Bootleg POD
"Suns fan here.
Great plays can make average players good and good players great, and a great play is harder to guard for 48 minutes than a great player. In Jeremy Lin, I see some real potential for the Knicks to learn how to play as a team. If he can learn how to run the most crucial play in D’Antoni’s system - the high pick n roll, the Knicks will be tough to beat.
There seems to be a discussion about the need for this team to find a way to get the ball to both Melo and STAT, the teams “great players.” IMO, in D’Antoni’s system this discussion should only have bearing on the last 5 minutes of close games. That’s because for the rest of the game, it should be a play, not a player, that carries the team. In D’Antoni’s system, and with the personnel in NY, that play is the high pick n roll.
Jeremy Lin shows the instincts and intelligence required for a point guard to run this play successfully. Lin is no Nash, but if he and STAT can develop even a semblance of the chemistry that Nash and Amar’e had, then the Knicks will not have to worry about finding a way for Melo and Amar’e to share the ball: it will take care of itself.
The Pick And Roll in Phoenix, even though it was initiated by Nash and STAT, was not a play designed to get the ball to Amar’e, but it was an extremely efficient way to create an open shot for anybody. If the defense sunk in to help, Nash would find a shooter; if they went under screens, Nash would drain a three, if they played the passing lane, then he’d kick out and find an open shooter.
Steve Nash came to Phoenix as a good player, but this great play turned him into a superstar. Shawn Marion was a good player before, but this play turned him into an extremely efficient player (the Suns didn’t “run any plays” for him, but he still managed to score in bunches, without taking any shots).
Melo is a ball stopper. And while he is nice to have around in the fourth quarter (has he proven this yet, btw?) his demand for the ball is going to cost everyone around him. Maybe I’m pointing out the obvious – that the Knicks need a good pg- but I think its just as important for them to not have a ball-stopper.
Really, he’s got to go, or else this system cannot work. And I’d rather pin my hopes on a team oriented system than on one player."
- escapegoat