VCoug wrote:

anrst wrote:Felton is a much better defender right (at least he is in NBA 2K) ... if this fits into Woodson's design to focus on D, i like it a lot.

Felton is a better defender than Lin only in the way that Amare is a better defender than David Lee. Neither one is going to be shutting anyone down.

I disagree there, Felton's an above average defender. It's the one thing he consistently does well year in and year out. Exactly how many better defensive pg's are there in your eyes?

Melo doesn't usually force 3's with after burning through an ENTIRE shot clock..

JamesKPolk wrote:

Gymkata wrote:Preface: I like Lin. A lot. I think he's a good guy, a good pro, and Linsanity was the most fun I had with this team since the '99 run. If he's gone, I'll miss him.

But it strikes me that this team is executing a vision. Between Woodson and Grunwald, they're shaping the roster to take on a new persona and a new style. There have been murmurs that these moves--and the resistance to eating the Lin poison pill--might be part of some grander scheme to land Chris Paul, but that seems untenable.

Based on nothing but my own speculation and observation it appears to me that the Knicks are being built for a singular purpose: to beat the Heat.

For the next X amount of years, all paths to the promised land must pass through the Superfriends and looking at the deals I feel like Grunwald is positioning this team to capitalize on the Heat's (few) weaknesses and minimize their strengths.

In another thread nixluva noted how Woodson's system seems to be transforming into a half-court, stingy D, old-school style, sacrificing pick-and-roll and motion offense for a slower, war-of-attrition type of approach. On offense, working through the post (Melo, Kidd, a hopefully-new-and-improved Amare)and staying away from the PnR would take away the Heat's greatest defensive strength, their ferocious trapping and disruption of the passing lanes, which leads to gimmes on the fast break. They're the best team in the NBA at that trap-and-rotate D. But they can be punished on the block and made to pay on the extra pass out of the double team. A penetrating PG is also wasted because they have mastered the art of flopping--er, sound, positioning to take the offensive charge.

On the defensive end, how do the Heat kill you? Dribble-drives and kick-outs to open threes, which they will be far deadlier executing with Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis camping out behind the arc. Meaning, you can't cheat off the shooters to help. Wade and LeBron will get into the paint--they're in the top 10 of all time in my opinion at doing that--so you either cheat to help or bank on your bigs to protect the rim. You cheat, you get torched. So what's the alternative? More punishment, delivered by Tyson, Camby and Crazy Eyes (who I am thrilled is back with us). If Joel Anthony beats you, then so be it.

As such, I just don't see Lin and the skillset he brings as being the best way to execute this strategy. In a vacuum, Lin is young and talented and has great potential, but the Heat have changed the landscape. A team needs to be built to match-up against them.

It might be a good idea. It might be a bad idea. Maybe it will all implode and we'll be back to lamenting the state of our franchise. This is just my take on what's happening at the Garden and if it's close-to-accurate I'm actually encouraged that our basketball brass have been given the freedom to do this. Because as much as Dolan is a little puke, isn't letting Lin walk--the human cash printer that he is--the opposite of Dolan's modus operandi?

Then again the Knicks could match and I just wasted all of Andrew and Martin's bandwidth for nothing!

What's the vision, exactly? They are cornering the market on guys who are near 40 years old. I mean veteran leadership is always needed but not to the point where you have five guys in your rotation that are almost 40. Woodson is so anti-young that he prefers guys who are near 40 in his rotation when it's unknown if they can even play at a high level anymore and/or last a whole season.

Lin is a talented young guard who has potential to be very good. His contract is expensive in that 3rd year but you bite the bullet and take the risk when your team is capped out and "all in" because if/when this team ends up with nothing to show in 3 years, who exactly is left to build a team with? Shumpert? We're talking about a team that in 3-4 years will probably be completely gone, except we'll have to wait 5 years or more to build assets through trades and the draft before we even get close to being good again. The Knicks have not looked ahead to 3 years down the line. They're focusing on now, which is okay, but they're not the Miami Heat. Bringing back the same team without Lin + Felton, Camby, Kidd and Kurt Thomas doesn't put you over the top.

