Right now, we are not a great team, no doubt. As Bill Parcells says, We are what our record says we are: a slightly better than .500 team.
But come on, get real. To me, our guards are so bad right now that it is absolutely stunning. I mean, to say we have the worst guards in the league does not say it strongly enough. You have to watch the games to appreciate just how lacking we are in the backcourt every single night. Fields and TD seem to get worse each night. Fields is so not a shooting guard it's not even funny. The only guard we have who should be playing is a rookie who is pretty much out of position. And finally, Shumpert came through with a stinker and we got mauled at Memphis.
So being slightly better than .500 -- even with playing a weak schedule -- is not horrible or unexpected, RELATIVELY SPEAKING.
You need to look at this team in context. We don't need a great backcourt, but we do need an NBA-caliber backcourt to be successful. Right now we do not have that. Not even close.
So personally, I am not going to worry too much about the results this season, because I know we just do not have enough to compete with the big boys. What I want is for us to improve defensively (which we have so far), then improve the offense once Davis is back.
Then, it will be up to the front office to make the appropriate changes this offseason, which will be an extremely important offseason for the Knicks.
I think it's too early to declare that Amare and Melo can't play together. Let's see how they are co-existing at the end of the season. I think with a good point guard and a good coach, we can make it work.
Barring a remarkable turnaround and a great postseason run, I do not want D'Antoni back. Who we hire is probably the biggest decision we face this summer. But we also must find a way to improve the backcourt. I would do whatever we can to get Ray Allen. I love Shumpert, but he is not a starting shooting guard yet. He is an ideal sixth man for a good team at this point.
Obviously, we need to hope Baron still has something left. He does not need to be his old self. He just needs to be a solid, heady point guard who will know how to run our offense. If he is solid this year, we bring him back and concentrate on getting a real shooter at the 2 guard.
The point is, rather than just say we suck, I do think that with clever moves this offseason we can be a great team.
1/14/2012 12:09 AM