But what really pisses me off is the lack of hustle and heart. They let anyone and their mother come into the paint and score with ease, and its really frustrating.

Melo scores, and then lolly gags to get back on defense. Stat barely makes an effort as well.

This is not the kind of team its fans deserve.

JrZyHuStLa wrote:I can live with guys that are just awful right now. Its a shortened season, and our players dont' have their legs under them yet.

But what really pisses me off is the lack of hustle and heart. They let anyone and their mother come into the paint and score with ease, and its really frustrating.

Melo scores, and then lolly gags to get back on defense. Stat barely makes an effort as well.

This is not the kind of team its fans deserve.

Running Point Forward is alot of wear and tear. Iman and Davis should help alot in giving Melo more energy to defend.

gunsnewing wrote:You're not the only one. I just don't see MDA surviving this unless he changes his ways and thats not happening

What do you mean exactly? MDA change his ways? HOW? What has he not been doing interms of changing. He has Woodson in there working hard on D. They did in fact change much of the offense to try and suit the players we have now. MDA has extended the rotation to more than 9 players. So what is it exactly that you think he's been unwilling to do?

eViL wrote:i disagree. to me, i see Melo as being one of the major culprits behind the Knicks breaking plays. it seems pretty clear to me that either he doesn't get MDA's offense or he doesn't buy into it. either way, Melo doesn't move without the ball with a purpose. he often ignores the play. he ignores picks that are being set for him and he waits til the play is broken then goes into ISO mode to score. i'm surprised that i'm the only one observing this.

eViL wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

eViL wrote:i disagree. to me, i see Melo as being one of the major culprits behind the Knicks breaking plays. it seems pretty clear to me that either he doesn't get MDA's offense or he doesn't buy into it. either way, Melo doesn't move without the ball with a purpose. he often ignores the play. he ignores picks that are being set for him and he waits til the play is broken then goes into ISO mode to score. i'm surprised that i'm the only one observing this.

He's playing hard on defense and bringing the ball up court half the time. Plus he's probably at about 15% body fat. I doubt he has the energy to move aggressively without the ball.

it's not about putting out some extraordinary effort away from the ball as much as it's about paying attention. when 3 passes hit you in the head because you were cutting but not looking for the pass, then something is wrong. the guy is just going through the motions. i don't think he's buying in.

no one is expecting him to be Rip Hamilton, this is moreso about him forcing the defense to stay honest and allowing the offense to create easy shots. right now, everything we get is the hard way. if we actually ran our offense, there would be a lot more easy shots. it actually takes way more effort to pound the rock and score 1 on 5 than it does to make intelligent cuts and score within the framework of the offense.

your opinion gives me the perception that you don't play much bball. or, if you do, you still don't really know how to play.

That's both Melos and MDAs fault. If Melo is showing a piss poor attiture (Not saying he is, just saying "If") then obviously he needs to adjust it or else he wont succeed anywhere, when the playoffs come. However, MDA still has to get through to Melo. Melo is not Starbury. He's a much better player without the tude that gets coaches fired. And MDA has playoff success. If he can't convince Melo to work better off the ball (Like how Kobe and LeBron and Wade do) then I am thinking that maybe MDA is being passive when it comes to this. You and I can only develop theories though. Maybe Melo really is the Marbury of SFs.

eymyel827 wrote:I was at Staples yesterday, and all the team did was COMPLAIN. It was a 3 point chuck fest. No inside game whatsoever. Oh and No D.

i really wish MDA would utilize melo's post-up game more often. it's really great and he can pass out to shooters pretty well. AND, it'd be a totally different look than the pick and roll stuff. make the team harder to defend.

one thing i've noticed is that the offense looks really solid in the first quarter or first half of all three games, but teams have adjusted to us and we still keep running the same plays and they stop working. the offense stagnates. having the option to post up melo for a few plays and show a different look for even just a few plays could be really good at preserving positive momentum in the offense.