cheers wrote:woah, i hope walsh doesnt sign any player to six year deal, not even melo. the only player to even consider a five year deal for is a certified star player imho.

My goal is to look at this core of players which I think is very good and keep them together. I think Fields/Gallo/Chandler can really be part of a top flight rotation.

Potential line-up (9-man rotation):

Pg: Felton
Sg: Mayo, Azubuike
Sf: Fields, Gallo
Pf: Amare, Chandler
C: Gasol, Turiaf

knickstorrents wrote:Q: Could we use a player like Melo?
A: You could phrase the question another way - do we need scoring? As others on this board have said (fishmike/umynot), we don't. I watch our games, we don't have problems scoring. On any given night we have several players that can go off (Chandler, Gallo, Amare, Felton). We could use better 3 point shooting (Walker is our best 3pt shooter, and we have Gallo but we could use one more), but Melo is not a good 3 point shooter. Melo takes and misses a lot of 3 point shots and that's a big reason why he's not that great.

this is like saying we don't need Kevin Durant cuz he's shooting a crappy % from 3 pt range... it's silly... Melo is an elite scorer in the NBA... there are not many players like him we could get our hands on... if there is a chance to get him, we should explore it because he represents a significant upgrade at the SF position over anyone we have on our roster... it is absolutely IMPERATIVE that we get Melo if we ever want to contend? of course not... there are always alternative ways to build a team... but he's certainly a player that can make a big positive impact.

he cannot be the second best player on a championship team however. that much i know.

FistOfOakley wrote:john paxson, avery johnson, derek fisher, kenny smith were all pg's on championship teams so yes felton can be as well.

he cannot be the second best player on a championship team however. that much i know.

third?

FistOfOakley wrote:more like 3-4. I compare him to Jameer Nelson who's a very solid PG and someone Felton is around the same skill level as, lil worse, lil better depending on the day though he did get eviscerated by him in the playoffs. and he could be someone like Tony parker to a Manu/Duncan triumverate sort of deal though he's closer to a Jameer Nelson comparison.

I'd like to mention that the Suns never had a guy that was a Melo/Kobe/Wade type. We are almost exactly like the PHX Suns in that it's the Felton/Amar'e combo at the end of games. Nash/Amar'e combined with some good role players was the key to their success. We can be a bit better if we can manage to develop Gallo and upgrade the SG and Back up PG spot. In addition to getting something out of AR and Timo. I like the supporting cast that Felton and Amar'e have to work with.

FistOfOakley wrote:

nixluva wrote:
I'd like to mention that the Suns never had a guy that was a Melo/Kobe/Wade type. We are almost exactly like the PHX Suns in that it's the Felton/Amar'e combo at the end of games. Nash/Amar'e combined with some good role players was the key to their success. We can be a bit better if we can manage to develop Gallo and upgrade the SG and Back up PG spot. In addition to getting something out of AR and Timo. I like the supporting cast that Felton and Amar'e have to work with.

Nash, was MVP... twice. Whether Nash deserved either is up for debate but I'm pretty sure Felton will never be mentioned as a MVP candidate in his entire career let alone get an All Star appearance.

nash deserved MVP, twice.

do not get how you are pretty sure felton will never even get an MVP mention, the future is unwritten. the best felton can do is control his own destiny to put himself in the best light for future accolades, so far he has.

cheers wrote:nash deserved MVP, twice.

do not get how you are pretty sure felton will never even get an MVP mention, the future is unwritten. the best felton can do is control his own destiny to put himself in the best light for future accolades, so far he has.

i'm pretty sure felton will never get an mvp mention just as i'm pretty sure jameer nelson or tony parker or any number of good but not great pg's won't either. it's not exactly a big leap of faith here to assume such a preposterous thing.

technomaster wrote:Felton has clutch on his resume going back to his college days, making some big plays in the final minute or so of the NCAA finals (schooling Deron Williams in that span) en route to an NCAA championship. Beyond that, other than some games here or there (remember last year's games against the Knicks?!), you don't really get to call that out since he hasn't been on a lot of teams with a chance to be really good.

