I would like to see Acy get some more play though. Wonder how significant practices are in terms of Fisher, or maybe even Jackson, making evaluations on guys. They see a lot of stuff at practice that we can never observe as outsiders.

I would agree that he is probably gone next year.

fishmike wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:I edited my post. I like Acy but he probably goes

I think he's redundant with Thomas here and he costs more. I suspect he's a gonner

Yeah, it was worth taking a chance on him, but I think he's been kind of overtaken at this point.

Decisions are made quicker, the ball moves faster, screens are used and set much better, and the result is being able to find the open man b4 the defense recovers in time

Listened to the whole game in the car, and the above happened alot. Expecially out of Melo double teams.
A gate to gate win against a Lakers team with a bench that's been better than our whole team.

Culture change begins at home. Or something like that.

nyk4ever wrote:i love all the sudden nobody is bitching about fishers coaching and that the knicks have no players. knick fans are amazing lol. the fact of the matter is that these things take time. nobody wanted amundsun and lance thomas here, everyone wanted them waived for dleague scrubs. now they are not only still on the team, but they are two of the biggest reasons the knicks have been winning games. the best part about these guys is that they are hard workers and will do whatever it takes to fill a role and fit into the team concept. the beautiful thing is that these guys are helping change the culture here and so is fisher who has lost a ton of games this year but hasn't changed his tune for a second. funny this team started to take off once we brought in guys who are willing to work together and freed ourselves from the "raw talent" in jr smith and iman shumpert. neither one of those guys were able to take to the offense and the overall ideology pjax has set for this franchise.

you are wrong... like you yourself alluded to in the latter part of your own post. the d-leaguers, journeymen are playing for their life and so they'll play any system the way it's supposed to be played. it's not like they wouldn't have followed instructions on another team.

and understood, that JR and Shumpert may have had issues with learning the system... but isn't that the coach's job...? If I am a math teacher and one of my students cannot understand quadratic equations... it's my job to give that person individual attention so that he is learning. At 5-6 million dollars per year... do you not think a teacher should be motivated and flexible and smart enough to do that?

learning the personnel and how to motivate them is as much part of coaching as X's and O's.

Cartman718 wrote:

nyk4ever wrote:i love all the sudden nobody is bitching about fishers coaching and that the knicks have no players. knick fans are amazing lol. the fact of the matter is that these things take time. nobody wanted amundsun and lance thomas here, everyone wanted them waived for dleague scrubs. now they are not only still on the team, but they are two of the biggest reasons the knicks have been winning games. the best part about these guys is that they are hard workers and will do whatever it takes to fill a role and fit into the team concept. the beautiful thing is that these guys are helping change the culture here and so is fisher who has lost a ton of games this year but hasn't changed his tune for a second. funny this team started to take off once we brought in guys who are willing to work together and freed ourselves from the "raw talent" in jr smith and iman shumpert. neither one of those guys were able to take to the offense and the overall ideology pjax has set for this franchise.

you are wrong... like you yourself alluded to in the latter part of your own post. the d-leaguers, journeymen are playing for their life and so they'll play any system the way it's supposed to be played. it's not like they wouldn't have followed instructions on another team.

and understood, that JR and Shumpert may have had issues with learning the system... but isn't that the coach's job...? If I am a math teacher and one of my students cannot understand quadratic equations... it's my job to give that person individual attention so that he is learning. At 5-6 million dollars per year... do you not think a teacher should be motivated and flexible and smart enough to do that?

learning the personnel and how to motivate them is as much part of coaching as X's and O's.

WaltLongmire wrote:The big thing for this team going into the future is whether or not Anthony will try to force his offensive game on the Knicks if his shots are not going in.

Yesterday's game was not a blueprint for the future, IMO. Anthony almost seemed to play as if he actually was in front of a national audience and trying to prove himself. He made some tough shots, but he still holds the ball too much, and I always get the sense that the rest of the guys on the team are more than willing to feed him the ball 20 ft from the basket almost as if he had worked hard for good position in the paint.

Anthony has shown me that he can pass the ball, and with the amount of time he has the ball, and the number of times he is double teamed, he should be looking for the pass more quickly and more often, and not only because he cannot get his own shot off.

He did not get very many uncontested midrange jumpers, if I remember correctly. Many of his shots come outside of the offensive flow. You watch the nice two man game Calderon has with Smith- I would like to see something like this with with Anthony more often. He has one of the better midrange shots in the game- even more so when he is open.

