I think Mike is gone at the end of of the season, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he is asked to leave within the week. The new team needs a new coaching style. Also, he is on Isiah's hit list.

Again were talking about players who are coming from the highest scoring team in the league, denver has never been a half court team, they play fast and score often.

whatch how Mel becomes a serious three point threat..these guys take 100's of 3's during practice..100's

melo will becoming around the same screens amare (our PF/C) was doing..i have big time faith in MDA who really needs a high IQ pg..

I think if we have early success, show some good signs, all will be well with MDA and walsh, but if this team struggles, there will be trouble

NYKBocker wrote:If we lose MDA and get Jerry Sloan then I will be happy again.

Sloan and Isiah/Dolan are like fire amd ice. Not mixable.
All good things about bbal and all hareble things about bbol cannot stay together.

CashMoney wrote:Gallo was shooting a tad below 35% from 3 land. It's not like Gallo is Ray Allen.

Actually, Gallo is a better shooter than Ray Allen at 22, relatively speaking. Gallo had already hit 40% shooting in his first season, Allen didn't until 4th. And Ray was a SG. We are talking about a 6'11" behemoth.

So lets project some production here:

STAT: 27ppg, 10 rebs, 2 blocks
Diva: 30ppg, 8 rebs

Very nice... lets say we get 57ppg, 18 rebs from those two.

That leaves us with Balkman, Douglas, Carter, Turiaf, Williams x2, Fields, Billups, Rautins, etc...

Billups is a total wild card. Its more than likely he coasts through this season and shows very little interest in the playoffs if he plays at all. He did not want this trade and is now asked to carry a PG load at 36 years old playing next to a dude he's not a big fan of who got him traded.

We all like Fields but 10ppg in an MDA offensive isnt exactly that impressive. The rest of the guys are an expansion team.

Its feasable we dont even make the playoffs this year. ITs hard to win getting outrebounded and playing no defense every night, which will SURELY be blamed on MDA. In fact, Vmart already blames MDA for Melo's defensive woes

fishmike wrote:there is a HUGE downside to this trade. Diva/STAT are NOT creators like Wade/Lebron. They also dont defend their men at all that means opposing forwards will be lighting us up nightly.

So lets project some production here:

STAT: 27ppg, 10 rebs, 2 blocks
Diva: 30ppg, 8 rebs

Very nice... lets say we get 57ppg, 18 rebs from those two.

That leaves us with Balkman, Douglas, Carter, Turiaf, Williams x2, Fields, Billups, Rautins, etc...

Billups is a total wild card. Its more than likely he coasts through this season and shows very little interest in the playoffs if he plays at all. He did not want this trade and is now asked to carry a PG load at 36 years old playing next to a dude he's not a big fan of who got him traded.

We all like Fields but 10ppg in an MDA offensive isnt exactly that impressive. The rest of the guys are an expansion team.

Its feasable we dont even make the playoffs this year. ITs hard to win getting outrebounded and playing no defense every night, which will SURELY be blamed on MDA. In fact, Vmart already blames MDA for Melo's defensive woes

My biggest problem with MDA is his lack of team defense that he teaches. I remember the JVG days when he use to teach team defense not individual defense. That is where MDA is lacking in team defense he doesn't know how to coach that aspect of the game. I only point out weakness for the betterment of an individual not to criticize. Melo will be fine here and he will make the Knicks a better team. I find a bit strange you calling Melo Diva. That isn't fair dude. Give the guy a chance to win you over before you condemn him.

Guys off the bench will still be able to contribute, but just have slightly bigger roles. TD, Williams and Walker are guys that can score at a good %. Now that we have 2 Superstars, we can still have at least one on the court for most of the game and maintain a focus to the offense. It's gonna help to stave off scoring droughts. This team wasn't built for D and unfortunately I don't see it getting any better. That's the one thing that still works against this team, but we already knew this was the case. Maybe we can get something out of guys like Brewer and Shelden. Who knows. It can't be much worse than it already was.

In any event, being that this was an offensive team I don't see how it can't eventually be even better than before when we had less top tier talent. IMO Billups, Fields, Melo & STAT is a very competitive core compared to the other teams in the East.

y2zipper wrote:I think it's an interesting question because I'm not sure Pringle is the right guy for this team now unless he actually adjusts and gets them to play some defense or gets some defensive roleplayers. The teams weaknesses, other than size, which are basically no defense and a short bench have been the same on all D'Antoni teams, so it's quite possible that he's not the right guy to lead this talented group. We'll see, though.

Adjustment not in MDA vocabulary. He is no Pat Riley that can change with the talent given.

nixluva wrote:

Vmart wrote:

y2zipper wrote:I think it's an interesting question because I'm not sure Pringle is the right guy for this team now unless he actually adjusts and gets them to play some defense or gets some defensive roleplayers. The teams weaknesses, other than size, which are basically no defense and a short bench have been the same on all D'Antoni teams, so it's quite possible that he's not the right guy to lead this talented group. We'll see, though.

Adjustment not in MDA vocabulary. He is no Pat Riley that can change with the talent given.

I disagree. He's got his desired way of playing that he tries to teach, but he's a creative mind and can adapt what he does to the players he has. We don't have scrubs now. These guys will be able to do a lot under Mike. Mike isn't at a loss for what to do with a great talent like Chauncey or Melo. He flourishes when you give him offensive talent. With time there's no way he doesn't get a ton out of this team. We were less talented before and scored a ton.

I don't doubt his offensive coaching prowess, its the other end of the floor that puts a doubt in me.