I think MDA's choosing Melo to be the "point forward" is partly based on the fact that he has been principally a ball stopping player. (I read a statistic which said that only 15% of the balls that were passed to him were passed onto someone else when he was in Denver.) I think 'm guessing MDA made him point forward to encourage him not to be a ball stopper. As point forward he needs to keep looking for open players to pass the ball to. I think a clever move by MDA. Do you agree?

rvwink wrote:One of the tricks that coaches sometimes use is to pick someone to be the team captain, who maybe something of a rebel. The idea is that in order to be the captain, the player will become more of a team player.

I think MDA's choosing Melo to be the "point forward" is partly based on the fact that he has been principally a ball stopping player. (I read a statistic which said that only 15% of the balls that were passed to him were passed onto someone else when he was in Denver.) I think 'm guessing MDA made him point forward to encourage him not to be a ball stopper. As point forward he needs to keep looking for open players to pass the ball to. I think a clever move by MDA. Do you agree?

Interesting take because when I was watching last night the broadcaster knew that as soon as it was in Melo hand they said he is shooting it which he did. The problem I noticed is that everyone stops and watch soon as he has the ball so no movement at all without the ball from say 2 or 1 guard.

Allanfan20 wrote:People panicking are silly. Yes, our PG play has been pretty awful and that's why we are relying on Melo to be a "point foward", a position that doesn't suit him (Which isn't his fault). If Melo and Stat both had even decent days then we'd be talking about how we won the game despite a spirited comback by the Warriors. They shot bad. It will come back to them.

What IS concerning is out backcourt defense. It's simply awful and the fact that we are now developing early high hopes for Davis, Lin and Shumpert speaks volumes to how bad the PG play has been.

The funny thing is this isn't TDs fault. His game is his game. He's best as the combo guard or backup scoring PG off the bench, ala Bobby Jackson. Fields HAS to make better decisions though. I'm really surprised by some of the bad decisions he made. I'm happy he's being aggresive but it's being crossed off by the TOs and inconsistency.

rp wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:People panicking are silly. Yes, our PG play has been pretty awful and that's why we are relying on Melo to be a "point foward", a position that doesn't suit him (Which isn't his fault). If Melo and Stat both had even decent days then we'd be talking about how we won the game despite a spirited comback by the Warriors. They shot bad. It will come back to them.

What IS concerning is out backcourt defense. It's simply awful and the fact that we are now developing early high hopes for Davis, Lin and Shumpert speaks volumes to how bad the PG play has been.

The funny thing is this isn't TDs fault. His game is his game. He's best as the combo guard or backup scoring PG off the bench, ala Bobby Jackson. Fields HAS to make better decisions though. I'm really surprised by some of the bad decisions he made. I'm happy he's being aggresive but it's being crossed off by the TOs and inconsistency.

It's not just some random occurrence that Melo and Amare had bad games though. It's the result of having a poorly constructed offense (which is Dolan's specialty). I believe (and really hope) that it's not going to always be as bad as last night but you're kidding yourself if you think our roster is intelligently put together. Zero players who can penetrate? Zero who can do the pick and roll, which is our max contract PF's speciality? Zero who can push the ball up court and lead a fast break? Is this the kind of roster a well run organization like the Spurs would ever put together?

This is the plan to get Phil and the triangle offense.

Bonn1997 wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:but you're kidding yourself if you think our roster is intelligently put together. Zero players who can penetrate? Zero who can do the pick and roll, which is our max contract PF's speciality? Zero who can push the ball up court and lead a fast break? Is this the kind of roster a well run organization like the Spurs would ever put together?

Are you kidding? There are not zero players who can penetrate. There are three. Two of the guys that can penetrate are currently injured. The 3rd guy is just signed, and will need some time to get comfortable. Sh-t happens. We need to make the best of it. Do you think sometimes when a player gets injured on the Spurs that they don't have to make the best of it as well?

The fact that you haven't seen Iman's point guard skills yet, imo doesn't give the right to write him off yet. It seems to me that he has potential to be a point guard, and that the fact that he will have more length than almost every other point guard, and faster, and able to jump higher to boot, gives him a nice start. The third point guard certainly knows how to get in the lane, but clearly he is an undecided as well.

There are three players with potential to play point guard. Maybe that should preclude you from stating that the Knicks aren't trying to get a point guard to help their offense.

MSG3 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

rvwink wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:but you're kidding yourself if you think our roster is intelligently put together. Zero players who can penetrate? Zero who can do the pick and roll, which is our max contract PF's speciality? Zero who can push the ball up court and lead a fast break? Is this the kind of roster a well run organization like the Spurs would ever put together?

