What is sweet is that Phil was right. When he gave out that huge deal to resign Melo many assumed things were status quo, it just more Dolan and CAA running the show with Phil's power stopping when it came to making a real decision about Melo the golden mooby. Anyone who had those thoughts were 100% justified in doing so. If what you see is what you get than that sure looked like more of the same.
Phil knew different.
Phil once quoted after that he viewed Melo as a star in the league, but still had another level he could go to. What we are seeing from that player is impressive.
Phil also said trades are measured years down the line and not immediately.
No need to bring up the 40,000 Jose sucks and Tyson is killing it threads. Its funny though. Right now, today Tyson Chandler is averaging 5ppg, 7rebs and has a dismal .087 WS/48. Oh... and AFTER this year is over he's signed for another THREE years for $40mm.
On the other side of that coin... Jose Calderon. We all know, hell.. the whole league knows his limitations. Yet if you claim to follow this team you cannot deny Jose is a huge part of the heart of this team, and important guy in the locker room and oh... he's playing pretty good ball. Jose has played EVERY (yes Im yelling) game this year, averages 27 minutes a game and 1.1 turn overs. He hasn't missed a FT since puberty and honestly wants Melo or a scorer to shoot the T because those guys need the rhythm. Jose is a stop gap player until this position is upgraded internally (Grant) or via FA. In the meantime we have a guy playing well-> .117 WS/48 means exactly this: Jose is better than average NBA player. Oh... and in this sky rocketing NBA salary cap we are paying this better than average PG who inspires good things in his teammates and the locker room $7.7mm next year and he's off the cap. A little perspective + a half an NBA season and things can sure change fast.
Speaking of fast...
Derrick Williams is 24 yea? Not must older than Grant or Cleanthony. 2nd pick in his draft. He may be playing his way into a big pay raise and is that a bad thing? Getting talent is paramount. Paying it should be trivial. Maybe our big FA acquisition is Derrick Williams. He's a funny one to gauge as there is some element of failure or cast off associated with him. Certainly he did not fulfill the expectations of the team that drafted him. If he was drafted by the Knicks and we let him walk to another team for less than $5mm and he starting having games like this it would be a firestorm of threads as we can all imagine. What's his upside? What gives me such promise is I see him getting better. He's a lousy rebounder... terrible boxing out. A below average defender, but he's clearly working at both of those and the effort is there most of the time. His scoring is fantastic. So long as he's working on defense it will fly and he is. Yes he's got tunnel vision but that's not a bad thing. Especially a team that is working hard on defense. Notice how they are looking for DW. Know why? Because when you are busting it on defense its nice to hand the ball off, put your hands on your knees and watch a guy go get a bucket or end up at the line, and that's what he's doing. Going to be a very interesting story to follow but its getting better all the time. This is an important player for this team.
JR Smith. Had some pretty wild moments. Talented guy. What is the winning upside when you rely on him? Had to move on. Bron doesn't rely on him, rather JR is like a fun little science project. Maybe he can channel that talent enough nights to keep his own legs fresh. Lord knows Bron's motivation. Shump for $10mm a year. Really? Lance Thomas for $1.6mm a year. Really?
Do we see a trend developing here?
Why stop...
Langston, KP, Grant, Willy. All pieces that are trending up as prospects or NBA players. If I hear one more time that Phil somehow gets marginal credit for these adds because he wanted Trey Les Im gonna blow a phuckin gasket. These are the players we have added via draft/Dleage in his tenure. It really isn't any more complicated than that.
Then you have Fisher. Gritty PG role player extraordinaire. President of the players union at one point. Hmm... think he is well networked in those circles? I don't know what to think or say. I see some tangible good things like the development and improvement of players under him starting with Melo, DW and Lance Thomas as easy picks. I also see some things I don't understand but based on the positives they are far outweighing anything that is puzzling me. Lance. Melo. KP. DW. If you don't see the value coaching is having on these players I cant believe you are still reading this.
Lets talk about the FAs.. actually Im sick of typing. Someone else can cover it. Carrol got $15mm a year? Shump $10? Lopez $13.... ok.
Two years into this with Phil. A little hindsight on some of the early more questionable moves and wow. I think we are in pretty good hands here.
"winning is more fun... then fun is fun" -Thibs
1/15/2016 12:08 AM
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