Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

uh ... no. You can play defense and rack up assists on terrible teams. Ask chris duhon.

Bonn1997 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

Passing? I doubt it. The team is .500 now, which is about as good as his teams have been career-wise (maybe a tiny bit below his career winning % actually).

huh? Last year and the 37 win season before are the only two losing seasons Melo has had. I think his first 10 seasons he went to the playoffs.

We were talking about assists and turnovers. Improved quality of teammates now can't explain why his assists and turnovers are better now than his career #s. His team now is probably a little worse than most of his teams have been.

Probably because phil and the fans were fed up with his bs selfish style of play and he realizes that he better change or else ...

I hate the excuses of "he did not have anyone to pass it to blah blah" or "he did not have anyone to defend" oh wait ...

Pass the ball, make the correct pass and everyone around you will play better. Felton could get 10 assists with the same sh1tty team? Lin?

How come he did not avg more than 3 assists with Iverson? Maybe when melo was taking his triple teamed shots and guys like Novak, Prigs, JR, etc ... were wide open he should have passed.

Why can't we just all agree that he is playing better and there were not really any excuses why the passing and the defensive effort were not there before.

The Melo-sensitivity is a bit too much.

mreinman wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

Passing? I doubt it. The team is .500 now, which is about as good as his teams have been career-wise (maybe a tiny bit below his career winning % actually).

huh? Last year and the 37 win season before are the only two losing seasons Melo has had. I think his first 10 seasons he went to the playoffs.

We were talking about assists and turnovers. Improved quality of teammates now can't explain why his assists and turnovers are better now than his career #s. His team now is probably a little worse than most of his teams have been.

Probably because phil and the fans were fed up with his bs selfish style of play and he realizes that he better change or else ...

I hate the excuses of "he did not have anyone to pass it to blah blah" or "he did not have anyone to defend" oh wait ...

Pass the ball, make the correct pass and everyone around you will play better. Felton could get 10 assists with the same sh1tty team? Lin?

How come he did not avg more than 3 assists with Iverson? Maybe when melo was taking his triple teamed shots and guys like Novak, Prigs, JR, etc ... were wide open he should have passed.

Why can't we just all agree that he is playing better and there were not really any excuses why the passing and the defensive effort were not there before.

The Melo-sensitivity is a bit too much.

Eh…

Melo's assist % (# of possessions that end in an assist per 100) was 10.3 in 2013-4 and 10.9 in 2014-15.

Both of these percentages were below avg for top SFs but not glaringly awful.

Its currently 13.3 after 12 games, meaning 2.4 assists per 100 possessions better.

That's certainly an improvement, but hardly dramatic.

I think the reasons why are certainly debatable. More than likely an indication of a little more willingness AND some better shotmakers.

Why does it have to be one or the other? The actual differences doesn't suggest one explanation.

bigbasketballs wrote:

mreinman wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

Passing? I doubt it. The team is .500 now, which is about as good as his teams have been career-wise (maybe a tiny bit below his career winning % actually).

huh? Last year and the 37 win season before are the only two losing seasons Melo has had. I think his first 10 seasons he went to the playoffs.

We were talking about assists and turnovers. Improved quality of teammates now can't explain why his assists and turnovers are better now than his career #s. His team now is probably a little worse than most of his teams have been.

Probably because phil and the fans were fed up with his bs selfish style of play and he realizes that he better change or else ...

I hate the excuses of "he did not have anyone to pass it to blah blah" or "he did not have anyone to defend" oh wait ...

Pass the ball, make the correct pass and everyone around you will play better. Felton could get 10 assists with the same sh1tty team? Lin?

How come he did not avg more than 3 assists with Iverson? Maybe when melo was taking his triple teamed shots and guys like Novak, Prigs, JR, etc ... were wide open he should have passed.

Why can't we just all agree that he is playing better and there were not really any excuses why the passing and the defensive effort were not there before.

The Melo-sensitivity is a bit too much.

Eh…

Melo's assist % (# of possessions that end in an assist per 100) was 10.3 in 2013-4 and 10.9 in 2014-15.

Both of these percentages were below avg for top SFs but not glaringly awful.

Its currently 13.3 after 12 games, meaning 2.4 assists per 100 possessions better.

That's certainly an improvement, but hardly dramatic.

I think the reasons why are certainly debatable. More than likely an indication of a little more willingness AND some better shotmakers.

Why does it have to be one or the other? The actual differences doesn't suggest one explanation.

