I am not ready to wave the white flag on him, but realize there could be the possibility that he will not be the same player again.
The way he was improving, it was a real possibility that he was going to be one of the stepping stones as our future star, as well as a lock down defender in the league.
After getting a taste of The NBA and defending some of the toughest players in the league, with his work ethic he would be able to continue his workout/training routines.

With Lin as our 2 starting guards as our future, and the Robin to the defensive specialist, DPOY, Tyson Chandler.
By adding another 1-2 players to compliment Tyson Chandler, and Iman Shumpert, we could have had a good/great defensive core to build with.
Adding a few 2 way players that could spread the floor, as the glue to what they both bring, would have been easy to build around.
Like Tyson, Iman, doesn't care if they do not get many touches offensively, a rare trait that younger players now miss with the physical abilities they both have.
I wish Iman the best, I hope management will be patient with him, and give him the support and time to recover.

Adding another shot blocker like a younger Ak47, with a versatile younger players like Kawaii Leanord/Marion/Ariza/Odom, and role players like younger Pietrus, Bowen, Barnes, and Anthony Carter, would have been our next step. He would have revived that 80s early 90s Knicks style/philosophy and heart that fans craved. But now, we don't know where to put Iman
till we can evaluate him in about 1-2 years.

nixluva wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:This goes back to Woodson challenging his stars to get better in the offseason which some people scuffed at

I don't think anyone scoffed at Woodson wanting to have players get better. Just for your info, just about every coach has exit interviews where they tell players to work on their game over the summer to improve in various ways. The question is will the players actually do it which is up to the player and not the coach.

I do like Woodson's approach this off season. He's following up on his words and is actually engaging the players along with his staff. Everyone on the team seems to have the right spirit and wants to improve individually and as a team. That's a VERY positive development. IMO this team has he most potential to improve of all the teams in the East. If Lin, Melo, STAT and Tyson come back with more game, better fitness and more chemistry, that will go a long way to helping this team make huge improvements.

Let's be honest, the only real issue this team had at the end with Woody was offensive. This team played well on D. The issues they have on Offense are fixable and it appears that Woody is very intent on installing his offensive philosophy and his mental will on the team. That is a winning approach IMO. Woody wants the team to be an extension of his mentality on the court and he's starting early. It will be a MAJOR coup if STAT and Tyson can add a bit more bigman skill to their games. Jorts too! I saw a little something there with Jorts on a few post moves he made. It's the one area that Miami is weak.

That's the one area where we can exploit Miami is in the frontcourt. I'm hopeful for more post ups from our bigs to negate Miami's team speed. Of course, you need shooters for spacing and to avoid double teams, but that's a whole different thread.