BRIGGS wrote:After taking a hard look at Dalembart--hes a 15 minute player. Cole on the other had will give us the foundation of rebounding and defense every night at the C spot. Say whatever you want this guy rebounds the ball--he did it last year when he got the minutes and I think he can really put up big rebounding numbers if given 33-35 minutes. Is it goingf to turn us into a 50 win team--no. Will it make us better---yes.

+1000

Vmart wrote:I was thinking the same thing. Aldrich is a double double machine with interior presence. Good for 2-3 blocks.

I agree. I mentioned it in the game thread earlier and I talked about starting him since before game 1 in the preseason. Whether Fish starts him or not, he's gotta get some time every night. He ensures equalization in the rebounding column and as we all know, controlling the rebounding game is a big factor in having any kind of success--maybe not quite half the battle, but definitely 1/3 of the battle I'd say...Fish can't overthink this: rotate Sammy and Aldrich -- those are our 2 centers. Sammy's still a quality shot-blocker. I'm pleasantly surprised he still has something left in the tank. I'm OK with him seeing some time but Cole MUST PLAY. Pound for pound the man's easily the best rebounder on the team. A guy like that MUST PLAY. Case closed. How do we DNP our best rebounder? What team does that?? Amar'e starts at the 4 (and if he gets off nice, for God's sake milk it for all it's worth next time -- if he has to sit, work hard to re-establish him when he returns. Until we come up with something else--on this team, STAT needs to get his shots up), then off those 3 bigs, we find some time for Jason Smith backing up 4/5 and Acy backing up 4/3. And let the cream rise to the top -- whoever has it going, gets the time. Whoever isn't bringing it sees their PT reduced. That's it. That's how we play this frontcourt and go about establishing our frontcourt identity...Aldrich needs to be part of the mix--his game isn't pretty by any means but you're spot on, that's exactly what we'd get: a very workmanlike, lunch pail double-double with some rim protection every night as long as he sees enough time. We're simply not good enough to just DNP a guy that can supply that every game. Cole needs to be part of the solution.

franco12 wrote:let me first preface this by saying I watched almost none of the game and very little preseason.

But I have said I think Cole should start and just like a good D man in hockey, eat up minutes, do the little things well and not be expected to score.

I can't believe we're expecting Dalembert to actually play- he's been in the league, what, 20 years?

Didn't Chris Dudley teach anyone anything?

BRIGGS wrote:After taking a hard look at Dalembart--hes a 15 minute player. Cole on the other had will give us the foundation of rebounding and defense every night at the C spot. Say whatever you want this guy rebounds the ball--he did it last year when he got the minutes and I think he can really put up big rebounding numbers if given 33-35 minutes. Is it goingf to turn us into a 50 win team--no. Will it make us better---yes.

i don't where you get just 15 minutes from the guy. he needs to be out there almost twice that amount, but i would think 24 minutes a night is acceptable.

i say this because, while he may not be boris diaw out there, the guy has show he is a much better passing big man than anyone else we have... and that passing ability means other players involved.

fisher needs to have a center tandem of samuel dalembert and cole aldrich. these are your two best big men for various and sundry reasons.

dalembert/aldrich

secondly, there is no way you can have both stoudemire and melo out there-- they will always get in each others way. by default stat has to go to the bench. no shame in that-- he will devastate second units if given the chance.

melo/stoudemire

the point guard position is set:

calderon/prigioni/larkin

you need two defenders out there so who are the two best defenders the knicks have at the shooting guard and forward positions? looks to me like shumpert and quincy acy though i'd like to see more of acy.

starters:

dalembert
melo
acy
calderon
shumpert

bench:

aldrich
stoudemire
i haven't seen cleanthony early play but i pencil him in on what i have heard of his defense
hardaway or jr smith-- both looked lost out there and don't defend so i hold my nose on this one
prigioni or larkin

falling out of the rotation is bargnani

The biggest problem with the Knicks is defense. When shots aren't falling they hang their head on defense.

Vmart wrote:Didn't Acy get destroyed all game by Gibson. Where is the defense?

The biggest problem with the Knicks is defense. When shots aren't falling they hang their head on defense.

Its easy to add a triangle structure....difficult to change a defensive culture.

I wish NY had the culture to accept tanking. If we did, we could be like the spurs when they tanked to get duncan, even though they had a hall of fame player.