i know some have penciled them in, but i really believe mike sweetney's best role is a guy who can come in off the bench and give 24-26 minutes as a frontcourt player, having the abilities to put up 12-14 pts and 7-8 reb off the bench


with sweetney and james, i think our defense and speed hurt a bit, to many fouls, to much bad timing, we lose our length to much girth in at once.

I firmly believe that starting Frye and James and BRINGING sweetney and taylor off the bench in rotations

i.e
james -5
Frye-4
Frye-5
Sweetney 4
Taylor 4
Sweetney 5
James 5
Taylor 4

etc...


I like the concept of starting the game off with all that length on the frontline--i.e James TT Frye and then moving into a faster smaller team--could repalce 1 F and play 4 guards etc... a lot of options but i like frye james TT in the first unit to start.

i agree - either go with sweets/frye or frye/james as the starting frontcourt.

they complement each other much better with the high/low post offense and help defense.

I don't think the starting PF, SF or SG slots have been determined yet. I think there will be at least one surprise starter at those spots.

I agree with Briggs, though.

I would start:

PG Marbury
SG Richardson
SF Ariza
PF Frye
C James

bench unit:

PG Nate
SG Craw
SF Lee/Tim
PF Sweets/Lee
C Frye/Rose

agreed. this has been my stance since we signed JJ. I was hoping for Frye/Sweetney but seeing how Frye struggled at Center and is better suited for PF, I would go longer and more athletic with JJ/Frye. Sweetney will still get his 25mins which is all he can play anyway off the bench while giving other teams 2nd unit fits!

Posted by crzymdups:

I don't think the starting PF, SF or SG slots have been determined yet. I think there will be at least one surprise starter at those spots.

I agree with Briggs, though.

I would start:

PG Marbury
SG Richardson
SF Ariza
PF Frye
C James

bench unit:

PG Nate
SG Craw
SF Lee/Tim
PF Sweets/Lee
C Frye/Rose

I agree with this lineup... But Tim Thomas WILL start at the 3 until he gets traded at the Deadline...

Posted by gunsnewing:

I don't think there's any chance Ariza starts at SF. He's an energy bench player. Lee would start before him imo but he won't because TT or Q will

I wouldn't sleep on Larry starting Ariza, it might not be at the beginning of the season but I think by December you might see Ariza starting at SF unless TT really plays out of his head, which is unlikely.

Posted by gunsnewing:

as long as Ariza becomes coordinated in every aspect of the game. Lee seems to be a much better decision maker, can finish and a heck of a rebounder. Hopefully he developes a consistant jumper. He definitely has much better form than Ariza

[Edited by - gunsnewing on 08-29-2005 3:57 PM]

Remember, we're watching Lee do these things in SUMMER LEAGUE. We've seen that Ariza can play in the NBA, I wouldn't look TOO much into what Lee did during the summer.

Posted by gunsnewing:

I've seen what Ariza can do alright and what he showed me that he is a great spark plug to have off the bench unless he suddenly becomes coordinated and is no longer a hinderance on offense. I doubt Lee is as Raw as Ariza having spent more time in college. I just think he's a more well-rounded player(potential starter)I know Suhr was being a little ridiculous but there's something intangible with Lee's character and intelligence on the court that can make him a key contributor.

Can we please give Ariza a chance? Last year was his ROOKIE year in the NBA. Let's watch some preseason games and see how Lee fairs. How can you be so adament about what Ariza can and can't do already when he's had a full offseason to work on things?

Posted by gunsnewing:

coordination is something you learn early on before high school and college. If his only problem was his shot than I wouldn't be worried at all since he's only 19. There are a ton of factors that separate a career bench player from a starter. I really hopes he turns into an incredible starting SF but I'm definitely not expecting it. He needs more than a year of developement for him to get to that point. He is so raw and imo behind TT,Q and possibly Lee on the SF depth chart. He can start and average pretty good scoring, rebounding & stls numbers off of scrappy plays but when the ball gets in his hands in the halfcourt we are in trouble...he's no tayshaun prince

I think you are giving up waaaaaay to early. I just don't understand how you can say that he has no coordination, I think his problem was that he was playing too fast for himself, everytime he gets the ball his mind is going 1000mph, that is a common problem for athletes who play the game of basketball, it's an extremely common problem for people who pick up the game late. To say that after one season you think that Ariza will not be able to change that is just ridiculous. Give the kid a chance, we have no idea what he looks like right now after a summer off and working with the coaching staff, he might have improved alot of things GREATLY or he might not have yet. What I have a problem with is you have what he's improved on in the offseason and your already writing him off. Alot of people said the same things about Richard Jefferson, that he couldn't play in a halfcourt offense becuase he was moving too fast and he had no shot, well last year Richard proved every single one of those people wrong. Lets give Trevor sometime before we start writing him off please.

I don't know how we can all start talking about starting lineups without also discussing what the STYLE of play Larry Brown and staff will implement. Will it feed off the guards like with Detriot? Post game? Inside-out? Run-n-gun?

Larry will work with his advantages and move from there. I am guessing a post game will probably work with the new Knicks. Q has a big advantage over his opponent at SG and Sweets would have the same advantage against second liners. ALso, TT is going to start just because he is that much better than Ariza, and Q makes up for the lack of rebounding with TT on board.

That's why I see...

Marb
Q
TT
Frye
Big Game

I also see more of a running team with the second unit comes out, with Sweetney being the first option when they have to play a half court game.

Dont factor out H20 playing. I'm not on his nuts or anything, but, LB loves him. He'll factor into the rotation if he doesnt retire.