Posted by Queeniepop:

The problem I have with Zeke and young players like Randy Morris, Wilson Chandler, Collins and to an extent, Balkman is that he lets them ROT on the bench. We honestly dont know if any can help the team. Like with Chandler and Morris, both play positions that are highly suspect on the team (SF and C).

Posted by BlueSeats:

1) if we sat Marbury, Q, Crawford, Curry, etc, and won 23 games with the rookies people would be killing Larry for benching our "best" players.

2) isiah and dolan would be up in arms that Larry was wasting their 125M roster.

3) this NYC scrutiny and pressure is not good for rookies. It's simply not wise to make THEM try to carry us to the playoffs, which certainly was the directive.

4) creeps like Marbury, Francis and Mo were whining enough as it was; can you imagine if they were all benched for kids? talk about a mutiny!!!

5) two rookies ranked 4th and 5th in total minutes in a season without a draft pick. The were edged out only by Marbury, Crawford and Curry. The year prior, when draft positioning mattered and the coaches were dominated by Isiah, the top 5 were all veterans.

Just accept that this team was not constructed to feature rookies last year. It was constructed for guys like Marbury, crawford, Q, AD, M. Rose, and James to carry the team while the rookies learned the ropes and increased their role as the year wore on.

The problem was that the veterans came into camp out of shape and with their egos up their butts and they slacked themselves into deficits they couldn't pull themselves out of. The rookies got cast into situations they weren't prepared for, and shouldn't have been expected to shoulder. But the veterans provided zero positive leadership, and then had the gall to get b/tchy when their heads and hearts got called into question. They let themselves be shown up and embarrassed NBDL refuges, and rookies.

Everyone says Brown should have established roles. He did, the veterans were assigned to start and be the leaders.

THEY FAILED HIM.

Marbury, Q, AD, Curry.

Which of them best fulfilled their role?

Marbury, the guard brown gave more freedom to than any other but who could never quit get any system that didn't entail him freelancing to his heart's content?

Q, who entered the season with a bad back and ankle befor ehis brother was murdered?

AD, who got suspended just when we got cooking?

Curry, who's "condition" justified him being out of condition?

What about Jerome James, our other "starting" center? The guy who halfway thru the season he was still begging out after 5 minutes of play?

But if Brown actually gave up on those 125M veterans- who isiah, dolan and so many fans had invested so much hope and expectations in - where would that leave us? People say that Brown killed everyones trade value. Well what would having guys like Marbury and Curry playing BEHIND Nate and Butler do to their trade value?

4 potential lottery picks were given up for just those two, but they should play behind the 5'7 21st pick and a 6'8 undrafted NBDL center?

So what did Larry do? He kept the expectations on the veterans to show leadership and to bear the pressure of the season while still allowing the opportunity for the kids to grow. Nobody got a free ride and nobody got shut out. There was a leadership vacuum that anybody was allowed to fill.

Who did best fill the leadership vacuum? Probably Malik, QR, Crawford, and Frye. (You can add Nate for his work on the floor but off the floor leaves questions. And Lee is still an unknown but shows promise.)

Don't like 'em as leaders? Is that Brown's fault, or Isiah's?

Please don't expect a poor rookie to have to unseat the Grand Negative: Mr Starbury. Remember: "he's the second most important person in the organization after dolan. And he's not in play and he'll never be in play. We don't get down like that!!!"

But what if we get him and his ilk out of here and see what some positive people can do?

Some of you guys are so afraid of what Brown will do to the roster - like that he wants all aged veterans. Have you really convinced yourselves that he wants to trade Nate, Butler, Frye, Lee, Crawford, etc so he can add cripple braindeads to add to Marbury, Francis, Jalen, and Jerome?

Just get rid of the poisons and let the guys who can lead lead and have the others get out of the damn way. Our problem wasn't that brown didn't establish roles or that the kids didn't get enough time, it was that the veterans failed in their roles, and that put all of the coach, management and the rookies in extremely difficult and awkward positions.

Posted by BlueSeats:

This just got me remembering the LB era when people couldn't wait for isiah to be allowed to coach because, his fans told us, he'd surely play his rookies, unlike the senile old goat.

Posted by TheGame:

[quote]
i almost think a starting 5 of Collins, Jamal, Chandler, Balkman & Morris could have gotten this team better than 8 wins by now.

Posted by TheGame:

Posted by franco12:

Posted by nixluva:

Hey gang, just stopping by for a sec. i've been out of town on business. Sorry to see the team hasn't improved one bit.

As for Morris, I believed Isiah when he said this team was about the future and that he believed in his young players. I thought he showed some signs of being more willing to play the young guys last year. Perhaps that was a different Isiah. It seems this year he's been taking a different approach to the team. He's been fiercly sticking to the older guys who haven't done jack. I can't say that I trust him anymore.

I was wrong about this guy and i'm sorry to say that I actually believed we would see a different approach than LB took with the team. Why shouldn't we have believed Isiah? He's the one that kept bringing in all these young players. He didn't trade them but stuck with them, so it seemed logical to believe he liked his own players and would use them. I have no answers for this guys actions.

nix - here is the answer for Isiah's actions: he is a horrible GM who runs his team like a fantasy league team, where he goes out and gets the most talented guys available- but often, the most talented guys available usually are flawed, because good players tend to be kept on their own team.

Isiah the coach can't play the younger guys, because Isiah the GM brought in a bunch of overpaid vets, and both Isiah the GM & Isiah the coach are worried they're getting fired, and since Isiah is from the whatever side of chicago, he is a fighter and will do anything to survive.

only isiah is like a drowning victim who is panicked and thus, unable to keep his cool and is making his situation worse than it was.

Exactly. IT needs to stop worrying about being fired and just clean house. Trade Curry (who still has some value) for a prospect and a first round pick. Start Morris and see what he can do. He did not look like a bad center during the summer league. If you can trade Marbury for an expiring contract, do it. We cannot trade Q due to his injury, but I would diminish his role. I would start Crawford, Chandler, Balkman, Lee, and Morris. I would bring Marbury, Collins, Nate, Q, and Zach off the bench. We are still going to lose games, but at least, we would see what Chandler, Balkman, Collins, Nate, and Morris can do with big minutes. I think there are 4-6 players on this team who can be part of a championship team and we need to identify them now so that we can start to rebuild in a way that makes sense.

Posted by nixluva:

Hey gang, just stopping by for a sec. i've been out of town on business. Sorry to see the team hasn't improved one bit.

As for Morris, I believed Isiah when he said this team was about the future and that he believed in his young players. I thought he showed some signs of being more willing to play the young guys last year. Perhaps that was a different Isiah. It seems this year he's been taking a different approach to the team. He's been fiercly sticking to the older guys who haven't done jack. I can't say that I trust him anymore.

I was wrong about this guy and i'm sorry to say that I actually believed we would see a different approach than LB took with the team. Why shouldn't we have believed Isiah? He's the one that kept bringing in all these young players. He didn't trade them but stuck with them, so it seemed logical to believe he liked his own players and would use them. I have no answers for this guys actions.