nyknickzingis wrote:The positive I take in tonight is that the team's shown how good it is in terms of being a supporting cast for Melo.
I repeat, the major issue we have is that Melo makes the money worth 3 Afflao's or 3 good players for us. With his physical decline, while he has played at a near MVP level in a 15 game stretch, the rest of the season has seen him either injured, or coming back from an injury and not looking well (early this season). He also missed half of last season. At some point, Phil Jackson has to realize that Melo isn't going to be this team's #1 guy, or be the star that can carry them to the playoffs. You see what Durant and Westbrook did tonight. That's a star that can carry you to the playoffs ever year. There's a few of them in the league, and Melo has the game for it but I question if he has the body left to do it. He reminds me of Dwight Howard in that he's still a very good player, one of the best at his spots when healthy, but he isn't healthy enough anymore. The problem for us is that Melo is making the money of 3 of our players. If we say had 2 starting caliber guards on this team instead of Melo, we'd be more competitive than the 22-25 record we have. A team that has the supporting cast of Porzingis, Lopez, Willilams, Afflalo, Thomas, Galloway etc. should not be missing the playoffs if they've truly invested in an appropriate star. I hate saying this but everytime I see a night like tonight, I think man, we either should have gotten Melo to stay for 18 million a year tops or sign and traded him to the Bulls for some assets. I do fully acknolwdge and love his commitment and development as a player, I just question if we'll ever be a top team in the East with him being the #1 guy to rely on. And so long as Melo is there, I doubt the team can ever truly be someone else's like KP's (Not saying KP is ready to be the man now but even if he is in a year or so, I doubt it becomes his team to lead so long as Melo is on the roster).

Killer? Melo's going to make nearly 25, 26+ and 28 million over the next 3 season's after this one. Going to be awfully hard to build an elite team if he can't stay healthy and carry them like a guy who makes that sort of money should. Top it off, he has a NTC. If he is ever to be put on the block, they'd get pennies on the dollar as he'd be able to dictate where he goes.

yes the contract was outrageous, but less so once melo started playing the right way. that's a main reason he has had the playoff record he has had-- his style of play does not galvanize teams and does not translate well to playoff basketball.

now that he is playing the right way his body has started to betray him, making his contract onerous again. but the good news is that so long as he remains a knickerbocker, even as the team gets younger, his finest days as a knick could be in a sixth man role to the tune of 24 minutes a night. i have been mentioning this for months on end but it seems more and more likely as he continues to show signs of breaking down. it'll still be a ridiculous contract for most of its duration, but you can't complain about the way he has been playing this season.

nyknickzingis wrote:

NYKBocker wrote:We really need to use KPs full skillset. Right now, he can't post up the Ibakas and the like. They are just too strong. They need to run him off screens and let those behemoths chase him around. Have them go through multiple screens and have KP catch the ball on the move at the elbows. A nice 10-12 foot shot or drive to the basket would force the other team to take out Ibaka or switch with a faster player. Then you can post them up.

He had 2 plays like that yesterday, one where he finished with a floater and the other where he finished with his left hand. He should be used on the move against slower bigs. He's figuring it out. The team is just slow at recognizing his strengths right now. Last night there were 2 times he was wide open for a lob play and no one saw it. Afflalo's tunnel vision hurts, but there are a few players like Lance Thomas even who don't look to pass when they get the ball. Important to have multiple guys that can pass and no more than 1 tunnel vision guy in the lineups. I like both Thomas and Afflalo, but when they play together it gives us limitations in what we can do on offense as they just don't recognize the open man enough when the ball is in there hands.

I feel like the team of sees about 1 of 5 chances to hit either DWill or KP on that lob play.

The team was short its big star and the guy who makes plays for them down the stretch (and yes, one of their best defenders and passers) - and they competed hard. Westbrook and Durant needed to put forth epic games to fight off the Knicks. It was fun.

Hopefully this game keeps the team hungry and they use it to propel towards the playoffs. Beat Toronto on Friday and go from there.

My take away from last night:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/MrMichaelLee/status/692386999500705792

dk7th wrote:

nyknickzingis wrote:The positive I take in tonight is that the team's shown how good it is in terms of being a supporting cast for Melo.
I repeat, the major issue we have is that Melo makes the money worth 3 Afflao's or 3 good players for us. With his physical decline, while he has played at a near MVP level in a 15 game stretch, the rest of the season has seen him either injured, or coming back from an injury and not looking well (early this season). He also missed half of last season. At some point, Phil Jackson has to realize that Melo isn't going to be this team's #1 guy, or be the star that can carry them to the playoffs. You see what Durant and Westbrook did tonight. That's a star that can carry you to the playoffs ever year. There's a few of them in the league, and Melo has the game for it but I question if he has the body left to do it. He reminds me of Dwight Howard in that he's still a very good player, one of the best at his spots when healthy, but he isn't healthy enough anymore. The problem for us is that Melo is making the money of 3 of our players. If we say had 2 starting caliber guards on this team instead of Melo, we'd be more competitive than the 22-25 record we have. A team that has the supporting cast of Porzingis, Lopez, Willilams, Afflalo, Thomas, Galloway etc. should not be missing the playoffs if they've truly invested in an appropriate star. I hate saying this but everytime I see a night like tonight, I think man, we either should have gotten Melo to stay for 18 million a year tops or sign and traded him to the Bulls for some assets. I do fully acknolwdge and love his commitment and development as a player, I just question if we'll ever be a top team in the East with him being the #1 guy to rely on. And so long as Melo is there, I doubt the team can ever truly be someone else's like KP's (Not saying KP is ready to be the man now but even if he is in a year or so, I doubt it becomes his team to lead so long as Melo is on the roster).

