nyknickzingis wrote:If Knicks keep Melo, they need to play smaller next year,Porzingis/Hernangomez
Melo/Thomas
Hardaway/Kuzminskas
Lee/Dotson
Baker/Ntilikina
My thoughts:
Would make sense to trade O'Quinn for a 3 or stretch 4. Lance Thomas fills this role but he is often injured. Kuz is still unknown, he can do it at times but will he get better on D. We should take a look at moving O'Quinn for some asset of future value (draft pick) or a 3/stretch 4 that can fit into our rotation.
Willy needs to come off the bench, because I can't see Porzingis/Willy/Melo run the offense or defense actively. I don't like that we would have to do this, but it would get better team play and more chemistry which in the end will result in better individual play. Willy can be our go to scorer off the bench, which he is more than capable of. I like Frank and Willy playing screen/roll and being the "big 2" for the second unit.
Let Melo, Hardaway, Lee all start. 3 wings. It's going to allow them to speed up the game, run the ball and shoot early 3 pointers which is what they were trying to do last year at the start of the season. Baker has a better feel for being a point guard than Rose, so he'll get the ball to the open man sooner.
Porzingis at 5 is risky. On offense he will have more spacing and ability to beat defenders off the dribble. Our floor spacig would be fantastic. Defensively he'd block many shots. I worry about the power defending. He will get beaten up and players will want to rebound over him and push him down low. Playing at 4 protects him from this as Willy and Noah do the board battles.
Don't see our defense improving all that much, but we could get up there in points. Last year's team was averaging 105. This type of lineup could get you 107-108. Give up even more, maybe. But they will be able to score, spread the floor, and would have possibly two all-star shot makers in Melo/KP.
Forecast for team
Floor: 30 wins, 7th in lottery
Middle: 35 wins, 11th in lotter
Ceiling: 40 wins, 7th seed in East
