That being said people act like the Knicks lost.

holfresh wrote:I agree for the most part..The problem is see with the team last night is the the group is slow footed, lacks reaction time in defensive rotation and lacks recovery when they are beaten...It's the reason O'Quinn lost his job in Orlando..We don't have athletes..Saraphin and O'Quinn look like they can be decent offensively but this team has to play defense to win games...We don't have the offense to outscore people, so it will have to be on the defensive end..I'm guessing that why Fisher started KP for his length...Playing Calderon and Sasha together in the back court against NBA players will be a non-starter...But I'm hoping AA makes a quick return...

Agree 100% on the slow-footed comment. As a team -- we would appear to be at the bottom of the NBA in pure athleticism/quickness and that is not a good place to be.

If you want to know what Sasha will do on the team...go back and see what Cazzie Russell did on that first title team.
If he's hot, you ride him, if he's not, he rides the bench.

Team did look slow, which is a concern, but it is just too early to make a final evaluation, IMO, so I'm not that worried at this point.

I think this lineup has enough flexibility to allow guys to play in situations where they can succeed, but this is something which will play out and be discovered as time goes by and coaches evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each player.

KP will be fine on D once he gets into the swing of things. I had said he would be very nervous out there because he really wants to show he belongs...and he was, but who cares. He is putting too much pressure on himself, but this is something that many expected, and its something that will disappear as he finds a comfort zone.

EnySpree wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

EnySpree wrote:I'm predicting Kyle O'Quinn will be names the starter with Melo and Rolo up front.

Jerian Grant will be the starter with Galloway being the backup. Calderón is officially old and should be a part of the coaching staff as the 3rd string point guard.

Kevin Seraphin is going to keep Rolo and O'Quinn minutes down. Kristaps looks to be the odd man out. He can shoot but he's not better than the other guys yet. He needs to keep getting better in practice.

Early is ready to be in the rotation, but so is Derrick Williams.... there's room for both if Fisher plays 10 guys, and he should.

Sasha Vujacic is going to be a great sub for us. It's unfortunate Afflalo is hurt, but I think Sasha is solid all around. Enough to be our starter until Afflalo can find his legs.

Disagree for the most part.

- think KP6 will continue to start and play better
- Calderon will continue to start
- Grant/Galloway will continue bring energy/athleticism off the bench (but Gallo / AA could flip flop roles with AA being our bench scorer)
- Serephin --- I'm intrigued by but it will come down to his defense and does he turn the ball over more than put it in the basket
- Early is ready for the street corner -- not an NBA roster --- I have 100% more faith in D-Will and that is a sad statement
- Sasha I think will have his moments because he is fearless --- his moments will be bad and good

Did you watch the game or this is just an opinion based on opinion

he watched the game.

EnySpree wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

EnySpree wrote:I'm predicting Kyle O'Quinn will be names the starter with Melo and Rolo up front.

Jerian Grant will be the starter with Galloway being the backup. Calderón is officially old and should be a part of the coaching staff as the 3rd string point guard.

Kevin Seraphin is going to keep Rolo and O'Quinn minutes down. Kristaps looks to be the odd man out. He can shoot but he's not better than the other guys yet. He needs to keep getting better in practice.

Early is ready to be in the rotation, but so is Derrick Williams.... there's room for both if Fisher plays 10 guys, and he should.

Sasha Vujacic is going to be a great sub for us. It's unfortunate Afflalo is hurt, but I think Sasha is solid all around. Enough to be our starter until Afflalo can find his legs.

Disagree for the most part.

- think KP6 will continue to start and play better
- Calderon will continue to start
- Grant/Galloway will continue bring energy/athleticism off the bench (but Gallo / AA could flip flop roles with AA being our bench scorer)
- Serephin --- I'm intrigued by but it will come down to his defense and does he turn the ball over more than put it in the basket
- Early is ready for the street corner -- not an NBA roster --- I have 100% more faith in D-Will and that is a sad statement
- Sasha I think will have his moments because he is fearless --- his moments will be bad and good

Did you watch the game or this is just an opinion based on opinion

I watched the game so it's an opinion based on watching the game and what I think the Knicks plan to do.

Fisher has made multiple statements that he wants to nail down a rotation early this year. When AA went down and Sasha was inserted into the line-up it was a clear indicator that the Knicks plan to start Calderon/AA in the back-court and have Grant/Gallo off the bench. I don't think that changes based on last night and you will DEFINITELY see Calderon starting Friday night (I suspect with Sasha again) because they don't want to start messing with a rotation they are already considering.

KP6 I think he'll stay in the starting line-up because they know we aren't competing for a championship and he has the most upside on the roster.

blkexec wrote:

fishmike wrote:we are going to play big. The question is can the guards defend the 3. Our team is build around big guys. The depth is size. Its not a speed ball team. They need to defend the 3 better.

That being said people act like the Knicks lost.

It's because the knicks showed the same defensive issues as years in the past. And the same slow latteral quickness in the past. And everybody was expecting a blowout from tipoff.....But it looks like if this was a regular season game, and the starters received starter minutes, then our worst defensive unit would've been on the floor together much longer than our preseason game. And nothing from Fisher's short coaching past indicates that he has good in game changes. For example, would he start the same 5 that played terrible defense....in the 2nd half? He's done this before. If it wasn't for our bench, we either would've lost this game or barely won. Thats why people treat this like a lost. It's NY....and NY fans have higher expectations than normal fans (yes, NY fans are not normal). Especially when your rookie coach, rookie GM and so called superstar are making top dollar. Along with a high pick in KP.....Expectations are going to be extremely high.

Perhaps if we were actually losing big in the 1st quarter against a regular season NBA team Fish makes changes sooner. Since they weren't losing big he could ride the SL longer and give them a chance to work it out. Making hasty decisions in the 1st preseason game isn't proof that he's got great coaching chops. I think Fish did it just right in game one. I'm glad he's ignoring public pressure and is just doing what he and his staff think is right. We've got a long way to go with a lot of young and developing players. There's literally no rush IMO. They need to tighten up some defensive mistakes and get that team chemistry going.

Only 2 rotation players had a negative Plus Minus. Jose and Lopez. Both at -4. They both have to play better and I suspect they will.

yellowboy90 wrote:I think the best option regardless of who the knicks pick to start at the 4 they need to trap the PnR. Put the Length to good and use the weak side big as a rim protector. It is a good thing that O'Quinn, Lopez, and Porzin6is are good rim protectors.

Knicks did actually ICE PnR last year so I know it's part of their defensive philosophy. I think this is only a symptom of preseason mistakes. They have to get better as a group and play TEAM D, which they eventually did defend better but still not at the high level they need to be at. Tomorrow will be very interesting to see how they respond.