tkf wrote:

dk7th wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:what little leadership we can expect from the players and the coaching staff is going to be mightily challenged with the front office shenanigans that have just gone down , with carmelo anthony's contract swirling like a black hole at the center of the knick galaxy.

there is no separation from the head of the fish and the rest of the body, it is one contiguous body. the fish rots from the head down. it is fruitless and vain to expect the players to not feel influenced and adversely affected.

Unless they make changes to the core of the roster I don't expect any of Dolan's crap will have an impact on the way this team plays this year. It's hard to make a case that switching in Mills for Grunwald has any effect on the day to day play of the team. There is in fact separation from Management and the Players on the court. Woodson has the greatest impact on what the players do.

the past is prelude to the present. few can recall how miserable the nuggets were the last time melo's contract was up because knick fans were all caught up in the rumor mill and the palace intrigue and what not. to expect a completely different set of behaviors when the scenario is pretty much the same ****, different year, is really naive.

I think your off base on this one. The situation isn't the same. Melo isn't voicing that he wants to go anywhere else. He's happy here. They've given him everything he wants so why would there be any drama?

This is a good team with a chance to go deep into the playoffs. There's almost nothing similar between the 2 situations. This team is going to be focused on this season.

when it comes down to it, staying here is one thing but staying here while demanding far more money than he is actually worth-- if the knicks have any hope of winning anything, that is-- is going to create the same swirling and noxious miasma in the garden this season.

once he resigns here, I am taking a knick break.. for real man. My only hope is that this dope goes somewhere else. I am begging for kobe to be the prick he is and talk carmelo into coming there... both those guys deserve one another... As long as it gets him away from here.... I will tell you this.. the contract issue is just the beginning my friend. He will hold this season hostage, simply because he could care less... then when things fall apart he can use the excuse of the contract, lacking focus and of course no help.. then he and the knicks mgt will sell this bullshyt that they finally got this fool locked up and can focus on winning.. but he will be nearing 30 with over 13 years in the league... no doubt his best years behind him.. but it doesn't matter, he will be paid, knicks fans can continue to fantasize about carmelo and his volume shooting, and dolan can keep selling dreams..and false hope.. this is how this MSG machine rolls... I am tired of it bro... once he extends this ride for me is taking a pit stop.. a long one..

I think your taking it a step to far my friend, while melo is a volume shooter, he's not a selfish player by any stretch of the imagination..He lacks leadership skills and consistent defense..The only time I have ever question his effort was during those 2 months of that MDA/LINs era.

The Contract issue is what it is, gimme a break with that..There's literally a hand full of athletes that are worth there $..

I believe this roster is in the thick of the things as far as playoff seeding, but the same issues we had last year were not address in any shape or form..

Mills is absolutley going to have to make a Trade for a true back up C, weather Amare plays 70 games or 40.

MY only hope for this season is THAT woodson and Melo wake the FK up..

LivingLegend wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:Thats where were going to suffer, some how I think the roster is more talented, but less substance. Sheed and Kidd were key locker room guys.

Now we don't have one single player remotely close to having leadership skills, and with players like JR, MWP, Kmart, MR (Fire away) Melo..smh
This could take a turn for the worst fast..

For better or worse Felton and Chandler are our leaders --- I think Ray is natural leader and he knows this is his team.

in order to lead in a team sport you have to have the bonafide ability to make others around you better. customarily that would mean being a great defender or a great orchestrator/distributor.

and therein lies the problem with this team. nobody has a high enough degree of either of these so-important attributes. felton is just not good enough to be the leader and eventually all the talking in the world won't hide the fact that what he does on the court isn't good enough-- i mean the two point guard lineup was just to cover up felton's inadequacies and those inadequacies won't go away. then you are stuck with a small lineup that displaces people like shumpert who can actually defend.

honestly the only glimmer of hope i have is that udrih gets an opportunity to run the team instead of felton... but unfortunately woodson plays favorites and will not have an open competition for who might best be able to run the team.

udrih played on two title teams in san antonio if memory serves, and in the limited amount of time i have seen him play he looks to be a superior passer/playmaker to felton.

dk7th wrote:

tkf wrote:

dk7th wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:what little leadership we can expect from the players and the coaching staff is going to be mightily challenged with the front office shenanigans that have just gone down , with carmelo anthony's contract swirling like a black hole at the center of the knick galaxy.

there is no separation from the head of the fish and the rest of the body, it is one contiguous body. the fish rots from the head down. it is fruitless and vain to expect the players to not feel influenced and adversely affected.

