We have some scoring firepower that is for sure, and if/when KP/Melo/Rose are playing well its an impossible offense to defend, but boy we give up a lot of points and a lot of open shots.

In the end I think it's going to be very important to make sure that the offense is operating at is maximum for more of each game and look to close each quarter with our best defensive units. Jeff has a lot of good options when he has Melo and KP at the 4 and 5 spot.

Also he needs to bend at the knees more and make a wider base -- that alone given his length and his spider arms can make him a terror. This will all come in time, I think

Melo at 3 is a problem. He's not getting any faster. He could show more desire and consistency (and killer instinct) but I'm not holding my breath

Chandler wrote:KP's issues are fixable. they need to decide if they want him out on stretch 4s or sagging off in the pant. He over-estimates his ability to close quickly enough and gets burned.

Also he needs to bend at the knees more and make a wider base -- that alone given his length and his spider arms can make him a terror. This will all come in time, I think

Melo at 3 is a problem. He's not getting any faster. He could show more desire and consistency (and killer instinct) but I'm not holding my breath

Yup...I'm on record saying that KP looks inside too much...you can do that with certain PFs, but against a good shooter? The one other thing to consider is that when he gets beaten on the drive it's frequently because he is closing out on his man who is on the perimeter, who then fakes the 3 and drives around him.

Also agree that he needs to lower his center of gravity on D, which is hard for a guy his height.

Maybe they have some stats which show sagging off works, but I've commented on him doing this a great deal, and find it annoying that the coaches haven't adjusted things.

Anthony doesn't seem to have the energy to consistently guard at the 3, but he is still able to do it at times.

Not having the greatest perimeter D is also an issue...don't know if this is a coachable issue, but when our bigs are committing to a penetrator and that person passes out or into the man our big was guarding, I don't see that as a problem for our bigs, since one of their jobs is to protect the interior. Don't know if this is a fighting through picks issue, or switching properly, or whatever.

Chandler wrote:KP's issues are fixable. they need to decide if they want him out on stretch 4s or sagging off in the pant. He over-estimates his ability to close quickly enough and gets burned.

Also he needs to bend at the knees more and make a wider base -- that alone given his length and his spider arms can make him a terror. This will all come in time, I think

Melo at 3 is a problem. He's not getting any faster. He could show more desire and consistency (and killer instinct) but I'm not holding my breath

This isnt meant to knock either player, rather talk about the makeup of the team. KP is 21. If he doesnt blossom into an elite player we will have to settle for all star. He will be fine. Melo isnt turning the corner on this. I do think we would really limit his minutes to 32 to keep his engine strong, but its tough as a coach. An easy reminder of why you stick with Melo was the Indy game... I think he was 5-13 at one point and the whole team was lackluster.

Melo and KP are here to stay so Im not sure what gives. playing them with no center has worked at times. Playing them with two PGs has helped the ball move (but we lose Lee's 3&D).

I like our talent level... alot. But I see some "clumsy" aspects of this roster.

yellowboy90 wrote:They also have Pgs who can't guard Pgs

Be nice. It's not that bad. They at least move their feet and fight over screens

fishmike wrote:

Chandler wrote:KP's issues are fixable. they need to decide if they want him out on stretch 4s or sagging off in the pant. He over-estimates his ability to close quickly enough and gets burned.

Also he needs to bend at the knees more and make a wider base -- that alone given his length and his spider arms can make him a terror. This will all come in time, I think

Melo at 3 is a problem. He's not getting any faster. He could show more desire and consistency (and killer instinct) but I'm not holding my breath

EVERY TIME. I dont understand how they can continually let that go. This is a simple two man game. I mean if KP helps in on that weak side and his man is set for a 3 its just too easy. Someone else has to rotate. And if they dont fix THAT, but KP cant help if his man is set up for the 3. Thats WHY there is such a thing as the stretch 4, to stretch the D and pull the defender out of the paint, OR get an easy set 3. Someone could create a youtube video of "what a stretch 4 does" and just show footage of guys that KP covers.

This isnt meant to knock either player, rather talk about the makeup of the team. KP is 21. If he doesnt blossom into an elite player we will have to settle for all star. He will be fine. Melo isnt turning the corner on this. I do think we would really limit his minutes to 32 to keep his engine strong, but its tough as a coach. An easy reminder of why you stick with Melo was the Indy game... I think he was 5-13 at one point and the whole team was lackluster.

Melo and KP are here to stay so Im not sure what gives. playing them with no center has worked at times. Playing them with two PGs has helped the ball move (but we lose Lee's 3&D).

I like our talent level... alot. But I see some "clumsy" aspects of this roster.

I actually think there is enough diversity to get it done. Holiday is giving this team really good flexibility on D and he fills in nicely on offense. It's not a perfect roster but you still have Kuz as a legit 6-9 shooter. I think the real missing piece is a guy like Randle who can hit the 3 as well as penetrate. It's not only about the defense but how we make other teams work on Defense trying to stop us. It's gonna be harder to do the more we stretch them out and so I like the idea of having a kid like Randle in the mix if we ever bring him up.

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:Melo cant guard 3s
KP cant guard 4s

We have some scoring firepower that is for sure, and if/when KP/Melo/Rose are playing well its an impossible offense to defend, but boy we give up a lot of points and a lot of open shots.

Yeah, agreed.

According to 82games - http://www.82games.com/1617/1617NYK2.HTM - one of our best lineups this year by Offensive and Defensive efficiency is:

Rose
CLee
Holiday
Melo
KP

Offensive efficiency: 1.28
Defensive efficiency: .85

You can see how much better they are when they have both Holiday and CLee out there to chase guys around screens at both the SG and SF.

Only problem is - it's our 19th most used 5man rotation and has only played 13 minutes together all season. I'd like to see more of that lineup. I feel like Hornacek has used it a few times in the 4th quarter recently. It'd be nice to break out more often. Maybe in the second quarter and fourth quarter.

Justin Holiday has been an unexpected gift this season - I think it'd be really important to even draft another defensive 2 or 3 who can hit the three. (Unless there's a good PG at our draft slot)

Thats way to small a sample to take that into consideration

knicks1248 wrote:It all points to Noah...If he can play better we could be a decent defensive team. All in all, we need to be Like the Rockets, a high powered offensive team. We just don't have the players or the coaching staff to make us an above avg defensive team

Ummmmmmmm huh?? We don't need to play like the Rockets and we don't have the players to play that way and i don't think it's the coaching staff that's the cause for the bad defense i think it's the players. Fishmike is right that Melo can't guard most 3's and KP can't keep up with a lot of the 4's in the NBA cause he's just to long and slow to keep up with them. I think JH will get it right with his rotations and play a small ball lineup in the 4th quarter or the 2nd half of the 4th quarter when he's able to where Melo will be a better defender of the PF's and KP can use his length on the 5's but his strength will come into question against a lot of the 5's in the league.

meloshouldgo wrote:I agree KP can't guard stretch 4s, but I think it's the teams failure to rotate that makes KP looks bad in a lot of cases. If our guards could defend even an iota against dribble penetration then KP wouldn't have to cheat off his player to help inside. Melo was never a good defender and that ship had sailed long ago. Can't put all of this on Noah and Lee others need to play defense. We can't be playing 2.5 on 5 defense in the playoffs. Rose and Jennings along with Melo are the biggest culprits, they will have to step up their defense. I don't care if that means Melo can't make shots down the stretch. With the type of defense we are playing now, we won't need to worry about "down the stretch" in playoffs. One of the big reasons our second unit restores parity in games where we give up a lead early, is defense.