This is Lee's best chance to get real PT. He's been held back more by his own coaches than anyone else. I like that he was so involved offensively. We know what we'll get from this guy with extended minutes and it's usually all good things.

If Lee could get his game up offensively to where he's considered for the All-Star game, ala David West... ala Carlos Boozer... Knicks could be back on track faster than we hoped.

Saw the whole game. Was fairly impressed overall.

Pros -
(1) Good chemistry overall and I was plesantly surprised being the 1st preseason game and all. Very good chemistry with Zach and Lee. Lee's just a good chemistry guy period. The kid really makes other players better - a great quality and so rare in today's NBA especially for a big man. And you can tell he's worked very hard on his game. First it was the improved FT shooting. Now he's showing us a serious 15-17 footer. If he can stick that jumper, suddenly you're talking about Lee becoming a very good offensive player/complete player and that would be huge. If that's the case and he shows us he's more than just 10 rebs. per and effort (which is great but not enough), maybe he's a keeper and not trade bait. When the jumper was there he took 'em with no hesitation. To be honest I never really thought of Lee as starter material to this point, but I might have to rethink that now. Amazing how much better a couple of made jumpers can make a guy look when the other parts of his game are there.
(2) Even though we're not huge, we're still a dynamite rebounding team.
(3) Chandler looked good, but just like I mentioned in the Briggs post today, it's wide open for this kid to succeed. But he's gotta want it. If he works on his handle a little and plays more aggressive, sky's the limit.
(4) Good effort on defense tonight, even though they really don't have that defensive stopper, either on the interior or in the backcourt.
(5) I liked that we were dictating the tempo and getting whatever we wanted, especially in the 1st half.

Cons -
(1) Chris Duhon. I know we overspent to bring him here but I thought we were at least getting another Chris Childs and for only 2 years, I could've lived with that. After watching this first game, I don't know if that's the case now. I know he had the 10 rebs. and a few assts. but man he looked lost out there which is hard to believe because this system is free-flowing with no real restrictions & designed to make everyone look good especially the orchestrator. It's early & you gotta give him more time but he really looked terrible. Very sloppy with the ball. Forget backup, he didn't even look NBA-caliber tonight. He seems to be a pretty good spot-up shooter from deep when he gets his feet set though with very good form, so that's a plus I guess.
(2) I know Craw had a few assts. himself but he's gotta find a way to have an impact on the game w/o dominating the ball and putting up 20 shots - and I just don't know if he'll ever do that. Coming off the 20 pt. season last year this is pretty much his team right now. Scary how when you put Craw in a wide open, share the rock type of system he doesn't seem to raise his game. If you put the ball in his hands and let him create for himself he'll put up points but it's not what the team needs. Again, I know it's early and it's only time before he'll put up some of his big scoring games, but I tell ya, in a game where everyone participated tonight, he looked as lost as Duhon out there. No excuses, he's been here and he's played with our core guys, Duhon hasn't. He should go and look at tape of someone like Jason Kidd maybe and find out how to have an impact in the backcourt w/o taking 20 shots.
(3) They just don't have good outside shooters. Low % shooters, the lot of 'em. Volume shooters, Craw and Q. I know we're limited cap-wise on what we could've added, but low risk guys like Jaycee Carroll and a big athletic swingman like a Gerald Green would've been perfect and both were available. Absolute no-brainers. Both were affordable young role players that have the chance to be a lot more provided they're brought into the right system and are developed properly. Carroll's a better player than Roberson (Roberson's a practice player, I think Carroll could be a better version of Eddie House myself -- youtube this kid Carroll, think about how we shot the ball from deep last night, then tell me if we couldn't have used a guy like that). As soon as the Nets cut Jaycee we should've scouped him up and cut Roberson on the spot. And Green's such a better option than Houston moving forward. I know it's crying over spilled milk now, but I still say Walsh could've done more to reshape this roster on the cheap and he had options. We're a team that should be taking chances on guys like that. I even liked JR Smith for us (over 12 ppg in 19 mins. last season, 46% overall, 40% from three), even though he would've cost a little more than these guys. Another guy we could've gotten IMO especially when you take into account the fact that he's from the area (played HS ball in Jersey), the Nuggets left him out there twisting in the wind for the longest time and that had to have frustrated the **** outta him, plus we wound up having dialogue with Denver anyway (they wanted and got Balkman). We couldn't have put something together for this kid and resigned him for a similar deal to Duhon's years-wise? Pay the kid just don't give him that 3rd year but tell him he's in the plans once we ink that FA in 2010/2011. Gerald Green's very similar to JR Smith only not as polished at this point but would've cost NOTHING and Donnie didn't even show any interest in him. Watch, I betcha Smith really comes into his own this year, Carroll plays awesome overseas and will be a factor in the NBA for someone soon, and Green has an impact with the Mavs. So many missed opportunities for Donnie to re-tool the roster sensibly. I don't get it....
(4) Still no interior defense to speak of and again, broken record I know, but nothing was done to address the problem and Donnie had a pretty good option in Justin Williams available. Affordable, athletic, 6'10", 260 lb. defensive-minded energy guy (he's up about 20-30 pounds from when he joined the league - I haven't seen him in a while but that's gotta be all strength and muscle, I have a hard time seeing him adding all of that weight just for the hell of it, not when he's trying to earn a job and stay in the league) who can rebound and block shots. 11 & 11 with 5.4 blocks in his senior season at Wyoming then something like 12 & 12 with over 3.5 blocks when he got a run in the D-league a couple of years ago (I think he went 5th in the D-league draft that year). He should be on this roster instead of Malik Rose. He could've had an impact and addressed a huge need for league-minimum money. I was listening to Don Nelson talk about his team the other day and he failed to mention this kid's name once during a 10 min. interview. When he talked about his bigs, all he mentioned was how he planned to get Andris Biedrins more mins. this season and he talked about Ronny Turiaf being his main backup and possibly playing both at the same time for stretches depending on matchups. No mention of Justin Williams. Yet another guy Walsh could've added on the cheap that made some sense and didn't. If I'm Walsh I'm monitoring that situation and if Golden State cuts him, which I think they will, he should grab him and then discuss a buyout of either Malik or Jerome James. Oh I forgot, Donnie doesn't do buyouts.....
(5) Small thing I noticed - when Toronto came quick to double our distributor late in the game is when we needed to be super aggressive but weren't - they needed to ram it right down the Raptors' throat to close out that game - at least get to the foul line. Tonight in the 2nd half, from what I remember, only once did they attack that the right way. Lee took it strong right down the middle for a uncontested dunk and I was like, there you go, beautiful. That's how they need to attack that. The Raptors were scrambling out there a lot in the second half trying to double our guards out high and instead of driving the ball we settled for long jumpers - and most of the time they were contested because the Raptors did a good job rotating and covering. Shouldn't have happened, we had 3 ballhandlers out there on the court to close the game. Maybe we were getting tired, but Toronto was the one playing a back to back, not us. Lanes were wide open when they were scrambling and the Lee drive from the key right through the block for the two-handed dunk was the only time we took advantage. We double, other teams swing the ball a few times and take care of business. We get doubled, we run the clock down and wind up settling for a bad shot or turn the ball over. And it's been that way with this team for awhile now. If we attacked that better we would've won that game last night...


