Posted by BlueSeats:
Posted by oohah:
Posted by BlueSeats:
I think you have to look at philly differently too with the complete loss of Iverson and Webber, their headline players, mid stream of the season.
Blue, Webber had no role on the team at all this season and he complained quite a bit about it, and Iverson was traded for Miller (And someone else), so I would hardly call that a "complete" loss.
oohah
C'mon ooh, they were two very significant starters. Webber was playing 30 mpg putting up 11/8.3/3.4 and Iverson is Iverson.
We can blame our season on the loss of 2 bench players and 1 starter, but their loss of 2 headline starters (for far more games) is not worth mentioning?
I never said they weren't worth mentioning. But I disagree that Iverson was "lost". He was traded for Andre Miller, a very capable and well rounded traditional point guard, and Joe Smith a capable veteran PF/Center who was a number #1 pick. Obviously Iverson was the better talent, but as has been pointed out many times by yourself and others, talent isn't everything.
Both those guys were killing the team, and Webber was doing it with intent.
By the way, Webber was not a significant anything to the sixers in '06-'07. He wasn't logging the time you cited nor was he putting up those numbers in Philly. If you look at Webber's game log http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/1272/gamelog , you will see that he was playing very badly for the Sixers, was considered to have been dogging it, and was complaining to the media about his role, and had 17 DNP's at the time he was waived. They said he was injured, but it mysteriously healed as soon as he signed with the Pistons. He was not a real part of the team and Delambert had his spot from the jump.
In fact, Joe Smith has played better than Webber in Philly than Webber had been playing.
***
The fact is this Knicks team cannot lose 2 starters and one of the best rebounders in the game simultaneously and not have a significant impact to their game results. Still, until Q went down, they kept on going a slowly improving pace and that is to their credit. Even after, they still hung tough in most games, and it really may have been a blessing in disguise because we know more about the young players.
It would have been nice to see the Knicks squeeze into the playoffs, but what I have always said is that all I want from the team this year, is what I wanted last year: For them to improve as the season wears on, and for the young players to show some development.
The team was improving; their month by month record shows it. The bottom simply fell out and it was unfortunate, but it happens. It's not an excuse it's just how it goes. When teams lose multiple players who are important cogs, their win total will suffer as evidenced by the Washington Wizards. It even happened to the Champions, and the Nets who had their HOF backcourt for the entire season.
To sum it up: The team was improving until they could not field a real starting lineup or bench for that matter. I think that is a fair assessment, not one of black or white love 'em or hate 'em.
Even if they do nothing they will get better, but I think moves will be made to improve the team, and they will get better.
oohah
4/13/2007 8:59 PM