fishmike wrote:nixluva wrote:Everyone seems to be looking for immediate improvement on all counts. NO that would happen if we had gotten Lebron. What we got now is a young team full of guys still finding their way in the league. 10 new people and it's gonna take some time to put it all together. We've been watching the team with many of its parts not clicking on all cylinders. Gallo and Felton have been off their usual game. IMO they will both eventually get back to their real level of play and not what we saw in Preseason. When the team chemistry fully develops we'll probably see a bit more fastbreak. I just don't expect it to look like the Suns with the players we have. It'll be faster in relation to what we saw the last 2 years, but I don't think they're built to run quite as fast as the Suns did under him. That was a BLAZING pace they kept up. We can't expect that, but they should be faster.
I'm looking for immediate improvement on all accounts and I dont think its too much to ask for. So far this preseason has been the same as the rest of MDA's Knick career. Some good, just as much bad. AR and Gallo have looked lost and flat. AR doesnt seem to know his role, and these are our cornerstone young players. Douglas and Mosgov look good on the other side of the coin.The Knicks have best frontcourt player in the East sans Dwight Howard (and Amare is a better scorer). We have 2 excellent defensive players in Felton and Douglas. We have a group of versatile athletic forwards in Gallo/AR/Chandler and now Fields as well. We have a suprise 7 footer and even if he fouls out in 20 minutes every night he's going to block some shots and makes some good plays. There is enough here for the Knicks to play .500 basketball while they continue to improve internally.
They play 20 games in Oct/Nov
Knicks should be 12-8 or 11-9 barring major injuries. There is too much size, skill and athletic parts for MDA to have a losing record. I understand we arent winning the rebounding battle most nights. If we get beat 45-40 on the glass everynight we should be OK because we should be scoring at a higher rate, playing defense, hitting 3s and creating turnovers. There are simply too many good players here to play like crap and blame it on adjustments.
This offense has not looked good, and thats the part I'm ok with. There is some rhythm and feel there and it takes some time. However if we go out there and defend and put bodies on guys and hit that glass we have enough ponies to win games.
ITs on MDA to find a formula out of the gate he can lean on.
Mike usually does very well when he has guys that are well rounded BB IQ wise. That's why he like Fields. Guys like that you put in this offense and they understand how to fit in to the flow of the game and contribute. AR is not a high BB IQ player at this stage. I think he can and will have a key role, but it's gonna take time for him to get, but once he does look out.
People think this is your typical run and gun, but it's not. You have to understand what's going on out on the floor in order to know what to do and you have to read the play and anticipate what is gonna happen. For young players that may take some time. Fields has experience in a similar system and a good grasp of the game. There's a reason Donnie and Mike went after guys like that.
I do agree that some level of improvement should be expected. I think I used the wrong term to express my view. I should've said some people are expecting perfection and that's not realistic, cuz it's gonna take time for this team to fully jell on both ends and for Mike to know for sure what he has in this rotation. I do tho expect that they should play well enough to win games. Don't think that I don't expect wins. I just don't think we'll see the best ball from this team until sometime further into the season. I like the SL. I think Amar'e is such a BEAST that it really makes life easier on the other 4 guys. This team has to crash the boards and keep it close. It's a simple thing tho, HIT SHOTS and this is gonna be one tough team to beat. If the shooting is weak then they're gonna have to really kick up the D to stay close.
I can't wait to see how Timo develops. I think he's eventually gonna be a real asset for us. I love this kids passing and overall feel for the game.