Killer? Melo's going to make nearly 25, 26+ and 28 million over the next 3 season's after this one. Going to be awfully hard to build an elite team if he can't stay healthy and carry them like a guy who makes that sort of money should. Top it off, he has a NTC. If he is ever to be put on the block, they'd get pennies on the dollar as he'd be able to dictate where he goes.

yes the contract was outrageous, but less so once melo started playing the right way. that's a main reason he has had the playoff record he has had-- his style of play does not galvanize teams and does not translate well to playoff basketball.

now that he is playing the right way his body has started to betray him, making his contract onerous again. but the good news is that so long as he remains a knickerbocker, even as the team gets younger, his finest days as a knick could be in a sixth man role to the tune of 24 minutes a night. i have been mentioning this for months on end but it seems more and more likely as he continues to show signs of breaking down. it'll still be a ridiculous contract for most of its duration, but you can't complain about the way he has been playing this season.

Yea it would be wise to start limiting Melo to 30mins a game effective immediately. No more 40min+ games. Just make sure Melo starts and ends games. Study how the Spurs have handled Duncan's minutes and recovery days. This is how we will get the most out of his 5yr contract. We can't afford another situation where we get only 1-2yrs out of our max player and 3-4yrs where he is in a suit and taking up 1/3 of our cap. Melo giving us 30mins a night of this brand of basketball for the next 3 seasons is invaluable to the longterm success of this franchise

crzymdups wrote:My other big take away last night - does it seem like Afflalo is playing on dead legs a lot? It seems like unless he really really jumps his shots are often short. It seems like he was exhausted from the beginning of the game last night.

I like Afflalo's personality... but I'm starting to think I'd be okay cutting ties with him as a player. Or, if he opts out, I'd bring him back... but not for a raise... for something more like $6M a year.

even when fresh he jackknifes most if not all his shots, which makes for a low trajectory. he has no real hops as it is. he is a liability on defense and is essentially a bench player. can't win with him in the secondary scoring role.

his best season was in orlando, where he led the team to a 23-59 record. fool's gold player... and i actually like the acquisition at the time.

i was wrong.

gunsnewing wrote:

dk7th wrote:

nyknickzingis wrote:The positive I take in tonight is that the team's shown how good it is in terms of being a supporting cast for Melo.
I repeat, the major issue we have is that Melo makes the money worth 3 Afflao's or 3 good players for us. With his physical decline, while he has played at a near MVP level in a 15 game stretch, the rest of the season has seen him either injured, or coming back from an injury and not looking well (early this season). He also missed half of last season. At some point, Phil Jackson has to realize that Melo isn't going to be this team's #1 guy, or be the star that can carry them to the playoffs. You see what Durant and Westbrook did tonight. That's a star that can carry you to the playoffs ever year. There's a few of them in the league, and Melo has the game for it but I question if he has the body left to do it. He reminds me of Dwight Howard in that he's still a very good player, one of the best at his spots when healthy, but he isn't healthy enough anymore. The problem for us is that Melo is making the money of 3 of our players. If we say had 2 starting caliber guards on this team instead of Melo, we'd be more competitive than the 22-25 record we have. A team that has the supporting cast of Porzingis, Lopez, Willilams, Afflalo, Thomas, Galloway etc. should not be missing the playoffs if they've truly invested in an appropriate star. I hate saying this but everytime I see a night like tonight, I think man, we either should have gotten Melo to stay for 18 million a year tops or sign and traded him to the Bulls for some assets. I do fully acknolwdge and love his commitment and development as a player, I just question if we'll ever be a top team in the East with him being the #1 guy to rely on. And so long as Melo is there, I doubt the team can ever truly be someone else's like KP's (Not saying KP is ready to be the man now but even if he is in a year or so, I doubt it becomes his team to lead so long as Melo is on the roster).

Killer? Melo's going to make nearly 25, 26+ and 28 million over the next 3 season's after this one. Going to be awfully hard to build an elite team if he can't stay healthy and carry them like a guy who makes that sort of money should. Top it off, he has a NTC. If he is ever to be put on the block, they'd get pennies on the dollar as he'd be able to dictate where he goes.

yes the contract was outrageous, but less so once melo started playing the right way. that's a main reason he has had the playoff record he has had-- his style of play does not galvanize teams and does not translate well to playoff basketball.

now that he is playing the right way his body has started to betray him, making his contract onerous again. but the good news is that so long as he remains a knickerbocker, even as the team gets younger, his finest days as a knick could be in a sixth man role to the tune of 24 minutes a night. i have been mentioning this for months on end but it seems more and more likely as he continues to show signs of breaking down. it'll still be a ridiculous contract for most of its duration, but you can't complain about the way he has been playing this season.

Yea it would be wise to start limiting Melo to 30mins a game effective immediately. No more 40min+ games. Just make sure Melo starts and ends games. Study how the Spurs have handled Duncan's minutes and recovery days. This is how we will get the most out of his 5yr contract. We can't afford another situation where we get only 1-2yrs out of our max player and 3-4yrs where he is in a suit and taking up 1/3 of our cap. Melo giving us 30mins a night of this brand of basketball for the next 3 seasons is invaluable to the longterm success of this franchise

Gudris wrote:Watching again last 5 minutes of game and thinking why not bringing in Melo in last 5 minutes to close the game ? I think he can play for 5 minutes with no problems

because playing in a european suit can be difficult...at times.