first off, it's good to be back in the usa. i was out of the country visiting family in the motherland (india) and got caught out there for an extra days thanks to heavy rains and flooding. then when we got to dubai for the connecting flight to nyc - we of course missed that and was stuck in dubai for another day. so 48 hours later and i'm finally back. first thing i did was run over to a mcdonald's and scarf down a big mac and 2 mc chickens. AWESOME!!! btw, dubai is an F'N rich country. their architecture is F'N impressive and it's like THE place to vacation if you got some dollars in the bank.

ok, i tried to check in on the boards throughout my trip and finally sat down last night and saw some knicks games i had on my dvr. here are my impressions. there may be nothing earth shattering here and may have been said a million times over but here we go:

1. fishmike is p-whipped
2. there are way too many new posters here
3. realgm still sucks
...oh wait, sorry, that's a list for another post

here's my knick's list:

i missed the h20 retirement but he was a good player that will be remembered for the miami shot and his $100 mil contract. i knew he was going to retire the minute they used the amnesty rule on jyd. this was a planned thing from the get go and his appearance at camp was just a good show of faith before announcing his retirement. my 2nd favorite knick of all time.

crawford - to me, this guy is slowly becoming the leader of the team. he's all over the press and he's the one being quoted the majority of the time. he's saying ALL the right things but more importantly, he's showing his growth and willingness to learn ON THE COURT. he's become alot steadier. has concentrated on defense and has really concentrated on moving the ball. 11/3/4 on 47% from the field is pretty damn impressive. 47% from the field. you can see the best stretches this team has played is with him on the court and with him primarily running the offense. it may sound crazy but by the end of the year, he COULD be the best player on the team. crawford has CLEARLY, to me, been the best player in preseason.

which leads me to ...

marbury - we have a new system in place here where the ball isn't in his hands for the bulk of the time...and he's having trouble adjusting to it. it's WAY early and it will take time to adjust BUT if his role now on the team is downgraded (and that's what it looks like is happening), then i may have to start questioning his value. i hope i can articulate what i mean. is marbury a damn good player? yes. but i also feel like for him to be effective and more importanly, WORTH the $20 mil he's getting, then he needs to take an iverson role. and this team is not built for him to take an iverson role. this team is built for him to be a contributor but at the end of the day, just a part of the machine. if we are morphing this team into just a GUARD backcourt and not specified PG/SG roles, then marbury's value will go down and will make any return value on moving him even less. my gut reaction is telling me that he is not really part of the future of this team and we should move him now for something like josh howard + stackhouse.

the rookies - i love them all. frye has THOROUGHLY impressed me. i know isiah had this kid pegged 2 months before the draft but i thought it may take him a while to adjust and put up some decent numbers but he's doing it right away (for the most part). i would like to see a little more back to the basket and i'm not worried about his fouling habits but he's a nice little player that has a chance to be really good. nate is a nice addition as well. to me, it looked like our best backcourt combo was with nate and craw out there. he really can make things happen and i could see him closing out alot of games for us with craw. can he play big minutes right away? not yet as he's still a little wild but i like what i see. lee is a nice hustle player and could become better if he can harness his skills as well. he may take a little longer to "develop" but he can help right away in a limited jyd role.

Q - haven't really seen him play at all and to tell you the truth, it's a little disconcerning that he was a little chubby and hurt himself already. we have a bunch of new players with a new coach in a new system that everyone is trying to learn. if Q is going to be out for a bit, it just delays our cohesion process if we have to try to incorporate him down the road. gut reaction, he's better off being a 6th man for now.

mo taylor - i am in no way in hell manning up!!! i couldn't believe it when i saw it but marbury and crawford actually fed the ball in the post...and get this...GOT OUT OF THE WAY AND LET THE POST PLAYER OPERATE!!! unreal. what a concept. actually, mo does look to be in better shape and is trying hard and is a good post option for us off the bench. clearly, this is the PERFECT tailor made role for sweetney but that's neither here nor there.

the big game - what a fat piece of crap!!! i was part of the anti-full MLE band wagon. he was signed to be our starting center and for the full MLE and is STILL OUTTA SHAPE. that's not a good sign and something that was expected by some (myself included). alot of people thought we'd see the james of the sac series but we're seeing the james of his entire career. so he's still a 15-20 min player, that will help, but is obviously overpaid. my gut reaction - dump him ASAP as we have butler in the wings. this was clearly a desperation signing by isiah as he needed to sign some sort of center. i remember the big game debates well on this forum. would you guys sign him for the full MLE if you knew we were getting curry? i'm guessing that the answer to that question would be NO by almost everybody here. maybe we should do something like james and lee for dmiles.

