This is not based on just this game but all year it has been like this with Chandler and Stat. Stat got his once Chandler was off the floor. It is a good problem and I think it will come around one way or another.

BRIGGS wrote:make no mistake. I dont know how all of these guys are going to intertwine. Im kind of thinking of moving Amare to sixth man like Kevin Mchale
Something like this?

Chandler
Jefferies
Fields
Melo
Lin
Amare
Shumpert
Novak
Walkler

No one is paying Amare 100 million to be a 6th man.

BRIGGS wrote:make no mistake. I dont know how all of these guys are going to intertwine. Im kind of thinking of moving Amare to sixth man like Kevin Mchale
Something like this?

Chandler
Jefferies
Fields
Melo
Lin
Amare
Shumpert
Novak
Walkler

I agree, Iman made great play for us to win the Toronto game with the Wolves as well. He has been doing it all year but with Lin getting all the attention, Iman loses some of credit he deserves for these wins. He has been able doing this the whole year, with his ability to steal, apply pressure on defense, and get easy points off the TO.
He has great hands to go with his defense and a combination of athleticism, strength, reach, and defensive awareness. Lin is very under rated with his ability to defend as well.
He also ha great size, good athleticism, reach, and ability to stay in front of his man. Iman and Lin compliment each other very well, on both ends, with TC anchoring the middle.

The point Briggs is trying to make is, that TC and Amare do not compliment the team and each other. We won these games during the "Linsanity" streak was a mix of having a strong defensive unit and having 3 shooters, with Lin's ability to penetrate *and as the 4th shooter*, while TC was the man that set the pick, and when he was outside of the paint, it allows the room to penetrate or cut. But with TC and Amare together, a lot of that room is gone, as teams will pack the paint and force us to hit shots instead.
If anything this streak has sold us that we do not need stars to play beautiful and effective basketball. The ability to penetrate with Lin and Iman *2nd penetrator*, with having 4 shooters, and TC 1v1 coverage, with good ball movement, is much easier to execute. While JJ is not a great scorer, he certainly has stepped up and improved his game offensively.
He is hitting those wide open shots, penetrating and finishing, tipping the RB out, and making great cuts.

I think TC, Lin, and even Iman to a lesser extent, has proven their effectiveness. While I don't think it would happen, I think if we did trade Melo and Amare's salaries to compliment the team/Dantoni's system it would allow us to use their salaries much more effectively. Say trading Amare and Melo for KG, Ray Allen, needing another 6-10m salary as expirings could be used for other areas.

yellowboy90 wrote:I am not saying he should be benched but if Bird can go to the bench when he was still in his prime I think anyone now can do it. I just think until STAT gets his shot back he will not have that much success with Chandler. That is not to say he will have bad games. It just means that he will have to get his(PnR) on when Chandler is off the floor. It would be nice if the coaches can change the subing pkg and have STAT finsh the 1st and 3rd qtrs then start the 2nd and 4th on the bench. He needs Novak and Jeffries on the floor with him with Melo running the PnR with him until Davis get back.

This is not based on just this game but all year it has been like this with Chandler and Stat. Stat got his once Chandler was off the floor. It is a good problem and I think it will come around one way or another.

When did Bird EVER come off the bench? Briggs sorry but this is what separates you from being a great scout from a GM. You don't send one of your leaders to the bench esp. behind a Jeffries. This would mess up the psyche of the team. You want to limit his minutes, fine but you don't start him on the bench.

"Stat" is just a couple letters shy of "Starter" so let's allow him to find his groove. No sense spending $100mil on a bench player.

Amare Stoudemire Turnovers ZERO

that's only happened twice this season, both against the bobcats. i don't think it's just a coincidence.

of course lin had a whopping 8 turnovers and stoudemire got blocked a million times but in the second half you can really see them get more comfortable with each other...

If you assume Tyson will play 32 mins a night --- if you don't play them together at all that would mean Amare would only get 16 minutes a night. 32 + 16 = 48 minutes.

So they have to play together sometimes -- might as well leave Amare starting (not mess with his mind) and see if the chemistry will develop. I'd rather have them struggle at the start of the game than at any point later in the game.

Also - Amare played some of the best basketball of his career his last year in PHX after the Sun's elevated Robin Lopez to starting unit next to him. The Sun's were playing same system as Knicks and Amare was considered MVP candidate playing many minutes next to Lopez (very similar comp to Chandler).

It can work -- point guard needs to sort it out and we need the other 2 players on the court to be able to knock down jump shots. Field's isn't shooting any jump shots and that is allowing defenses to huddle in the lane.