Uptown wrote:Excellent post TMS....your surroundings can change your perseptions of a player. Case and point, I was watching NBATV and one of them mentioned that channing Frye was having a great season. If you look at his numbers, they aren't much better than the numbers he put up here as a rookie. But he's playing on a better team that is winning.Put Chandler on the Lakers right now, and he would be a young stud.....winning highlights your positives, but being in a losing situation (Knick land) highlights all of your weaknesses...
Very true. You also have better players around you whose performance can minimize your deficiencies.
Another issue I have with how people evaluate young players around here is that they focus too much on their deficiencies and don't look at any progress they make, PLUS they are unable to grasp the idea that players develop at their own speed based on a number of factors- age, physical growth, skills they have and those they need to acquire, the system they play under, and the teammates they have around them.
When you evaluate young players during their first 3 years you look at the positives they bring to the table and discount (But don't dismiss!) their negatives. As they play more years you start looking at their weaknesses more-especially the ones they had as rookies but have not improved upon. You also look at how they react to adjustments other teams make against them, so a decent rookie season does not necessarily guarantee stardom.(How will opposing players deal with T. Evans if his outside shot remains as pathetic/sporadic as it was against the Knicks the other day- I can just hear Clyde talking about how he would be backing off Evans, challenging him to take the jumper, and overplaying him because he is not that good going to his left.)
Two examples of players drafted by the Knicks D. Lee and Ariza.
Lee was a player like John Brockman his first year. Smart player, fine rebounder, ran the floor, good energy, but he had no outside shot, and even had trouble hitting foul shots. Did anyone even consider his defensive weaknesses at that time (I wasn't around here.)? He was 22 the year he was drafted, by the way, so he was hardly a kid by today's drafting standards. He is now in his 5th year- and has made great gains offensively- doing things guys might have criticized him for not being able to do back in the past. In his 2nd and 3rd seasons you saw progress, and his scoring average improved to 10-11PPG, but it was not until he improved his jumper (the pick and roll also) that he hit the 16-17PPG plateau he now finds himself at. ...BUT his D is terrible
(Has it regressed or did we overlook it in the past?), and he has never put on the muscle (and does not seem willing to try), or dialed up the defensive effort, that he needs to have to be the best PF/C he can be in this league. Lee may have finally reached his peak as a starting player in the NBA.
As for Ariza, how long has it taken him to reach the level he has reached? He has always been a sporadic shooter (less than 40% this year, too, by the way), but has generally improved his game, worked hard on defense, and is finally on a team where he can play almost 40MMG and jack up 17SPG. He was able to play with some good teams where he was a valuable role player, and I'm sure he learned a lot from playing with Koby. None of us know if he will be able to be the leader on this Houston team- we will have to see how he does, but he is now in his 6th year and up until this year he had never even hit the 9PPG level or 25MPG level as a player. Would guys around here have been accepting of him if he was only putting up 9PPG in his 5th year? Took him a number of years to gel and get his opportunity, folks.
Chandler is hurt- and still is- he is just not the kind of guy who is going to be whining about it. We may have to give him a Mulligan this year, I don't know. None of us know how much the injury has affected him and dampened his instincts as a player. He made strides last year, and I was hoping he could take the next step this year, but does his regression mean that he is just not going to get any better, or is it related to his injury.
Gallo has made great strides from last season, and shows promise, but he is coming off surgery, has not even played 50 games in the NBA and did not have a chance to build up his body between his operation and the season. BUT can anyone say he has not moved up a step in his development as a player?! And he his still physically immature, and he just turned 21 in August. Will his back be an issue? I don't know-but he shows the potential to be a very good player-especially when he finally becomes a PF.
Hill has simply not had a chance to show his stuff. He has given us very brief flashes of what he may become, but who knows what he can do at this point. If you give up on a guy like him you are making a mistake, though. He is another guy who has to harden up physically, and he also has to work on fundamentals, but if he does, he will be a very good player in this league.
Douglas has shown us a lot to get excited about. He still has to find his comfort zone, but of our 4 young players, I still see him as the most ready to produce when taking into consideration physical ability/maturity and basketball smarts.
I understand that Knicks fans are frustrated, but this team is still going through an evolutionary period. I don't know how Walsh's plan will work out, though, and I see promise in some of our young players but I don't have a crystal ball that tells me they are going be stars or even starters.
One thing I do know, though- I am not going to have a hissy fit if our young players have a sub-par game. There are too many dynamics and variables on this team which are keeping our younger players from having the opportunities they might have if they were playing on another team. I am just hoping that they get added playing time, stay healthy, and make visible improvements in their respective games as the year progresses.
No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities- C.N. Bovee
