Isles,

Lee is a solid player that has already shown that he is one of the best rebounders in the league. He has to grow as a defender and improve his shooting, but those are the only things stopping him from being a solid starting PF and even perhaps an all-star.

Balkman has shown that he has the potential to be a lock down defender and shot-blocker and is also one of the best per-minute rebounders in the league. He too needs to improve his shooting, but he already can finish around the basket and has solid ball-handling skills. He too looks like a potential solid starting SF.

Collins showed that he could run the team and make the post entry passes that are critical to this offense. He can also defend the point and SG positions, which allows guys like Marbury and Nate to focus on scoring. He has a nice cross-over dribble and a good calm demeanor. He also needs to improve his shooting but he looks to be at least a solid backup PG with the potential to be a starter if he improves his offense.

Nate is a scoring machine with the potential to be instant offense off the bench. If given 30 minutes a game, this guy could easily average 20 points. He is a solid outside shooter and is fearless. He needs to learn self-control and playing within the team concept, but on pure talent, he is a solid player. He has the potential to be a solid 6th man or 3rd guard off the bench, and he could even be a starter if he improves his defense.

Frye has a sweet shooting touch from the outside and decent post moves. He needs stength to hold his position in the post and needs to stop rushing his outside shots. He has some shot-blocking capabilities but needs to increase his recognition on defense. He is a solid freethrow shooter for a big man. Really, his potential is dependent upon his ability to add muscle without losing speed. If he can get strong enough to hold his position in the post and play with more passion, he is a potential 18/8 starting PF/C.

Don't know Morris, but he was once thought of as a lottery pick, so he must have some talent. It remains to be seen what he can do.

All of the above have weaknesses to their games, but they also have major strengths. Given the fact that they all have no more than 2 years of NBA experience, the sky is the limit as to what they can do.

This is the young talent that people like on this team and I did not even mention Curry.

We don't necessary need an all world all star. We just need 6-8 talented guys who know how to play basketball at a high level and can work together as a team (i.e. Detroit).

[Edited by - thegame on 05-24-2007 2:00 PM]

Nate is just terrible, he turns the ball over often loses his man and has a bad attitude, typical isiah player and another example of isiah's drafting genius.

Our young core isn't all that impressive you have to love Lee and Balkman, Collins is just a backup as is frye.

Morris sucks and has a very poor work ethic and his desire has been questioned, very similiar to every loser isiah brings in here.

So our young talent basically comes down to solid but not great. I think we are behind at least 10-12 teams in the nba in that department....

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by TheGame:

Isles,

Lee is a solid player that has already shown that he is one of the best rebounders in the league. He has to grow as a defender and improve his shooting, but those are the only things stopping him from being a solid starting PF and even perhaps an all-star.

Balkman has shown that he has the potential to be a lock down defender and shot-blocker and is also one of the best per-minute rebounders in the league. He too needs to improve his shooting, but he already can finish around the basket and has solid ball-handling skills. He too looks like a potential solid starting SF.

Collins showed that he could run the team and make the post entry passes that are critical to this offense. He can also defend the point and SG positions, which allows guys like Marbury and Nate to focus on scoring. He has a nice cross-over dribble and a good calm demeanor. He also needs to improve his shooting but he looks to be at least a solid backup PG with the potential to be a starter if he improves his offense.

Nate is a scoring machine with the potential to be instant offense off the bench. If given 30 minutes a game, this guy could easily average 20 points. He is a solid outside shooter and is fearless. He needs to learn self-control and playing within the team concept, but on pure talent, he is a solid player. He has the potential to be a solid 6th man or 3rd guard off the bench, and he could even be a starter if he improves his defense.

Frye has a sweet shooting touch from the outside and decent post moves. He needs stength to hold his position in the post and needs to stop rushing his outside shots. He has some shot-blocking capabilities but needs to increase his recognition on defense. He is a solid freethrow shooter for a big man. Really, his potential is dependent upon his ability to add muscle without losing speed. If he can get strong enough to hold his position in the post and play with more passion, he is a potential 18/8 starting PF/C.

Don't know Morris, but he was once thought of as a lottery pick, so he must have some talent. It remains to be seen what he can do.

All of the above have weaknesses to their games, but they also have major strengths. Given the fact that they all have no more than 2 years of NBA experience, the sky is the limit as to what they can do.

This is the young talent that people like on this team and I did not even mention Curry.

