TripleThreat wrote:

holfresh wrote:

JamesKPolk wrote:That's right. Time to blame Lin. We've found the real source of the problem.

It's not a blame thing..The team has to get better..Lin will be our starting PG for years to come..I want to see him get better sooner than later...No one is beyond criticism..

Good God, what games are you watching?

Lin takes the shot when that's what the defense gives him. If you watch Lin, he's force feeding Melo and STAT just enough to keep the coach off his back. But as long as Melo and STAT aren't producing ( i.e. are shooting poorly) Lin has finally realized he can tune out his coach if he wants. His responsibility is to his TEAM and WINNING, not to Mike Woodson desperately trying to keep his job by holding to his mandate to force feed Melo and STAT no matter what. Now STAT is shooting better than Melo right now, but he's not always working hard to get open. If he's not open, Lin is not going to get him the ball.

Don't confuse the agendas. Mike Woodson's approach is to first and foremost to keep the Knicks job. He needs to win to do so. But if he can sacrifice some wins to keep the giant egos of Melo and STAT happy, so as to get their rubber stamp to Dolan, clearly he's willing to do that. Hence his screaming at Lin and clearly jabbing at Lin on the sidelines to feed a 35-40 percent chucking Melo. Lin, however has to make split second decisions, and Woodson can't justify tearing into Lin to feed a guy who is starting a brick factory and is too poorly conditioned and lacks the desire to get open after the game. When they watch game film, if Woodson rips Lin because he passed to the open man, and if that open man wasn't Melo or STAT, what do you think the rest of his team mates will do and feel about Woodson? If he does it, the press will also turn on him. And they will label him as Melo and STAT's stooge, instead of a real NBA head coach.

The real PROBLEM is the Chandler, STAT and Melo front line can't play together and the Melo/Fields combination does not function at all. Chandler is essential to the Knicks winning by anchoring the defense. However he is not versatile offensively and they need some of his offense. Unlike Dallas or a team like the Heat, the Knicks don't have the offensive production to hide Chandler from having to play offense. They have the offensive potential, but not the actual production. Chandler needs space to work in the post. STAT does not move well without the ball and does not space well. He's also limited in that he can't adjust his game to play with other big men. Some bigs just can't. Some have "Elden Campbell Disease", they just clog up the works with another big on the floor.

Melo isn't shooting free throws because he's not getting contact. Why should other teams generate contact on Melo? He's chucking, he's missing, he's huffing and puffing because he's not used to giving effort on defense ( makes me want to throw up saying that) As new stars come into the league each year like Kyrie Irving, Melo becomes less relevant each year for the refs to protect. There are only so many free points and phantom calls and non calls to give out to each team and in the league each year by the refs via Stern, and Melo isn't helping his cause to get them. Melo needs to play power forward, he needs to get his back to the basket and get into position where his plus rebounding is an asset and his low post game can generate higher percentage shots and contact.

The Knicks will never bench Melo or STAT, they make too much and Dolan won't do it. The Knicks cannot live without Chandler's defense. Fields cannot function with Melo, as Field's, unlike Chandler and Lin, cannot adjust well to playing with a low IQ player. He doesn't have the long range shooting or finishing ability near the rim to compensate for Melo not spacing the floor enough for him. The Knicks need to move Lin and Chandler and Fields to the second unit, not because they deserve bench, it's just that the actual starting lineup has to become the bench to satisfy Dolan.

SF - JR Smith
PF - Melo
C - STAT
PG - Davis
SG - Shumpert

The offense can flow through STAT without Chandler in the paint. Melo can play back to the basket and get contact. Davis and Smith provide long range shooters to space the floor. Shumpert and Smith provide enough athleticism to use the press, the only way to compensate for Melo and STATs defense, even when they are trying, in this kind of lineup. This is the low IQ/high athleticism unit.

SF - Novak/Walker
PF - Jeffries
C - Chandler
PG - Lin
SG - Fields

Lin and Novak play very well together. Lin is the focal point of the offense with Novak as the safety valve that keeps other teams honest and spread out for Lin's attacks to the cup. Jeffries and Chandler compensate for Lin's and Novak's defensive problems. Fields is not constantly running into Melo. Walker lets Novak slide into the Stretch 4 and gives you better defense. Chandler gets room in the paint to operate, as Jeffries knows how to work with another big man in the game.