Unless they make changes to the core of the roster I don't expect any of Dolan's crap will have an impact on the way this team plays this year. It's hard to make a case that switching in Mills for Grunwald has any effect on the day to day play of the team. There is in fact separation from Management and the Players on the court. Woodson has the greatest impact on what the players do.

the past is prelude to the present. few can recall how miserable the nuggets were the last time melo's contract was up because knick fans were all caught up in the rumor mill and the palace intrigue and what not. to expect a completely different set of behaviors when the scenario is pretty much the same ****, different year, is really naive.

I think your off base on this one. The situation isn't the same. Melo isn't voicing that he wants to go anywhere else. He's happy here. They've given him everything he wants so why would there be any drama?

This is a good team with a chance to go deep into the playoffs. There's almost nothing similar between the 2 situations. This team is going to be focused on this season.

when it comes down to it, staying here is one thing but staying here while demanding far more money than he is actually worth-- if the knicks have any hope of winning anything, that is-- is going to create the same swirling and noxious miasma in the garden this season.

once he resigns here, I am taking a knick break.. for real man. My only hope is that this dope goes somewhere else. I am begging for kobe to be the prick he is and talk carmelo into coming there... both those guys deserve one another... As long as it gets him away from here.... I will tell you this.. the contract issue is just the beginning my friend. He will hold this season hostage, simply because he could care less... then when things fall apart he can use the excuse of the contract, lacking focus and of course no help.. then he and the knicks mgt will sell this bullshyt that they finally got this fool locked up and can focus on winning.. but he will be nearing 30 with over 13 years in the league... no doubt his best years behind him.. but it doesn't matter, he will be paid, knicks fans can continue to fantasize about carmelo and his volume shooting, and dolan can keep selling dreams..and false hope.. this is how this MSG machine rolls... I am tired of it bro... once he extends this ride for me is taking a pit stop.. a long one..

the aspect of the season i am looking forward to is seeing who "steps up" as a leader on the court and in the locker room when the team faces adversity. i think there will be a lot of adversity because there is almost universal agreement that, while the knicks stood pat for the most part and made lateral moves, three other teams improved in the conference.

3 games vs. the bulls

3 games vs. the pacers

4 games vs. the nets

and then there's the heat who seem to have discovered sandbagging during the regular season, whom the knicks face 4 times.

maybe there's a knick player who will emerge as the leader and will hold the team together but i just don't see it. too much systemic sickness and pending contract issues at msg for that to happen.

which is why I am really not counting on anyone stepping up.....

knicks1248 wrote:

tkf wrote:

dk7th wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:what little leadership we can expect from the players and the coaching staff is going to be mightily challenged with the front office shenanigans that have just gone down , with carmelo anthony's contract swirling like a black hole at the center of the knick galaxy.

there is no separation from the head of the fish and the rest of the body, it is one contiguous body. the fish rots from the head down. it is fruitless and vain to expect the players to not feel influenced and adversely affected.

Unless they make changes to the core of the roster I don't expect any of Dolan's crap will have an impact on the way this team plays this year. It's hard to make a case that switching in Mills for Grunwald has any effect on the day to day play of the team. There is in fact separation from Management and the Players on the court. Woodson has the greatest impact on what the players do.

the past is prelude to the present. few can recall how miserable the nuggets were the last time melo's contract was up because knick fans were all caught up in the rumor mill and the palace intrigue and what not. to expect a completely different set of behaviors when the scenario is pretty much the same ****, different year, is really naive.

