Reading knickerblogger's post today got me thinking. If Curry and Frye definitely can't play together (without leading to disasterous results), then what exactly should we do up front? Starting Cato over one of them is not an option. If we're ever going to be good we need one of these guys to develop into a star. So who do you choose?

Frye

Pros: Can hit from the perimeter, has a nice jump hook. Decent overall mobility and movement. Smart player who can pass the ball. Could easily score 20 without expending too much effort from the offense(i.e. can shoot off a setup, shoot within the offense and not waste a lot of clock to get off his shot).

Cons: Has lost all confidence in his shot this year. Looks a step slower after his knee injury. A step slow in his reactions defensively. Very thin and not strong enough to guard the post consistnetly. Not a true shotblocker. Not agressive enough using his size offensively, especially in the post. Foul prone.


Curry

Pros: Huge size. Great touch in the low post. Can be a beast as a finisher. Good overall offensive touch. Physical ability to score 20+ on any give night. Can get a lot of putbacks when he's interested in hitting the offensive boards.

Cons: Not a willing rebounder or defender. Turns the ball over too often. Foul prone. Easily fatigued. Requires a lot of effort offensively to get him involved (gotta feed it into him in a good position, can bog down the offense if you're forcefeeding it to him in the post).

So they both suck defensively. But Both can score 20+ on any give night. Curry takes a lot of effort from the entire offense to get going, Frye doesn't. But a good post threat can open things up for shooters and other players. The Knicks, however, don't have shooters (other than Frye, who can't play with Curry). Posting him up bogs down this offense, which is dominated by penetrating guards who like to drive and dish. This plays well with Frye's game, as he likes to sit back and take open J's. If the Knicks are to continue to be a guard oriented team, Frye is the better fit. If they need to post up they can go to QRich from time to time, and David Lee operates well out of the post (though he isn't a true low post scorer).

Whether a guard oriented offense is the way to win is another question. But it appears to be Isiah's philosophy. We haven't seen a lot of teams in the NBA win this way in recent years. The Pistons did it by playing the best defense in the NBA, which the Knicks are incapable of doing.

Curry's contract is harder to trade. Frye may fit better but he's in a shooting funk. We need to pick a philosophy. Going in the direction we're going, Frye is the one who fits better.

I don't know if we are at the point of saying one has to go. Both Frye and Curry are still young enough to believe they can improve, especially Frye. I think that the situation could be resolved by starting Rose or Lee, and leting Frye play backup center, which I think would fit his skills better. Most teams backup centers are not going to do much damage offensively, so Frye's difficulties on defense will not be as profound and Frye should easily be able to score over backup centers and PFs, which will give our second unit more pop. I would give Frye and Curry another year before trying to decide if one needs to go, unless we could get a Garnett or O'Neal for Frye, which seems unlikely at this point.

Good post i think they just cant both play on the court at the same time but they can both be on the team........ for now......

If i had to choose one long term it would prolly be frye simply because I can see him improving in the future cuz he has a better motor than Curry. Frye is the type of kidd who will bust his ass during the offseason to get better, Curry is not.

I want Ike too but where is he? In college he was unstoppable. In the nba he looked lost. Is he hurt? Can the knicks make a bigger trade with golden state?

I think the knicks need curry more than anything. Curry needs a sidekick though. Reggie Evans would be awesome cuz he loves that role as the enforcer. Whatever the knicks have to do to get Reggie they should do it.

Frye doesn't have a face up move and he can't take his man off the dribble. If the knicks need a jumpshooting pf/c they can find those anywhere. Pittsnogle any one?

All jokes aside, where you gonna find another eddy curry? If eddy can figure out how not to get called for offensive fouls then the knicks have something.

As you all know I think zach would be awesome next to curry as a one two punch inside but I think hands down we all want to are Reggie Evans become a knick.

My big point on Curry is that if we remain a guard oriented team (which we almost have to be committed to being considering the lengths of Marbury, Francis and Craw's contracts), could we ever really play a low post player like Curry with them and really maxmize our offensive potential? I think the answer is probably no- the styles are too different.

But then again, the right way to play would probably be to build around the low post player. For that we'd need more more shooters along the perimeter- more complementary guards. The slashing Francis/Marbury types don't really fit this bill.

Frye is more suited to play with them, but then we'd be embracing a philosophy that probably doesn't work. In the short run we might see some success, but ultimately it wouldn't amount to much.

I agree that we can play one on the bench for now, but long term we're expecting one of these guys to become a superstar big man. It's not gonna happen when they're together, and if it can only be one you have to seriously consider making a choice before the other's value dips.

TMS I think that's a plan. That lineup would be a lot more imposing defensively. A lot of length on the perimeter. QRich and Jamal can adjust their games to play in more of a post-oriented offense. I'd like to add a sharpshooter at 2G/SF and another defensive body at PF to kick Malik out of the rotation in your proposed Frye/Francis deal.

Posted by VDesai:

TMS I think that's a plan. That lineup would be a lot more imposing defensively. A lot of length on the perimeter. QRich and Jamal can adjust their games to play in more of a post-oriented offense. I'd like to add a sharpshooter at 2G/SF and another defensive body at PF to kick Malik out of the rotation in your proposed Frye/Francis deal.

maybe if you could get a sharpshooter as part of the Frye/Francis or Big Turd trade, he could fill Malik's rotation spot, but at this point i think he would have to be a PF shooter or a tall SF because we would be set at the G positions.

an Al Harrington would have been a perfect addition in the offseason... i think i must've proposed 20 different trade proposals to get him too... he's averaging 19 ppg shooting just under 50% from the field & 39% from 3 pt range... we could have easily landed him w/a late round draft pick... too late now tho, Larry Bird isn't dealing w/Isiah Thomas anytime soon.

outside of targeting guys like Rashard Lewis, Lamar Odom or Antawn Jamison, who would probably require us to give up David Lee in the package (which I would not be willing to do), i think a Keith Van Horn or someone of that nature on a 1 year deal as a low cost, low risk FA option wouldn't be too bad as a fill in solution.

Curry's only 4 months older than Channing & if you compare their stats this season i don't see how u can call Curry garbage & yet laud the improvement you've seen out of Frye.

I think there has to some concern that Curry has plateaued (sp?- I mean leveled off). Even though he is still young, he's been in the NBA and you'd like to see some more year over year improvement. He's had a couple years where he's taken a step back in one area while taking a slight step forward in another. But with his capacity to pick up fouls, his conditioning and the fact that he's a liability on D, he may never play the minutes to develop into a dominant post thread. And I haven't even mentioned the fact he's still got skills to work on (recieving the ball in better position, cleaning up footwork), and that his floor awareness is low.

for years the Celtics brought Mchale off the bench as a 6th man. That didnt make him any less valuable. I'd rather not be so fast to dump 23 year old players for a change unless we got something great back