I understand that you go with the hot hand, and LA did not really have anyone to deal with him, but 13/25 shooting with some of the shots he took could easily have been 7/8 of 25 on another day.

I'm sure I'll get hammered for the negativity after a win, but I have to respond to what I see on the court.

This is spot on.

Melo can play much better and much smarter if he chose to. The issue is that he cannot bring himself to pass unless he has no other options (at all).

Why can't he create shots for teammates with that intention at the onset of a play? Does he ever make a move and create with the intention to pass? Rarely at best.

He is way too in love with his own shot and has the mentality of "every shot I take should go in and there is not a better shot/opportunity on the court".

This must really irk Phil and I am not sure that he can actually do anything about it. He has not done anything yet, Melo has NOT been passing the ball more under phil.

We all see him missing wide open men and not just stinky shooter men. If Calderon is wide open in the corner and Melo CHOOSES to look him off for a contested mid range shot, that is just plain stupid. Calderon from 3 is as good of a shot that you are gonna get in this league. A Melo contested long 2 is just a BAD SHOT.

And Melo not passing out of the double teams is just painful! Either he turns away from the double and shoots a turn around base line fade, or he forces the ball to the weak side and ignores the strong side. He goes for the assists instead of creating a hockey assist with ball movement - swinging around to the open man.

I am not a Melo hater, I just wish that he would improve this part of his game and the fact that he has been unwilling to, even under Phil Freakin Jacskon is pretty pathetic and will hold back himself and his team.

Knicks1969 wrote:

mreinman wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:The big thing for this team going into the future is whether or not Anthony will try to force his offensive game on the Knicks if his shots are not going in.

Yesterday's game was not a blueprint for the future, IMO. Anthony almost seemed to play as if he actually was in front of a national audience and trying to prove himself. He made some tough shots, but he still holds the ball too much, and I always get the sense that the rest of the guys on the team are more than willing to feed him the ball 20 ft from the basket almost as if he had worked hard for good position in the paint.

Anthony has shown me that he can pass the ball, and with the amount of time he has the ball, and the number of times he is double teamed, he should be looking for the pass more quickly and more often, and not only because he cannot get his own shot off.

He did not get very many uncontested midrange jumpers, if I remember correctly. Many of his shots come outside of the offensive flow. You watch the nice two man game Calderon has with Smith- I would like to see something like this with with Anthony more often. He has one of the better midrange shots in the game- even more so when he is open.

I understand that you go with the hot hand, and LA did not really have anyone to deal with him, but 13/25 shooting with some of the shots he took could easily have been 7/8 of 25 on another day.

I'm sure I'll get hammered for the negativity after a win, but I have to respond to what I see on the court.

This is spot on.

Melo can play much better and much smarter if he chose to. The issue is that he cannot bring himself to pass unless he has no other options (at all).

Why can't he create shots for teammates with that intention at the onset of a play? Does he ever make a move and create with the intention to pass? Rarely at best.

He is way too in love with his own shot and has the mentality of "every shot I take should go in and there is not a better shot/opportunity on the court".

This must really irk Phil and I am not sure that he can actually do anything about it. He has not done anything yet, Melo has NOT been passing the ball more under phil.

We all see him missing wide open men and not just stinky shooter men. If Calderon is wide open in the corner and Melo CHOOSES to look him off for a contested mid range shot, that is just plain stupid. Calderon from 3 is as good of a shot that you are gonna get in this league. A Melo contested long 2 is just a BAD SHOT.

And Melo not passing out of the double teams is just painful! Either he turns away from the double and shoots a turn around base line fade, or he forces the ball to the weak side and ignores the strong side. He goes for the assists instead of creating a hockey assist with ball movement - swinging around to the open man.

I am not a Melo hater, I just wish that he would improve this part of his game and the fact that he has been unwilling to, even under Phil Freakin Jacskon is pretty pathetic and will hold back himself and his team.

He doesn't pass he ball, because he doesn't trust his teammates. Once we surround him with better players, and once he knows that guys will be making shots at a high clip, he will be more willing to give up the ball. He does care about his stats after all. Until recently, none of the previous players were know. To be consistent shot makers

thats the lamest and oldest excuse ... and its no longer credible.

Even his fans can admit that this is a big issue for him.

He does not pass the ball because he does not want to. He never did no matter who he was playing with.

And, his teammates (like your boy Timmy) would hit at a higher clip if Melo showed confidence in them and the ball moved faster.

