Ira wrote:All of the players we got in the GS trade and the signing of Felton were all significant improvements. Losing Lee also improves our d.

If the GS players are so good why the hell did GS suck on defense?

Vmart wrote:

Ira wrote:All of the players we got in the GS trade and the signing of Felton were all significant improvements. Losing Lee also improves our d.

If the GS players are so good why the hell did GS suck on defense?

C'mon man, AR barely played, AZ was injured, but when he did play, his man D was very good. Turiaf is known as a solid defender as well. Now as for all the other guys on their squad We actually took many of the best defenders. Only guy left who can defend on GS is Biedrins! Let's not confuse the issue by making it seem like the guys don't have good defensive stats individually. Now paired with the best defenders we kept from our squad last year and Amar'e. It seems like it should be a team as capable defensively as any team MDA had in the past. In fact better since Nash was HORRIBLE on D and both Felton and TD are very good.

If you don't think it makes a big difference having 2 better than avg. defensive PG's i'd like to hear your explanation of how that is the case? Especially when you pair that with us finally have shotblocking and size in the paint! Go ahead and point out where this team is weak defensively and to what degree that is gonna make it a bad defensive team.

Vmart wrote:

nixluva wrote:

Vmart wrote:

Ira wrote:All of the players we got in the GS trade and the signing of Felton were all significant improvements. Losing Lee also improves our d.

If the GS players are so good why the hell did GS suck on defense?

C'mon man, AR barely played, AZ was injured, but when he did play, his man D was very good. Turiaf is known as a solid defender as well. Now as for all the other guys on their squad We actually took many of the best defenders. Only guy left who can defend on GS is Biedrins! Let's not confuse the issue by making it seem like the guys don't have good defensive stats individually. Now paired with the best defenders we kept from our squad last year and Amar'e. It seems like it should be a team as capable defensively as any team MDA had in the past. In fact better since Nash was HORRIBLE on D and both Felton and TD are very good.

If you don't think it makes a big difference having 2 better than avg. defensive PG's i'd like to hear your explanation of how that is the case? Especially when you pair that with us finally have shotblocking and size in the paint! Go ahead and point out where this team is weak defensively and to what degree that is gonna make it a bad defensive team.

You have Azubuike coming off a knee injury he will be hard pressed to keep a turtle in front of him. Then you have shot blocking extraordinaire, Randolph how good is he really defensively asides from a couple of shot blocks and altered shots can he man up and handle opposing players who overpower him? Can he give the Knicks 30+ minutes. Turiaf probably the most decent man to man defender out of the GS 3 but can only give you 10-15 minutes. Felton good defender might help the Knicks some. Other than that probably Mozgov is going to be the best defensive player the Knicks have. I see some improvement not a vast improvement just height alone give then Knicks an improvement.

Since defense is a team thing, If you have big holes then it causes severe rotations and your defense breaks down. It's a HUGE factor when you have solid D at the top of your perimeter and back that up with guys who have range and length. I think you're underselling the importance of having Felton and TD in the rotation.

Chandler is a good defender, Gallo is actually a good TEAM defender. He's not a shutdown solo guy, but he's smart and knows how to use his length and move his feet to keep himself between his man and the basket. It's not so important that we have a shut down guy at every position, just a cumulative effect of having committed defenders everywhere. I'm sure guys will get beat, but it's also a sure thing that our help defense will be much improved with all the added length and athelticism. We had one guy that was a 1 block per game player last year. Now we added Amar'e, Turiaf, AR and I believe Timo could be that good as well. That's a distinct improvement. As for Turiaf, Is a 20 mpg player, why'd you belittle his usefulness by saying he's only good for 10-15 mins. The thing I like is that he gives you a HARD 20 mpg. He doesn't hold back when he's out there and that's a plus for us and not a negative. Avg'ing 1.3 blocks in just 20 mpg is really good!

Will Mike adapt and innovate, or will we see zone and neeedless, constant switching?

fishmike wrote:

franco12 wrote:Mike's excuses are gone as far as defense. We still have a question mark at the 2, but we have slightly improved elsewhere.

Will Mike adapt and innovate, or will we see zone and neeedless, constant switching?

nothing wrong with playing a zone when 3-4 guys are athletic, quick and over 6'10. Its not a gimmick defense. It forces the opposition to beat you with jumpers

the Knicks with the most minutes last year:
Duhon, Gallo, Lee, Chandler and Harrington.

Harrington is replaced by Amare (massive upgrade on D)
Duhon is replaced by Felton (massive upgrade on D)
Who Lee will be replaced by remains to be seen.

The two guy who worked hard on D last year were Chandler and Gallo. Neither great defenders but at least showed some enthusiasm there.

Douglas should play a bigger role and he's a top flight defender.

We couldnt guard anyone in the post last year and thats Amare's strength.

We couldnt keep any PGs out of the paint last year and thats Felton's strength.

We are bigger, longer and more athletic.

Randolph essentially replaces JJ's role on D. I'm not looking for him to be Ben Wallace.

MDA's Suns were usually ranked 12-15 in opposing FG%. This notion he ignores defense is stupid and uninformed

I think we played our best defense when we had JJ guarding the PGs. I wonder if that would work while Felton guards the 2 guards. It's something that would have to happen in short spurts. It did a lot of wonders though, so I can see Antony Randolph fulfilling that role, if MDA assigns him it.

chislic wrote:The key will be a consistent effort. Average defense from our players EVERY game would be a big step forward. I'm not expecting us to be a top 14 defensive team, but I think with the guys added we should improve in that aspect of the game.

The thing is that we have different players, and those players can play defense or at least compliment eachother. There's no more Lee, Harrington, Duhon, Marbury, McGrady, Nate, Crawford and Hughes and I doubt Curry sees playing time.

How good we will be, I honestly don't know, but at least we have shotblocking now from multiple players, and we have one guy who will be a legit shotblocking fear injector in Randolph. That's an upgrade alone.

How we'll do in terms of cutting off lanes, man to man and help and ect... We shall see. I think better, but I hope much better.

but

if you like #s look at 82games.com

The breakdown positition by position and player FG% vs opponenent's FG%

Look at Amare's opponent's (people he guards) FG% and look at Felton's opponent's FG%. Both are extremely low.

Felton is simply a good defender all around. I was not overly excited about him running this offense, but at the very least he would play great D which we sorely needed last year. Amare isnt a good help defender but he's a great m2m defender.

Our two biggest holes have been filled with top flight guys. We can guard a low post scorer and he can keep opposing PGs out of the paint and creating tons of easy shots against us. This team has filled huge holes and made massive improvements on both sides of the ball, especially defense.