It doesnt help that Melo has spent the last few years battling serious injuries, his stats in the 4th as far as hitting the game winning shot have been poor, but they seem better lately. Don't know how accurate that is.

Im not suggesting this is entirely fair, but its normal for a fan to want to see a potential superstar take control of the team sooner rather than later considering how bad this team has been for so long.

KP has shown that he isnt physically ready yet to be the team's closer, night in and night out. Melo still can be. Its not like KP's passing out from exhaustion, but his legs too often this season aren't there in the 4th when he needs them. At the same time KP should get featured often, wether or not someone wants to call it his team or not.

GustavBahler wrote:Its easy. Knicks havent had a legit homegrown franchise player since Ewing. Lots of fans werent even born when he was playing. KP is the next big thing, he's young, Melo (in PT) is old, out with the old, in with the new, etc...

It's like the Back-Up QB phenomena in football, "BOOOOO #12 Sucks!!!! Put the rookie we drafted in the 3rd round in..."

GustavBahler wrote:

ActionJackson wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:Its easy. Knicks havent had a legit homegrown franchise player since Ewing. Lots of fans werent even born when he was playing. KP is the next big thing, he's young, Melo (in PT) is old, out with the old, in with the new, etc...

It's like the Back-Up QB phenomena in football, "BOOOOO #12 Sucks!!!! Put the rookie we drafted in the 3rd round in..."

Thats a big stretch. KP was our highest pick in decades, he was runner up for ROY. He put up numbers as a rookie that are NBA records. This is no scrub waiting on the sidelines, holding a clipboard.

True indeed but the emotion of the fanbase in always wanting to root for the other guy is similar.

EnySpree wrote:That's why KP gives Melo all the credit. Melo is taking all the pressure off KP to succeed...

But his days are coming. As sin as Melo slows down the spotlight shines on KP

Melo has been nothing but a class act when dealing with this issue. He genuinely likes playing with KP and sharing the spotlight with him. He also understands the criticism he will naturally receive that KP won't. We couldn't ask for a better star player to transition away from. But they should share the spotlight for a couple more years still.

ActionJackson wrote:Not really trying to stir up any sh** but just wanted to point out that during the endless debate about whose team this is & page after page of "Melo should just hand the reigns to KP already" threads, there never seems to be any conscious critique of KP's faults or bad games, and isn't that what being the Alpha dog is all about? I mean you get all the glory when you win but (especially in this media circus town) you also get blamed when the team loses or almost chokes away a big lead and loses. All that to say, I saw absolutely no mention of Porzingod going 2-12 in the game thread last night and if the opposite was true there would be fans with their digital pitchforks screaming "Bring back Wilson Chandler!!!" Why is that???

Porzingis limited his shooting, he didnt shoot 25 times when he didnt have it. Porzingis also plays within the offense he doesnt dribble the ball for 8 seconds, miss than cry to the refs. Melo is a ball stopper thats why he gets more crap

blkexec wrote:KP is a humble kidd from another country. He doesn't come off as a selfish player, which has been melos label for years. KP gives 100 effort on both ends, not just when he has the ball in his hands. This makes KP easy to root for and easy to forgive his bad shooting days, since he impacts the game is so many other areas.

holfresh wrote:

StarksEwing1 wrote:

blkexec wrote:KP is a humble kidd from another country. He doesn't come off as a selfish player, which has been melos label for years. KP gives 100 effort on both ends, not just when he has the ball in his hands. This makes KP easy to root for and easy to forgive his bad shooting days, since he impacts the game is so many other areas.

I agree with your post. However he doesn't had many bad shooting games. he has been a pretty consistent 20 ppg player this year and he hasn't even reached the tip of the iceberg in terms of his potential. Like you said he does so many things even when he isn't scoring his usual amount of points. Look I have never disliked melo and I have learned to appreciate his good traits like being able to score in a variety of ways and rebounding. However at this point I do feel it is time to let our emerging superstar take the reigns and for melo to kinda slide into number 2 role. I actually think it is a good thing for melo and for us. he wont have that type of pressure anymore and it will give KP even more confidence

WOW...Hope you have a fire extinguisher handy, you pants are about to explode...