I believe Lin has the brain and talent to be that player. My biggest concern is durability. He looks like a guy who is going to play 50-55 games a year. He's got to learn to pace himself. And if he does will that negate some of his effectiveness?

That and Melo ball doesnt work. Its great for beating the Bucks and Nets in the dead of the winter, but its too easy to defend and doesnt work in the playoffs. I want to see more scoring from Chandler and Amare. Two guys who average well above 50% shooting.

Can Melo take a lesser role like Paul Pierce did?
Can Lin play at least 70 games next year?
Can we draft or add some depth to the bench?

If we can do those 3 things (not impossible) the Knicks can compete with the big boys. But if Chandler and Amare are struggling to get good shots and Melo is stopping the ball, taking 25 shots and shooting his usual 44% while everyone stands and watches the Knicks will be a slightly over .500 team losing to a powerhouse team in the first round and people around here will be blaming the coaches (again).

CrushAlot wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Knicks have been really good the past couple of years finding guys. Whether it is drafting 4 year guys from good programs that are barely on the map at draft time or bringing in a guy like Moz, the scouting dept. has overachieved. The Knicks were reported to be scouting a free agent in Europe that went undrafted in 07. Scouting Europe, the d-l, possibly moving the rights to the Euro they got in the Chandler deal for a pick etc.are all things I am sure that they are exploring.

Well i guess I cant blame some for being skeptical. I mean from 2008-2010 we cleared salary so we could get bigname talent which we have in the last 2 yaers and have only 1 playoff win to show for it

The point I was trying to make is that the Knicks have done an amazing job getting guys like Fields, and Jorts with second round picks. Jordan maybe another one of those guys. Finding Moz in Europe and getting him was huge. The Knicks have had a Spurs like approach with their picks. They have gotten a lot of talent in positions where no one would have questioned them if the guys they took never played in the NBA.

Give the Knicks credit--theyve done a fine job in this area.

muhaha wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:I read that before - I believe in one of Berri's books. Anyone who's played basketball at a high level knows it doesn't take multiple years to learn to play together.

For a few years in the late 70's, Lakers were just another playoff team with the core of Jabbar, Nixon, Worthy, and Wilkes. After Magic joined the team, the birth of Showtime, Lakers won the very first year, and four more for the next decade. One of the greatest run in NBA history.

It took them exactly one player and 0 year to learn to play together.

muhaha wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:I read that before - I believe in one of Berri's books. Anyone who's played basketball at a high level knows it doesn't take multiple years to learn to play together.

For a few years in the late 70's, Lakers were just another playoff team with the core of Jabbar, Nixon, Worthy, and Wilkes. After Magic joined the team, the birth of Showtime, Lakers won the very first year, and four more for the next decade. One of the greatest runs in NBA history.

It took them exactly one player and 0 year to learn to play together.

Look again at the 5 years prior to Magic. The team struggled a bit after the Jabbar trade.

Year before Magic roster :http://www.basketballreference.com/teams/teamyear.htm?tm=LAL&lg=N&yr=1978

muhaha wrote:

Nalod wrote:

muhaha wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:I read that before - I believe in one of Berri's books. Anyone who's played basketball at a high level knows it doesn't take multiple years to learn to play together.

For a few years in the late 70's, Lakers were just another playoff team with the core of Jabbar, Nixon, Worthy, and Wilkes. After Magic joined the team, the birth of Showtime, Lakers won the very first year, and four more for the next decade. One of the greatest runs in NBA history.

It took them exactly one player and 0 year to learn to play together.

Look again at the 5 years prior to Magic. The team struggled a bit after the Jabbar trade.

Year before Magic roster :http://www.basketballreference.com/teams/teamyear.htm?tm=LAL&lg=N&yr=1978

Hmm...I guess my memory didnt serve me well. I thought Worthy was before Magic.

Lakers indeed strugled a lot. They thought by acquiring Jabbar from Bucks, they would win championships. I saw a lots of Lakers during that time. They were heavily relying on Jabbar, reminded me a lot of Knicks during the playoffs. Whenever they were in trouble, or needed a score, they forced feed Jabbar. It was iso-Jabbar at its best and never went deep into the playoffs before Magic.

It all runs together at times and its why I am sometimes not very generous with Pat Riley's legacy because all the pieces were in place and they had won with Paul Westhead. Westhead lost his team and Riles did put it back right but he also gave in and gave the team to Magic. Since they won, it all worked out.

The Jabbar trade was in 1975 I thought and the lakers gutted the team for its star. The pieces never amounted to much for the bucks but they were a decent team for a while. It took a few years and Jabbar put up some huge stats those years. Worthy was actually two years after Magic was drafted. THat was a hell of a team. Worthy became a HOF player very quietly.