This team has that chance. He's got weapons all around.

Steve Nash in his mvp season (62-20; previous season 29-53):
15.5ppg, 11.5apg, 50% FG, 89% FT, 3.3rpg, 1.0spg

Nash's Second MVP year:
18.0ppg, 10.5apg, 51% FG, 92% FT, 4.2rpg, .8spg

Felton (through 19 games 10-9; previous season 29-53):
18.2ppg, 8.1apg, 47% FG, 90.5% FT, 4.1rpg, 2.0sg

Felton's numbers are in the same neighborhood of Nash's first MVP year - not enough for anyone to say one is clearly better than the other statistically - or particularly if you take into account their defensive play.

They're also comparable to the very best in the league this season (maybe with the exception of Deron Williams, who is averaging 22ppg/10+apg, and Derrick Rose - averaging 26ppg/8apg).

Granted, the Knicks would need to go a remarkable 52-11 (unlikely) the rest of the way to match what happened with the Suns, but if the Knicks could get close to 50 wins this year, I'd say D'Antoni could be a strong coach of the year candidate, while both Felton and Amare could be up for consideration for MVP. (Chandler, if he comes off the bench enough, would be a strong candidate for 6th man)

At this point, Felton's outperforming my statistical expectations of him. I predicted a conservative 16ppg/8apg, with shooting numbers more in line with his career averages. He's just beginning to look comfortable in this system, and based on his numbers from the past 5 games, he's really just starting to take off. I'd expect him to improve across the board as the year goes on.

I'm not sure I ever see Felton as that caliber of player. Nash made scoring SO EASY for that whole team. Felton does some really good things but thats not one of them. You could even say the ball movement is partly because of Felton's shortcomings as a floor general.

I actually hope Felton's scoring tails off a bit and his assists go up, because I think thats the real key to our overall success. Gallo, Chandler and Amare are all excellent scorers and we have some other guys that can really finish around the basket.

What will make Felton great, really great is when the guys who arent great scorers are getting easy buckets, dunks, open jumpers, etc.. When he can do that he's in Nash's class.

I dont think he's that kind of player, and thats OK. If he somehow gets there then we know MDA really is a point guard wizard and DAntoni will have carved himself a pretty impressive notch to have taken two PGs who were already good and made them superstars.

nixluva wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:more like 3-4. I compare him to Jameer Nelson who's a very solid PG and someone Felton is around the same skill level as, lil worse, lil better depending on the day though he did get eviscerated by him in the playoffs. and he could be someone like Tony parker to a Manu/Duncan triumverate sort of deal though he's closer to a Jameer Nelson comparison.

I guarantee you that Felton would not get killed by Jameer this year if we played. Things are different for Felton now. Mike has empowered him with more freedom to be the scorer he wasn't allowed to be in Charlotte. To me his game is blossoming and his confidence is at an all time high. Playing next to Amar'e has opened up the floor for him to use his quickness and also to get his shot off comfortably. The last thing was getting the PnR down and so far it's looking like he's starting to get it.

I'd like to mention that the Suns never had a guy that was a Melo/Kobe/Wade type. We are almost exactly like the PHX Suns in that it's the Felton/Amar'e combo at the end of games. Nash/Amar'e combined with some good role players was the key to their success. We can be a bit better if we can manage to develop Gallo and upgrade the SG and Back up PG spot. In addition to getting something out of AR and Timo. I like the supporting cast that Felton and Amar'e have to work with.

that team also had another Allstar in Shawn Marion who i would say is a lot more than just a good role player... they had some good role players on that team no doubt... an up & coming Joe Johnson, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa, Jim Jackson, Kurt Thomas, Eddie House, etc.... but that team was anchored by 3 legitimate Allstars led by an MVP calibre PG.