rvwink wrote:One of the tricks that coaches sometimes use is to pick someone to be the team captain, who maybe something of a rebel. The idea is that in order to be the captain, the player will become more of a team player.

I think MDA's choosing Melo to be the "point forward" is partly based on the fact that he has been principally a ball stopping player. (I read a statistic which said that only 15% of the balls that were passed to him were passed onto someone else when he was in Denver.) I think 'm guessing MDA made him point forward to encourage him not to be a ball stopper. As point forward he needs to keep looking for open players to pass the ball to. I think a clever move by MDA. Do you agree?

I agree 150%

SupremeCommander wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:This is not the way Dantoni coaches--this is nothing like how Phoenix
played---they were good from day 1 this is an imbalanced over rated roster with no true team concept of how they want to play

good to see you posting

I agree, especially with the concept bit. I'd bet on getting 15 different answers, if you asked the players to describe the playstyle

The Knicks shouldve sold Jeremy Lamb on their light offer to pick him 15th. We needed a player like Lamb desperately.

BRIGGS wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:This is not the way Dantoni coaches--this is nothing like how Phoenix
played---they were good from day 1 this is an imbalanced over rated roster with no true team concept of how they want to play

good to see you posting

I agree, especially with the concept bit. I'd bet on getting 15 different answers, if you asked the players to describe the playstyle

The Knicks shouldve sold Jeremy Lamb on their light offer to pick him 15th. We needed a player like Lamb desperately.

There is zero ball movement on this team and it looks like they have trouble scoring outside of Melo's ISO plays. We definitely need a floor general. Amare also seems to have trouble finding his role. He has not really been able to ascert himself and dominate.

In fact I don't think this team has a dominant player on it - the current chemistry is keeping anyone from emerging. It's weird.

I think the quality of bench that the Knicks will have in place by February should be a large upgrade over last year. I like their acquisitions particularly at the minimum prices that they paid (except for Tyson of course. But I think he is a great fit for the Knicks. Can you go over the Knick acquisitions this preseason and say what you thought about each acquisition and also who you would have acquired instead?

Apparently you think that it was a mistake to acquire Melo because his game doesn't fit with Amare. But have you noticed how beneficial having Melo around is, in terms of attracting other players? It is possible that Tyson wouldn't have preferred the Knicks over the Warriors, if Melo wasn't our 2nd star. It is also possible that Baron Davis wouldn't have selected the Knicks as the place he wanted to take a minimum salary from. Do you take that stuff into account?

BRIGGS wrote:This is not the way Dantoni coaches--this is nothing like how Phoenix
played---they were good from day 1 this is an imbalanced over rated roster with no true team concept of how they want to play

True- they do look completely clueless out there, and I mean COMPLETELY clueless. And since no one seems to know what they are doing or how to play with each other, they end up being tentative- it looks like they're not even trying a lot of the time (it's tough to increase your intensity when you're not sure what you're doing.

The thing is, while we need time to figure it all out, in the mean time the team should be focused on rebounding and defense- especially rebounding, it'll at least give them a chance to win games while their offense is stinking up the joint. Nothing annoys me more than watching the team fail to rebound the ball, over and over again.

The roster is poor right now, but once BD is back, we have an actual PG. When Shumpert is back we have some scoring off the bench and some defense. When Jared Jeffries is back... well... he does that thing where he seems to register no points, rebounds, blocks or steals, but somehow has the highest +/- of anyone on the team. Add Kenyon Martin in March, and suddenly we have a more balanced roster. The problem is actually not sinking too far before we get to that point.