fishmike wrote:JrZyHuStLa wrote:fishmike wrote:JrZyHuStLa wrote:Fish, if you want to say that we're "not a second round team" because our rebounding is weak, that's fine.Don't over exaggerate by saying we're not making the playoffs, because time will only prove you wrong.
why? Knicks have a 4 game lead over the 9th placed team. We got 58 points and 19 boards from Melo/Amare and lost by 6. I'm simply talking about winning games. The solution I am hearing from guys is Sheldon Williams and he is a VERY poor NBA player and has been on all 6 teams he's played on. Sheldon Williams isnt good at anything.Yes... this has been a problem all year, and we are even thinner in the rebounding department than we were before the trade
We're thinner in the rebounding department. But don't you think we've strengthened our team in other ways? Is it only rebounding that gets all 16 teams into the postseason?
I would say the talent has been upgraded. But Zach Randolph and Marbury also did that. You need to play TEAM basketball, and our PG is a stop gap 34 year old player.As for rebounding and playoffs show me any solid playoff team that gets beat on the boards every night. Rebounding is just as important as any facet of the game. you saw last night and many other nights before the trade that this can lose us games.
Amare and Melo are bigtime players but a tier below the Lebron/Wade level. If you think you can just put Amare/Melo together and give them 10-20 games and they will figure out how to play .800 basketball your kidding yourself.
I'm not on of the "I told you so" people on this board. I dont do that anywhere in life, I wont do it here. This is my team. Its got massive problems. I was in favor of building with depth. Getting 7-8 skilled athletic 2-way players. Now we traded 4 of those type of guys for one guy who can score. Billups is really good and will help get things straighted here, especially on D when JJ gets here.
Felton wasn't a part of the future either. He's set to expire when Chauncey is. And calling him a stop gap PG isn't really fair when you had Felton chucking up shots thinking he's Derek Rose. I can't even recall the last time we had a PG with the basketball IQ and intangibles that he has. Billups over Felton is a CLEAR upgrade.
I never once said Stat and Melo are Lebron/Wade/Kobe level tier talents. They're not. Those 3 are better defenders than our guys, sure. But one thing we have in common with the elite guys is the offensive firepower. If you're going to say rebounding is weak, you can also say our defense is as well. Melo and Stat don't put a premium on defense, I'm willing to admit that. But not a lot of guys are willing to admit D'antoni's lack of emphasis on it. This is my problem with him. Telling the media you care and actually holding a team like Cleveland to 80 points instead of 115 is night and day.
Who cares about the "I told you so"? We're all here as Knicks fans who just want to see our team do well. I have to respect posters like yourself or anyone with different views, that's what makes having discussions and debates great.