hey, like i said..i think bargnani should EARN it. if hes good and back to himself, then i wouldnt care if he starts, as long as he helps the team.

DurzoBlint wrote:

nixluva wrote:

callmened wrote:"If the Knicks move Anthony back to small forward to make room for Bargnani, every Eastern Conference team should personally send "thank you" notes to coach Mike Woodson."

Every time I hear someone says this or read it I get crazy. It's such a stupid thing to say. Melo has been pretty much the same player his entire career. They make it sound like he stepped up to Lebron levels last year and sucked the rest of his career. Melo is gonna be just as good at the 3 as he was last year playing the 4. Hopefully he'll be better, as in more efficient. With a scorer like Melo it's not gonna make that much difference. His career pretty much proves that fact.

What we don't know is how having actual PF's like the guys we have on the roster will impact the TEAM in terms of W/L's. IMO this is gonna help the team win more games. It makes no sense at all to basically ignore Bargnani, STAT etc. just to get Melo at the 4 and play small. It's fine to go with the small lineup as a tactic but I don't think we should make it our default means of attack. It's good to have lots of flexibility and this year we can play just about any style there is. This roster is the most versatile roster we've had in a long time. We can easily play small or go big and still have high skill level.

Thank you. Melo had his best, most efficient years as the 3. As an added bonus, I think he is less likely to get hurt at the 3 than he is banging with guys at the 4 spot.

callmened wrote:"If the Knicks move Anthony back to small forward to make room for Bargnani, every Eastern Conference team should personally send "thank you" notes to coach Mike Woodson."

ned== I think Anthony will get some 4 minutes this year there is no doubt about that. But I think a lot of people are downplaying what Bargs can bring here. He can also move to 5 at times right--with Anthony at 4. I think hes better than what he showed in Toronto--its all about discipline positioning and effort with him. If our coach can get that out of him--well be in good shape. We have a very good team capable of winning it all--thats all you can ask for. Im excited for this season. I even thought about Cole Aldrich having an impact I think he makes the team at first you say OKST replaced him with Thabeet so whats his upside. I think hes a guy who needs to be on the right team for him. He can be a better version of Chris Dudley--he can actually shoot. Hes slightly undersized for the 5 but thats ok. We have depth at every position. I think we have more reliability and more firepower than last year. J kidd was a big part of us winning in the first part of the season--I know that but I think Udirih can give excellent play--in fact I see Udirih ahead of Pablo Pablo should go back to a 3rd PG position.

callmened wrote:My only concern with bargnani was his motivation. It seems like you and others are more optimistic and thats fine. Im more pessimistic but I hope im proved wrong

I like the alrich signing. I thought he was a reach as a lottery pick but he can play in the league. Hes a scrappy big man with a missing tooth! For some reason I love that hes missing a tooth!!

I can understand it being hard to be motivated when your fanbase boos you every time you touch the ball. Dude was playing injured. Also playing and living in Canada is not for everyone. Great city in my opinion but, I know some players have hated it for various reasons.

jrodmc wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:That would be relevant if Melo was the #2 on this team like he was on Denver that year. (Billups was top 5 MVP voting.)
Anyway, if what you're offering me is 1 trip to the conference finals every 10 years, I'd say no thanks, let's start over.

You've grown so accustomed to going once every 5 years? You'd rather buy seats for barely making playoffs for a decade or so?

We're 3 whole years into the Melo era. That's a pretty small sample size, isn't it?

It's funny how your logic works. PP isn't responsible for the Celts playoff drought because basketball's a 12 man game. But Melo getting to the WCF has nothing to do with Melo because he's only #2 out of 12 Nuggets.

Do you ever stop and think about how your Melo hate colors your view?

Nalod suggests to his somber brothers to just take one year at a time. Melo is on this roster and nobody hear carries the clout otherwise so why beat that horse over and over like a chicken.

Melo will put up his numbers and be an allstar. Win or lose fans will root for Melo. The better the team around him, the better we are.

Plain and simple. If your not taking for a top 5 draft pick, then this is how you do it.

