i'd be hard pressed to find a starting center in this league that contributes pretty much nothing on the defense end like eddy.

arenas dropped the ball off to jamison at the 3 point line, who then took a dribble and 2 steps and layed it up right on eddy.

guards are getting into the lane and he's just watching them instead of stepping out and trying to alter the shot or foul.

and here's the sad thing...the other guys we have that play, ain't that much better. it's down right disgusting to watch at times.

trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.
trade Frye for a shotblocker.

I can't think of a shot-blocker who is as good a player as Frye. There aren't any unless you want a flawed player like Dalembert. A Frye package is definitely not getting us a player like Jneal, Brand etc. We have Cato on the bench get him in there when the team has the last shot to keep guys out of the paint and allow the guards to focus on shutting down the perimeter. I know Cato is old but he was always a good shot-blocker and can certainly handle playing 5-10mins a night if Mutumbo is 53 and still producing big. Of course we have to give those minutes to redundant players like Nate and Jeffries

Posted by djsunyc:

forget shotblocking for a second, just get somebody that will step up in the damn lane.

our big men play defense like mark jackson. and they stand and watch stuff happen. at least frye tries on the help side even if he stinks at it. eddy just watches EVERYTHING. it's painful man...just painful.

Did you see him watch Etan Thomas dunk on him and Etan did it in slow motion because Nate appeared to be pulling his jersey from behind. His close out and recover on Deshawn or Hayes on another play was pathetic. I won't fault him overall yesterday because we've seen worse.

Posted by djsunyc:

i'd be hard pressed to find a starting center in this league that contributes pretty much nothing on the defense end like eddy.

arenas dropped the ball off to jamison at the 3 point line, who then took a dribble and 2 steps and layed it up right on eddy.

guards are getting into the lane and he's just watching them instead of stepping out and trying to alter the shot or foul.

and here's the sad thing...the other guys we have that play, ain't that much better. it's down right disgusting to watch at times.

here's my take.

If I was the coach responsible for developing Curry after that atrocious season that was last year, I would do it 1 step at a time. Inundating him is not the way to go. The guy is big and maybe huggable and lovable, but he seems.... not slow, but he takes things in slowly. Work on something that you know he can excel in as the first step, make sure he feels good about it, and then add something new when he is ready. By telling Eddie to not pick up fouls on the defensive side of the court, he gets extra minutes on the court in lieu of less fouls; I am OK with this.

The Knicks and Curry have shown a determination around conditioning and post play with the big man. He has improved light years from where he was last year. Eddy now sees a double team consistently and needs to improve in this area quickly too.

Eddie's rebounding is starting to show signs of life (emphasis on starting).

I think next year the coaching staff will emphasis rebounding and help D and blocking.... or at least I am hoping that this is the plan.

If Eddie can improve his D as much as he has done his O from last year to thing one, I will OK with his play. Improvement and recognition is the key.

I saw Curry jump out on a offensive player near the 3point line against the Wiz last night, something he has never done much of before. This is a good thing.

I am completely OK with the play of Curry this year and how (I think) the coaching staff has handled him... even as much as I do see him SUCK on the defensive end of things.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by martin:

Posted by djsunyc:

i'd be hard pressed to find a starting center in this league that contributes pretty much nothing on the defense end like eddy.

arenas dropped the ball off to jamison at the 3 point line, who then took a dribble and 2 steps and layed it up right on eddy.

guards are getting into the lane and he's just watching them instead of stepping out and trying to alter the shot or foul.

and here's the sad thing...the other guys we have that play, ain't that much better. it's down right disgusting to watch at times.

here's my take.

If I was the coach responsible for developing Curry after that atrocious season that was last year, I would do it 1 step at a time. Inundating him is not the way to go. The guy is big and maybe huggable and lovable, but he seems.... not slow, but he takes things in slowly. Work on something that you know he can excel in as the first step, make sure he feels good about it, and then add something new when he is ready. By telling Eddie to not pick up fouls on the defensive side of the court, he gets extra minutes on the court in lieu of less fouls; I am OK with this.

The Knicks and Curry have shown a determination around conditioning and post play with the big man. He has improved light years from where he was last year. Eddy now sees a double team consistently and needs to improve in this area quickly too.

Eddie's rebounding is starting to show signs of life (emphasis on starting).

I think next year the coaching staff will emphasis rebounding and help D and blocking.... or at least I am hoping that this is the plan.

If Eddie can improve his D as much as he has done his O from last year to thing one, I will OK with his play. Improvement and recognition is the key.

I saw Curry jump out on a offensive player near the 3point line against the Wiz last night, something he has never done much of before. This is a good thing.

I am completely OK with the play of Curry this year and how (I think) the coaching staff has handled him... even as much as I do see him SUCK on the defensive end of things.

that's cool and all martin...but also outlines a flawed philosophy for this team. if ANYTHING, curry has proven to score 16 points a game and shoot 50+% before this season. so why not make him learn DEFENSE and emphasize that while starting to incorporate a little more offense? he's going to score down low, and i would say 50% of it is thanks to our guards pretty much leading him into a layup. so why not make him understand it's about defense and that's what's the most important thing first and foremost? if he has the athletic ability to make spin moves and lefty layups, then he should be able to learn how to position his body and alter shots.

