"The bright spot of camp, and this season, could be second-year forward Wilson Chandler, brilliant during summer league and during recent informal scrimmages. Chandler has a real chance to make the starting lineup - either at small or power forward, if Zach Randolph isn't cutting it. Don't be shocked if D'Antoni's Knicks go smallball and start Chandler at power forward and David Lee at center. Isiah Thomas nailed Chandler at No. 23. "He could be a find," Walsh said. "He definitely can fit in this style."

The candidacy of Lee at center fits perfectly with D'Antoni's desire to play basketball with a flurry. The Mayor can drop in at either forward position, or both, depending on his mood and the matchup. If Zach Randolph's skill set were wrapped in a more pleasant package things would be both unselfish and groovy. As it stands, Curry better hit the treadmill before he is featured in next bold type on the transaction page.

Gallinari finally suits up after the All Star break, but until then, don't hold your breath.

Vote Early and Often, Punch 21

Thats great. Good to know Chandler is the man. But shouldn't we showcase Eddy and Zach and trade them asap?

No more of the 'showcase' concept. At this point, these guys are proven quantities... 20 more games is not going to change league perception. I am also a little bit tired of the speculative reporting that is becoming the mainstay of the NY sports pages... why not sit around and predict the final scores of each regular season game... it would have roughly the same factual basis...

Posted by Solace:

The only thing that changes perception is winning. The players won't instantly become more valuable unless we're starting to win... and if we're winning, why would we trade them? The myth of playing a player more to up his value doesn't really work nowadays, because every team in the league is well aware of it, and ratio stats that take minutes into account negate these factors.

Exactly. I've argued that before and usually one or two people vehemently disagree. If Zach puts up his 24 and 10 he did when we got him and we're toward the bottom of the Leastern conference, then the stats won't do jack for his trade value. Maybe if he puts up closer to 32 and 18, he'll have some trade value.



[Edited by - bonn1997 on 09-28-2008 12:28 PM]

Posted by Anji:

It would be sad if Danillo wasn't better then Chandler. That meanswe would be building our team around two role players..................

And it means we would have blown yet another lottery pick

whoa! Wait a minute who said Chan was just a role player? No one knows just how good he can be. He barely played last yr. IMO Chan could end up being a very good player! Gallo is also too green to read. I like his overall package but I thought we were still looking to pick up a stud FA in 2010.

Posted by Allanfan20:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Our last 3 lottery picks were Danillo, Frye, and Sweetney. No wonder our team sucks.

I'm not gonna nail Walsh for this, until he starts F'ing up with other things, but I have a bad feeling we're going to completely regret not picking Joe Alexander or Anthony Randolph instead.

Perhaps that's true, but I remember similar thoughts expressed about Green and Blatche and so far neither has exactly blown anyone away. My point is that it can take years sometimes to know what you've got in a pick. I hate to bring up Dirk, but he wasn't an instant success either. I can't say one way or the other which way Gallo will go, but if he can regain his health I think he can be a very good player in this system. I don't believe that he'll be shutout of the rotation this year just cuz he misses preseason. It will slow him down, but I think he'll get his chances to play. I think he's just too skilled, but like any rookie he's gonna need time to adjust, learn and grow. So it'll take time to make any real judgement.

Well the Knicks didn't make a significant change to the roster......so D'antoni will have to work in who he feels can help the team win.

Zach, Wilson, Lee, Duhon and Craw makes for a nice uptempo team. They can rebound which you need in order to be sucsessful....there's definately some holes and they are the same holes as last season (outside shooting, defense).

The difference to me has always been game plan. D'antoni doesn't care what the other team does. He cares what his team can do to the opposition. That's my philosophy to the "T".

With a new coach, I always have the high hopes that they can move the team in the right direction. I liked Lenny's style, its just isiah didn't even try to work with him. Larry Brown is more traditional and I expected him to place guys in their places and bring about accountability. We all saw that wasn't the case. Isiah said "the quick" offense was gonna be better and yeah it looked good in pre-season but he trashed it on opening night to a dump it to Curry all day offense. Last season, they didn't even have a plan and just winged it for 82 games.

Again I believe D'antoni can do it. He believes in playing his best players, his best 5 and sticking with a tight rotation. He likes to run and the Knicks best players have always succeeded when the pace was frantic.

Btw......Go Wilson Go!

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by misterearl:


The candidacy of Lee at center fits perfectly with D'Antoni's desire to play basketball with a flurry.

I know this thread is about trumpeting The Mayor as a starter, (good to see Earl again. Lets bring back Islesfan and get this place back on track) but seriously, a starting lineup of Duhon, Crawford, Mayor, Zslack, and Lee is such a defensive nightmare it overrides most causes for optimism.

But I guess if Chandler and Lee get some dunks it'll redeem a 30-something win season, for some.

probably not the worst defensive nightmare we could put on the court right now w/the current roster at least... defensively it's probably better than Curry, Zach, Q, Jamal & Marbs... at least u'd have 2 guys in Duhon & Chandler who make an attempt to play some defense on a regular basis... i'd rather watch a team full of our young guys getting playing time than see the same ol' crap we were witness to last season.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by misterearl:


The candidacy of Lee at center fits perfectly with D'Antoni's desire to play basketball with a flurry.

I know this thread is about trumpeting The Mayor as a starter, (good to see Earl again. Lets bring back Islesfan and get this place back on track) but seriously, a starting lineup of Duhon, Crawford, Mayor, Zslack, and Lee is such a defensive nightmare it overrides most causes for optimism.

But I guess if Chandler and Lee get some dunks it'll redeem a 30-something win season, for some.

probably not the worst defensive nightmare we could put on the court right now w/the current roster at least... defensively it's probably better than Curry, Zach, Q, Jamal & Marbs... at least u'd have 2 guys in Duhon & Chandler who make an attempt to play some defense on a regular basis... i'd rather watch a team full of our young guys getting playing time than see the same ol' crap we were witness to last season.

A disagree about Duhon. A healthy and motivated Marbury is still the best offensive and defensive guard on this team. I watched enough of Bulls games to know how easy Duhon gets push down into the low post by stronger guards. Duhon is better guarding the three ball. I can't stress the fact that Chandler is still the best shotblocker on this team. That shouldn't happen with Zack, Curry, James and Lee on this team. BTW, I haven't heard any 3rd party reviews of Q Rich. That guy must be sucking it.

my defensive rotation would be:

C - Jefferies
PF - Lee
SF - Chandler
SG - Q Rich
PG - Duhon

regardless this team ain't gonna win many games this season w/o some major roster moves made before the season begins... let's not fool ourselves into thinking some rotation tinkering's gonna have much of an impact either way.