Watching Amare reinvent himself with no ego is a beautiful thing

He is slowly morphing into a most valuable glue player.

I think he is morphing into a complete player.

I wonder if he sees what influence has robbed him of as a player.

blkexec wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

ramtour420 wrote:It's such a pleasure to see Amare get back with his new moves and get back to work on glass. Amare does wonders for our rebounding. I honestly had my doubts, but he has proved me and a lot of other people wrong.

Not really. He looks great. I'm still skeptical that he has a lot left physically, though. I hope we don't see a Jason Kidd like decline as his body gets more wear and tear. If he plays this well without missing a lot of time for most of the remainder of his contract, he'll have proved us wrong.

Kidds physical decline is way over exaggerated. He's always been a savvy pg using his IQ over his athleticism. Now if Lebron's athleticism declined, then lebron fans should be concerned. Along with other athletic freaks. Amari is learning how to impact the game without using his athleticism, thanks to Hakeem Olajuwon. Those lessons will extend his career.

I don't care how much a players physical attributes decline, as long as his impact on the game remains high. Jason Kidds impact on this team is just as important as the other guys that score 20+ or jumps out the gym. I get tired of all this how much is left in the tank. It's enough to get us within .5 games of the eastern conference.

Instead of thinking about the glass half empty, it's time for Knick fans to see the glass half full. We've been half empty for over 15 yrs.....It's time to see the light. We have our best chance at a ring this year....Amari and Kidd will be a few of the key knick players that put us over the top. Can't wait to see Kidd's post defense on Lebron, similar to his Dallas championship days. Or Amari and Chandler trying to rip the rim down in Miami. Lets Go!

Kidd looks completely different from the player he was in the start of the season
Which is the REAL KIDD that would should be expecting?
Maybe that energy and doubt with ALL THE ANALYST's BASHING about our age/along with Felton's, JR's, and Melo's chip on their shoulders to prove their worthy after the Lin Saga was infectious
We have loss some of that energy/spark and more importantly the DEFENSE that we started the season with
Kidd was really a Novak, with much DEFENSE at SG, and the 2nd/3rd ball handler that either moved the ball to the open man or found a wide easy 3pter at a very high rate
However, he is no longer a PG, without the ability to penetrate, or the ability to run a PnR, but a spot shooter or just position himself at the right angle to find an open man and spread the floor
It is possible that Kidd is playing injured/fatigued as he needs time to recover when he was ran to the ground when Felton was out
I agree with some that Pablo is a much better PG with some ability to penetrate and run's the PnR much better

RonRon wrote:Amare has been looking very good but I still think he should play the least amount of minutes with Tyson Chandler/Melo together, as they take each other's room
When STAT play's vs a good defensive team with Melo/Tyson together in major minutes, I think we will remember why many of us don't think they can coexist together
While he has looked good recently, it is with limited minutes with those 3 together
Also, our opponents DEFENSE generally have been playing Amare like he is JJ with single coverage, and not like he was the STAT with double/triple team's as a once MVP candidate

Well what do you think will happen if they start doubling STAT? Where does the double come from. WIll they leave Tyson alone at the basket? WIll they double and leave Melo open for a 3? Maybe Felton, JR, or Shump gets left open but all are pretty reliable when left open. Basically it turns into when Melo is in the post and Novak/Copeland/Brewer/White is on the floor except Melo > all those guys.

gunsnewing wrote:It's going to be a joy to watch this team step on the opposing teams throats once Sheed and Camby return and Amare starts. Gonna eventually force defenses to play man because if they double Melo Amare is open vice versa. All comes down to Melo moving the ball when double-triple teamed

The cool part is that like Kobe, Carmelo is slowly trusting his running buddies a skootch more. The 7-22 and 7 turnovers against Orlando were tacky, but we won anyway.

Even Amar'e was spotted passing the ball last week. It really happened. Really.

Tyson Chandler is thinking less like a statue on offense. He even shot the ball once from ten feet out. Ten whole feet.

“Amar’e was incredible. To see the type of numbers he has been able to put up in limited minutes. He’s only playing 25 minutes a night, but he’s putting up 17 points, getting 10 rebounds, going to the free-throw line and causing double teams. He’s been great, especially coming off the bench and providing that kind of punch. That says a lot about his character. He just wants to win.”

- Tyson Chandler

"It's about to get real up in here."

RonRon wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:

RonRon wrote:Amare has been looking very good but I still think he should play the least amount of minutes with Tyson Chandler/Melo together, as they take each other's room
When STAT play's vs a good defensive team with Melo/Tyson together in major minutes, I think we will remember why many of us don't think they can coexist together
While he has looked good recently, it is with limited minutes with those 3 together
Also, our opponents DEFENSE generally have been playing Amare like he is JJ with single coverage, and not like he was the STAT with double/triple team's as a once MVP candidate

Well what do you think will happen if they start doubling STAT? Where does the double come from. WIll they leave Tyson alone at the basket? WIll they double and leave Melo open for a 3? Maybe Felton, JR, or Shump gets left open but all are pretty reliable when left open. Basically it turns into when Melo is in the post and Novak/Copeland/Brewer/White is on the floor except Melo > all those guys.

