fitzfarm wrote:

BigRedDog wrote:

fitzfarm wrote:stupid auto correct "melo is OUR"

look at our second unit with that starting line up

Noah/KOQ
willy
kuz
holiday/baker
baker/randle

you can't blame phil for signing jennings or noah how could he know Baker was a lockdown defender perfect triangle back up pg, and willy was a rebounding machine.

Id like to see us groom willy into a low post PF he's pretty small for the center position and with KP there is no room for willy in our starting line up as a center or a back up center if noah is on this team for the long run. willy in the second unit is getting him more offensive touches and can be a major factor/backbone. when melo retires or is moved you can easily move willy into the starting 5 right into his prime, to have a bruising PF next to KP is perfect. now if we can get jordan jenkins in the draft and pushes lance to our back up role we will have quiet the team. thats a very defensive second unit with lance in it.

Come on with this bull crap. Baker lock down defender??? Total crap. Fair defensive player maybe, Way too slow to be a " lock down defender" Lets see him play Harden, Westbrook, etc. He will get torched!

Who doesn't get smoked by harden or Westbrook, esp when the refs make them super human.... baker is our second best defender to LT ... he can be a pest, it's time to admit baker is a solid rotation backcourt player... like lance his defensive effort is infectious.

Bruce Bowen was a lock down defender. I don't care who he played, you knew that player was going to struggle all night. Baker is slow footed , good hustle but just a decent defender. Our 2nd best defender??? Wow thats an accomplishment . I think I would be our 2nd best defender. Actually its probably Holiday. Baker might be a 10-12th man in the rotation. Nothing more. As we get better players Baker moves down the bench. Haven't seen too much Randle but like Randle better than Baker

Knixkik wrote:KP has been settled in pretty well as a center. He has been solid against golden state too. He's a 20/10 player as a starting center, and will improve defensively next season with added strength.

It also helps that GSW is a relatively small team with zero big men who actually pose a threat.

TPercy wrote:

Knixkik wrote:KP has been settled in pretty well as a center. He has been solid against golden state too. He's a 20/10 player as a starting center, and will improve defensively next season with added strength.

It also helps that GSW is a relatively small team with zero big men who actually pose a threat.

They have the best record in the league. This is how most teams play. And he was being defended the best defender in the league (besides Kawhi) most of the game. It doesn't matter how they play, more-so who was guarding him. It was a big test that he passed on an individual level.

TPercy wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

TPercy wrote:

Knixkik wrote:KP has been settled in pretty well as a center. He has been solid against golden state too. He's a 20/10 player as a starting center, and will improve defensively next season with added strength.

It also helps that GSW is a relatively small team with zero big men who actually pose a threat.

They have the best record in the league. This is how most teams play. And he was being defended the best defender in the league (besides Kawhi) most of the game. It doesn't matter how they play, more-so who was guarding him. It was a big test that he passed on an individual level.

Offensively I agree, but I'm talking about defence. Can he hold out if we play the pelicans?

Davis and Cousins are better players than him at the moment. Of course he will struggle. It doesn't change the fact that he is already a very good center.

jrodmc wrote:It's quite amazing that the player that leads or practically leads the team statistically (PPG, near top EFG%, frontcourt best APG, minutes played and clutch shooting) is only a super star in his own mind.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NYK/2017.html#per_game::none

But let's all jerk off over Ron Baker and KP's tiny sample size at center.

I'm sure both of these players will be HOF bound in no time at all. Especially since we've won exactly how many games with KP and without DOUCHE Melo?
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/hof_prob.html#stats_active_hof_prob::none

I mean, look at that list of players, all superstars only in their own minds, right?

Now I don't know if they win more than they would with Melo, but I'm sure we could win 30 gamea a year without Melo if we traded him. His net impact is not much. That's the problem, He's playing in the superstar/franchise player role, but not producing the impact of one, He should play like one of the top 3, not the the man, and he would be fine. Does he play this way? No.

Not that he isn't good or a great scorer. He is. However how you have to play having a Melo, it does not lead to many wins. You have to build your offense and team around his needs and he has a -4.9 impact according to advanaced stats. He is a horrible shooter in the 4th quarter according to the stats.

I don't believe all the problems are Melo, I don't even believe Melo is a big problem. I do believe Melo is neither here or there. He neither helps this team get into the playoffs, nor does he help this team move forward. So long as you have Melo, you are stuck. The other thing is his game is an iso heavy, mid-range/post up game that is no longer a strength in the modern NBA. He has value as an outside shooter and a passer/playmaker, which he does not use enough of. His bully ball game is not dominant like Jordan or Kobe where he can drop 40-45 consistently when he takes over. So you're stuck with a player who plays a style of game that doesn't fit in today's NBA. If he changed his game around, played more screen/roll and passed the ball, if he shot more outside jumpshots of catch and shoots instead of trying to isolate in the mid-range and post ups, I think we would see his impact be a positive. Then there's defense, which while is better at 4, is nothing to add value to again.

Melo needs to go to a team where he is forced to do what he is best at in this juncture of his career. Shoot from outside, pass the ball to other great scorers. He plays well on team USA because of that. He knows he is not the best player or the man and won't try to play like one. It's in the best interests of the team and Melo to move forward with a trade, but I have my doubts Melo sees it that way.

I don't know if you knew about this stat, but he is also the 5th worst shooter in the league in the 4th quarter as of the game vs Philadelphia. The franchise player being the 5th worst shooter in closing quarter is not exactly an asset. He clearly runs out of gas as the game wears on. It's not like Melo can't score or forgets to score by the 4th. It's that as the game goes on, opposing teams defense picks up and Melo doesn't have that extra gear anymore. I wish he played a 18 points 4 assists a night with heavy dose of outside shooting/3 point shooting type of game. He does sometimes, but not consistently. That's the role for him on a winning team right now.

TPercy wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

TPercy wrote:

Knixkik wrote:KP has been settled in pretty well as a center. He has been solid against golden state too. He's a 20/10 player as a starting center, and will improve defensively next season with added strength.

It also helps that GSW is a relatively small team with zero big men who actually pose a threat.

They have the best record in the league. This is how most teams play. And he was being defended the best defender in the league (besides Kawhi) most of the game. It doesn't matter how they play, more-so who was guarding him. It was a big test that he passed on an individual level.

Offensively I agree, but I'm talking about defence. Can he hold out if we play the pelicans?

Well no one can hold their own against Davis or Cousins. You can't compare him to those guys, because they are outliers. Generally speaking, KP will do fine against most centers. Against a few great centers, he will struggle like every other center in the league when matched up against a star player. KP should be playing a majority of his minutes at center, except when playing alongside Willy. He will stay healthier at center too, because he won't be chasing as much on defense, which wears him down much faster than fighting down low. Noah, when healthy, should be limited to spot minutes against bigger teams, and DNP on many nights to keep him fresh when needed. O'Quinn should be dealt while his value is still there for a draft pick or a quality rotation guard. We probably already missed the boat on his peak value by not dealing him at the deadline. His value will still be there this summer, but not quite as high given he only has one more year before his player option. Plus we have plumlee has a 4th center behind KP, Willy, and Noah, which makes O'Quinn even more expendable.