ChuckBuck wrote:

nixluva wrote:Glen is putting the finishing touches on his old school masterpiece. Adding Brewer was a good addition to this roster. We needed more range and length on the perimeter defensively. This team may not be fast or pretty but it will be a tough and grizzled vet team ready to bang with the best. We can put size and quickness on the perimeter now and that should really help to slow down teams with good wings. We want teams taking contested long jumpers and you have to have wing defenders to do that.

This whole roster was designed to combat the Heat in my eyes. Whether, we're successful or not remains to be seen. Each Knicks-Heat contest will be epic that's for sure.

I think this team is better suited to battle the Heat this time. We have more size and length and quality depth. I think we'll be less prone to TO's than before with PG's that take care of the ball and are savvy. We're much more prepared to play halfcourt and slow it down against the Heat, which they don't want to play. The Heat want to run and with this roster we can slow it down and still be effective.

If you want to attack the Heat you need some size and PG's that can make pinpoint passes inside, over the top of the defense and out to the wings. You have to be able to feed the post and I think We'll be able to do that with Kidd and Priggy. I wish we had more 3pt shooting, but it's hard to get players with the little bit of money we have left. I'll take what we have now over what we had last year in a heartbeat.

When you really think about it, the direction Woody wanted to go in is a better fit for the teams best player. If you're gonna bet the farm on a player and coach, then you should do everything to give them the best chance to succeed. Which we didn't do with the last coach. This time they have a chance to get it right and Glen has brought in players that fit exactly what Woody wants to do. Glen and Woody have a long time relationship and no doubt a similar philosophy on BB. For the 1st time in a long time we have a front office that is in sync with each other and a team on the floor that is a reflection of their vision. For better or worse that's the way it should be done.

Most of all is the defensive strength this team should have. If Woody can crack the whip and keep Melo and STAT playing at a high level on D the rest of the team should be no problem at all keeping motivated. I think many of the vets we brought in realize this is a good chance to go for a ring. I think most of our players will be hungry and give it their all this year.

Felton, Kidd, Camby and KT all have that old school defensive and tough guy mentality. None of these guys will allow another team to punk them. That will permeate thru the roster and solidify the personality of the team as a tough defensive team.

StraightShot wrote:I agree with the sentiment. Furthermore, this is the first time in quite a while where everyone involved with the franchise is moving consistently in the same direction.

EXACTLY!!! Great point. You win with a singular vision and execution. You can't be pulling in different directions. There isn't any one way to win. You can win with this kind of team if everyone buys in to their role and they work together as a unit.

This team is built to stifle teams and make them work hard for points. We won't be running around like the Heat but rather staying at home and shutting down penetration. Protecting the basket and playing ball control. We've got to slow teams down and make they use clock. No quick and easy scores off our own Turnovers. Play efficient offense and stingy D.

nixluva wrote:I pretty much envisioned this as the way the Knicks would play this year and its a beautiful thing to see! That's why I changed my signature to "Shut'em Down" before the season. There was so much being made about the Lin stuff and the old players, but you really had to look past that and see how the team was being constructed. It's clearly a team that is built to play Old School Smart Defensive BB. If you take care of the ball and play efficiently on offense and back that up with an intense defense then you should see results.

This team is a joy to watch after years of turmoil and teams not playing up to their abilities. You can see the maturity of the vets and how it rubs off on everyone on the team. Even our young guys are playing smarter.

it's nice to see the knicks put something together to start the season. it looks like anthony might be starting to get it in terms of conditioning and defensive effort and hustle plays. he still holds the ball a bit too much and doesn't recognize the double team quite enough but watching game film with his coaches should help that a bit. in the meantime it is annoying. one thing i will add is that d'antoni is right that the ball has energy-- when it gets moved around properly it improves the shot selection, especially 3 point attempts. looks like woodson is insisting on that, but you could see today at certain points in the second half the knicks kind of forgot that a bit.

i wouldn't hang my hat on the vets too much, since the odds are against old players that they can remain healthy. but then again there's no denying that the older guys bring a certain savvy and calm that trickles down to younger knuckleheads.

nixluva wrote:The beauty of MDA's offense is that it elevates lesser players. Woody has melded his offense with MDA's and it looks good so far. Not perfect, but this early in the season I wouldn't expect it to be perfect. The more they play the sharper it should get. They just need to play efficiently and keep moving and moving the ball and there's no way teams will be able to stop the Knicks completely.

As for the older players, I really am not worried cuz this team is so DEEP. We will have so many players capable of contributing that no ones minutes should be too high. That's how we're gonna preserve the vets for the playoffs. Plus the vets don't waste energy trying to make spectacular plays. They just keep it simple. Kidd saves most of his energy for defense. Our vets are smart and they know how to conserve energy and pace themselves. Plus did you notice how we kept the pace slower and in the halfcourt? That's how this team will win.

Factorial
nixluva - I wasn't so sure that Woody would have the answers on offense, but he was smart enough to adopt some of MDA's stuff and when we can get some more post ups mixed in with STAT and Sheed that should also help.

Let's FINALLY set the record straight

Woodson played four years for Knight and worked with Larry Brown for years. Woodson's first pro coach was Red Holzman. Knight and Woodson talk frequently.

“I had dinner with (Bobby Knight) just this last week in New York. “We sat and chatted for about three hours. We talked basketball. What better advice to take? He’s done everything you could possibly do in basketball, and done it as good as anybody who has ever coached the game. How do you not respect Bob Knight?” - Mike Woodson, after practice last week

Mike Woodson worked with Mike D'Antoni for four months.

For all his madness and kaleidoscopically inventive profanity, Knight is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. The hallmarks of his style—the motion offense, man-to-man defense, focus on the fundamentals, devotion to discipline—have spread throughout basketball for the past five decades at every level. It’s impossible to imagine the sport without him. And there may be no more devoted acolyte to Knight, his style of basketball, his view of the world—all the good things, without the chair-throwing—than Mike Woodson - Will Leitch, NYMagazine

Woodson draws TONS more from years with Holzman, Brown and Bobby Knight than the nanosecond he sat beside Mike D'Antoni.

Enough