I don't think any of the good defensive teams will double STAT or need to

Well they are toasted. Amar'e can beast against West, Boozer, Battier/Bosh, and etc. I guess Chi can put Noah on Amar'e leaving Boozer to rebound against Chandler but it also puts him in PnR situations which is another can of worms. It will be interesting going forward.

RonRon wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:

RonRon wrote:Amare has been looking very good but I still think he should play the least amount of minutes with Tyson Chandler/Melo together, as they take each other's room
When STAT play's vs a good defensive team with Melo/Tyson together in major minutes, I think we will remember why many of us don't think they can coexist together
While he has looked good recently, it is with limited minutes with those 3 together
Also, our opponents DEFENSE generally have been playing Amare like he is JJ with single coverage, and not like he was the STAT with double/triple team's as a once MVP candidate

Well what do you think will happen if they start doubling STAT? Where does the double come from. WIll they leave Tyson alone at the basket? WIll they double and leave Melo open for a 3? Maybe Felton, JR, or Shump gets left open but all are pretty reliable when left open. Basically it turns into when Melo is in the post and Novak/Copeland/Brewer/White is on the floor except Melo > all those guys.

I don't think any of the good defensive teams will double STAT or need to

Teams have already started sending doubles at Stat. Also, Milwaukee is a good defensive team and they sent doubles at Stat. Stat was being guarded by Larry Sanders yesterday, a good defender, and Sanders could not stop him 1v1.

NUPE wrote:

RonRon wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:

RonRon wrote:Amare has been looking very good but I still think he should play the least amount of minutes with Tyson Chandler/Melo together, as they take each other's room
When STAT play's vs a good defensive team with Melo/Tyson together in major minutes, I think we will remember why many of us don't think they can coexist together
While he has looked good recently, it is with limited minutes with those 3 together
Also, our opponents DEFENSE generally have been playing Amare like he is JJ with single coverage, and not like he was the STAT with double/triple team's as a once MVP candidate

Well what do you think will happen if they start doubling STAT? Where does the double come from. WIll they leave Tyson alone at the basket? WIll they double and leave Melo open for a 3? Maybe Felton, JR, or Shump gets left open but all are pretty reliable when left open. Basically it turns into when Melo is in the post and Novak/Copeland/Brewer/White is on the floor except Melo > all those guys.

I don't think any of the good defensive teams will double STAT or need to

Teams have already started sending doubles at Stat. Also, Milwaukee is a good defensive team and they sent doubles at Stat. Stat was being guarded by Larry Sanders yesterday, a good defender, and Sanders could not stop him 1v1.

Bucks had a Ilyaosva, Sanders, and a little of Dalembert matched up with STAT
He played well last night but they went with their offensive lineup for majority of yestedays game, with Ilyaosva on Amare for most of the night

Bucks DEFENSE is not comparable to Bulls and Heat, simply on another level
Their DEFENSE are a notch below Nets and Pacers
Atlanta is another team that does not have to double STAT with Zaza/Horford/Josh Smith
Though I would expect Knicks to beat Atlanta with ease if we met them in the playoffs

DEF on the East
--------------------

Bulls
Heat *not playing their best basketball this year but I expect them to turn it up once the playoff's begin with their experience*
It simply does not hurt when you have a lock down player like Lebron, but Bosh, Wade, and Battier both have not been the same this year DEFENSIVELY

Knicks *when healthy and playing at their best, 3rd on the East is about the best we could be IF HEALTHY*
Nets Kris Humphries and Blatche could eat up STAT on both ends, it would be a great match for NY bragging rights

Pacers
Bucks

Philly??? Not sure where they stand defensively when Bynum returns but I think they could give us some problems with their youth/athleticism/size

Almost every time in the Western Conference that are playoff contenders would not have to double STAT
The Western Conference is just much superior when compared to the East, luckily, we would only have to face 1 of them if we make it to the finals

DEF of West
-------------------

OKC
Spurs

Clippers
Memphis

Don't think we get compete with the TOP 2 being way too tough while Clippers/Memphis would be tough, we would still have a chance

Golden State Mark Jackson has turned their franchise/DEF around, Not sure how I would rank them DEFENSIVELY vs OFF efficiency *Lee vs STAT would be interesting*
Denver, would be a great match for the obvious reasons
Houston don't think we match up well with the penetration/youth but would be fun to watch for the obvious reasons

Utah
Portland
Dallas
Lakers

All these teams will be fluctuating and battling for a play off spot, while none of them would be an easy match up for us

I would like to see how he performs vs some of the top defensive teams before giving him a top 50 player in the league