I didn't watch Curry before last season so I can't qualify his 16 point and 50%+ shooting but I am guessing that that was more of a factor of guard penetration and dishing off to the big man close to the basket. This year Curry is doing it consistently with his back to the basket with a TON of well-established post moves. His minutes are up a LOT and so are his FT attempts, those are factors to consider, I don't know what to make of them but I think they are a good sign . Also, Curry is doing them as the focal point of the offense with some crappy shooters around him. And he is doing them later in games as opposed to only the first half of games ala CHI.

When you have someone who doesn't have the best confidence in the world, always start with something that is easier for them to succeed at. Offense first before defense for Curry. The dude also had to get into shape and play extended minutes... he could do that on the offensive side of things IF he didn't get into foul trouble... and thus not getting the aggressive defensive fouls. I really wouldn't be surprised if the coaching staff told Eddie that it was better if he was on the court and not fouling guys going to the basket and that they would be OK with it THIS year only.

That's all a guess and I am HOPING like hell that's the pattern.

but Curry is not just averaging his previous 15 & 5 on 50%. There's more to it than that i think. He's averaging 19 & 7 because he doesn't foul as much and like someone mentioned he's recognizing the double-team and passing instead of barreling into defenders. Those are the little things that kept him from being reaching his potential the previous 5yrs of his career. I agree with Martin I also think its one thing at a time with Curry. He's a slow learner. I think maybe Chicago through way way to many things at him at once. I think now that he has becomes a dominant offensive force I think you're going to start seeing improvement in other areas as the season progresses. He's too young and athletic to stand around and watch on defense and not go for rebounds

[Edited by - gunsnewing on 01-18-2007 11:52 AM]

Just curious in the Curry bashing if anyone noticed he was a big reason for our 4th qtr comeback with 9 points-4 rebounds-1 assist in the 4th qtr alone?

I was reading the Washington board and they had a totally different view of Curry than some here.

Posted by nyk4ever:

Posted by gunsnewing:

but Curry is not just averaging his previous 15 & 5 on 50%. There's more to it than that. He's averaging 19 & 7 because he doesn't foul as much and like someone mentioned he's recognizing the double-team and passing instead of barreling into defenders. Those are the little things that kept him from being reaching his potential the previous 5yrs of his career. I agree with Martin I also think its one thing at a time with Curry. He's a slow learner. I think maybe Chicago through way way to many things at him at once. I think now that he has becomes a dominant offensive force I think you're going to start seeing improvement in other areas as the season progresses. He's too young and athletic to stand around and watch on defense and not go for rebounds

Good post Guns. I think you hit the nail on the head with the slow learner comment.

I gave it some though after Martin said Curry takes things slowly. It makes sense to think that too many things were problably thrown at him when he was 18. He just didn't have personality of a guy like Lebron, KG etc. The way to coach him is to drill him with one thing at a time. We've seen him get high up there for key blocks and rebounds in spurts, the key is to get him to do it consistently. If i were the coaches i wouldn't wait until next year to work on the others things, I would start now since he HAS figured it out offensively. He's also hitting his FTs and he has a great stroke which shows that he's been working harder than most in the gym. Right now I just want to keep seeing improvements in his game and I want to see Cato and Frye late in games grabbing rebounds and blocking shots so we can stop losing winnable games and actually make the playoffs. It would be a waste if we missed the playoffs with Marbury & Curry finally playing great. If those bigs can't get in done than we need to make a trade and bring someone in who can keep guys out of the paint. Its sickening how we just trade buckets down the stretch of games. It seems like our bigs rather let up easy baskets so they can get the ball back and put it in the hands of Jamal..WE JUST DONT GET STOPS!!

[Edited by - gunsnewing on 01-18-2007 12:06 PM]

Posted by SugarRayRichardson:

Just curious in the Curry bashing if anyone noticed he was a big reason for our 4th qtr comeback with 9 points-4 rebounds-1 assist in the 4th qtr alone?

I was reading the Washington board and they had a totally different view of Curry than some here.

Sugar Ray: Who bashed Curry? They said he needs to work on some D, but I'm not sure he was getting bashed in this post. Maybe you over-reacted. Or do you not think Eddie needs to work on his D?(Something both Isiah and Eddy have gone on record as saying that he does)

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by martin:

Posted by djsunyc:

does a player that needs to be babied and coddled going to help a franchise win big games in the playoffs and lead the team deep?

one way to look at it. Was JO babied and coddled for 4 years in POR and then his first year in IND?

You look at their stats and the are eerily similar year-to-year, except for the defensive side of things. JO was of course much better.

Steps, even baby steps, is all I am looking for.

J.O. was really a bad comparison because his involved total lack of playing time. They didn't coddle him. As soon as he received playing time in INDY he exploded across the board in production and wasn't some 1 dimensional sloth like Curry.


[Edited by - TrueBlue on 01-18-2007 11:06 AM]

one could make the argument that JO was brought along even MORE slowly than Curry was in CHI. Curry was thrown to the fire and given undeserved minutes instead of coaching and learning from the bench, something that JO was exposed to more than Curry.