This is what's good for the team. You need to split apart the guys whose games don't mesh and hide certain guys defensive weaknesses. Davis is not a better point guard than Lin, he's a more experienced point guard often working with a unit that isn't completely incompatible. The trick is not to demand a player become what he's not, but put him where his strengths come out and his weaknesses can be hidden. However moving Lin to the second unit will create a nightmare press frenzy where Melo will be crushed as a player and a brand and Stern will blow a gasket and probably choke some low level NBA intern to death.

EXCELLENT post, but let me ask this question. Do you think that starting lineup of davis, shump, melo, amare and smith is good enough to win a substantial amount of games? You would almost have to play the second unit starters minutes.....

We will not beat the Bucks if we can't score. That team may not have much defense, but they are chock full of scorer and jumpshooters and they play fast and smart. The Bucks have only gotten faster with Ellis. Yes we need great D, but you also must have good O in order to stop teams from getting easy baskets. Made shots helps your defense.

djsunyc wrote:no answer for raptors zone. anyway good game. see y'all draft lottery night.

Craig Forbes is unstoppable bro!

TripleThreat wrote:

tkf wrote:let me ask this question. Do you think that starting lineup of davis, shump, melo, amare and smith is good enough to win a substantial amount of games? You would almost have to play the second unit starters minutes.....

This lineup?

SF - JR Smith
PF - Melo
C - STAT
PG - Davis
SG - Shumpert

No, not alone, not playing 38-40 minutes a game. But for 22 minutes a game at high energy, you can conceal Melo's bull**** lack of conditioning. You can also save on STAT's knees. Part of the reason STAT and Melo have been lazy and craptastic defenders for so long is they were pacing themselves to play 38-40 minutes a night. This unit isn't about, IMHO, fundamental half court basketball, this unit is a run and gun unit. Don't ask STAT and Melo to be suddenly out of this world defenders. Just ask them to attack with the press and constantly harass the other team.

SF - Novak/Walker
PF - Jeffries
C - Chandler
PG - Lin
SG - Fields

This unit plays 26 minutes a game and including the majority of the 3rd quarter. This version of the lineup is a "punch you in the mouth" defense. Fields has great length to defend passing lanes. Lin is not a horrible defender, he just can't take many guys one on one with the hand checking rule in place. He excels if he can reach in and poke the ball and get steals, but he needs help defenders to do that. Where Jeffries and Walker and Chandler come in. Jeffries and Chandler also set tough picks and screens to let Lin run havoc with penetration. If Lin is allowed to penetrate like Barea did to the Lakers last year, teams will be steamrolled by this unit. Lin is the focal point, but the tip of the spear is Novak. Concentrate on getting his shot as the first option. Novak is the ONLY Knicks player right now who can score in volume at any time with limited minutes. Novak is a difficult shooter to defend. He has height and he can bomb from way beyond the arc. With Fields, you get a safety valve with the pick and roll, as he can actually operate with Chandler and Jeffries to let Lin occasionally float for long range shots. Field's real problem isn't his gunner ability or his work around the basket, his true "problem" is he simply cannot adjust to low IQ players around him. Whereas Chandler and Lin can process and react to a guy who can't move well without the ball like Melo, it causes Fields to stop, think and get himself into trouble.

As for the tempo, why should the Knicks slow it down? They have legitimate depth. Many teams do not. Take advantage of that deep roster and run other teams into the ground. The Knicks have enough horses to be constantly on the attack. While other teams use their reserves to hope to simply keep the status quo, the Knicks are deep enough to still increase a lead or comeback with an alternate lineup.

Running two independent units like a "Right Hook" and "Left Jab" counters the problems of a compressed schedule and back to back to backs. You have to move Lin and Chandler off because they are humble enough to see the big picture for the team concept. Melo and STAT have to be pacified as "starters in name only" because they are high maintenance leaky mangina selfish coach killing chuckers who act like a couple of chicks. Play it to the press like splitting the unit is a 1A and 1B, not a A and B unit to save legs for the playoffs.

If Melo is hurt and out of shape and his shooting rocks 35-40 percent, he has to get to the bench for the good of the team. If Dolan won't let you bench him, bring the bench to Melo.

