That said, I'm okay with our record, but the inconsistency and the way the team is actually playing has been very disappointing. I feel like they're a little run down because the team has no depth at PG or Power Forward, but I think the All-Star break will be a good cure for that and I hope they'll come out playing better after the time off.

I think this fan base tends to overrate the team's talent and I don't think this year is any exception. We have a lot of young pieces and a lot of distractions because despite what Walsh said last summer, this roster isn't finished by any means and they are clearly prioritizing flexibility over making trades to improve this team for the present.

I'm clearly fine with that and have adjusted expectations accordingly because I do think our core is a work in progress and I still think we need to get another star here. What surprises me is how shocked some people are with the team's inconsistent play and how people are calling for D'Antoni's head already. Tell the truth, at this point last year if we knew ahead of time that the summer of 2010 would produce a SL of Felton-Fields-Gallo-Amare-Mosgov, how many of you would have predicted we would be above .500? I don't know about you guys, but if I was told that I would say that I'd be happy with the playoffs and that continues to be my current stance.

This roster is so young and still incomplete when you compare us vs. other rosters in our conference. From a talent perspective alone, I don't think this team is even 6th in the East (Philly imo, has more collective talent). We have a superstar in Amare who is carrying the load but other than that, we don't have all-star talent (Felton has been better than expected but he's not an all-star) and to be a good team in the East or West, you need at least 2 all-stars. That's why I think D'Antoni has actually done a good job this year getting guys like Felton and Fields to play much better than we expected. The only true miss this year in my opinion has been Randolph who could have been a hell of a trading chip for us if he made the rotation. Seems like the kid is starting to work harder now so hopefully he gets his chance somewhere.

Anyway, let's be real here. This squad is not constructed to be a top 5 team in the East right now so why are so many fans upset? We're 6th in the East with flexibility to add another potential franchise talent to our core so I think that's a pretty good consolation prize to the LeBron tandem we were hoping for last summer. Now Walsh has to find a way to get Melo here and if that happens, we take another step forward in our rebuilding.

s3231 wrote:Very content with where we are at. I said before the season I expected 7th or 8th seed so I'm even happy that we're sitting in the 6th seed right now.

I think this fan base tends to overrate the team's talent and I don't think this year is any exception. We have a lot of young pieces and a lot of distractions because despite what Walsh said last summer, this roster isn't finished by any means and they are clearly prioritizing flexibility over making trades to improve this team for the present.

I'm clearly fine with that and have adjusted expectations accordingly because I do think our core is a work in progress and I still think we need to get another star here. What surprises me is how shocked some people are with the team's inconsistent play and how people are calling for D'Antoni's head already. Tell the truth, at this point last year if we knew ahead of time that the summer of 2010 would produce a SL of Felton-Fields-Gallo-Amare-Mosgov, how many of you would have predicted we would be above .500? I don't know about you guys, but if I was told that I would say that I'd be happy with the playoffs and that continues to be my current stance.

This roster is so young and still incomplete when you compare us vs. other rosters in our conference. From a talent perspective alone, I don't think this team is even 6th in the East (Philly imo, has more collective talent). We have a superstar in Amare who is carrying the load but other than that, we don't have all-star talent (Felton has been better than expected but he's not an all-star) and to be a good team in the East or West, you need at least 2 all-stars. That's why I think D'Antoni has actually done a good job this year getting guys like Felton and Fields to play much better than we expected. The only true miss this year in my opinion has been Randolph who could have been a hell of a trading chip for us if he made the rotation. Seems like the kid is starting to work harder now so hopefully he gets his chance somewhere.

Anyway, let's be real here. This squad is not constructed to be a top 5 team in the East right now so why are so many fans upset? We're 6th in the East with flexibility to add another potential franchise talent to our core so I think that's a pretty good consolation prize to the LeBron tandem we were hoping for last summer. Now Walsh has to find a way to get Melo here and if that happens, we take another step forward in our rebuilding.

I wanted to thank you for writing down all my thoughts so neatly. Great post!

I don't like that Felton sometimes gets too shot happy, but I will say that something seems to be wrong with him, cuz I haven't seen the same quickness and explosion I saw earlier in the season. If you notice he's not blowing by guys as often and making drives all the way to the basket nearly as much. You don't see as many fullcourt pushing of the ball from him as earlier either. The legs might be a bit tired or maybe he has some foot or ankle injury we don't know about. He's a REALLY important part of this. As we all know PG is a HUGE position and even more so with this offense, so we've got to have better than avg. play from the PG spot.

abs wrote:i am not content at all...last night games is a great example of the style and brand that we play that to me will never win us a championship....bad shot selection poor defense low bsketball iq by to many players....34 3ptrs taken...i am looking for a system to be put in off defensively and that scales and regardless who is on flr is recognizable for winning basketball ala san antonio boston lakers even jazz with sloan.. one pass shoot play no defense five guys dont touch basketball almost every set...i can go on and on

When the Knicks actually moved the ball last night they got open shots and that's why they took so many 3's. The Nets weren't defending the 3pt line. Now they also made some key drive and kick plays last night too. The 3rd qtr was bad, but overall they actually ran solid offense, given that they don't have any post game to speak of. It wasn't horrible offense. Do you realize that they shot 43% from 2pt and 47% from 3pt range last night off 25 assist?