I think your off base on this one. The situation isn't the same. Melo isn't voicing that he wants to go anywhere else. He's happy here. They've given him everything he wants so why would there be any drama?

This is a good team with a chance to go deep into the playoffs. There's almost nothing similar between the 2 situations. This team is going to be focused on this season.

when it comes down to it, staying here is one thing but staying here while demanding far more money than he is actually worth-- if the knicks have any hope of winning anything, that is-- is going to create the same swirling and noxious miasma in the garden this season.

once he resigns here, I am taking a knick break.. for real man. My only hope is that this dope goes somewhere else. I am begging for kobe to be the prick he is and talk carmelo into coming there... both those guys deserve one another... As long as it gets him away from here.... I will tell you this.. the contract issue is just the beginning my friend. He will hold this season hostage, simply because he could care less... then when things fall apart he can use the excuse of the contract, lacking focus and of course no help.. then he and the knicks mgt will sell this bullshyt that they finally got this fool locked up and can focus on winning.. but he will be nearing 30 with over 13 years in the league... no doubt his best years behind him.. but it doesn't matter, he will be paid, knicks fans can continue to fantasize about carmelo and his volume shooting, and dolan can keep selling dreams..and false hope.. this is how this MSG machine rolls... I am tired of it bro... once he extends this ride for me is taking a pit stop.. a long one..

I think your taking it a step to far my friend, while melo is a volume shooter, he's not a selfish player by any stretch of the imagination..He lacks leadership skills and consistent defense..The only time I have ever question his effort was during those 2 months of that MDA/LINs era.

The Contract issue is what it is, gimme a break with that..There's literally a hand full of athletes that are worth there $..

I believe this roster is in the thick of the things as far as playoff seeding, but the same issues we had last year were not address in any shape or form..

Mills is absolutley going to have to make a Trade for a true back up C, weather Amare plays 70 games or 40.

MY only hope for this season is THAT woodson and Melo wake the FK up..

Honestly I think I am not.. here is why. I am a huge amare fan, I actually like the guy, yet I hate the amount of money we are paying him now... But overall when healthy he is a very good player... I don't like carmelo and the fact that we may be paying him 25 mil plus is a complete fail for the knicks.. this franchise will not and cannot get better by doing business this way..

Carmelo is not only a selfish player, but a selfish individual who plays absolutely no defense...let me give you and example of how much of a bum and clown I think this guy is.. his idea of defense is taking that wind up swing as the playing is going up for a shot... honestly not only is it dangerous but displays laziness.. the guy is lazy, takes shortcuts, but honestly this fits dolan to a tee.. because this is how he runs his franchise...

for me until we change the core of this team, fining a backup center, PG, etc is just like fixing the brakes on a car that has moter that is shot... why bother? first fix the motor, make sure the core of that car is perfect then address the other needs... the knicks core is not championship material, plain and simple, we have to work towards obtaining that...

dk7th wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:the aspect of the season i am looking forward to is seeing who "steps up" as a leader on the court and in the locker room when the team faces adversity. i think there will be a lot of adversity because there is almost universal agreement that, while the knicks stood pat for the most part and made lateral moves, three other teams improved in the conference.

3 games vs. the bulls

3 games vs. the pacers

4 games vs. the nets

and then there's the heat who seem to have discovered sandbagging during the regular season, whom the knicks face 4 times.

maybe there's a knick player who will emerge as the leader and will hold the team together but i just don't see it. too much systemic sickness and pending contract issues at msg for that to happen.