I have played for many years and I know that when the ball is not moving, we all suffer, don't hit shots, and get frustrated.

MOVE THE DAMN BALL!

WaltLongmire wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:

mreinman wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:The big thing for this team going into the future is whether or not Anthony will try to force his offensive game on the Knicks if his shots are not going in.

Yesterday's game was not a blueprint for the future, IMO. Anthony almost seemed to play as if he actually was in front of a national audience and trying to prove himself. He made some tough shots, but he still holds the ball too much, and I always get the sense that the rest of the guys on the team are more than willing to feed him the ball 20 ft from the basket almost as if he had worked hard for good position in the paint.

Anthony has shown me that he can pass the ball, and with the amount of time he has the ball, and the number of times he is double teamed, he should be looking for the pass more quickly and more often, and not only because he cannot get his own shot off.

He did not get very many uncontested midrange jumpers, if I remember correctly. Many of his shots come outside of the offensive flow. You watch the nice two man game Calderon has with Smith- I would like to see something like this with with Anthony more often. He has one of the better midrange shots in the game- even more so when he is open.

I understand that you go with the hot hand, and LA did not really have anyone to deal with him, but 13/25 shooting with some of the shots he took could easily have been 7/8 of 25 on another day.

I'm sure I'll get hammered for the negativity after a win, but I have to respond to what I see on the court.

This is spot on.

Melo can play much better and much smarter if he chose to. The issue is that he cannot bring himself to pass unless he has no other options (at all).

Why can't he create shots for teammates with that intention at the onset of a play? Does he ever make a move and create with the intention to pass? Rarely at best.

He is way too in love with his own shot and has the mentality of "every shot I take should go in and there is not a better shot/opportunity on the court".

This must really irk Phil and I am not sure that he can actually do anything about it. He has not done anything yet, Melo has NOT been passing the ball more under phil.

We all see him missing wide open men and not just stinky shooter men. If Calderon is wide open in the corner and Melo CHOOSES to look him off for a contested mid range shot, that is just plain stupid. Calderon from 3 is as good of a shot that you are gonna get in this league. A Melo contested long 2 is just a BAD SHOT.

And Melo not passing out of the double teams is just painful! Either he turns away from the double and shoots a turn around base line fade, or he forces the ball to the weak side and ignores the strong side. He goes for the assists instead of creating a hockey assist with ball movement - swinging around to the open man.

I am not a Melo hater, I just wish that he would improve this part of his game and the fact that he has been unwilling to, even under Phil Freakin Jacskon is pretty pathetic and will hold back himself and his team.

He doesn't pass he ball, because he doesn't trust his teammates. Once we surround him with better players, and once he knows that guys will be making shots at a high clip, he will be more willing to give up the ball. He does care about his stats after all. Until recently, none of the previous players were known To be consistent shot makers

I think there is a Catch-22 situation here. You have to let players see that you trust them, and sometimes you do this even if you really don't trust them. How will younger players develop confidence?

I see average players differ to stars too often, and I don't think it helps things in the long run. There is no better time than this year for Anthony to adjust his game for the betterment of the team.

Anthony can do more for the team if he is playing selflessly. He will always have his time at the end when you might need his scoring ability- even Jackson alluded to this in his recent comments about the Triangle- but how will certain guys ever become significant parts of the offense if they are not given a chance, or if their first thought is that they have to get the ball in to Anthony. I have seen Galloway, Larkin, Wear, and others, not take an open shots, and as I mentioned earlier, you know there is something wrong when a PG feels they have to dump the ball to Anthony as if he is in the post, even though he is 20 ft from the basket.

I like the hockey analogy regarding assists. Maybe the NBA needs to broaden the assist concept and give recognition to the great outlet pass or other passes that lead to another player getting an assist.

Hopefully Anthony gradually adjusts his game.

Hockey/Secondary assists are not track here:

http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/player/passing/?sort=PASS&dir=1

There is also passes per game which is nice.

The secondary assists is a start but it only counts if you pass to the player who gets the assist. Sometimes if you pass out of a double team and the ball swings around, it will be 2 passes.

nixluva wrote:The ball and player movement has been increasingly better since the trade. There is trust building among the entire roster. I'm not really worried about Melo at this point in time. Once we can add a few more quality players to the roster i'm confident that the ball will move and that includes Melo. We need to keep adding more selfless players to the mix and it becomes contagious.

Exactly......we need to stay far away from players like JR and Amare...