Who ever is to blame is gone. Whats gonna change going forward?

There is hope. Enjoy the season!

tkf wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:That would be relevant if Melo was the #2 on this team like he was on Denver that year. (Billups was top 5 MVP voting.)
Anyway, if what you're offering me is 1 trip to the conference finals every 10 years, I'd say no thanks, let's start over.

You've grown so accustomed to going once every 5 years? You'd rather buy seats for barely making playoffs for a decade or so?

We're 3 whole years into the Melo era. That's a pretty small sample size, isn't it?

It's funny how your logic works. PP isn't responsible for the Celts playoff drought because basketball's a 12 man game. But Melo getting to the WCF has nothing to do with Melo because he's only #2 out of 12 Nuggets.

Do you ever stop and think about how your Melo hate colors your view?

No, in both cases I realize the player is only a small part of the puzzle. I wouldn't have even mentioned the playoff performance in Denver if you hadn't brought up the conference finals. Then I was just mocking your response by pointing out that (even if we do want to evaluate Melo by looking at his team's success) making the conference finals is a once a decade thing with Melo and occured only when he was the #2. In neither case should we confound player effectiveness with team outcome, though; I was just going along with your discussion for the moment.

good point bonn, and this also goes back to the " carmelo dragged his team to the playoffs every year he has been in the league" argument... but when they lose in the first round it was because "he didn't have any help"..... go figure..

what carmelo has done in his 3 years in NY is pretty consistent with his whole career in which there is more than enough data..... and that is, he helps his team to a decent/good regular season record and then burn out in the playoffs..... pretty underwhelming...

They need to fire Woody and hire Jerry Sloan.

jrodmc wrote:

tkf wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:That would be relevant if Melo was the #2 on this team like he was on Denver that year. (Billups was top 5 MVP voting.)
Anyway, if what you're offering me is 1 trip to the conference finals every 10 years, I'd say no thanks, let's start over.

You've grown so accustomed to going once every 5 years? You'd rather buy seats for barely making playoffs for a decade or so?

We're 3 whole years into the Melo era. That's a pretty small sample size, isn't it?

It's funny how your logic works. PP isn't responsible for the Celts playoff drought because basketball's a 12 man game. But Melo getting to the WCF has nothing to do with Melo because he's only #2 out of 12 Nuggets.

Do you ever stop and think about how your Melo hate colors your view?

No, in both cases I realize the player is only a small part of the puzzle. I wouldn't have even mentioned the playoff performance in Denver if you hadn't brought up the conference finals. Then I was just mocking your response by pointing out that (even if we do want to evaluate Melo by looking at his team's success) making the conference finals is a once a decade thing with Melo and occured only when he was the #2. In neither case should we confound player effectiveness with team outcome, though; I was just going along with your discussion for the moment.

good point bonn, and this also goes back to the " carmelo dragged his team to the playoffs every year he has been in the league" argument... but when they lose in the first round it was because "he didn't have any help"..... go figure..

what carmelo has done in his 3 years in NY is pretty consistent with his whole career in which there is more than enough data..... and that is, he helps his team to a decent/good regular season record and then burn out in the playoffs..... pretty underwhelming...

Seriously tkf, you'd be underwhelmed if we won a chip with Melo. Admit it.

The Boppsey twins of misdirection. How sweet.

You mock Melo, but defend PP for an even worse playoff record.
Then you both talk in glowing Melo hate circles around each other.
Melo gets to the playoffs. Fact. PP did not. Fact.
PP's a HOF candidate that makes you hang banners and posters. Efficient. Makes those around him better. MVP!
Melo sucks because he burns out in the playoffs by himself.
PP's great because he never got to the playoffs by himself.

Charming. Let's watch the games fellas!
Get all ready to tell me how getting to the ECF this season will truly suck! Oh wait, nevermind, you're already doing that!

Defending Paul Pierce when he missed the playoffs and criticize Melo when he made the 1st round is not automatically wrong. It's not the case that every player on 1st round teams is better than every player on lottery teams.