Melo is the best low post player the Knicks have. Odd as that sounds. STAT is a glorified gorilla Stretch 4 who plays face up the basket. Chandler works best with garbage around the rim and easy dunks. Jeffries has hands of stone, God love him for his heart, but it's like he's trying to catch boulders out there. You start pounding the rock in the paint, you force defenses to collapse on Melo, you get Melo to the line more, you give Melo higher percentage shots and Melo is a good enough passer to find gunners on the outside. If you can't take Marsh'Melo and get him to man up on his own and punch someone in the mouth, then force him to grind it in the paint, where he has no choice, unless he wants a mouthful of elbow every night.

This is where Melo and STAT were huge idiots. They removed the coaching staffs ability to actually help them and scheme for them. Woodson WANTS TO KEEP HIS JOB. That's his only GOAL. Whatever else he says is utter bull****. If the Knicks have to lose some games for Woodson to keep that job, he will do it. By killing off MDA, Melo and STAT are saying to any Knicks coach, if this team wins, it can ONLY WIN THIS MELO/STAT APPROVED WAY RIGHT HERE. No matter how ****ing stupid or idiotic the concept. Instead of giving a coach the power to hide Melo's lack of conditioning, Woodson is going to leave Melo out there chucking for 40 minutes a night and having Melo look like a selfish jackhole huffing and puffing down the court to national TV because Woodson believes it's the only way he can shake the Interim tag and get the real job. WINNING gets you more shoe contracts and endorsements than being "The Man" taking 30 shots on a team going straight to New Jersey. (Hell, same thing)

The Knicks are not a bad team, they are TWO DIFFERENT TEAMS on the same roster. They need to split the units up and now there is only one way to do it to plug up Melo and STAT's aching manginas. Lin and Chandler have to take another big hit for the team. They can do it because they are men. They are real players. They put winning first. They know what it means to represent New York and the best fans on Earth. It's not like Melo and STAT are going to do it.

good in depth explination, I agree with what you are saying. We have two different units, and since we can't bench our two max cats, we have to start them, get them out of the way and bring in the most effective unit to play the majority of the minutes...

Really what that tells me is that we have two 20 million dollar guys who are extremely flawed. that I agree with. One thing about the unit with lin and novak, steve will actually get the amount of shots he deserves, the guy has been money when ever he plays. I also read where woodson is going to limit baron davis minutes even more.... and this guy was being looked upon by many knicks fans as the savior.. rofl..

remember the excuses, we are bad because we have no PG to orchestrate for melo and amare..

Lin falls into our laps.... and the excuse is that he and melo have to Gel, that dantoni is gearing the offense around lin.

Out goes dantoni... now melo is still hurt, his wrist, and elbow are the problem now..

ROFL.. the excuses for this team never stops...

MarburyAnd1Crossover wrote:

tkf wrote:

TripleThreat wrote:

tkf wrote:let me ask this question. Do you think that starting lineup of davis, shump, melo, amare and smith is good enough to win a substantial amount of games? You would almost have to play the second unit starters minutes.....

This lineup?

SF - JR Smith
PF - Melo
C - STAT
PG - Davis
SG - Shumpert

No, not alone, not playing 38-40 minutes a game. But for 22 minutes a game at high energy, you can conceal Melo's bull**** lack of conditioning. You can also save on STAT's knees. Part of the reason STAT and Melo have been lazy and craptastic defenders for so long is they were pacing themselves to play 38-40 minutes a night. This unit isn't about, IMHO, fundamental half court basketball, this unit is a run and gun unit. Don't ask STAT and Melo to be suddenly out of this world defenders. Just ask them to attack with the press and constantly harass the other team.