HugeKnick4 wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

HugeKnick4 wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

HugeKnick4 wrote:

Uptown wrote:

OasisBU wrote:

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:Howard Beck ‏@HowardBeckNYT
MT @rodboone Asked Melo if Knicks would be OK at PG with Kidd & Felton: "I mean, what other point guards are we going to get at this point?"

Rod Boone ‏@rodboone
Melo on assumption Lin would return: "I think a lot of people kind of jumped the gun with that, that he’s going to be back no matter what."

If those quotes are real then it's clear Melo is no fan of Lin. I'm not sure what to believe there but I'm not sure Melo would say that stuff right now. I guess you never know.

All year long Melo has supported Lin. Even Lin has stated many times that he and Melo got along really well. Not sure why everyone doesn't want to believe it....I guess its the need to continue to make Melo the punching bag...

Melo and Woodson supported Lin publicly. All you need to do is dig up the YouTube video when Lin hits that dagger three again the Raptors during the height of Linsanity and take a close look and Woodson and Melo. It is very portending. The entire team is going nuts congratulating Lin, while Woody and Melo are in the background, practically grim, standing with their arms crossed. If you watch closely enough you can see Woody whispering into Melo's ear, "Don't worry MDA is road pizza, I'll take care of this when I am coach". LOL!

LOL - conspiracy theory?

Just watch the video...it is very odd...trust me. I am not one for conspiracy theories, but the tape doesn't lie. More funny than a conspiracy theory.

It could just be an anomaly. I have seen them get very excited as well.

You obviously didn't hear about this locker room spat they had.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3XSaz2Ys4M

You pick a half a second shot. Ho about all through out this game.
At the 6:13 mark and the charge Lin takes to close the game.

People calm down on the conspiracy theories.

Syniko wrote:Letting Lin walk is the stupidest thing I ever heard of. Not only does Lin brings extra crazy money to the MSG, he's also a really good PG.

Whatever, send him to Houston. I want to see him tear Knicks apart. You know he's going to amp up his game whenever Houston comes to MSG or vice versa.

It's all about going out for blood now. ``

Vmart wrote:If this whole fiasco leads to CP3, I will be totally ok with it.

I've heard the idea of CP3 get thrown around, but how is it possible?

Knixkik wrote:

Vmart wrote:If this whole fiasco leads to CP3, I will be totally ok with it.

I've heard the idea of CP3 get thrown around, but how is it possible?

Would need to be some sort of 3 team trade.

Knixkik wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Vmart wrote:If this whole fiasco leads to CP3, I will be totally ok with it.

I've heard the idea of CP3 get thrown around, but how is it possible?

Would need to be some sort of 3 team trade.

Who could we possibly trade?

No clue. CP3 is in the last year of his deal and if he doesn't sign the extension he's a UFA next off season. The Knicks don't have the cap room to throw money at him so they would need to get ceative. I would love to have CP3 but I can't see it happening.

DurzoBlint wrote:

Syniko wrote:Letting Lin walk is the stupidest thing I ever heard of. Not only does Lin brings extra crazy money to the MSG, he's also a really good PG.

Whatever, send him to Houston. I want to see him tear Knicks apart. You know he's going to amp up his game whenever Houston comes to MSG or vice versa.

It's all about going out for blood now. ``

Good Point Guard but, not worth Rondo money. Knicks are already hand-cuffed with the Melo, Amare and Tyson. Management is already going to have to be very, very creative to makes moves as it is going forward. Add that poisonous contract and you only make matters much, much worse.

People complain that IT handed out bloated contracts and eliminated all flexibility and here a shyt load of you guys are hollering for the same thing. Make up your minds.

This man love for Lin is simply embarrassing.

Whatever happened to doing it for a whole season, or making an all star game, or making a deep playoff run? When in doubt play great for 25 games in February works just fine for $15mill a year!