Bonn1997 wrote:

bigbasketballs wrote:

mreinman wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

Passing? I doubt it. The team is .500 now, which is about as good as his teams have been career-wise (maybe a tiny bit below his career winning % actually).

huh? Last year and the 37 win season before are the only two losing seasons Melo has had. I think his first 10 seasons he went to the playoffs.

We were talking about assists and turnovers. Improved quality of teammates now can't explain why his assists and turnovers are better now than his career #s. His team now is probably a little worse than most of his teams have been.

Probably because phil and the fans were fed up with his bs selfish style of play and he realizes that he better change or else ...

I hate the excuses of "he did not have anyone to pass it to blah blah" or "he did not have anyone to defend" oh wait ...

Pass the ball, make the correct pass and everyone around you will play better. Felton could get 10 assists with the same sh1tty team? Lin?

How come he did not avg more than 3 assists with Iverson? Maybe when melo was taking his triple teamed shots and guys like Novak, Prigs, JR, etc ... were wide open he should have passed.

Why can't we just all agree that he is playing better and there were not really any excuses why the passing and the defensive effort were not there before.

The Melo-sensitivity is a bit too much.

Eh…

Melo's assist % (# of possessions that end in an assist per 100) was 10.3 in 2013-4 and 10.9 in 2014-15.

Both of these percentages were below avg for top SFs but not glaringly awful.

Its currently 13.3 after 12 games, meaning 2.4 assists per 100 possessions better.

That's certainly an improvement, but hardly dramatic.

I think the reasons why are certainly debatable. More than likely an indication of a little more willingness AND some better shotmakers.

Why does it have to be one or the other? The actual differences doesn't suggest one explanation.

Where are you getting the assist% #s from?
Anyway, getting around .7 more assists a game and 1 less turnover a game is probably giving us almost 3 more net points a game. Right now, it's just enough to make up for the lower shooting % though. If he could keep the turnovers and assists where they are and get his shooting back to normal, it would be a tremendous help.

lol, you beat me to it

mreinman wrote:

Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

uh ... no. You can play defense and rack up assists on terrible teams. Ask chris duhon.

StarksEwing1 wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

mreinman wrote:

Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

uh ... no. You can play defense and rack up assists on terrible teams. Ask chris duhon.

Yeah but he hasn't had a team like this around him in NY. He doesn't have to do it all on offense and when he passes it is to competent players. The Knicks had a 'big three' for awhile but Tyson and Amare were not muchers either because of injuries or lack of character and usually were not around for part or all of the spring. I rooted hard for the collection of mid level, vet mini and undrafted free agents that rolled through NY during Melo's tenure but aside from the 54 win team he never had much to play with.

he had good teams in denver and didnt play defense. Im happy he is starting to change his game to help the team BUT gotta be honest about his past too

CrushAlot wrote:

mreinman wrote:

Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

uh ... no. You can play defense and rack up assists on terrible teams. Ask chris duhon.

Yeah but he hasn't had a team like this around him in NY. He doesn't have to do it all on offense and when he passes it is to competent players. The Knicks had a 'big three' for awhile but Tyson and Amare were not muchers either because of injuries or lack of character and usually were not around for part or all of the spring. I rooted hard for the collection of mid level, vet mini and undrafted free agents that rolled through NY during Melo's tenure but aside from the 54 win team he never had much to play with.

Not having a good team around you may be why you lose, it should never be why you don't play defense and refuse to pass.

CrushAlot wrote:

StarksEwing1 wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

StarksEwing1 wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

mreinman wrote:

Swishfm3 wrote:Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

uh ... no. You can play defense and rack up assists on terrible teams. Ask chris duhon.

Yeah but he hasn't had a team like this around him in NY. He doesn't have to do it all on offense and when he passes it is to competent players. The Knicks had a 'big three' for awhile but Tyson and Amare were not muchers either because of injuries or lack of character and usually were not around for part or all of the spring. I rooted hard for the collection of mid level, vet mini and undrafted free agents that rolled through NY during Melo's tenure but aside from the 54 win team he never had much to play with.

he had good teams in denver and didnt play defense. Im happy he is starting to change his game to help the team BUT gotta be honest about his past too

I didn't follow him much in Denver. I loved him at Cuse but hated him after the fight. Glad the Knicks have something going that looks sustainable for a while.

ive watched him since high school and then obviously syracuse. Defense has always been a weakness. Thankfully he is showing more effort BUT he needs to do it every game

Swishfm3 asked,

Is any one considering that maybe Melo's improved defense and passing is because he is (finally) surrounded with MUCH better players?

What is your opinion on his question?