SF - Novak/Walker
PF - Jeffries
C - Chandler
PG - Lin
SG - Fields

This unit plays 26 minutes a game and including the majority of the 3rd quarter. This version of the lineup is a "punch you in the mouth" defense. Fields has great length to defend passing lanes. Lin is not a horrible defender, he just can't take many guys one on one with the hand checking rule in place. He excels if he can reach in and poke the ball and get steals, but he needs help defenders to do that. Where Jeffries and Walker and Chandler come in. Jeffries and Chandler also set tough picks and screens to let Lin run havoc with penetration. If Lin is allowed to penetrate like Barea did to the Lakers last year, teams will be steamrolled by this unit. Lin is the focal point, but the tip of the spear is Novak. Concentrate on getting his shot as the first option. Novak is the ONLY Knicks player right now who can score in volume at any time with limited minutes. Novak is a difficult shooter to defend. He has height and he can bomb from way beyond the arc. With Fields, you get a safety valve with the pick and roll, as he can actually operate with Chandler and Jeffries to let Lin occasionally float for long range shots. Field's real problem isn't his gunner ability or his work around the basket, his true "problem" is he simply cannot adjust to low IQ players around him. Whereas Chandler and Lin can process and react to a guy who can't move well without the ball like Melo, it causes Fields to stop, think and get himself into trouble.

As for the tempo, why should the Knicks slow it down? They have legitimate depth. Many teams do not. Take advantage of that deep roster and run other teams into the ground. The Knicks have enough horses to be constantly on the attack. While other teams use their reserves to hope to simply keep the status quo, the Knicks are deep enough to still increase a lead or comeback with an alternate lineup.

Running two independent units like a "Right Hook" and "Left Jab" counters the problems of a compressed schedule and back to back to backs. You have to move Lin and Chandler off because they are humble enough to see the big picture for the team concept. Melo and STAT have to be pacified as "starters in name only" because they are high maintenance leaky mangina selfish coach killing chuckers who act like a couple of chicks. Play it to the press like splitting the unit is a 1A and 1B, not a A and B unit to save legs for the playoffs.

If Melo is hurt and out of shape and his shooting rocks 35-40 percent, he has to get to the bench for the good of the team. If Dolan won't let you bench him, bring the bench to Melo.

Melo is the best low post player the Knicks have. Odd as that sounds. STAT is a glorified gorilla Stretch 4 who plays face up the basket. Chandler works best with garbage around the rim and easy dunks. Jeffries has hands of stone, God love him for his heart, but it's like he's trying to catch boulders out there. You start pounding the rock in the paint, you force defenses to collapse on Melo, you get Melo to the line more, you give Melo higher percentage shots and Melo is a good enough passer to find gunners on the outside. If you can't take Marsh'Melo and get him to man up on his own and punch someone in the mouth, then force him to grind it in the paint, where he has no choice, unless he wants a mouthful of elbow every night.

This is where Melo and STAT were huge idiots. They removed the coaching staffs ability to actually help them and scheme for them. Woodson WANTS TO KEEP HIS JOB. That's his only GOAL. Whatever else he says is utter bull****. If the Knicks have to lose some games for Woodson to keep that job, he will do it. By killing off MDA, Melo and STAT are saying to any Knicks coach, if this team wins, it can ONLY WIN THIS MELO/STAT APPROVED WAY RIGHT HERE. No matter how ****ing stupid or idiotic the concept. Instead of giving a coach the power to hide Melo's lack of conditioning, Woodson is going to leave Melo out there chucking for 40 minutes a night and having Melo look like a selfish jackhole huffing and puffing down the court to national TV because Woodson believes it's the only way he can shake the Interim tag and get the real job. WINNING gets you more shoe contracts and endorsements than being "The Man" taking 30 shots on a team going straight to New Jersey. (Hell, same thing)

The Knicks are not a bad team, they are TWO DIFFERENT TEAMS on the same roster. They need to split the units up and now there is only one way to do it to plug up Melo and STAT's aching manginas. Lin and Chandler have to take another big hit for the team. They can do it because they are men. They are real players. They put winning first. They know what it means to represent New York and the best fans on Earth. It's not like Melo and STAT are going to do it.

good in depth explination, I agree with what you are saying. We have two different units, and since we can't bench our two max cats, we have to start them, get them out of the way and bring in the most effective unit to play the majority of the minutes...

Really what that tells me is that we have two 20 million dollar guys who are extremely flawed. that I agree with. One thing about the unit with lin and novak, steve will actually get the amount of shots he deserves, the guy has been money when ever he plays. I also read where woodson is going to limit baron davis minutes even more.... and this guy was being looked upon by many knicks fans as the savior.. rofl..

remember the excuses, we are bad because we have no PG to orchestrate for melo and amare..

Lin falls into our laps.... and the excuse is that he and melo have to Gel, that dantoni is gearing the offense around lin.