How can you predict adversity? I also don't agree that the Knicks stood pat. They actually improved the talent on this team over last years team. They got younger and more talented. Just how that will translate against the improved East is hard to say until we see them play. I will say that last year we really didn't see the Knicks fully max out since we had injuries and lost players. Hopefully with a younger and deeper roster we can see this team stay strong the entire season and thru the playoffs.

still comes down to leadership, chemistry, orchestration, synergy.

remember when jackson said the roster was clumsy? still is. remember how all the commentators were saying the key figure was felton and the knicks would go only as far as felton could take them? well that is a problem don't you think? i mean here's a guy who needed kidd and then prigioni to bail him out. what that does this year is displace shumpert and stunts his growth. then you have another clumsy situation with melo and bargani/stat. you want soooo badly to see bargagni just fit in perfectly with melo but i promise you we will see much of the same redundancy, overlap, lack of a genuine two-man game and lack of defense as we saw in the limited time stat and melo played together. clumsy! so that make two problem areas, point guard and the two forward spots-- that make it verrry hard to foresee a true team.

nixluva how many games do you give them to figure it out, since you assume they will?

It's not about me "wanting so bad" for Bargnani to fit in. He simply does fit with this roster. He just makes sense. A 7' player that can shoot from anywhere on the floor, can move well, PnP, Post, drive, is gonna be a good player to put in the mix on this roster. Nothing you've written against Bargnani makes any sense given his skill set. Bargnani has been one of the best PnP big men in the NBA period.

The more you write the more i'm convinced you don't have a good handle on this team. It turns out the roster wasn't clumsy it was flexible. The way the Knicks beat teams with their small lineup proved to be much better than people anticipated. Now we still have that capability but also can play many other variations of lineups.

I don't understand your desire to prove that this team was and will be dysfunctional. THEY WERE THE F'N #2 SEED IN THE EAST!!!! How can you just gloss over that fact? Every other team had a chance to beat out the Knicks and couldn't do it. This year the team has more depth, talent and balance to the roster. There's really nothing you can say that can prove this team isn't better. We don't even have enough spots to add the talent we have in camp. This is going to be a DEEP team.
This team may not be a monster defensive team but they're going to be extremely tough to defend!!!

The other thing that you haven't addressed is the fact that since Woody has taken over he's been extremely successful getting the most out of his team. I may not like his playoff performances, but in the regular season he's been able to whip this team into playing good BB. Dude is 72-34!!!
So WTF are you going on about??? Should you not have some faith that he can continue to do a good jog with this team?

knickscity wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:

nixluva wrote:

dk7th wrote:the aspect of the season i am looking forward to is seeing who "steps up" as a leader on the court and in the locker room when the team faces adversity. i think there will be a lot of adversity because there is almost universal agreement that, while the knicks stood pat for the most part and made lateral moves, three other teams improved in the conference.

3 games vs. the bulls

3 games vs. the pacers

4 games vs. the nets

and then there's the heat who seem to have discovered sandbagging during the regular season, whom the knicks face 4 times.

maybe there's a knick player who will emerge as the leader and will hold the team together but i just don't see it. too much systemic sickness and pending contract issues at msg for that to happen.

How can you predict adversity? I also don't agree that the Knicks stood pat. They actually improved the talent on this team over last years team. They got younger and more talented. Just how that will translate against the improved East is hard to say until we see them play. I will say that last year we really didn't see the Knicks fully max out since we had injuries and lost players. Hopefully with a younger and deeper roster we can see this team stay strong the entire season and thru the playoffs.

still comes down to leadership, chemistry, orchestration, synergy.

remember when jackson said the roster was clumsy? still is. remember how all the commentators were saying the key figure was felton and the knicks would go only as far as felton could take them? well that is a problem don't you think? i mean here's a guy who needed kidd and then prigioni to bail him out. what that does this year is displace shumpert and stunts his growth. then you have another clumsy situation with melo and bargani/stat. you want soooo badly to see bargagni just fit in perfectly with melo but i promise you we will see much of the same redundancy, overlap, lack of a genuine two-man game and lack of defense as we saw in the limited time stat and melo played together. clumsy! so that make two problem areas, point guard and the two forward spots-- that make it verrry hard to foresee a true team.

nixluva how many games do you give them to figure it out, since you assume they will?

It's not about me "wanting so bad" for Bargnani to fit in. He simply does fit with this roster. He just makes sense. A 7' player that can shoot from anywhere on the floor, can move well, PnP, Post, drive, is gonna be a good player to put in the mix on this roster. Nothing you've written against Bargnani makes any sense given his skill set. Bargnani has been one of the best PnP big men in the NBA period.

