TMS wrote:they say the same stuff every year... we heard everyone from Nate Robinson to Stephon Marbury to Zach Randolph to Eddie Curry say the same things before every single season, the list goes on & on... let's see them do it on the court... i don't get excited over what players say anymore.

I agree. If there is one thing I HATE, it's a player who talks. It's one thing if you're Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade and talk. You earned that right to talk. But when it's Jamal Crawford or Ronny Turiaf, just STFU and just play ball.

iSergio wrote:

TMS wrote:they say the same stuff every year... we heard everyone from Nate Robinson to Stephon Marbury to Zach Randolph to Eddie Curry say the same things before every single season, the list goes on & on... let's see them do it on the court... i don't get excited over what players say anymore.

I agree. If there is one thing I HATE, it's a player who talks. It's one thing if you're Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade and talk. You earned that right to talk. But when it's Jamal Crawford or Ronny Turiaf, just STFU and just play ball.

Ronny Turiaf seems to be genuine about his excitement. He's back from being injured and hurt. That automatically excites you, it did for me when I came back from a torn ACL. Also, did you expect him to not talk at all? It's an interview, of course he'll say that his team will be doing well.

Show me an interview with a player who says they'll fare badly in the upcoming season. Kudos to you if you do find it

TMS wrote:they say the same stuff every year... we heard everyone from Nate Robinson to Stephon Marbury to Zach Randolph to Eddie Curry say the same things before every single season, the list goes on & on... let's see them do it on the court... i don't get excited over what players say anymore.

Absolutely...i goto a lot of other teams forums, and I hear the same quotes from damn near every player in the league..

So far what we've seen from these players has only supported their statements. TD has worked almost the entire summer and that's from multiple sources. Guys have been in NY much earlier than before in greater numbers already working and helping each other. All very good indicators.

bernard wrote:We've all seen Bull Durham. Athletes are trained for this stuff, so there's not too much variation in the content of off-season interviews. It's not what they say that I pay attention to, but how they say it -- or do they sound like they're reading from a script or speaking from the heart. And then of course, even if they mean what they say, and have the best of intentions, they still have to get it done.

The current team seems genuine in their excitement to get going and to do the things that need to be done to win. From Amar'e to Wilson to Gallo and now Turiaf, all the interviews I've seen have been convincing. That's different from Marbury or Fat Eddy, who I never believed for a minute truly cared about the team. Then again, Harrington said they right things and I believed and still believe he meant them -- but he couldn't execute. I think he really wanted to be a Knick and to help bring us back, but he never figured out how to be a team player.

So, I think it's positive that we have good guys who seem to truly care. That's a prerequisite for having a chance at being good. It only gets you so far, though. Now we need to see if they can follow up.

Good post Bernard. Turiaf has a track record of playing hard so its not difficult to imagine him doing the same here. Its those alleged locker room guys like Q who talked and talked and talked but showed up fat and did nothing who were the problem. I don't see Turiaf as being one of them.

knicks1248 wrote:I'm gonna take back one of my comments, cause when MDA came in as coach, the team was very encourage,they showed promise, and had a great training camp and solid 1st month, until JC and zach got traded, then the steph & MDA disaster.

So it's not totally BS, but it is hard do determine whats real and whats just talk

And this is why it is so hard to judge MDA with the roster the Knicks have had over the past 2 years. Each year saw a total upheaval after the beginning of the season, and it happened more than once during that same season. Marbury went cuckoo. Curry is MIA. Duhon crumbled. Gallo went down his rookie season. Mobley never materialized and that forced Hughes on the team, etc.

An excuse to throw off bad performance? No. Reasonable considering circumstance? sure.

knicks1248 wrote:

martin wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:I'm gonna take back one of my comments, cause when MDA came in as coach, the team was very encourage,they showed promise, and had a great training camp and solid 1st month, until JC and zach got traded, then the steph & MDA disaster.

So it's not totally BS, but it is hard do determine whats real and whats just talk

And this is why it is so hard to judge MDA with the roster the Knicks have had over the past 2 years. Each year saw a total upheaval after the beginning of the season, and it happened more than once during that same season. Marbury went cuckoo. Curry is MIA. Duhon crumbled. Gallo went down his rookie season. Mobley never materialized and that forced Hughes on the team, etc.

An excuse to throw off bad performance? No. Reasonable considering circumstance? sure.

Actually, this certainly wouldn't be classified as an excuse, I'm no coach or GM, but i do know sports, and what Walsh and MDA had to inherit, was no easy task. The one thing I'm always going to disagree with, is the fact that he dismiss Steph to early, made it to public, and in the process contributed to the bad vibe NYK had going through the IT and LAYDEN ERA.

I can't disagree with this but I also would like to put some pressure on players too. If your coach asks you to come off the bench, that's what you do. And Marbury pouted and then REFUSED to play.

And you know what, at the time, perhaps Duhon understood the MDA system better than Marbury. And in the end Marbury displayed to us all where his head was at by eating some Vaseline during a homemade dance video - not the type of dude I would trust either.

knicks1248 wrote:

martin wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

martin wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:I'm gonna take back one of my comments, cause when MDA came in as coach, the team was very encourage,they showed promise, and had a great training camp and solid 1st month, until JC and zach got traded, then the steph & MDA disaster.

So it's not totally BS, but it is hard do determine whats real and whats just talk

And this is why it is so hard to judge MDA with the roster the Knicks have had over the past 2 years. Each year saw a total upheaval after the beginning of the season, and it happened more than once during that same season. Marbury went cuckoo. Curry is MIA. Duhon crumbled. Gallo went down his rookie season. Mobley never materialized and that forced Hughes on the team, etc.

An excuse to throw off bad performance? No. Reasonable considering circumstance? sure.

Actually, this certainly wouldn't be classified as an excuse, I'm no coach or GM, but i do know sports, and what Walsh and MDA had to inherit, was no easy task. The one thing I'm always going to disagree with, is the fact that he dismiss Steph to early, made it to public, and in the process contributed to the bad vibe NYK had going through the IT and LAYDEN ERA.

I can't disagree with this but I also would like to put some pressure on players too. If your coach asks you to come off the bench, that's what you do. And Marbury pouted and then REFUSED to play.

And you know what, at the time, perhaps Duhon understood the MDA system better than Marbury. And in the end Marbury displayed to us all where his head was at by eating some Vaseline during a homemade dance video - not the type of dude I would trust either.

I know the vaseline thing was ridiculous, but the guy came into camp so ready, and focus and was completely derailed.

yeah, great athletes get out of focus when they are asked to do something a bit different than they are used to. Marb bounced back with a stellar performance in Boston. Kudos.

knicks1248 wrote:To be perfectly honest, I wasn't that impress by gallo's comments either..the guy suggest that people are stupid if they don't belive he's more then a 3 point shooter..while this maybe true he certainly hasn't proven that yet, so what the hell are people suppose to think when 70% of your shot attemps were 3's..lol...I wanna make a bet that Douglas will the most improve player in the league...

Remember MANY didn't believe he'd even make it thru a entire season without missing time because of his back. So his coming out being perimeter oriented wasn't that unexpected. But as he got more confident in his physical condition you saw more of his full game come out. He's probably gonna be more polished in other aspects of his game having worked on them more this summer. It was all too clear that he needed to expand his game and I doubt that this wasn't covered by the coaching staff. Will he shoot a ton of 3'? Of course, but we should see more of the other aspects of his game this year.