earthmansurfer wrote:

RemBee76 wrote:

McK1 wrote:the least the knicks could do is bring in a big man coach so zero resistance doesnt end up like the prior AZ bigman bust Frye.

That bust is averaging 17-5 in Phoenix.

Look, Hill might be a player. Big men take time to develop. Sure lets evaluate him after 3 years. But the issue here is just that. We took a big man project that could take three years to look good when we needed to look like a team now. We passed on the best opportunity we’ve had yet (and may have for years) to fill the most important position in D’Antoni’s offense. We failed to get probably the best PG coach in the league a PG to coach. That’s F’d up.

It isn’t just Jennings, but Lawson, Holiday…no less than 7 point guards were picked between Hill and Douglas, any one of them with the potential to give us more under D’Antoni than Duhon is.

That is my reasoning with Hill too, why take a 3 year project at a position that for the most part is covered when we really needed a pg and sg and both were available (eg - Jennings and Derozan) and both have superstar (and flop, though doubtful) potential. And both are freshman. We went with a Junior with upside, which one can argue is taking a bigger chance. My biggest worry with Hill by the way is his BBIQ which by all accounts Derozan has and it looks like Jennings is farther along as Hill is...

Now, if Hill does develop into a center and I'm sure that is really a part of the plan then this will look good in 2 or 3 years, it's just that with trying to attract a free agent I'm surprised they didn't go with either of the two guys mentioned.

Definitely it's going to take time with Hill and Douglas and I like both guys but as others have said, we might have let the biggest upside guys slide right past us. In the end I like Hill though and see him as having lots of upside, due to his incredible improvement each year, over the last 3 years. I mean he was NOTHING coming out of high school and three years later was a top 5 pick (ok 8th, but you get the point). I do hope that we start to see him in the next month or so, at least in garbage time, to judge if he can warrant more minutes.

Hill was taken with the idea of playing C when he is ready. The kid was a back-to-the-basket player. Although a Junior, only 5 years or organized basketball.

RemBee76 wrote:

McK1 wrote:barbosa was phx back up point guard and starter when nash didn't play, if he isn't a pg why'd MDA continue to use him as one thru his final 2 seasons there?

The same reason Nate gets time as back-up point here.

McK1 wrote:nate showed he can run this team when du du went down...why no further efforts to try and develop him as the point?

More like, why do you think there have been no further efforts to develop him? He's already played back-up point this season. you could argue, actually, that Nate has looked better at point than he has under any of his other coaches. In fact, it seems you are doing just that. So wheres your beef?

McK1 wrote:van exel played for dantoni in denver b4 mda got fired and nick got traded to the mavs

If thats true, van exel played well in Denver so again, wheres the beef?

McK1 wrote:du du avg'd about 5 assists in that 3 guard rotation for the bulls...he can find open shooters and here they shoot a helluva lot more than Skiles Bulls teams. he also hit a bunch of 3's there like he has here.

At a better than 40% clip? No.

When he was able, Chris Duhon ran this pick-and-roll offense masterfully while displaying far more of an offensive game than he ever did in Chi-town. He simply looked like a starter, better than he ever had as a pro. Some of his development is the result of the system, sure, a system developed by Coach D’Antoni which gets the best out of his point-guards.

You got no beef.

That reason is?

did he look better than Duhon?

Issel got the best out of van exel while in denver after he fired dantoni.

dudu didnt shoot better than 40% from three and this yr he is at 21% so far

corr: his stats are a result of the system. the only play he can run effectively is pick n roll with david lee. what about the other 3 people on the court?

I got no beef [now] because I fully expect D" Antoni to Larry Brown his way out of NY and Avery Johnson to take over.

PresIke wrote:sorry, but it's little wonder many peg knick/ny sports fans impatient.

Sorry Pres, but no one here called Hill a bust. But given that we needed someone who could contribute this year, and its clear Hill will not, it isn't too soon to say he doesn't bring what we need.

I also don't think its a stretch, given how Walsh has said that he wanted to be competitive this season, to think that Walsh was off in his evaluation. I mean, the guy totally whiffs on a PG draft then spends his entire off-season trying to get a point guard.

What is Hill's ceiling? Is it so high that it justifies passing on several skilled players at a position of serious need? Will it be worth waiting on him for three years when we are trying to build a team to attract FAs in 2010 and 2011? Even then, will his projected skill set be more valuable than those all too rarely found at the point? Is it really too soon to wonder about a number 8 pick that can't outplay Jared Jeffries and Darko Milicic?

These are fair questions to ask at this point. Regardless of where Hill is three years from now.

kam77 wrote:Honestly he looks more like Louis Williams to me.

he sorta looks like Chingy to me

djsunyc wrote:probably a byproduct of spending all that time in LA...i'm surprised sebstar even knows who sebstar is...i would've expected a sig with some e-40 dub nonsense...

wait, what did I miss here?

JohnWallace44 wrote:Donnie takes the "safe" pick every time. Look at his draft record. He's not going to take Isiah type roll of the dice picks. In the case of a lotto pick I think you have to shoot a little higher. I'm not sure what they think Hill will be, but I do know that it will be difficult for Hill to get anywhere without a quality PG, so we may not see much out of him for a while.

Al Harrington and Jonathan Bender.

He also got killed for drafting Reggie Miller over hometown fav.

JohnWallace44 wrote:Look at his draft record. He takes a lot of guys with low ceilings and high floors. Bender might be the exception.

Al was taken late in the draft and was a value at that point. That was the year when the whole draft was high-school players right?

Oh, and Gallo too.

Dude, I just gave you 3 picks that were not "safe". They were risks. 2 were high school guys and 1 was a young kid out of Europe. This should tell us that Donnie does not take safe picks.

Picking safe would have been taking Eric Gordon. Or Steve Alford.

You can try to re-qualify your statements any way you want.