We don't necessary need an all world all star. We just need 6-8 talented guys who know how to play basketball at a high level and can work together as a team (i.e. Detroit).

[Edited by - thegame on 05-24-2007 2:00 PM]

Lee is a great rebounder but he's very limited defensively and offensively. Overall he can be a starter in this league for years to come but he'll just be a complementary role player. Kind of like an Oakley. Probably the young player with the most value on the team but not an all star.

Balkman is not a lock down defender. Not even close. He's like Ariza where he's not good man to man but he can play the passing lanes, press and block a shot every now and then. Offensively he'll never be good but he can be valuable as a 15 minute a night energy guy off the bench.

Collins is a backup at best in the NBA. A few minutes at the end of the season hasn't changed that. He showed flashes, the way Frank Williams showed flashes. His best trait is that he's big and willing to defend. That's what's going to decide whether or not he stays in the NBA. Offensively you can find 100 guys who can play PG better than he can.

Nate is a 5'7 SG. He's a liability on defense, running an offense and in the lockerroom. He's liable to go off and do something incredibly stupid at any moment. Offensively he's good at getting his points but he only looks to get his points while the rest of the team just watches. His 10 pts a game, off the bench, will never equal all the negatives. He belongs on a team like Seattle or GS where he can just run all day and not worry about anything else. His act is going to grow very old, very quickly here in NY.

Frye, he's just too soft to ever make a difference on a playoff team. He's a weak defender and rebounder. He takes too many jumpshots and when it's not falling he offers nothing to make up for it. Maybe playing with Curry has forced him out to the perimeter more often but that was always his game and Curry isn't going anywhere so maybe he'll be better off someplace else but what team would make him a big part of their offense? He's a below average starter or an average backup.

As for Morris, there's zero reason to include him as part of any core at this point.

"The sky is the limit" is pure fluff. Base it on their potential. For Oden and Durant, the sky is the limit. For guys who project as backups, role players and complementary players, the sky is very much limited. Looking at it objectively, the Knicks "young core" is certainly no better than the average NBA team and you can make a case that it's even worse since you can't pinpoint a single future all star.

little limited on time: Isles, you definitely take the pessimistic view on all.

I agree with you on Frye and to some degree with Morris, but Morris is young and is part of the core young - he can be traded quick as an asset with no problems.

I think you are capping some of the guys by saying they are limited. Last year Lee was a bad FT shooter and you could have said (pessimistically) that he is NEVER gonna shoot the ball better, but he did. And there is no reason to say that his offense and defense can't be better, just no evidence of that. Is he gonna be a lockdown player? Probably not, but I don't think he is going to be deficient either.

Same with Balk. Bowen was a weak, timid player his first 5 OR MORE years in the league. And then voila.

Curry HAS to be considered as part of the core youth. His name was left off.

And I consider Collins' potential near that of Ward with height. Or Aaron McKie. Not bad starters.

Nate has plenty of time to turn his game around, and if he does he will be a SOLID bench player.

how are we judging Morris yet? I agree nate and frye fell off but we barely saw Morris play 5 minutes of NBA ball.

One thing I like about our young talent is the quantity of it. We don't know if Lee or Balkman or Collins for example will develop a respectable jump shot or of Frye will improve defensively or if Nate will play under control. But if some of those things happen, we'll have a much better team.

It all comes down to Curry. As long as it is acceptable for him to average 7 rebounds a game and play no defense we will be a mediocre team with mediocre players. Until he starts realizing his potential Isles is 100% right. Curry is the only one with star ability on this team, and until he develops a star mindset this team will plateu and we will continue to wonder why we don't win.

Posted by nixluva:

Why do so many of us continue to assume that anyone "accepts" Curry's flaws? Get this WE ALL want Curry to improve, that includes Isiah!!! Isiah has never said anything less than that. So can we kill this noise about anyone feeling its OK for Curry to be a weak rebounder or any of his other weak areas?

Now in terms of our young talent, we all know where we've been drafting. There's a reason why these players didn't go higher. We did however, pick up some good players that could develop into solid players in this league. Morris may never turn into anything, but he was a good college player and he was more than competitive with many of the better bigs in college. We will see in time what he can give us. We got him for nothing!

Morris has one ability that is very underrated in the nba. He's very intelligent. Intelligent players tend to develop quicker. take full advantage of their abilities and overachieve.