Judging from the post game interview, the fact that Woodson is not give much thought about starting STAT after these performances

BUT

STARTS Iman, Felton, Kidd, everytime they come back from an injury this season, would suggest there are flaws to his game
The 2 most apparent reasons would be because his DEFENSE is not strong enough or/and the spacing issues with Amare, Tyson, and Melo
However, if he keeps performing this way, and when Rasheed/Camby comes back healthy, and he still does not start, it would be 100% apparent that Woodson see's something

I personally think it is a little bit of both although his post up game is improving
And why mess with something that is working and has been successful?
We have seen 1.5 years of Amare, Tyson, and Melo together on the floor, and the numbers suggest that they do not play well together
Our opponents DEFENSE will always dare Amare, Tyson, and Melo to shoot, while clogging the paint
As their skills are limited, with less speed on the floor together, it just makes things much more predictable for our opponents DEFENSE
Playing the PF, Melo has the option to shoot the 3pointer, post up deep, mid post, play facilitator role that he is getting the hang off, or just go MELO when he catches fire

Don't forget the media/analyst could be very harsh here in NY, IF STAT goes back in the starting lineup and we start losing, it could really hurt the confidence of Amare with the nonstop ESPN/Twitter feeds. If he is effective in this role, while playing limited minutes with Amare, Tyson, and Melo, who care's especially if he has no problem with it

While I think Amare should be able to start certain matchups/games, I think it is much easier for the team as a whole for majority of the team's in the league
Again this is my opinion from what I have seen of them together and the history suggests that I am right
Why force something to work, when we went that road already and failed, and when we already found a recipe that has us off to the best start ever?

Overtime, I think it is reasonable for them to make it work with some improvements.
But they just recognized/admitted why it didn't work and what changes each must do to improve on it this off season, Thanks to Woodson
As Amare improves his post moves *takes time to develop*, get's back to his former *MVP shape and confidence*, improves on his defense more, gain's some more speed/quickness with some more drills, get's back a 17 footer jumper with consistency, TYSON gain's some more offensive game, and Melo improves on his ability to facilitate/create for others, maybe the results could be different, but these are the things they must all continue to improve on in order to prove Phil Jackon's comments on "clumsiness" wrong about ATM
Enjoy the ride for now as we are climbing to #1 seed of the East and more focused than ever...

Date		Minutes	ORB	DRB	TRB	ORB/36	TRB/36	TRB/36
2013-01-01	16:41	0	1	1	0.0	2.2	2.2
2013-01-03	20:57	1	1	2	1.7	1.7	3.4
2013-01-05	16:57	2	2	4	4.2	4.2	8.5
2013-01-07	27:50	0	2	2	0.0	2.6	2.6
2013-01-10	21:31	3	5	8	5.0	8.4	13.4
2013-01-11	18:35	0	1	1	0.0	1.9	1.9
2013-01-13	23:02	2	1	3	3.1	1.6	4.7
2013-01-17	20:23	1	3	4	1.8	5.3	7.1
2013-01-21	26:31	1	5	6	1.4	6.8	8.1
2013-01-24	20:28	4	5	9	7.0	8.8	15.8
2013-01-26	26:30	2	2	4	2.7	2.7	5.4
2013-01-27	29:28	4	4	8	4.9	4.9	9.8
2013-01-30	20:38	1	3	4	1.7	5.2	7.0
2013-02-01	24:17	2	5	7	3.0	7.4	10.4
2013-02-02	20:42	2	4	6	3.5	7.0	10.4

smackeddog wrote:

kip3f wrote:

Date		Minutes	ORB	DRB	TRB	ORB/36	TRB/36	TRB/36
2013-01-01	16:41	0	1	1	0.0	2.2	2.2
2013-01-03	20:57	1	1	2	1.7	1.7	3.4
2013-01-05	16:57	2	2	4	4.2	4.2	8.5
2013-01-07	27:50	0	2	2	0.0	2.6	2.6
2013-01-10	21:31	3	5	8	5.0	8.4	13.4
2013-01-11	18:35	0	1	1	0.0	1.9	1.9
2013-01-13	23:02	2	1	3	3.1	1.6	4.7
2013-01-17	20:23	1	3	4	1.8	5.3	7.1
2013-01-21	26:31	1	5	6	1.4	6.8	8.1
2013-01-24	20:28	4	5	9	7.0	8.8	15.8
2013-01-26	26:30	2	2	4	2.7	2.7	5.4
2013-01-27	29:28	4	4	8	4.9	4.9	9.8
2013-01-30	20:38	1	3	4	1.7	5.2	7.0
2013-02-01	24:17	2	5	7	3.0	7.4	10.4
2013-02-02	20:42	2	4	6	3.5	7.0	10.4

source: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/stoudam01/gamelog/2013/

No idea what any of that means!

Just pointing out that since his return, Stoudemire is having one of his strongest seasons in regards to boarding off the glass (rebounds).