Posted by sidsanders:

Posted by 4949:

Posted by islesfan:

I think the Knicks should forget about 2010 and focus on building a great lottery team around Lee and Nate.

Interesting proposition. Without the part of building around Nate and Lee. It should be the other way around, because it's a core we need to focus on for this year and next. Duhon, Nate, Lee, Chandler, Harrington are a very good start as a core.

All others will either be gone or in question, including Mr. disk problem. Either way, I think bringing in players to replace the ending contract that will be effective on offense and especially defense, by the ends of this and next year.

Getting a defensive center 7' plus in height and good weight, is critical. Once we get a solid basic core in here, then getting two prime time stars signed will complete this roster in 2010 or 2011. The last year of curry contract should have been made team option at the least. Oh well.

i dont think the bolded fellow should be part of the core unless he learns some better shot selection among other things.

Posted by sidsanders:

he (harrington) seems like he will go and whine to the media cuz he wouldnt like that role... no thanks. the second he acts up, send him home. no gsw reply from this guy please.

Posted by crzymdups:

the problem with nate and lee is that they're great players when they're being paid $2M a year. if you have to sign them to $60M contracts, they suddenly become overpaid cap killers. they can't carry a team, really. i'd love to have them here for the long haul and maybe we can afford it because other teams will be guarding their money, but i dunno. are nate and lee combined worth more than bron? sigh.

Posted by sidsanders:

make a rookie take on the role of playing d/last line of def? why not get the "franchise" guys to play both ends of the court? if they are gonna get paid and stay, d it up some more. at least if they could play better d, the bad shooting nights wouldnt mean loss by default.

Posted by sidsanders:

is it just a missing center thats allowing opp to shoot > 50% routinely? the perimeter d is still not where it needs to be given that they have to know they are weak in the post. is it really that much to ask to toughen up on the d side of things? good d is desire to me. it helps feed into other nice play. they dont need to be great at it, though that would be nice if they were.

Yes. Shotblocking is important. That's why it is foolish to just waste draft picks on projects that won't even help your team. This organization has to take a serious look at itself in the off-season. See what is working and what's not. What do we really need to move forward vs. what's nonsense. IMHO, drafting a 6'10 player who can't play in the post, lacks man-to-man defense and hustle for rebounding is another step in the realm of nonsense. If you wanted a SG draft a SG. If you wanted a PF draft a PF.

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by sidsanders:

im not in the "shotblocking is overrated" mindset... i just dont think a def c is gonna be a cure-all for all the deficiencies on d. it may help, wont solve alone. i dont want a def pickup to then let the rest of the team off the hook to step up. ALL these guys need to work both ends of the court as best they can. for nate/lee, it will only help them get paid here or elsewhere and not end up being an albatross.

No one is being let off the hook except maybe Duhon. I think defense is a problem for this team but to ignore the fact that teams normally have a free pass in the paint is avoiding the obvious IMO.