OldFan wrote:What I saw today is the same thing I've been seeing. A really good offensive team that can't play defense:
D Lee 28 (At least we fought him TOOTH and nail)
Love 30/30 (hasn't been done since Moses Malone) Beasley 35
Ellis 40
Griffin 44 (Season High)
Lopez 36 (Season High)
Prince 31 (season High)
Love 33/15 Milicic 10pts (in 8 minutes)
Barganin 41 (career High)
Nene 26 (Tied Season High)

This team needs to improve on defense to compete in the playoffs. More hustle and smarts on defense will help but my belief is we need more size and toughness inside. Teams are going to get stops in the playoffs no matter how good your offense is and we're going to need to get stops also. Don't see how we do that after we trade for and pay Melo.

I couldn't agree with u more when it comes to defense...Their front line got exposed a bit during the two games against Charlotte(Knicks won) and Atlanta...The Knicks front line got pushed around...That said Melo is a tough guy...He isn't going to bring you the defense you are looking for against other bigs but he brings toughness at the 3...He rebounds well for a SF which will complement Amare's rebounding pace...Realistically, there isn't too many options out there at the position...He will help the Knicks compete against the elite teams in the league...One more thing, I think defense starts with the coach and extends on the floor...MDA is an offensive mind...

Melo also brings that swagger and belief that our young guys still doesn't have...We haven't seen that since the Ewing days, before Amare got here...It's pretty tough rolling Amare out there for 40 mins a night against two and three headed monsters in a 82 game season...This will only be magnified in the playoffs...We talking Playoffs???..

AnubisADL wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:
Carmelo and Amare are averaging the SAME amount of FGA per game for this season. Obvisouly their attempts would drop and we'd likely see greater efficiency.

There is no reason to assume that this will be necessarily be the case. In fact, the opposite might even be true- they may become less efficient with fewer touches.

You also face the possibility of losing the offensive flow your team has, not to mention the fact that your defense would take a hit if you give up 2 of the 3 guys people are talking about giving up.

Amare is at his worse when he is trying to create and force the issue. Having another star minimizes him having to force the issue and makes double teaming costly. Amare and Carmelo both have jumpers to keep teams honest as well. Carmelo doesnt miss many wide open shots either.

Offensive flow? Knicks are effective at giving the ball to Amare and letting him go to work.

Our defense BLOWS right now. Teams still getting into the paint at will. Yea we may get a few blocks but they usually result in a layup or a foul.

Ultimately, you look at your W-L record and point differentials, I would think. We have also turned around some games with defensive pressure, and made stops at big moments.

And our offense does have a flow. Amare goes 1/1 a bit too often for me, and in crunch time, MDA may rely on him too much (of course Amare's had pretty good success), but we had 30 assists today, and the ball moves around a lot better than it did last year. If you don't see that you're not watching the games very carefully. Guys regularly make the extra pass, sometimes when they should be shooting it.

In the end, though, the big question is whether or not we will be a better team, when the dust has settled, if we trade for Anthony now or pick him up later as a FA, and it is pretty obvious to me that the answer is to wait for FA.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/anthony_will_only_accept_trade_to_r4eqZSFRPjKU238n1VNg6O?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=

Then give them nothing, maybe fatboy and his expiring and thats about it....what!!(semi srs)

BRIGGS wrote:
We can already outscore teams--we dont need that--we need interior help and additional quality depth

agreed.. we need size and depth.. thats it.. lets go to war with these guys

Elite wrote:what we have to remember is... PLAYOFFS.... the one thing about Melo is... if you shut down Amare which the good teams will do... you have another weapon late in games.. half court.. not sure if this current team has that.. but we'll see

can't disagree with this. BUT, you also need defense, which is not something Melo has demonstrated.

Who was he guarding today against the Knicks? Chandler? Fields? Gallo? all those guys had GREAT games IMHO.

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:obviously, if we traded for Melo, it'd be a situation where we would have to take a step back to take two or three steps forward. it would take another off-season, probably, to get the roster making sense with complimentary players around Amare, Melo and Felton... but if you get the right players, you are talking about a possible championship mix.

i don't want to give up the house in a melo trade. i refuse to give up Fields. I would give them ONE of gallo/chandler and AR and eddy. if they want to move AR for a first rounder, they (denver) can do it themselves.

Why would we taking step back? AR and Mosgov dont even get burn. Chandler is playing for a contract has has been injury prone in the previous years. Fields is rookie who has played 25 games. Gallinari has looked like a future star either.

None of those guys should be deal breakers in a trade. This would the equivalent of Boston refusing to include Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes in the Garnett trade or Miami refusing to trade Beasley.

If we could deal AR, Gallo, Chandler, and Fields that would be a steal in my eyes because none of those guys have carried a team nor will they in all likelihood.

it's a step back because they'd be breaking up a balanced roster that has great chemistry. is that really even a question at this point?

BlueSeats wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:

BlueSeats wrote:

misterearl wrote:The Knicks have six players who have had 20 point games this season

Each one is capable of blowing up on any given night.

The difference is wondering who will rise to the occasion vs knowing.

We have one guy who we KNOW will score 25 points a game. We have Wilson, Gallo, and Felton who we KNOW will also score at least 15-18 and they are capable of scoring. Going by what we've seen, one of them WILL go off along with Amar'e. Does it really matter who, as long as someone goes off?

The old Knicks had Frazier, Reed, DeBussere, Bradley and Barnett averaging 15+ a game; they still went out and got Monroe to win a championship

Who of note did they give up to get him, by the way? Do tell!