Are you kidding? There are not zero players who can penetrate. There are three. Two of the guys that can penetrate are currently injured. The 3rd guy is just signed, and will need some time to get comfortable. Sh-t happens. We need to make the best of it. Do you think sometimes when a player gets injured on the Spurs that they don't have to make the best of it as well?

Davis is an unknown. It could work out great but it's not good that we're depending on a guy that every team passed on. Iman can penetrate but it seems to result in a poor shot when he does. I have seen zero indication of PG skills in him so far. To be clear: He looks super talented and I'm hoping we have him in the organization for the long-run. I wish we had gone in the direction of getting young talent (including players like him) to develop rather than starphucking. But it does not look like he's ready to make a contribution as a PG or a distributor right now.

How is Davis an unknown? When his heart is int it he's one of the best pg's in the league. His back is cause for concern, but as recently as last season he made a horrible Cavs team not look so horrible. He's been in the league long enough and has produced recently enough to not be considered an unknown.

You have a way of really framing everything about these Knicks in the worst possible way. More so than any other poster here. "Davis is an unknown" "The roster stinks" "Melo is not an efficient player". Give me a break.

No team is perfect and this team hasn't played close to their potential, but it is foolish to think that they will not be a very good team this season. Give them a little time. Were you ecstatic about last years team when they started 3-8?

I'm the most negative person here about the franchise. Among non-Knick fans, my views are mainstream though.

rvwink wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote: but you're kidding yourself if you think our roster is intelligently put together. Zero players who can penetrate? Zero who can do the pick and roll, which is our max contract PF's speciality? Zero who can push the ball up court and lead a fast break? Is this the kind of roster a well run organization like the Spurs would ever put together?

Its amazing how you have tucked so many inaccuracies in just 3 sentences. "Zero who can do the pick and roll". What about Davis and Lin plus Iman hasn't provided enough data yet for us to know yet. "Zero who can push the ball up the court and lead a fast break?" I think all of our point guards but I will leave Bibby out for 3 again because he is not fast enough. "Is this the kind of roster a well run organization like the Spurs would ever put together?" 2 1/2 games into the season why are you pretending to know what no one can know until much later in the season?

CrushAlot wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:People panicking are silly. Yes, our PG play has been pretty awful and that's why we are relying on Melo to be a "point foward", a position that doesn't suit him (Which isn't his fault). If Melo and Stat both had even decent days then we'd be talking about how we won the game despite a spirited comback by the Warriors. They shot bad. It will come back to them.

What IS concerning is out backcourt defense. It's simply awful and the fact that we are now developing early high hopes for Davis, Lin and Shumpert speaks volumes to how bad the PG play has been.

The funny thing is this isn't TDs fault. His game is his game. He's best as the combo guard or backup scoring PG off the bench, ala Bobby Jackson. Fields HAS to make better decisions though. I'm really surprised by some of the bad decisions he made. I'm happy he's being aggresive but it's being crossed off by the TOs and inconsistency.

I believe the best record a D'antoni coached Knicks team has had out of training camp for the first 15 games is 7-8. This struggle at the beginning of the season isn't new. It is painful to watch but it has become an annual event.

I agree about Douglas. He is more than adequate in his role when he is the first guard off the bench.

blkexec wrote:

arkrud wrote:Elite NBA team = Elite PG + team.... with rare exception, when team has GREAT coach.
NBA team without PG atall will suck. There is no way around it.

Take a look at the Elite teams of the past and tell me who has an elite PG....

To me, it's a combination of superstars, bigs and coaching....Just based on championship history! One thing all these PG's have in common, is high Basketball IQ. Don't need an elite PG. What you do need is an Elite coach to manage these superstars!

1998-99 & 1999-00 & 2000-01 & 2001-02

Los Angeles Lakers

MVP....Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles

San Antonio Spurs

MVP....Tim Duncan, San Antonio
1997-98

Chicago Bulls

MVP....Michael Jordan, Chicago
1996-97

Chicago Bulls

MVP....Michael Jordan, Chicago
1995-96

Chicago Bulls

MVP.....Michael Jordan, Chicago
1994-95

Houston Rockets

MVP.....Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1993-94

Houston Rockets

MVP....Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1992-93

Chicago Bulls

MVP....Michael Jordan, Chicago
1991-92

Chicago Bulls

MVP.....Michael Jordan, Chicago
1990-91

Chicago Bulls

MVP....Michael Jordan, Chicago

Nice list... Cannot see anything close to Michael Jordan, Hakeem, or Shak on this Knicks team...
Not even close. Not talking about supporting cast this great players had.
Some delusional Knicks fans think that you can throw 2-3 good players together, add a buch of filers, and here you go - you have a contender.
How about to do some work and take some time? No... This will be boring... So enjoy the highlights.