Posted by MS:

People forget two seasons ago he averaged 19 pts. and 7 rebounds and some people were saying he should've been an all star....But I guess in this game your only as good as your last shot, game, last season.....Jamal Crawford

-I love this, the only people that thought Eddy was an All-Star, Marbury, Isiah and Crawford. We are supposed to get excited about that season when the picks gave up would probably have us in the playoffs for the next 5 years and give the team a bright future

Jamal don't thank the fans for telling you what you should already know. Just improve your game. Don't mention Curry and what you hear about him, the guy averages 5rbs for his career he is medicore at best until he proves otherwise no reason for him to come in grossly out of shape like he did and lose 2rbs off his average because of competition.

I'm pretty sure half the people on this board thought Curry should have have been an all star that season.

Obviously it's better.

But outside of people that are friends with Isiah, Jamison, Johnson, Gordon, and Okafur were all in line before Curry as were a few others.

But if Eddy can get in shape and play like he did against the Spurs he can surely be an asset, but there is no excuse for having a down season because your out of shape and you're feelings are hurt.

Posted by nixluva:

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by nixluva:

While I agree that you absolutely do need a Burning Desire to defend, let's not pretend that everyone can stop a super quick scorer when he wants to get by his man. That's why teams stress TEAM defense. It does start with the individual, but even at my age, I can still take younger guys off the dribble with enough space and no help.

For Jamal to defend guys he has to start with a consistent effort for 48 mins. This camp he has to really pay attention to defensive technique. Knowing how much distance he needs to give a guy to take away his drive, but still have a chance to get up into his shot. In addition he has to know where his help is at all times. It's not rocket science, so I don't know why this has been so elusive for him. For that matter the entire team as well. It's got to change for this team to have a chance to turn this around. We'll see what they do this year. My guess is that the team will give a better effort this year. I can't wait to see how that plays out.

Again, nobody has asked Jamal to be a shutdown defender. I'm personally asking the guy to play some defense, any defense. He plays none. His ability to run through a screen makes Allan Houston look like he should be running seminars on how to run through a screen. He's horrible. there is literally no effort. His mentality is that he will just get it back on the offensive end. A lot of people think this way, although they don't realize that this means they are constantly playing from behind

Running and fighting thru screens with his body isn't exactly an easy thing to do. I think he could try to fight harder, but I still think in the end that he wouldn't be as good as we would like. To be honest some guys have physical limitations. It's part of the reason many GM's had a problem with DJ Augustin. He can try as he might, but he's gonna have limitations.

I think most of us realize this and are just looking for a better and more consistent effort, but I try to be realistic about what I can expect from certain guys. I'd love for him to prove me wrong tho.

I know it's hard and thats why he doesn't do it regularly, because it's hard. Listen enough of the excuses for these guys. Steph doesn't have lateral quickness, Craw doesn't have lateral quickness and is too small to fight through screens. Eddie doesn't have a quick leap. Blah, blah, blah. All these excuses may have had legs if we hadn't seen them succeed in the past. We've seen Jamal buckle down and play great D once or twice. We've seen Marbs play solid D. We've seen Eddie in one game be a monster rebounder. Blah, blah, blah, enough excuses.

I like Jamal. During this down period he's been one of my 2 or 3 favs, but I can't defend this part of his game. He has more than enough athletic ability and strength to be a solid defender. And if he's not strong enough why has he not improved his overall body strength? He looks the same as he did 5 years ago. It's time to eradicate these excuses from our culture. The players have been playing this game for 3 or 4 years now. Great physical abilities on offense, that suddenly disappear on the defensive end. Poppy cook. Jamal has never fought through a screen so enough with this. Time for him to focus on more of his game than just when he has the ball in his hands.

[Edited by - bippity10 on 09-09-2008 11:38 AM]

Posted by Bippity10:

Get it done, or get out.

This needs to be framed, embossed and put in lights.