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:obviously, if we traded for Melo, it'd be a situation where we would have to take a step back to take two or three steps forward. it would take another off-season, probably, to get the roster making sense with complimentary players around Amare, Melo and Felton... but if you get the right players, you are talking about a possible championship mix.

i don't want to give up the house in a melo trade. i refuse to give up Fields. I would give them ONE of gallo/chandler and AR and eddy. if they want to move AR for a first rounder, they (denver) can do it themselves.

Why would we taking step back? AR and Mosgov dont even get burn. Chandler is playing for a contract has has been injury prone in the previous years. Fields is rookie who has played 25 games. Gallinari has looked like a future star either.

None of those guys should be deal breakers in a trade. This would the equivalent of Boston refusing to include Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes in the Garnett trade or Miami refusing to trade Beasley.

If we could deal AR, Gallo, Chandler, and Fields that would be a steal in my eyes because none of those guys have carried a team nor will they in all likelihood.

it's a step back because they'd be breaking up a balanced roster that has great chemistry. is that really even a question at this point?

Balanced roster? On paper on in real games. I dont see a team with any defense on the floor. This is a lopsided team toward offense.

Im not obsessed with the defense on this particular team. What I think we do need is a bench enhancement. Its not fair that the starters work so hard and just dont have that extra little firepower that we need with all of the wasted roster spots. It looks like Williams not only has come down to Earth but has dropped below the surface. I don't know if another wing f is a spot of importance anyway--but at this point just find me a way to get this bench better. I would love to get Mayo as sixth man etc..

OldFan wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:obviously, if we traded for Melo, it'd be a situation where we would have to take a step back to take two or three steps forward. it would take another off-season, probably, to get the roster making sense with complimentary players around Amare, Melo and Felton... but if you get the right players, you are talking about a possible championship mix.

i don't want to give up the house in a melo trade. i refuse to give up Fields. I would give them ONE of gallo/chandler and AR and eddy. if they want to move AR for a first rounder, they (denver) can do it themselves.

Why would we taking step back? AR and Mosgov dont even get burn. Chandler is playing for a contract has has been injury prone in the previous years. Fields is rookie who has played 25 games. Gallinari has looked like a future star either.

None of those guys should be deal breakers in a trade. This would the equivalent of Boston refusing to include Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes in the Garnett trade or Miami refusing to trade Beasley.

If we could deal AR, Gallo, Chandler, and Fields that would be a steal in my eyes because none of those guys have carried a team nor will they in all likelihood.

it's a step back because they'd be breaking up a balanced roster that has great chemistry. is that really even a question at this point?

Balanced roster? On paper on in real games. I dont see a team with any defense on the floor. This is a lopsided team toward offense.

Aren't you defeating your own argument. If we give up Gallo, Chandler, AR and Fields and pay Melo we have no assets or cap to improve are defense.

Melo is great but I don't think we win with Amare, Turiaf, Melo, Douglas and Felton and no bench.

No Im not. The league has plenty of guys who can defend who have no offense. Efficient offense/scoring comes at a premium in this league.

A Melo trade can be expanded to include more players coming back to the Knicks. Im no fan of Harrington but he'd be solid coming off the bench. The same applies to guys like JR Smith.

Hell I'd throw in Mosgov if we could somehow get Nene back.

AnubisADL wrote:

OldFan wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:obviously, if we traded for Melo, it'd be a situation where we would have to take a step back to take two or three steps forward. it would take another off-season, probably, to get the roster making sense with complimentary players around Amare, Melo and Felton... but if you get the right players, you are talking about a possible championship mix.

i don't want to give up the house in a melo trade. i refuse to give up Fields. I would give them ONE of gallo/chandler and AR and eddy. if they want to move AR for a first rounder, they (denver) can do it themselves.

Why would we taking step back? AR and Mosgov dont even get burn. Chandler is playing for a contract has has been injury prone in the previous years. Fields is rookie who has played 25 games. Gallinari has looked like a future star either.

None of those guys should be deal breakers in a trade. This would the equivalent of Boston refusing to include Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes in the Garnett trade or Miami refusing to trade Beasley.

If we could deal AR, Gallo, Chandler, and Fields that would be a steal in my eyes because none of those guys have carried a team nor will they in all likelihood.

it's a step back because they'd be breaking up a balanced roster that has great chemistry. is that really even a question at this point?

Balanced roster? On paper on in real games. I dont see a team with any defense on the floor. This is a lopsided team toward offense.

Aren't you defeating your own argument. If we give up Gallo, Chandler, AR and Fields and pay Melo we have no assets or cap to improve are defense.

Melo is great but I don't think we win with Amare, Turiaf, Melo, Douglas and Felton and no bench.

No Im not. The league has plenty of guys who can defend who have no offense. Efficient offense/scoring comes at a premium in this league.

A Melo trade can be expanded to include more players coming back to the Knicks. Im no fan of Harrington but he'd be solid coming off the bench. The same applies to guys like JR Smith.

Hell I'd throw in Mosgov if we could somehow get Nene back.

You're too obsessed with the guy and he's not even in the same league as LeBron/Kobe/Wade, yet you act like he is. Did you watch the game? He had the big stats, but his impact wasn't that great. It was Nene that had the biggest impact at all, and that's b/c we had the undersized Stoudemire guarding him.

For D, we need to improve the PF and C spot either from within or adding someone. That's the key to the season right there.