Out goes dantoni... now melo is still hurt, his wrist, and elbow are the problem now..

ROFL.. the excuses for this team never stops...

There really are a lot of excuse.

But the good thing is that playoffs are around the corner. Playoffs will tell us everything we need to know about where this team is.

if we make the playoffs...

TripleThreat wrote:

tkf wrote:let me ask this question. Do you think that starting lineup of davis, shump, melo, amare and smith is good enough to win a substantial amount of games? You would almost have to play the second unit starters minutes.....

This lineup?

SF - JR Smith
PF - Melo
C - STAT
PG - Davis
SG - Shumpert

No, not alone, not playing 38-40 minutes a game. But for 22 minutes a game at high energy, you can conceal Melo's bull**** lack of conditioning. You can also save on STAT's knees. Part of the reason STAT and Melo have been lazy and craptastic defenders for so long is they were pacing themselves to play 38-40 minutes a night. This unit isn't about, IMHO, fundamental half court basketball, this unit is a run and gun unit. Don't ask STAT and Melo to be suddenly out of this world defenders. Just ask them to attack with the press and constantly harass the other team.

SF - Novak/Walker
PF - Jeffries
C - Chandler
PG - Lin
SG - Fields

This unit plays 26 minutes a game and including the majority of the 3rd quarter. This version of the lineup is a "punch you in the mouth" defense. Fields has great length to defend passing lanes. Lin is not a horrible defender, he just can't take many guys one on one with the hand checking rule in place. He excels if he can reach in and poke the ball and get steals, but he needs help defenders to do that. Where Jeffries and Walker and Chandler come in. Jeffries and Chandler also set tough picks and screens to let Lin run havoc with penetration. If Lin is allowed to penetrate like Barea did to the Lakers last year, teams will be steamrolled by this unit. Lin is the focal point, but the tip of the spear is Novak. Concentrate on getting his shot as the first option. Novak is the ONLY Knicks player right now who can score in volume at any time with limited minutes. Novak is a difficult shooter to defend. He has height and he can bomb from way beyond the arc. With Fields, you get a safety valve with the pick and roll, as he can actually operate with Chandler and Jeffries to let Lin occasionally float for long range shots. Field's real problem isn't his gunner ability or his work around the basket, his true "problem" is he simply cannot adjust to low IQ players around him. Whereas Chandler and Lin can process and react to a guy who can't move well without the ball like Melo, it causes Fields to stop, think and get himself into trouble.

As for the tempo, why should the Knicks slow it down? They have legitimate depth. Many teams do not. Take advantage of that deep roster and run other teams into the ground. The Knicks have enough horses to be constantly on the attack. While other teams use their reserves to hope to simply keep the status quo, the Knicks are deep enough to still increase a lead or comeback with an alternate lineup.

Running two independent units like a "Right Hook" and "Left Jab" counters the problems of a compressed schedule and back to back to backs. You have to move Lin and Chandler off because they are humble enough to see the big picture for the team concept. Melo and STAT have to be pacified as "starters in name only" because they are high maintenance leaky mangina selfish coach killing chuckers who act like a couple of chicks. Play it to the press like splitting the unit is a 1A and 1B, not a A and B unit to save legs for the playoffs.

If Melo is hurt and out of shape and his shooting rocks 35-40 percent, he has to get to the bench for the good of the team. If Dolan won't let you bench him, bring the bench to Melo.

Melo is the best low post player the Knicks have. Odd as that sounds. STAT is a glorified gorilla Stretch 4 who plays face up the basket. Chandler works best with garbage around the rim and easy dunks. Jeffries has hands of stone, God love him for his heart, but it's like he's trying to catch boulders out there. You start pounding the rock in the paint, you force defenses to collapse on Melo, you get Melo to the line more, you give Melo higher percentage shots and Melo is a good enough passer to find gunners on the outside. If you can't take Marsh'Melo and get him to man up on his own and punch someone in the mouth, then force him to grind it in the paint, where he has no choice, unless he wants a mouthful of elbow every night.