curry - he needs to get in shape. he's still a baby and we have aguirre and brown working on him. even if he's not that great this year, i'm OK with that b/c i think he will be a beast offensively for the rest of his career. he's 22. and i think he's willing to learn the other end of the court as well. i think with jamal there, actually showing growth on the court, curry will as well.

i'm not worried about the turnovers right now as it will get better over time and i believe this team will go through some growing pains. our strength is our depth and that's what will help us beat up on teams, especially AFTER the all star break. isiah has spent ALOT of money here and in a twisted way, has rebuilt this team on the fly. if it blows up, then we did give up picks but it will just mean more spinning of wheels and more dollars spent in changing it up again. 3 major roster overhauls in 2 years. we need some time to play together and see where we are in april.

knicks 05/06 - ALL HOPE

Welcome back Hope you had a nice trip. I dont know where in India you're from but I know there were a few bombings in Delhi today so I hope all is well with any relatives you may have there.

DJ, I agree with all of your observations, but I disagree with you about Craw and Marbs. I think it is too early to tell, but 11 ppg for Craw isn't gonna get it done for us. Obviously Marbs is also going to have to score more points for us to win. I can't really tell whats going on, but I think once the season begins we will se a much different player in Marbury and Crawford. Those guys have to score big, Curry too of course.

We'll see how it plays out, but outside of those 3, q when he returns and maybe Mo T, the rest of our team are 10 ppg guys. I agree that Frye could put up more, but may not get the minutes he should. Our offensive production has to come from somewhere. How do you think our team wins if our best scorer (Marbury) is not a main cog in the O? We will suck if hes not, and you ave to think LB knows that.

[Edited by - Killa4luv on 10-30-2005 10:43 AM]

Not to be on your jock or nothing but good post

dj, good to see ya back!

i think there's tons of talent on this team and i think it's gonna take lb a little time and some real games that he cares about winning for him to sort it out. i see marbs being extremely effective in his system once it gets nailed down. i don't see craw as optimistically as you do but i'm keeping an open mind. i'm with you on frye, a little more experience, confidence and aggressiveness and ahis guy's a future all-star. i think nate's gonna be a valuable pace-changer and i think larry's gonna utilize him. lee, reezy, butler could protentially be big contributers, we'll see how they're used. butler and barnes as well. i think q's gonna contribute a lot. i'm psyched for the season, veen tho we're gonna have some real stinkeroo showings for sure, we're gonna have to deal with those and keep on keeping on.

I don't see Future All-Star in Frye b/c I don't think he has a much higher ceiling than right now, but I see solid guy off the bench/ quasi starter.

i think his skill level is terrific right now. where his ceiling is a lot higher than right now is in using his height/dexterity advantage. he could get his shot off at least twice as often as he is now. he's an excellent passer who should have the ball in his hands more and look to make plays with it. he shows the potential to be an excellent rebounder (he's much tougher than i expected and purrues the ball much harder as well) once he picks up more savvy on positioning and making others foul HIM.

Difference b/w Marbury and Billups/Iverson is an affinity for playing defense and taking the big shot...

Also...Billups has an advantage as far as size, and AI is just a step above Marbury in basically every category.

You, and alot of other Knick fans, are probly scared to lose Steph. I'm not.

Fear has nothing to do with it. Isiah has worked hard at getting a good team on the floor what we need now is some continuity and that takes time. I say let Marbury have a chance with this new team and new coach before we start saying let's rid the team of Starbury.

Posted by boomann:

You, and alot of other Knick fans, are probly scared to lose Steph. I'm not.

Fear has nothing to do with it. Isiah has worked hard at getting a good team on the floor what we need now is some continuity and that takes time. I say let Marbury have a chance with this new team and new coach before we start saying let's rid the team of Starbury.

well said boomann. and to bobs, hey i think i'll face reality if marbs proves unable to excel in larry's schemes with this team around him. but for right now, a guy coming off a 21 point 8 assist 46% year with greatly improved coaching and inside players coming in, i'm mad excited about his chances to excel. i don't think that's based on just fearing change. i'm looking at it as planning to maximize potential strengths for this team and i see marbs as strength #1. way ahead of curry, crawford, anyone else on this team.