WaltLongmire wrote:meloanyk wrote:Is it sacrilegious to discuss the recent mediocre play of our savior who has already been anointed as the team leader, NBA rook of year, 15 year All Star, and HOFer ??????A few games ago while he was still playing well, I said I saw a differences in his bounce and defensive reactions and that Fischer should be careful not to overplay him. as he's still a developing rookie. The avg minutes he played in prior Euroleague years were 7, 15 and then 21 in 2014-15 yet here he was given ever increasing minutes amongst ever increasing attention, being thrown out there for 35 minutes or more several times with a high of 41 minutes agaisnt Houston. Yeh, he's the gate attraction but he's also a kid competing against a higher level of play while becoming the focus of D's and physicality given his hype and Melo's erractic play.
The minutes and travel miles accumulated and kid simply wore a bit, not only physically but also mentally given all the media and it has begun to show in many ways whether it be awkward movements, lack of rebounding or sloppy fouls.
Is the bubble bursting ??? NAH but it should be a lesson to the Knick org and fellow fans that this kid while very good should not be expected to be Superman and handle all chores in his initial year. He isnt physically ready to play 5 full time or bang for 38 minutes many nights. Fischer and the org should nurture him and manage his minutes better to keep him fresh and his development on right path. Mu guess 20-25 mins a game
We arent winning any titles this year. Glad to see Oquinn playing and being productive, his DNP's still perplex.. Jackson assembled a decent bench of frontcourt players and Fischer should be using ALL to allow KP AND a still ecovering Melo to play minutes appropiate to the schedule and their physical state.
I think I commented on that other thread of yours and, surprisingly (if I remember correctly), I was in a minority in agreeing with you about him possibly being used too much.You can get caught up in the flush of success and not understand the consequences, but KP's play was helping us win, and it looked like we needed him on the court to be at our best. Add to this the fact that both KOQ and Williams were very up and down, and you had a situation where Fisher was willing to play KP more than any of us expected him to play
He had the strong finish vs Dallas, but he looked lethargic in the next game against Utah, showed some defensive backbone vs the Kings, but not as effective on offense, and was out of it vs Portland.
At the very least, Porzingis' minutes should be monitored.
By the way, if you look at that game chart- his two worst games in that 5 game stretch followed games where he had played 35 and 34 minutes.
This is another reason I don't want him playing the 5 -- banging with bigger more physical players and having to do our teams dirty work.
Let the kid stay at the 4 and let him be free to roam around grabbing boards, blocking shots...etc. No need to force feed him into a nightly battle with the leagues centers. Allow him to have the physical mis-match rather than forcing him to use his lower-body to keep guys off the boards and the post.
