i think one of our BIG problems is ineffciency in the backcourt

mardy collins is a player who NEVER shot 40% in college and still cant shoot BUT i do think that LB likes him and would be willing to give us that philly 2nd rounder 2007 for him--basically a swap pick

the two players that I like for the Knicks after watching a lot of hoop around the country are mustafa shakur out of AZ[i used to be down on this kid but he's develpoed very well] and sf corey brewer from Florida[who i think resembles josh howard in a lot of ways--especially if he got just a bit stronger.


no more mles on bit players who should be playing for 1-2mm per. im sorry it did a good job drafting lee and frye and was *lucky* that Curry's health problem scared off every team in the league--but he has been drastically bad in almost every other decision except the nate r q -rich trade--although that has not yielded results

i know crawford has been a big late game player but shooting 30% for the first 3.5 periods is not acceptable and we WONT win with a player avg 17 pts shooting 38% he's been hidden by other players and the beguiling comeback by q-rich but besides the late game heroics he's been bad very bad and he doesnt play good enough D to compensate. i know the knicks wont even look into it--they think that the players they have now are going to propell them

watch a real good team like dallas or pheonix and you know what im saying the knicks are WRONG without curry this is a disaster area sans lee--and lately Frye

thats what this team is lee frye and curry--but they need to find three guards who can play

im not so sure with these balkmans and jefferies just what they bring to the table in the league on a consistent basis. cant we find players who can play D and shoot?

im looking to identify and clear out the dead weight and replace them with high effeciency athletic players who play both ways.

I agree with you 100% percent on this Briggs although I must admit Marbury has been playing inspired basketball as of the last month (what did Magic say to this kid). I do believe that for the most part our backcourt stinks (though not as bad as the begining of the year). At this time there is no one that is automatic at the 1, 2 or 3 and that's what the upper echelon teams have.

I'm up on Balkman in a big way. I think this kid has everything needed to become a defensive All Star in this league. He's causing major disruption to other teams backcourt in just his first year. That's without the body he'll have in two years of intensive training. He's got good form on his jumper and he's shown he's got a handle that could be the envy of most players his size. As I said i'm up on this kid.

While I know we would never be able to get him I sure wish we could get Kevin Durant from Texas. Tall as heck with the ability to take you on the dribble. Plus, he's money from the perimeter. I guess it's nice to dream.

Inside defense is way more of a problem than outside shooting right now

Posted by JUNKMEIN:

I agree with you 100% percent on this Briggs although I must admit Marbury has been playing inspired basketball as of the last month (what did Magic say to this kid). I do believe that for the most part our backcourt stinks (though not as bad as the begining of the year). At this time there is no one that is automatic at the 1, 2 or 3 and that's what the upper echelon teams have.

I'm up on Balkman in a big way. I think this kid has everything needed to become a defensive All Star in this league. He's causing major disruption to other teams backcourt in just his first year. That's without the body he'll have in two years of intensive training. He's got good form on his jumper and he's shown he's got a handle that could be the envy of most players his size. As I said i'm up on this kid.

While I know we would never be able to get him I sure wish we could get Kevin Durant from Texas. Tall as heck with the ability to take you on the dribble. Plus, he's money from the perimeter. I guess it's nice to dream.

I'm with you--I'd rather have Durant but that is a pipe dream--the only way it could happen is if chicago won the lottery and we came in 2nd! Of course Jarred Jefferies would start over him anyway. I agree with you about Marbury as well--i do think he is a physical ticking time bomb----a lot of miles on him---although he probably has 2-3 good years left. still we need a PG pretty bad. I dont think we have a real back up

both of the guys i mentioned are really good on the D as well--- long arms, athletic if we were able to snag phillys 2nd--wed have hope that we could do soem maneuvering for both. balkman is OK he hAS to develop a shot he is NOT dennnis rodman--no one is--like shaq there willonly be 1 rodman who was one of the best basketball players of all time. balkman is more of a perimeter guy in a sense but how can we have BOTH jefferies and balkman in the rotation with all of our 40%< guards? it wont work against good teams. were going to beat bad teams with curry in the box alone--but it's a race to put the right guys around him--what Im scared about is that i believe that the knicks think that the guys are here already

as far as mle goes--DONT use it again UNLESS the player is really worth it we are filling our roster for the long term with sht players with long contracts. i guess they can just buy them out

Posted by SugarRayRichardson:

Posted by Elite:

Inside defense is way more of a problem than outside shooting right now

Maybe not. Most nights we dont have a ton of points scored on us in the paint. The majority are from the perimeter. Also keep in mind that 7 times out of 10 when we brick a long shot it leads to an odd man fast break the other way.

I think its because Jamal and Steph have been doing a good job and staying in front of their men. If we had a shot blocker/inside D then we would be able to contest jumpers better because we wouldent have such a fear that if your man beats you.. its a layup.

I think we could use an outside shooter but more of a roll playing outside shooter. Someone off the bench like a damon jones type.

Im comfortable with Jamal/Qrich on the outside... its jeffries/balkman off the bench that worries me... I would prefer to move Jeffries for a shooter but whatever

There have only been 2 games this year where I thought other teams shot blocking played a major role in the outcome of the game. Charlotte and the Clippers. It would be nice to have more but I just think its way down the list of our needs. If guys defend with their legs and take up space getting a hand up shot blocking is over rated. Many of the best shot blocking teams are bad teams. Guys like Wes Unself and Willis reed were not great shot blockers but played good defense by taking up a ton of space in the lane. Its not all about length. Its about girth. Curry would be better if he was able to square up a lot more instead of turning to the side giving a small angle. He often does that to block the shot. I want him to take advantage of his size not by shot blocking every shot but by taking up a lot of space in the lane. A thin tall guy like Bradley or Bol are not hard to score on. They might end up with 3 blocks but the lane is still wide open. Big bodies taking up space can be a pain in the neck to work against. At least they are for me.

its not about blocking shots. But it IS about filling the lane and having our big men ROTATE properly and challenge shots. Its called interiour DEFENSE. and thats what we need.

Posted by Elite:

its not about blocking shots. But it IS about filling the lane and having our big men ROTATE properly and challenge shots. Its called interiour DEFENSE. and thats what we need.

Agreed 100% I think we need a flat-out DOG (Stephen A's term) in the post. Someone that would make these guards think twice about running layup drills. Not necessarily a blinkin' headcase but a dog.

Briggs what do you think of Arron Affalo from UCLA who is compared to Raja Bell. And Jamareo Davidson who is compared to Chris Anderson and is averaging 9.3rebs & 3.1blks per game?

According to NBADRAFT.NET

i think the mistakes we made in the offseason are easy to see. we made a mistake going for three players who are essentially defensive players--all of them--right thing to do on a team givng up big #s right? wrong--what i *think* we should be looking for are TWO WAY SMART athletic effecient players who can play NOW. we spent 50 large[inclduing jalen rose] for players that are very one dimensional--we want two-way ballers we want smart players from good programs some of you like balkman[he has shown some nice signs and he could be a player at some point???] but there are guys like balkman every year--look at stephen lasme from mass--anyone here seen him play? I bet he is better than balkman. but no matter

i hope that when we go forward we learn from our CONTINUAL mistakes.

We need outside shooters that can hit a shot consistently. we only have 1 shooter-qrich. every team we play has 3-4 shooters. we would strech the defense and open up the middle.