This is where Melo and STAT were huge idiots. They removed the coaching staffs ability to actually help them and scheme for them. Woodson WANTS TO KEEP HIS JOB. That's his only GOAL. Whatever else he says is utter bull****. If the Knicks have to lose some games for Woodson to keep that job, he will do it. By killing off MDA, Melo and STAT are saying to any Knicks coach, if this team wins, it can ONLY WIN THIS MELO/STAT APPROVED WAY RIGHT HERE. No matter how ****ing stupid or idiotic the concept. Instead of giving a coach the power to hide Melo's lack of conditioning, Woodson is going to leave Melo out there chucking for 40 minutes a night and having Melo look like a selfish jackhole huffing and puffing down the court to national TV because Woodson believes it's the only way he can shake the Interim tag and get the real job. WINNING gets you more shoe contracts and endorsements than being "The Man" taking 30 shots on a team going straight to New Jersey. (Hell, same thing)

The Knicks are not a bad team, they are TWO DIFFERENT TEAMS on the same roster. They need to split the units up and now there is only one way to do it to plug up Melo and STAT's aching manginas. Lin and Chandler have to take another big hit for the team. They can do it because they are men. They are real players. They put winning first. They know what it means to represent New York and the best fans on Earth. It's not like Melo and STAT are going to do it.

TripleThreat wrote:

holfresh wrote:

JamesKPolk wrote:That's right. Time to blame Lin. We've found the real source of the problem.

It's not a blame thing..The team has to get better..Lin will be our starting PG for years to come..I want to see him get better sooner than later...No one is beyond criticism..

Good God, what games are you watching?

Lin takes the shot when that's what the defense gives him. If you watch Lin, he's force feeding Melo and STAT just enough to keep the coach off his back. But as long as Melo and STAT aren't producing ( i.e. are shooting poorly) Lin has finally realized he can tune out his coach if he wants. His responsibility is to his TEAM and WINNING, not to Mike Woodson desperately trying to keep his job by holding to his mandate to force feed Melo and STAT no matter what. Now STAT is shooting better than Melo right now, but he's not always working hard to get open. If he's not open, Lin is not going to get him the ball.

Don't confuse the agendas. Mike Woodson's approach is to first and foremost to keep the Knicks job. He needs to win to do so. But if he can sacrifice some wins to keep the giant egos of Melo and STAT happy, so as to get their rubber stamp to Dolan, clearly he's willing to do that. Hence his screaming at Lin and clearly jabbing at Lin on the sidelines to feed a 35-40 percent chucking Melo. Lin, however has to make split second decisions, and Woodson can't justify tearing into Lin to feed a guy who is starting a brick factory and is too poorly conditioned and lacks the desire to get open after the game. When they watch game film, if Woodson rips Lin because he passed to the open man, and if that open man wasn't Melo or STAT, what do you think the rest of his team mates will do and feel about Woodson? If he does it, the press will also turn on him. And they will label him as Melo and STAT's stooge, instead of a real NBA head coach.

The real PROBLEM is the Chandler, STAT and Melo front line can't play together and the Melo/Fields combination does not function at all. Chandler is essential to the Knicks winning by anchoring the defense. However he is not versatile offensively and they need some of his offense. Unlike Dallas or a team like the Heat, the Knicks don't have the offensive production to hide Chandler from having to play offense. They have the offensive potential, but not the actual production. Chandler needs space to work in the post. STAT does not move well without the ball and does not space well. He's also limited in that he can't adjust his game to play with other big men. Some bigs just can't. Some have "Elden Campbell Disease", they just clog up the works with another big on the floor.

Melo isn't shooting free throws because he's not getting contact. Why should other teams generate contact on Melo? He's chucking, he's missing, he's huffing and puffing because he's not used to giving effort on defense ( makes me want to throw up saying that) As new stars come into the league each year like Kyrie Irving, Melo becomes less relevant each year for the refs to protect. There are only so many free points and phantom calls and non calls to give out to each team and in the league each year by the refs via Stern, and Melo isn't helping his cause to get them. Melo needs to play power forward, he needs to get his back to the basket and get into position where his plus rebounding is an asset and his low post game can generate higher percentage shots and contact.

The Knicks will never bench Melo or STAT, they make too much and Dolan won't do it. The Knicks cannot live without Chandler's defense. Fields cannot function with Melo, as Field's, unlike Chandler and Lin, cannot adjust well to playing with a low IQ player. He doesn't have the long range shooting or finishing ability near the rim to compensate for Melo not spacing the floor enough for him. The Knicks need to move Lin and Chandler and Fields to the second unit, not because they deserve bench, it's just that the actual starting lineup has to become the bench to satisfy Dolan.