abs wrote:

nixluva wrote:

abs wrote:i am not content at all...last night games is a great example of the style and brand that we play that to me will never win us a championship....bad shot selection poor defense low bsketball iq by to many players....34 3ptrs taken...i am looking for a system to be put in off defensively and that scales and regardless who is on flr is recognizable for winning basketball ala san antonio boston lakers even jazz with sloan.. one pass shoot play no defense five guys dont touch basketball almost every set...i can go on and on

When the Knicks actually moved the ball last night they got open shots and that's why they took so many 3's. The Nets weren't defending the 3pt line. Now they also made some key drive and kick plays last night too. The 3rd qtr was bad, but overall they actually ran solid offense, given that they don't have any post game to speak of. It wasn't horrible offense. Do you realize that they shot 43% from 2pt and 47% from 3pt range last night off 25 assist?

you are right and how many nights during the season do you plan on consistently doing that....no offensive flow to the game..not quality basketball that u will win night in night out especially against a good team not even great team...the nets are terrible right now..

The Nets were 7-6 since they bowed out of the Melo sweepstakes and they had just won 2 games in a row. They suck, but they could beat us with the way they had been playing recently. We did 2 things. 1. we played good D. 2. We moved the ball and found the open man. This leads to good shots which we knocked down. In other games we've had good shots, but have been slumping. Over the course of a season that happens. I think we have guys who are more than capable of shooting well from 3. Walker and Williams are very good 3pt shooters. Fields and Chandler can get hot at any time and luckily last night they hit shots when we needed them.

Without Amar'e we have almost no choice but to swing the ball and look for good shots, which we did. BB is simple. Take good shots. Make good shots. Play some D. Win.

s3231 wrote:

TMS wrote:

s3231 wrote:Very content with where we are at. I said before the season I expected 7th or 8th seed so I'm even happy that we're sitting in the 6th seed right now.

I think this fan base tends to overrate the team's talent and I don't think this year is any exception. We have a lot of young pieces and a lot of distractions because despite what Walsh said last summer, this roster isn't finished by any means and they are clearly prioritizing flexibility over making trades to improve this team for the present.

I'm clearly fine with that and have adjusted expectations accordingly because I do think our core is a work in progress and I still think we need to get another star here. What surprises me is how shocked some people are with the team's inconsistent play and how people are calling for D'Antoni's head already. Tell the truth, at this point last year if we knew ahead of time that the summer of 2010 would produce a SL of Felton-Fields-Gallo-Amare-Mosgov, how many of you would have predicted we would be above .500? I don't know about you guys, but if I was told that I would say that I'd be happy with the playoffs and that continues to be my current stance.

This roster is so young and still incomplete when you compare us vs. other rosters in our conference. From a talent perspective alone, I don't think this team is even 6th in the East (Philly imo, has more collective talent). We have a superstar in Amare who is carrying the load but other than that, we don't have all-star talent (Felton has been better than expected but he's not an all-star) and to be a good team in the East or West, you need at least 2 all-stars. That's why I think D'Antoni has actually done a good job this year getting guys like Felton and Fields to play much better than we expected. The only true miss this year in my opinion has been Randolph who could have been a hell of a trading chip for us if he made the rotation. Seems like the kid is starting to work harder now so hopefully he gets his chance somewhere.

Anyway, let's be real here. This squad is not constructed to be a top 5 team in the East right now so why are so many fans upset? We're 6th in the East with flexibility to add another potential franchise talent to our core so I think that's a pretty good consolation prize to the LeBron tandem we were hoping for last summer. Now Walsh has to find a way to get Melo here and if that happens, we take another step forward in our rebuilding.

i'm content w/the record but not content with how they've been playing of late... not sure if that makes sense to you but i'm seeing a lot of the same lapses on defense, the same lack of intensity & the same bad shot selection we've seen the past 2 years in too many games this year... after all the talk from Amare & Felton about needing to play with more heart & more smarts they are still falling back into the same lack of it in games we need to win... i can take losing because of lack of talent, but when we're losing because of lack of effort & bad shot selection it doesn't sit well with me.

Nah, that makes sense to me and I agree with it. The problem in my mind, is that like the last 2 years, we are still a very young team with inconsistent tendencies. Not to mention, there is also the similar message being sent out to the team that this is still a work in progress and that no one's place here is safe, which makes it more difficult for these young guys to remain focused every night.

To me, talent is also linked to consistency though as I think the good players are good because they can give you quality production night in and night out. Like the past several years, I just don't think we have enough of that type of "talent" yet. Amare was a big addition and his impact has been shown but aside from him, who else can we truly depend on each game? If you look at the teams above us in the standings, they have more than 1 all-star that they can rely on each night. Consistency stems from the top and right now for the Knicks it's basically Amare and a collection of very good role players. Until we have those legitimate 2nd and 3rd options set in stone at the top, I don't think this team will be consistently good (aka, which would essentially make us a threat in the East). Getting Melo whether through trade or FA, something we have both advocated for, would be a big step towards putting us on that path.

agree 100%

ramtour420 wrote:Our PnR is still crappy. Thats why we are .500. Not sure who to blame. I am not happy with Felton as our #2 option , because in this offense he should trust his teammates more. I understand that he can score with the best of them(on our team that is) , but then he is not getting our guys involved = little confidence accumulated through out the season.