Sangfroid wrote:

misterearl wrote:"We were an outside shooting team because our players aren't good enough to get the ball inside to our bigs without turning it over."

Solution

Slide Mike Bibby to the end of the bench. Demote Toney Douglas to pine brother status. Give Iman Shumpert the keys. Give Jeremy Lin Mike Bibby's minutes.

Hold on tight through January.

Look for positive, and consistent, signs of team cohesion by Valentines Day

I like the "Bibby to the end of the bench", part. TD however, is better served being used as an off- the-bench back-up SG. When looking for his own offense, he is quite efficent and hehas nerves of steel. Unafraid to take the big shot. In that respect, he's pretty similar to Melo, even if he doesn't get the same results.

Sangfroid - Douglas could be more challenged as a off-the-bench backup shooting guard than he is at the lead guard because of the guys he will need to match up with on defense. TD may continue scoring at his torrid 32 per cent (this season) or 42 per cent (career) rates, but would he be abused by non-starters like Mike Miller, Jason Terry, Wesley Matthews or Jamal Crawford?

knickstorrents wrote:

misterearl wrote:"We were an outside shooting team because our players aren't good enough to get the ball inside to our bigs without turning it over."

Solution

Slide Mike Bibby to the end of the bench. Demote Toney Douglas to pine brother status. Give Iman Shumpert the keys. Give Jeremy Lin Mike Bibby's minutes.

Hold on tight through January.

Look for positive, and consistent, signs of team cohesion by Valentines Day

I like this plan. Iman has a pretty nice handle and also seems to play in the flow of the game.

Give em all BBIQ tests and only passing grades get playing time I say!

(Watching Derrick Rose of the Bulls in the clutch illustrates how much the Knicks desperately miss a backcourt player who can create off the dribble)

"...(Shumpert) is already being cast as a key to the Knicks’ season, which might be slightly premature.

“A little bit,” D’Antoni said with a wince. “I mean, we can’t expect a guy that had no rookie camp, no training camp, didn’t get in here in September because he couldn’t, to come out and play at an All-Star level all year. He just can’t do that...”

Then again, roll the game tape and watch Shumpert flying through the lane, dunking in traffic or hounding Rajon Rondo, and the imagination understandably runs wild. In a season of outsize expectations, when the Knicks are being sold as title contenders, projecting Shumpert as a savior somehow seems reasonable."

- Howard Beck, NYT

loweyecue wrote:

colombian0725 wrote:As a Knicks fan it kills me to watch this team shoot 40 3's in a game. We could have easily won this game if we shot 18-22 3's that night. We need to feed the ball to melo in the post. and when our players finally got an open look pump fake and drive !!! they are to scared to go in the paint.

Feed the ball to Melo in the post? Have you actually watched our guard play? They cant hit the side of the barn, how do you propose we get the ball to Melo again?

lol you do have a point. I know our guard play is bad but they will need to spend time at practice getting melo the ball in the post. They are still nba players it's not like he's playing with a bunch of high school kids.

Childs2Dudley wrote:

After watching the game film, and evaluating the shots in context, D’Antoni said most of the 3-point attempts were the best shots available at the time. The Raptors, with the 7-footer Andrea Bargnani in the middle, had taken away the interior.

“It’s hard to tell a player, ‘Don’t take that shot, just drive it into the 7-footer and then see what happens,’ ” D’Antoni said. “Did we force a couple? Probably.”

Pathetic.

Somewhere in basketball heaven, Red Holzman is slapping himself in the forehead.

Hit the open man.

Q. arkrud: Bad 3-pointer is better that bad turnover... or is it?

A. Outstanding question ark. At least, with a turnover resulting from trying to force the ball inside, your forwards are reminded they are important. Hoisting a three as the only way out of (cough) play breaking down, is a move of desperation. It also indicates you have no one with the skill set to create off the dribble.

As it stands the Knicks have only 1.5 guys who have the confidence (and skill set) to improvise inside the three point arc.

Carmelo and The Iman.

Until he develops a signature low post move (a drop step), better court vision and trusts his running mates - Amar'e is a turnover waiting to happen in a halfcourt set.

loweyecue wrote:

misterearl wrote:The Answer Man Dug "Red On Roundball"

As it stands the Knicks have only 1.5 guys who have the confidence (and skill set) to improvise inside the three point arc.

Carmelo and The Iman.

Until he develops a signature low post move (a drop step), better court vision and trusts his running mates - Amar'e is a turnover waiting to happen in a halfcourt set.

So true. People keep blaming for not adapting to the roster and the they suggest ISP plays for Melo and STAT. That is guaranteed to make it even less efficient than now. Only thing that may help is ball movement but our guards are of the shoot first variety. As for cuts to the basket Fields does this routinely, but no one sees him or gets him the ball.

Exactly

6'7 John Havlicek was no magician as a ball handler, but made a career of moving without the ball and outrunning defenders until they were out of breath. Landry Fields does the same thing, but is rarely spotted.

There was a brief moment in distant Knicks history when Kurt Thomas and Marcus Camby (still playing by the way) made a habit of looking for each other. The combined for timely assists. It was a beautiful thing to have two unselfish big men.

If developers can superimpose laser images on a car windshield, why can't someone come up with a simple electronic imprint for the lower half of Amar'es custom goggles that says, "look for a cutter"...?

arkrud wrote:

misterearl wrote:

loweyecue wrote:

misterearl wrote:The Answer Man Dug "Red On Roundball"

As it stands the Knicks have only 1.5 guys who have the confidence (and skill set) to improvise inside the three point arc.

Carmelo and The Iman.

Until he develops a signature low post move (a drop step), better court vision and trusts his running mates - Amar'e is a turnover waiting to happen in a halfcourt set.

So true. People keep blaming for not adapting to the roster and the they suggest ISP plays for Melo and STAT. That is guaranteed to make it even less efficient than now. Only thing that may help is ball movement but our guards are of the shoot first variety. As for cuts to the basket Fields does this routinely, but no one sees him or gets him the ball.

Exactly

6'7 John Havlicek was no magician as a ball handler, but made a career of moving without the ball and outrunning defenders until they were out of breath. Landry Fields does the same thing, but is rarely spotted.

There was a brief moment in distant Knicks history when Kurt Thomas and Marcus Camby (still playing by the way) made a habit of looking for each other. The combined for timely assists. It was a beautiful thing to have two unselfish big men.

If developers can superimpose laser images on a car windshield, why can't someone come up with a simple electronic imprint for the lower half of Amar'es custom goggles that says, "look for a cutter"...?

BBal player-robot will be the first to be developed. He only need a brain size of roach... and custom goggles that says, "look for a big paycheck"...

arkrud - that is a bit personal and harsh don't you think?

This is not about the size of any players brain as much as ingrained habits. Where Amar'e felt compelled to play Gladys Knight for a roster of Pips, there is another dynamic in the big city. The plowing into the paint that worked 39 regular season games ago, is suddenly out of fashion. Stoudemire is also crowded by a seven footer who likes to play inside his turf.

Change is not easy for anyone used to things being his way.

It is not Amar'es fault or responsibility to make the new composition work. It is on everyone.