SF - JR Smith
PF - Melo
C - STAT
PG - Davis
SG - Shumpert

The offense can flow through STAT without Chandler in the paint. Melo can play back to the basket and get contact. Davis and Smith provide long range shooters to space the floor. Shumpert and Smith provide enough athleticism to use the press, the only way to compensate for Melo and STATs defense, even when they are trying, in this kind of lineup. This is the low IQ/high athleticism unit.

SF - Novak/Walker
PF - Jeffries
C - Chandler
PG - Lin
SG - Fields

Lin and Novak play very well together. Lin is the focal point of the offense with Novak as the safety valve that keeps other teams honest and spread out for Lin's attacks to the cup. Jeffries and Chandler compensate for Lin's and Novak's defensive problems. Fields is not constantly running into Melo. Walker lets Novak slide into the Stretch 4 and gives you better defense. Chandler gets room in the paint to operate, as Jeffries knows how to work with another big man in the game.

This is what's good for the team. You need to split apart the guys whose games don't mesh and hide certain guys defensive weaknesses. Davis is not a better point guard than Lin, he's a more experienced point guard often working with a unit that isn't completely incompatible. The trick is not to demand a player become what he's not, but put him where his strengths come out and his weaknesses can be hidden. However moving Lin to the second unit will create a nightmare press frenzy where Melo will be crushed as a player and a brand and Stern will blow a gasket and probably choke some low level NBA intern to death.

I finally read your long winded diatribe and disagree with you on several fronts...If you think this front line cannot play together you must have missed the last six games...We will change from MDA's philosophy soon enough, but its too late in the season to completely abandon the tenets of the offense...Melo's passing ability makes this front line work...Amare's unselfishness makes this front line work....Chandler doesn't need plays run for him and he is our defensive anchor...He starts and remain in the front line...I agree with your assessment on Fields but it's not a Melo/Fields problem...Our SG has to be a slasher, which Fields is, but more importantly has to be able to knock down the open three without hesitation, which he hasn't done and can't do...This is a Fields problem not a Melo/Fields problem...JR Smith should not start...He showed you exactly why last night...He is a streaky Vinny Johnson type of player who has to dribble and get into his one on one mode to be comfortable and effective...This would kill the offensive flow of the starters who needs to move the ball...We really don't need three guys on the offense pounding the rock...Lin and Melo is enough...Add BD to that mix of pounding and u get where I'm coming from..

The reason Woodson should play through Amare and Melo is because they are our best players, period...Amare is shooting close to 60% the last 10 games and 48% on the season...He has to get these guys the ball to have them involved in all aspects of the game, see Amare's recent defensive play, see MDA sitting on his couch this very moment...Woodson isn't stupid, He knows he will need Melo/Amare if this team has any shot in the playoffs...You should listen to the Larry Brown interview I posted about a week ago, he talks about this....You still want to run the offense through Lin a la MDA???...Lin isn't a better scorer then Melo and never will be...Lin is shooting 41.5% in his last 10 games, 44.5% on the season...Lin should start because to date he is our best option at PG...He needs to unlearn some of the bad habits MDA ingrained in his head that I will certainly expound upon at a later date...

Fields is such a non event that it's unbelievable that you are acting like he is an impact player on this team.."Fields cannot play with low IQ players???"..."Fields/Melo isn't working"...Who is a low IQ player???...If Fields never suits up for another game in a Knick uniform, we will be projected to finish in the same spot as we would with him..And that's as far as Amare and Melo can take us...Right now this offense needs a two who can knock down the open three...You saw last night what Melo can do in the post against good defenders(T. Prince) where Fields, refused to pass to Melo in the post, at a critical juncture in the Bulls game(One of MDA's behavior that needs to be unlearned fast)...I can go on to refute many of your points using facts and examples but I risk running a similar diatribe you drop in every posting...

Also, I agree that Lin should come off the bench as well...It's tough playing him with Melo and Amare, he is a guy who is looking for his own shot...I think he could be more effective off the bench but he is or best option at PG at the moment...