Either Carmelo or Amare was on the floor at all times - and D'Antoni seemed to call their numbers when the other guy was sitting. This ensured that the bench guys could leverage the spacing their superstars create (see Jort's awesome scoring).

Not sure why Bibby didn't play at all, but the team was playing well with Douglas, although he's still playing very conservatively on offense.

I agree D'Antoni's penchant to tighten the rotation is bad... but it doesn't really bother me in big games. So long as he spreads out the minutes more in the grind games. For instance, the Grizzlies game tonight would ideally feature guys like Balkman and Bibby getting some burn.

For a big game against the division leading Sixers, I'm fine to make a statement and play our best guys.

gunsnewing wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:Bibby had 2 consecutive very strong games. I'm surprised MDA stopped playing him.

soar back

NYKBocker wrote:I am more worried about Amare and Tyson. I would really like another big included in the rotation. I would like to see Jerome Jordan get 5-10 minutes here and there. Novak gets in if Jorts struggles with his shot.

Amare looks like he did at the end of last season: dead legs.

But at the same time, I have Time Warner and don't see all games

gunsnewing wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:Bibby had 2 consecutive very strong games. I'm surprised MDA stopped playing him.

soar back

Oh, OK. I've only seen parts of the last two games. I've been a little out of it.

yea he tweaked it when he was playing great saturday against the Pistons

MBibby = preview of the BDavis season

Balkman is probably going to play 1 game every 4 games or so with Novak as well.
I can't see Walker playing many minutes at SG, without a handle *although he looks a little improved*, poor defense for guards with any quickness/speed, and with his poor foot work, coordination, and inability to create. He can score and get hot and is capable of hitting wide open 3 point shots since we acquired him. However, like Fields and Novak, they are all closer to SFs. Fields is probably the best all round player and can play SG at times, not sure if Iman or Baron Davis would fit Fields better.

FistOfOakley wrote:playoff positioning is going to be pretty important as well. avoiding the bulls or heat in the first round is going to be a must if we want a long playoff run.

i have no problem with running starters a little longer than they're used to. he did that with his suns teams and they did very well in the playoffs regardless. i only worry that chandler and amare have higher risk for injury the longer they are on the court esp chandler since he's used to 30mins a game.

this is rotation is more like a playoff situation with the minutes and rotation. However, with this shortened season, we can't allow our starters to get get fatigued and increase the chance of injury. While we have quite a few injuries to deal with on our bench right now, we have to add the right talent to allow our stars to lower chances of injury and kept fresh.
If you notice Balkman and Novak playing once every 4 games or so, I think this is part of his idea to give our players some sort of a break.

However, it isn't enough, we also need to increase the production, team work, identity, of our bench players/2nd unit. Right now we are continue a learn on the fly style with our starters, and we are developing some sort of a chemistry, identity, and system. We will continue to learn from the coaching staff, the players roles and how they can be maximized, and the players learning to play with each other. We have improved a lot since Iman has started but we are far away from our ceiling. Again, the bench needs to find their roles and their production is very much needed. TD/Jorts and another player has to be more consistent, gain more confidence, and find their roles to be effective and efficient.

FistOfOakley wrote:playoff positioning is going to be pretty important as well. avoiding the bulls or heat in the first round is going to be a must if we want a long playoff run.

i have no problem with running starters a little longer than they're used to. he did that with his suns teams and they did very well in the playoffs regardless. i only worry that chandler and amare have higher risk for injury the longer they are on the court esp chandler since he's used to 30mins a game.

Childs2Dudley wrote:Please insult me some more.

You all know so much and I know so very little.

Of course an 8 man rotation in a 66 game season is genius. It will really keep us fresh for when the games really count - in the playoffs.

You remember the playoffs, right? They start after the regular season. Whoever wins in the playoffs win the championship. The regular season has no championship. The playoffs do. If players are dead tired (as they were in the Boston series last year and every playoff series D'antoni has ever coached) at the end of the year then that will not bode well for a playoff run.

But what do I know? The same people calling me a "bad Knicks fan" were bashing the Shumpert pick and many other things during the Walsh tenure, while I didn't because I understand how the game is played.

Don't ever criticize the Knicks on a win streak. You know, because they're a championship team n a win streak and a lottery team on a losing streak. Such is life on this forum.

rvwink wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:

rvwink wrote:I can't see why the Knicks sign Bogans. He wasn't good enough to stay on the Bull's roster, and I don't understand what the attraction to bring him to the Knicks. Please educate me as to why we need someone with his skill set? I would rather keep Lin on the roster so we can find out if we can use him, and let Mike Bibby play as a shooting guard.

That's just an awful idea.

When you dish it out as you clearly did above, you certainly should be willing to take it, when someone doesn't like something that you have posted.

Btw, while we are on the subject, what part of Mike playing shooting guard, was an "awful idea"? (Mike played great as a shooting guard just a few games ago.)

I can take anything, my friend. Seems like you can't since you're still bringing this up.

Mike Bibby isn't a shooting guard. He's 34 years old, slow and too small for the position. He's never played that position in his career. He's more of a natural PG than Toney. If you said Toney at SG it would make much more sense than what you proposed.