nyknickzingis wrote:I was ABOUT to make this point in terms of giving Phil a lot of credit. All of his signings are showing something significant, other than Lopez and Lopez mainly because they thought he'd be their man closer and go to 5 man, but Porzingis has emerged as their best. So now they have a bit of dilemma as to how to play.

On the bright side it's a good problem to have but Fish has to manage carefully. He overplays the bigger lineup, when he should be toning it down. There was no reason to close with Lopez/Porzingis/Melo tonight. You need to have a strong identity of who you want to close with, and who you want to start.

Lopez should be a starter up until the 6 min mark of each half, then move him to the bench. You bring him back in with the 2nd unit for a bit, and if he's playing really really well or Porzingis is in foul trouble, you close the half with him. It's not that hard, only that considering NY invested so much money in him and designed their defense around Lopez, I think they feel they owe him more PT.

I agree - I think Fisher is trying to manage it... it almost seems like there are times when he is trying to get away with Rolo on the floor. But Rolo did have two big blocks in the closing minutes.

But I am just glad they are acknowledging the potential of the KP at 5 and Melo at 4 lineups. Fisher's been playing it more often lately and it's nice to hear him acknowledge it's a look they want to go with at times. I don't think KP should be a full time 5 right now, but it's a look you go with at times - just like Golden State starts Bogut still, but their self-proclaimed "Death Lineup" features Draymond Green at center.

The Rolo/KP dilemma actually really reminds me of how Bogut is used in Golden State. It is obvious Bogut slows down their offense, but they feed him to keep him engaged, because they know there are games they will need him.

I think Rolo still had a place on the team, as does KOQ.

Though I might try to look into moving Seraphin for a 2/3 who can defend and shoot the 3.

nyknickzingis wrote:I disagree about all the other bigs comments - because Quinn has been a great energy guy for 4 M a year. Seraphin was what a vet min guy? Derrick Williams is a wing, he's not a big at all.

The Knicks need a wing that can handle the ball, play the Pippen role obviously, but last time I checked in the league, there wasn't many players who were available like that. And Lance Thomas has been surprisingly solid.

We definitely need another ballhandling wing, the thing is it's not going to be easy to find that player and that sort of player wasn't available this past summer. Someone like Iguodala would be fantastic, but the W's won't let him go. Perhaps take a big run at Batum this summer, but I don't think he'll walk.

I think pretty much everyone here is praying we get a shot at Batum.

"It was definitely a thought in terms of maybe eventually being able to [play center]. And especially when we constructed our roster, there probably weren't going to be a lot of minutes at the center spot because of the guys that we do have. I think as we've grown and evolved, and the way teams are playing, we've been able to do it some. I think it will be good for us, but it's probably not a finished product at this point. But I do think Kris' ability to change shots, block shots and play bigger than what his frame looks like is going to allow us to do it a little bit more."

Fisher might have been talking in the future tense about using Porzingis at center more often, but the truth is that he's already begun to do so. Take a look at the following splits, via the stats site NBAWOWY:

Date MPG at Center
10/28 - 11/20 2.46
11/21 - 12/12 6.50

Porzingis' time at center has grown by more than four minutes per night over the last three weeks—ever since he posted a seven-block game against the Houston Rockets back on Nov. 21. He's registered two more games of at least six blocks since then, meaning Patrick Ewing is now the only Knick since the 1985-86 season with more six-plus block games in a season than Porzingis.

In Wednesday night's win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, Porzingis logged his most extensive time at center yet—15 minutes' worth. He started his block party early on while playing next to Lopez, swatting Andrew Wiggins twice in the first minute and a half of the game, but he continued right on blocking everything in sight even as he patrolled the paint by his lonesome. By the end of the first half, he had six blocks in all. By the end of the night, he had seven, as he closed out the game by blocking a three-point attempt by Karl-Anthony Towns.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2599943-kristaps-porzingis-already-shaping-new-york-knicks-defensive-identity

Jmpasq wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:I still can't believe it took him this long to realize that he has a special talent in KP. In fact, I can't believe how slow he is when it comes to utilize our over all talents. I am glad he is seing the light

KP looks so much better than he did in the summer league in my opinion. I don't think anyone could anticipate this smooth of a transition. KP was being held out for injuries etc. and appeared a bit frail. He has been fantastic.

He has gotten better so damn fast. I don't really blame them for not thinking he was ready, I didnt think so either watching his Spanish tape

KP is a star my friends.....that kid is built right...

fishmike wrote:Im open to him playing some 5, but when I see how we protect the rim with him at the 4 playing next to another 7 footer I see a title caliber frontcourt. When he is next to Lopez and he's allowed to roam a bit he is simply a nightmare. If we had better defense in the backcourt we could be one of the best defensive squads in the league.

That being said Im not one of these guys who cries when I think a guy isnt being used like I think he should be. KP's development has been incredible, and for you guys crying about Fisher you need to understand this coaching staff has put this guy in a position to suceed time and time again.

