Posted by Vmart:

No the KNicks are not that bad they are just a player away from competing on the highest level of basketball.

The highest level being the "NBA level"?

Posted by Marv:

[quote]Posted by Bobby:

bad?.....remember we lost a year of sanity with you know who

this year we will have no excuses

bobby, i really question what effect that should have had on this past season. during training camp and preseason, a number of knicks were saying they felt free and supported and ready to have a whole different kind of cohesive season. additionally, it seemed like some players (craw, frye) actually played quite a bit better under larry than isiah. isiah did several things with the team that weren’t working, yet he continued ot do them (like putting starting lineups out there that routinely fell way behind, causing the more effective units to have to ply catch-up for the rest of the game. The team won 33 games, which seemed to be the right amount given the problems with chemistry of the players on the court, the flaws of key players and some dubious coaching decisions.

how is any of last season larry's fault?

[quote]but what he didn't do left us in a bad way to start the year. There was a lack of growth and development of any kind of foundation. Just because jamal and Frye may have played a bit better doesn't outweigh all the other horrible work Larry did with the rest of the team. Isiah had more guys play better under him than Larry did.

.....and if takes time to develop chemistry, guess what, we lost valuable time. and with turn-style type of coaching at msg i thought for a momment it was grand central station these players were at wondering what was their next stop

Posted by jazz74:

i may be in the minority but i don't think the knicks are that far away from competing. no, i am not isiah thamas masquerading as a poster. looking at the team, there are more parts i like rather than not like, which wasn't the case 2 or 3 years ago. i love curry's development and he is starting to have the work ethic and confidence to believe the paint is his. he must develop to be better this summer. david lee is hopefully healthy and ready for next year. he did not have time to develop and build on his mvp rookies/ sophmore game momentum, but he should be ready next year. maybe frye will get traded for say rashard lewis and lee will be the starting pf which would be ideal as he will avg. 11 boards a game. marbury had a great year and held this team together as much as he could until he was injured. crawford is a very good player who is starting to drive more and get to the foul line to be effective which was somehting he did not do two years ago depending on the jump shot. collins and balkman have been gems and will get better playing in the summer league. if we can get a trade hopefully getting lewis and allen for frye, robinson, crawford and our pick, we are definately in the eastern conference mix. we have talent.

If you look at the number of years and experience, the talent, the potential and all of they're accomplishments as individuals (and in some cases on other teams), this team should be competing for the sixth, maybe even the fifth spot of the playoff board. But they are not. And that's been the most puzzling thing about this team. The only reasons I can think of why they are not' could only be either because of bad chemistry or the need of a new leader, a coach to take them in another direction. Maybe the need of another coach, a certian kind of coach is what will put chemistry into this bunch of guys. They just never seemed to have the chance to develop. Think about it for a minute. With Brown and starbury going after each other, that disrupted the whole team the first year. Now in the second year with Thomas coaching, he did a little better and might have done just a little better than that, if not for those major injuries at the end of the season, but to have to handle GM duties to me is just way too much to put all of your attention into your players.

Posted by 4949:

Posted by jazz74:

i may be in the minority but i don't think the knicks are that far away from competing. no, i am not isiah thamas masquerading as a poster. looking at the team, there are more parts i like rather than not like, which wasn't the case 2 or 3 years ago. i love curry's development and he is starting to have the work ethic and confidence to believe the paint is his. he must develop to be better this summer. david lee is hopefully healthy and ready for next year. he did not have time to develop and build on his mvp rookies/ sophmore game momentum, but he should be ready next year. maybe frye will get traded for say rashard lewis and lee will be the starting pf which would be ideal as he will avg. 11 boards a game. marbury had a great year and held this team together as much as he could until he was injured. crawford is a very good player who is starting to drive more and get to the foul line to be effective which was somehting he did not do two years ago depending on the jump shot. collins and balkman have been gems and will get better playing in the summer league. if we can get a trade hopefully getting lewis and allen for frye, robinson, crawford and our pick, we are definately in the eastern conference mix. we have talent.

If you look at the number of years and experience, the talent, the potential and all of they're accomplishments as individuals (and in some cases on other teams), this team should be competing for the sixth, maybe even the fifth spot of the playoff board. But they are not. And that's been the most puzzling thing about this team. The only reasons I can think of why they are not' could only be either because of bad chemistry or the need of a new leader, a coach to take them in another direction. Maybe the need of another coach, a certian kind of coach is what will put chemistry into this bunch of guys. They just never seemed to have the chance to develop. Think about it for a minute. With Brown and starbury going after each other, that disrupted the whole team the first year. Now in the second year with Thomas coaching, he did a little better and might have done just a little better than that, if not for those major injuries at the end of the season, but to have to handle GM duties to me is just way too much to put all of your attention into your players.

I think it's just a simple matter of development. We rely a LOT on so many young and developing players. yeah we have some vets, but so many of our young players are needed for us to win games. We have to allow time for them to fully develop. This last season was yr 2 for some and yr 1 for others. Curry we all know lacks development and we lost a year of good development in Larry's year. I think we need to always keep that in mind when judging this team. MOST Of the team is here for 2 or less years, so we're not talking about a long time situation. Especially with the debacle of Larry's year. People may not want to count that but it is a factor.

Now we can go into yr 2 under isiah with some chemistry already developed and with players being familiar with what's going on. Another year of development for our young guys as well. Hopefully a new addition or 2 to make things more balanced. That will only help this team to reach it's potential.

Posted by 4949:

You make a good point of being consistent also. Too many changes can also do that to a young team.

I don't mind change if you're adding someone who is well rounded and knows how to play the game. A vet who isn't too old, but is experienced enough to know how to blend into a team. We're more likely to add a rookie and if Isiah makes a deal to get another pick, maybe 2 rooks. Those guys aren't likely to make an immediate impact.

We're more likely to add a rookie and if Isiah makes a deal to get another pick, maybe 2 rooks. Those guys aren't likely to make an immediate impact.

What Thomas does in his next move, will dictate were we are going. If he sticks with the pick and gets another, than it's obviouse he will stock pile a young team and wait for the vet contracts to run out or get into they're last years, so he can develop and open up his options for the future. That woujld be the best option. If he decides to trade the pick to make a trade, then I'm afraid we will be taking yet another chance on someone and more than likely tying ourselves up with another five year, expensive ass contract, hoping once again that the guy(s) will work out.

Posted by nixluva:

I'm personally kind of pulling for the youth approach. I can understand isiah wanting to go after a Star like JO or VC, but it's not really necessary just yet. We can still go after someone down the line when we're under the cap and meanwhile we can continue to build and develop the team via the draft. ESPECIALLY if he makes a minor trade to get another pick. We could then try to draft Sean Williams and a bigger SG. Roll with that for the next couple of years.

jo i can see because he helps our immediate need with shot blocking and interior defense. carter is just a name and i really don't want him. he does provide outside shooting and great offense but i rather take my chances with crawford and q rich who are younger and do no demand as much money. i agree with liking the youth movement but we can't wait a couple of years. we can strike now with one good trade. not only the east but the nba itself is rip for the picking. a trade to get jo ( though i don't think it will happen) would make us contenders with him and curry manning the paint. carter would improve us slightly but we will still struggle to make the playoffs and lose in the first round. if we wanted carter, we should have pulled the trigger two years ago when he was available cheaper.