should be fine unless of course you break it again. It doesn't necessarily make you more susceptible to it happening again. To me i'd start him at SG but watch his minutes and gradually increase them, if he shows that he has no problems.

Balkman would be a great option at SF, but then I wonder what the deal would be with Jared if he's still here. How does he handle that? Would he accept that situation or make a stink about it? I think Balkman would be a VERY productive player for us when given good minutes.

Its not who starts but who finishes

Posted by nixluva:

Q should be OK if we limit his minutes. I've said this before, but his operation is said to have a very high success rate. It was a minimally invasive surgery. I don't know that we should expect any recurrance of his back problems. From what i've read it would take a major impact or long term stress to re-rupture his disk and obviously cause bone fragments to be knocked loose again. He could've had this surgery done earlier, but it's more a last resort type of thing. They always recommend therapy over back surgery, for obvious reasons.

Still you have to realize that most of the source of the problem was removed during the operation and once the swelling goes down there shouldn't be a problem unless he has something traumatic happen, which could happen to any athlete at anytime. It's like breaking a bone. Once it heals you should be fine unless of course you break it again. It doesn't necessarily make you more susceptible to it happening again. To me i'd start him at SG but watch his minutes and gradually increase them, if he shows that he has no problems.

Balkman would be a great option at SF, but then I wonder what the deal would be with Jared if he's still here. How does he handle that? Would he accept that situation or make a stink about it? I think Balkman would be a VERY productive player for us when given good minutes.

No, its not like breaking a bone. The re-operation rate for a standard (lumbar) microdiskectomy is 9%. This is in patients who don't play basketball for a living.

i haven't seen balkman's jumper improve in the slightest bit. it's tough to start a player that will get no respect on the offensive end. that means the double teams will continue. same goes for jeffries.

Posted by VDesai:

Posted by djsunyc:

i haven't seen balkman's jumper improve in the slightest bit. it's tough to start a player that will get no respect on the offensive end. that means the double teams will continue. same goes for jeffries.

You have to put a body on Balkman even if he has no J, otherwise he'll crash boards on you all night and fill the lanes to finish. Even though his dribble isn't top notch he will also slash and dish the ball on you. He finds a way to be usefull offensively without a J (just take a look at his scoring). Same goes for David Lee. People always knock both of their shots but we're very effective offensively when both are out there. They are the kind of players that also improve your tempo.

Jared Jeffries on the other hand is just a guy out there. He'll occupy a quadrant of the floor and no one will stick a body on him, cause even if he cuts to the basket he can't finish.

Agreed. Eddy and Zach make it tough for teams because both require to be doubled. That gives us to start a slightly below average offensive player. His defense should make up for his offense and I am pretty sure his J will improve.