I'll give the coaching staff a little credit, but lets be honest here, KP would be good in any system. He is not a limited player by any stretch, 26 games in, and the 3 teams that picked before us, would have taken KP in a heartbeat. It was almost a no brainer to make him a starter, that right there gave me every indication he was ready.

I'll give Melo, sasha, calderon and Lopez just as much credit, those guys have had just as much impact on and off the court, and it's so ironic that those four players garner the most trade talk on these boards.

knicks1248 wrote:

fishmike wrote:Im open to him playing some 5, but when I see how we protect the rim with him at the 4 playing next to another 7 footer I see a title caliber frontcourt. When he is next to Lopez and he's allowed to roam a bit he is simply a nightmare. If we had better defense in the backcourt we could be one of the best defensive squads in the league.

That being said Im not one of these guys who cries when I think a guy isnt being used like I think he should be. KP's development has been incredible, and for you guys crying about Fisher you need to understand this coaching staff has put this guy in a position to suceed time and time again.

I agree to a certain extent

I'll give the coaching staff a little credit, but lets be honest here, KP would be good in any system. He is not a limited player by any stretch, 26 games in, and the 3 teams that picked before us, would have taken KP in a heartbeat. It was almost a no brainer to make him a starter, that right there gave me every indication he was ready.

I'll give Melo, sasha, calderon and Lopez just as much credit, those guys have had just as much impact on and off the court, and it's so ironic that those four players garner the most trade talk on these boards.

Give coaches hell when things don't go right, but "Little" cred when it goes good. Beyond Fish, who played a long time in the league the coaching staff is very experienced. Thing is, when was the last time the NBA saw a 7-3 kid like this?? He is defying common logic every day. Linsanity broke the notion Asian's can't play ball, this kid is breaking the height barrier!!!!

blkexec wrote:

Knixkik wrote:It's been nice to have KP capable of playing the 5, but we don't want him there full time for a couple of years. If the game dictates it, we can play him some extended minutes there, but i'm more concerned with keeping him healthy and not have to take on a huge workload defensively. He's more effective as a weak side defender right now.

If we were playing in GS system....and had GS shooters and scorers......KP would be a monster.

In this half court system, KP will be bounced around a lot in the post by other bigs, which will decrease his offensive output. Having another center next to KP is not the problem. Having Rolo next to KP is the problem.

Yeah, but other teams are going to play small, too. They're not going to play big just because we do. Most teams go small for at least some portion of the game these days.

Knixkik wrote:

blkexec wrote:

Knixkik wrote:It's been nice to have KP capable of playing the 5, but we don't want him there full time for a couple of years. If the game dictates it, we can play him some extended minutes there, but i'm more concerned with keeping him healthy and not have to take on a huge workload defensively. He's more effective as a weak side defender right now.

If we were playing in GS system....and had GS shooters and scorers......KP would be a monster.

In this half court system, KP will be bounced around a lot in the post by other bigs, which will decrease his offensive output. Having another center next to KP is not the problem. Having Rolo next to KP is the problem.

So what type of center do you think we need?

I said in my post above:

I'm not saying bench Rolo - I think basically Rolo should be our Bogut and KP should be our Draymond Green. Obviously the comparison in the skills between those players doesn't lineup, but how Golden State uses them. Bogut starts and plays 15-20min a night... unless they need him against a particularly big team. Draymond starts at the 4, but often moves over to the 5 for stretches of the game and it is Golden State's best lineup. They don't start that lineup - they save it for when they need to make a run. They call it their "Death lineup"

KP can be a 4/5 the way Draymond is - their games have very little in common obviously - but they are both unique talents at the 4/5 who present matchup nightmares and can more than hold their own on defense, in fact they are both fantastic defenders at the4 and the 5.

Now, I'm not saying KP is Draymond. I'm saying look at how GSW uses Bogut and Draymond. That's a sort of blueprint for how you can utilize guys and lineups who give you a very different look.

When it's KP at 5 and Melo at 4 it seems play is more decisive. Rolo is still figuring out his role in the offense (personally optimistic that he will; guy went to Stanford after all)

Really depends on who opposition coaches are playing.

Minny took advantage of Lopez since their bigs can shoot from the outside...Towns at any time, and Dieng if he has time to get his shot off. Neither showed any consistency from the post, although both hit shots from in close.

Lopez is simply unwilling to go out too far on the perimeter. I was surprised that Fisher started with Lopez on Towns, since I've watched enough Minny games to know that Towns can hit from the outside with confidence- he was 3/3 from the 3 in one recent game. Towns was a bit off the first half, but it I'm sure he was told to keep on shooting if Lopez gave him the space he got in the first half. Fisher started the second half with the Lopez on Towns match-up, and Towns got his stroke down.

Just don't see why we can't adjust our lineup and go big vs big or smaller vs small based on what the opposing coach is doing, and against a team like GS, Fisher should not hesitate to sit Lopez and use a smaller starting lineup to deal with GS' speed.