The more you write the more i'm convinced you don't have a good handle on this team. It turns out the roster wasn't clumsy it was flexible. The way the Knicks beat teams with their small lineup proved to be much better than people anticipated. Now we still have that capability but also can play many other variations of lineups.

I don't understand your desire to prove that this team was and will be dysfunctional. THEY WERE THE F'N #2 SEED IN THE EAST!!!! How can you just gloss over that fact? Every other team had a chance to beat out the Knicks and couldn't do it. This year the team has more depth, talent and balance to the roster. There's really nothing you can say that can prove this team isn't better. We don't even have enough spots to add the talent we have in camp. This is going to be a DEEP team.
This team may not be a monster defensive team but they're going to be extremely tough to defend!!!

The other thing that you haven't addressed is the fact that since Woody has taken over he's been extremely successful getting the most out of his team. I may not like his playoff performances, but in the regular season he's been able to whip this team into playing good BB. Dude is 72-34!!!
So WTF are you going on about??? Should you not have some faith that he can continue to do a good jog with this team?

Once you said this, you can either join us...or just stop posting.

You just said what everyone that doesn't view the all team that well constantly says.

The regular season means little, no need to boast on that.

Even making the playoffs isnt really special since over half of the league makes it.

It's what you do when you're in there....and I dont like their playoff performances....just like you.

None of this should obscure the fact that the team has been mostly coached very well by Woodson. The team came out of the gates great. If we do the same this year with this younger roster, this team is gonna have a better record and should be stronger going into the playoffs. Yes the playoffs is more important than success in the regular season, but you can't just skip the regular season. The roster woody has this year is better in every way. He's got to maximize what he has now and in the playoffs. I actually think he will.

nixluva wrote:This team wasn't fully healthy by the time we got to the playoffs. It was more about bad timing and health IMO. In addition to that I felt Woodson didn't handle the playoffs very well, in terms of how he used what he had left on the roster. The Celtic series took too long and that lead into the Pacer series which the team wasn't ready for. That's on Woody.

None of this should obscure the fact that the team has been mostly coached very well by Woodson. The team came out of the gates great. If we do the same this year with this younger roster, this team is gonna have a better record and should be stronger going into the playoffs. Yes the playoffs is more important than success in the regular season, but you can't just skip the regular season. The roster woody has this year is better in every way. He's got to maximize what he has now and in the playoffs. I actually think he will.

nixluva wrote:

StarksEwing1 wrote:

nixluva wrote:This team wasn't fully healthy by the time we got to the playoffs. It was more about bad timing and health IMO. In addition to that I felt Woodson didn't handle the playoffs very well, in terms of how he used what he had left on the roster. The Celtic series took too long and that lead into the Pacer series which the team wasn't ready for. That's on Woody.

None of this should obscure the fact that the team has been mostly coached very well by Woodson. The team came out of the gates great. If we do the same this year with this younger roster, this team is gonna have a better record and should be stronger going into the playoffs. Yes the playoffs is more important than success in the regular season, but you can't just skip the regular season. The roster woody has this year is better in every way. He's got to maximize what he has now and in the playoffs. I actually think he will.

Every team has injuries. The Celtics were missing their best player arguable and they almost came back down 3-0. The bulls were missing a ton of their players and they were tough in the playoffs as well. To be completely honest we had some nagging injuries but but werent missing too many players. We just stunk after going up 3-0 agianst the celtics for reasons i still can figure.

Part of the problem was players wearing down which is much less publicized. JR and Tyson in particular weren't really at full strength. I think overall the Pacers had much more energy and weren't run down at all. Unlike injuries relative strength levels are hard to judge since you can't tell if a player is weak or tired until they start playing a stronger player.

Now this year this team is younger and deeper and more talented. I don't see how anyone can't see that this team is better than last years version. It simply is. I think this team learned from last year and that we'll have leaders step up and perform. I don't see this team having the same issues they did last year.