Posted by tomverve:

Posted by Elite:

hes on espn radio and he making some good points defending the knicks... he said the knicks were playing great won 6 and a row and then steph gets injured everything falls apart and people are like what happened??? well your best player got injured thats what happened... not a bad point

This is why I'm not as pessimistic as some. It was to be expected that we'd get off to a rough start with LB. Things finally began to click in January, and I really do think there was something to that-- it wasn't just a fluke or a flash in the pan. The reason we tanked thereafter is Marbury went down and JC played like crap. This team can be good, but to do so it needs one or two guys playing at an exceptionally high level. We are definitely not a team that is talented enough on either end of the court to take a hit to a top player or two and keep plugging along.

Francis has his warts (else we wouldn't have been able to get him), but he's a borderline All-Star calibre player nonetheless and right now this team can use another player on that level. This move makes us more robust by making us less dependent on Marbury's health and JC's whims. Depending on how things shake out, we could return to that level of play we showed in early Jan. or even exceed it.

It's important to realize that we've struggled so badly this season because we've been awful offensively as well as defensively. Defense will continue to be a problem-- even when we were playing well we weren't great on D-- but our offense could really become a handful. And really, it's much tougher to get the big time offensive producers in place than it is to fill out a roster with complementary, defensive minded role players. At least Isiah has largely addressed one end of the court thus far (though we could still really use a shooter or two)-- it looks to me like the offensive side of the equation is now pretty much saturated and not in need of huge changes, at least in the short term. Let's see if Isiah can fill things out from here.

my biggest gripe with this team are the players isiah has been going after. all of them have alot of talent but have really never put it all together. so, in essence, are gambles - either in on court talent, in the locker room, and in the "intangible" department. our vets are just as flawed as our rooks and that's a big problem. i wasn't a steph fan before he got here. i wasn't a curry fan before he got here. i wasn't a jalen fan before he got here. and i wasn't a francis fan before he got here. so from my point of view, it's a team that i already had doubts about. when a roster is comprised of gambles, there's a HIGH probability that it's not going to work. and so far, that's what we're seeing. also, i would've liked if he addressed our defensive frontcourt needs before anything else. why? b/c no matter how awful your offense is, you're always in games b/c of your defense. in close games, it's the team that makes the stops that usually wins. in addition, finding scoring is much much much easier than defense. that's how i THINK it should've been done.

ok, so isiah went another route. it's obvious that he's just collecting as much talent as possible. every deal resulted in us receiving more talent than giving up. but just amassing as much talent as possible does not mean anything if that talent can't play defense or are so gifted offensively, that they can blitz opponents out the building (i.e. the suns). the blazers (circa 2000) put together a ton of talent. and it got them far...but the difference is that the talent they put together had key defensive players in key positions (sheed and pippen).

then, along with amassing talent that is built more for offense than defense, he goes out and brings in a coach that believes the EXACT opposite of it.

the result so far...it's a mess.

now, what can we look forward too? we have a bunch of "assets" that we can hopefully move in a mega blockbuster deal for a guy like KG. at least that's what it appears to be. the chances of that are slim but it still CAN happen. if it does, cool - we'll see what happens at that point. but if it doesn't, then what are we really doing? there is a HUGE downside risk to what's going on and that is what i'm very worried about.

the record for this team has been absolutely PUTRID...PUTRID. the coach and the players are total mismatches. nobody is happy on the team. nobody is happy in the organization. and then we go and throw a guy like francis in the mix.

i mean, how many more years are we going to give this guy to have us moving in the "right" direction as a product on the court? you want to give him another year? fine. let's do it. but if we're still crapalicious come next january, what do we do then?

i may sensationalize some of my posts but at the end of the day, the doubts are still the same: what is the plan here? what are we building to? and when will we see a good product on the floor?

[Edited by - djsunyc on 02-23-2006 7:17 PM]

You are right and they are wrong.....



[Edited by - holfresh on 02-23-2006 7:25 PM]

Posted by holfresh:

Posted by TMS:

there's DEFINITELY something up between Marbs & Q though... you can see it when they play on the court together... they don't make eye contact at all, they don't slap hands off FT's, they just avoid any sort of interaction... not good when you have teammates who can't stand each other on the same team (unless they're names happen to be Kobe & Shaq of course)

SAS said today that Marbs called Q out because of his play...Q got upset and told Marbs no one like you..Thats why people don't hang with you....Q said this was his worst year and that Marb's doesn't get him the ball where he likes it...Q also said the Nash did a much better job driving and dishing..also, when Larry was tossed from the game, Q was the one who said "now we can play the game"...Marbs stood up for Larry and told Q to shut up......

They dont have to like eachother. But it would be great if they did. But if you look at KT & marbs...KT got a lot of shots because of Marbs dispite them disliking eachother off the court. On the court they were professionals. Difference in this situation is KT could hit a shot here & there, Q still hasn't found his rhythem but seems to be changing his game to make up for it through defense.

This trade is all about Isiah's moves: all hype, no results.

Posted by tomverve:

I acknowledge the unknown.

exactly!! That's what patience is about...I know it's rough after Layden-gate, but we have to at least trust Zeke/LB and at least, at LEAST thru this summer to see what they MIGHT know that we don't. If no improvement/direction/warm fuzzies next year this time... then fine, kill 'em.

obviously

It was just tongue in cheek. I should have put one of those

Dolanomics: Never more than six years away from cap space! (You're not allowed to give more than 6 year contracts)

1 thing van gundy did that i liked was use 3 guards. i would be open to use 3 and even 4 guards and spread the floor. Its very tough to guard 4 guards.