Posted by nixluva:

I wonder what would've happened with Eddy had Isiah not made the deal for Zach? If Isiah had instead did as we all thought he should and look for a Shotblocker/rebounder and a pure shooter? I happen to think that he could've at least had a big offensive year and as a team we might have had a much more cohesive team. It still wouldn't have been a great team, but as a player, I think Eddy could've continued and built upon his last season.

LOOK, I don't believe that the excuses ever justify a lack of production, they make only offer some explanation for some of the problems. We need to see change for the better or the payers must go. I'm willing to give them a chance to see how they respond to Mike, but that's it. If they don't perform this time, they'll be replaced. I believe Walsh and Mike will make that happen. That's their M.O. as BB Men and I fully expect they'll do the same thing here.

Nix I hear what you are saying, but we have been hearing these explanations for so long. Eventually you have to rid your organization of it. The Knicks of the 90's would say "it was my fault". The Knicks of the last 7 years say "It was my fault, but I couldn't help it because it really wasn't easy, and I tried but circumstances really wouldn't let me, but I will try this year, as long as circumstances will allow me and we don't have the same problems as last year because I would hate to have all these things happen again, since I'm trying so hard"

Enough is enough. We are two years removed from "no more excuses, no more talk". People are just sick of it. Don't talk about how you are going to play D, play D. You can't hide. We can tell when guys are really trying, and these guys aren't. It's all about the sideshow and not about the winning.

Now I'm with you on the Walsh and D'Antoni thing. I'm pretty sure they won't tolerate the excuse making. At least that is the hope. But that still doesn't erase the fact that most people don't have patience for the players. Every loss has an explanation. WE DON'T CARE.

Posted by Allanfan20:

Bip, what do you realistically expect from Crawford, this coming season?

Much of the same. I think D'Antoni's system will put him in position to be a great scorer. Defense will remain unchanged. Shot selection will remain relatively the same. D'Antoni's system is built on ball movement so this may help him to decide when to shoot and when not, but I'm not sold that you can change that much after 9 years of no discipline and having a coach that preaches quick shots.

He is what he is. He will be placed in positions to be a dominant scorer in this offense. 22-25 pts a game is possible. But without the D he's just a glorified sixth man and we will still need to build a team that covers his weaknesses instead of having a position that we can trust on both ends of the court for 35-40 minutes a night.

Posted by Bippity10:

I'm rooting for him, just not convinced

any grown man rooting for another grown man means you are not invited to anymore UK get togethers...

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by Bippity10:

I'm rooting for him, just not convinced

any grown man rooting for another grown man means you are not invited to anymore UK get togethers...

No problem. I hold my own get togethers.....With myself.......I mean with other members of the UltimateKnicks family

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by Allanfan20:

Bip, what do you realistically expect from Crawford, this coming season?

Much of the same. I think D'Antoni's system will put him in position to be a great scorer. Defense will remain unchanged. Shot selection will remain relatively the same. D'Antoni's system is built on ball movement so this may help him to decide when to shoot and when not, but I'm not sold that you can change that much after 9 years of no discipline and having a coach that preaches quick shots.

He is what he is. He will be placed in positions to be a dominant scorer in this offense. 22-25 pts a game is possible. But without the D he's just a glorified sixth man and we will still need to build a team that covers his weaknesses instead of having a position that we can trust on both ends of the court for 35-40 minutes a night.

if Jamal has a 22-25 ppg type season & u still consider him a glorified 6th man, then the same must also be said for guys like Rashard Lewis & Carmelo Anthony, neither of which play a lick of D either but have all the athletic ability to do so... let's stop w/the double standards when it comes to judging our own players... if Jamal improves on his shot selection this season & makes a conscious effort to drive more to the lane & get to the foul line, i'd take that in a heartbeat.

First of all you have never heard me say a good word about either of those two, so please leave me out of your double standard fiesta. I would not put Carmelo in the same category because he does bring 3 categories. Scoring, rebounding and passing from his position. Rashard is similar. Jamal gives me 2. Scoring and passing, and his passing is suspect because of his shot selection. To make it out of this category for me, he really needs to step it up on D. Until then, he's a great scorer, who brings it on offense but kills you down the stretch of games because of his complete lack of attention to defense