I honestly believe strong Defense (opponent turnovers) and strong Rebounding are more critical to garnering more opportunities to score than SSOL.

nyk4ever wrote:it's funny that some posters on this board have ridiculed d'antoni for not playing lin, even though you have a player (jeffries) saying that no other coach in the league would have given him the opportunity that d'antoni has given him. jeffries and d'antoni must both still be wrong though.

and oh yeah - there hasn't been a bigger jeffries supporter on this site, often times i've been the only one. you need guys like jeffries on your team, sure his offense sucks, but he's good around the rim and his defense and hustle are priceless. oh yeah, d'antoni hates players who have no offensive games, too.

Jeffries is NOT good around the rim. He routinely fumbles lay ups and can't get the ball over any opposing front court player. THAT is my problem with him. I don't care that he can't shoot from outside, but dammit man, you're 6'11"! DUNK IT!

crzymdups wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

nixluva wrote:MAN you beat me to it! I was just going to post this. Jared is a guy that can be a bit frustrating, but i've always understood what coaches see in him. For this team we need players that play great TEAM defense and lead the way for other guys to bust it out there. You can see how hard he's playing and he came back for nothing really, just to play for this team and this coach. He was making strides under MDA before he was traded. I was happy when we got him back last year and he's even better this year.

Even Walker has been stepping up. I saw some good signs from Walker at the end of last season as he made a case for making the playoff rotation. He's not in the kind of shape I would like to see him, but Walker is getting better with his effort. He's still a turnover machine but he's starting to hustle more often than not.

i like MDA. i'm rooting for him. he finally has his PG, it seems.

but a warning - look at the last three games we've won. look at melo's stats in those games - he's been nonexistant in the wins against charlotte, new jersey and utah. that's going to come to a head. knicks are 4-8 when melo scores 25pts. there is friction there and it's got to be resolved. melo breaks the offense. team plays better as a whole when he is out. look at how they did without him against miami - they hung tough.

I think he is an Ok guy - his stubborness at times kills me - but I am rooting for the Knicks (and him) to succeed.

I created a thread about this specific Melo issue - he can do it if he wants - he needs to want. If MDA can't get him to do it, he is going nowhere so we will need PJax to get him to do it and if he still doesn't do it, hello Stephon Marbury 2? How is China treating you?

i'll say this - i'd much rather win a ring with melo and mda than melo and phil.

fuk Phil. What love has he ever shown NY (post playing days). Also, AIN'T HAPPENING.

Does anyone believe that Dolan will gift one man with all the power Phil will demand. Won't Happen.

NYKBocker wrote:

fishmike wrote:agree with everything coach said about JJ. Good job defending his player

Yup Yup

Yeah - it makes me like MDA more. And you KNOW the Garden media police weren't happy with his going off the script like that.

eViL wrote:

Panos wrote:

nyk4ever wrote:it's funny that some posters on this board have ridiculed d'antoni for not playing lin, even though you have a player (jeffries) saying that no other coach in the league would have given him the opportunity that d'antoni has given him. jeffries and d'antoni must both still be wrong though.

and oh yeah - there hasn't been a bigger jeffries supporter on this site, often times i've been the only one. you need guys like jeffries on your team, sure his offense sucks, but he's good around the rim and his defense and hustle are priceless. oh yeah, d'antoni hates players who have no offensive games, too.

Jeffries is NOT good around the rim. He routinely fumbles lay ups and can't get the ball over any opposing front court player. THAT is my problem with him. I don't care that he can't shoot from outside, but dammit man, you're 6'11"! DUNK IT!

yeah, it's brutal to watch him struggle with finishing near the basket. i think it's in his head more than anything else. you can see in his body language that he's tentative on offense as if he's waiting for something to go wrong or to be called for a travel.

that being said. i do appreciate his contributions on the defensive end and i think i see him building confidence slowly but surely. takes a lot of balls to come back to MSG knowing you could expect so much scrutiny. props to jeffries for that.

TheGame wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:yeah - I read that. People remember last year where he super-sucked. He is started to actually grow on people this season.

The only time I really hear groans tonight was when shump thew it into him in the high post. What the hell was that play? What was he gonna do with it?

He played a SIK game tonight - he actually worked on his jumper too and it no longer completely looks like barf.

he was very good last season, too. only reason we were competitive in the boston series. our best defender all year last year. i was thrilled when houston waived him.

houston waived lin, too. we've had some good luck with houston rejects.

Considering they robbed us of draft picks in the Hill trade, they owed us Lin and jeffries.

oh, great recognition on twist of fate

Markji wrote:Jeffries is good at what he does - defense and taking a charge. His offense around the basket is terrible. What I don't understand is why he can't/hasn't improved? I'm sure the coaches recognize this deficiency and should be working with him. He's a smart BB player and veteran. He should be able to improve.

The one incredible shot he made was a reverse layup against the Nets. It's in the Jeremy Lin highlights I believe.

Jeffries' success, as I've said before, is relative to his role. When the conversation starts with, "Hey guys! We're going into the year with Jared Jeffries as our starting center!" of course everybody dumps on it because that means you have somebody worse backing him up. This year the Knicks have Chandler, STAT and Jorts all ahead of him in the rotation, which means he can thrive in his ideal role: a guy who can give us 15-20 minutes as a positional defender around the basket.

It's really the same thing as Toney Douglas. When he's allowed to be a backup SG, catch-and-shoot, and take the ball to the basket and his shots fall, he's great. When he's asked to facilitate for Melo and STAT or run the offense in any capacity, he sucks.