[Edited by - finestrg on 10-09-2008 12:43 PM]

I was pretty satisfied with the way the game went. Lots of movement.....or I should say planned, coached movement. Awesome.

Lee, and Zach looked great. I can see Wilson Chandler getting in the mix with them. Q was a good sub I think. Q was fiesty and in the mix in alot of things. I can see how Jared could fit in this type of scheme especially with his ball handling and size.

I'd like to defend Duhon. I thought he was really good. He showed some nerves and just didnt have a good feel for what his teamates liek to do. I think that will come by the end of the pre-season.

As far as guards? Nate, Marbs, Duhon, Craw? what was really the difference in the 4 players? I think Marbs and Nate showed the most confidence. Craw seems too caucious. I dunno if the Knicks can sucseed with Craw not aggresive and looking to score. He needs the option to create and so far in game 1 of the pre-season, D'antoni isn't looking to do that. He;s just trying to get guys easy scores and its awesome.

Comfortable......that's the main thing i see. Guys need to settle down and just play the game. Duhon will get the feel for his teamates better and Craw will see where his shots are and take them.

One thing I want to point out?!?!?!?!? Eddy Curry.......how the hell is he gonna be able to function in this new philosophy? I can't see it. He doesn't run, rebound, defend, pass or shoot well.....I dont know how he can stay a Knick.

BTW, it would have been nice to see Allan Houston shooting some of those clean looks the Knicks had all game.

Bottom line? nice man.....i'm very happy with what i saw.

Posted by Finestrg:

Saw the whole game. Was fairly impressed overall.

Pros -
(1) Good chemistry overall and I was plesantly surprised being the 1st preseason game and all. Very good chemistry with Zach and Lee. Lee's just a good chemistry guy period. The kid really makes other players better - a great quality and so rare in today's NBA especially for a big man. And you can tell he's worked very hard on his game. First it was the improved FT shooting. Now he's showing us a serious 15-17 footer. If he can stick that jumper, suddenly you're talking about Lee becoming a very good offensive player/complete player and that would be huge. If that's the case and he shows us he's more than just 10 rebs. per and effort (which is great but not enough), maybe he's a keeper and not trade bait. When the jumper was there he took 'em with no hesitation. To be honest I never really thought of Lee as starter material to this point, but I might have to rethink that now. Amazing how much better a couple of made jumpers can make a guy look when the other parts of his game are there.
(2) Even though we're not huge, we're still a dynamite rebounding team.
(3) Chandler looked good, but just like I mentioned in the Briggs post today, it's wide open for this kid to succeed. But he's gotta want it. If he works on his handle a little and plays more aggressive, sky's the limit.
(4) Good effort on defense tonight, even though they really don't have that defensive stopper, either on the interior or in the backcourt.
(5) I liked that we were dictating the tempo and getting whatever we wanted, especially in the 1st half.

Cons -
(1) Chris Duhon. I know we overspent to bring him here but I thought we were at least getting another Chris Childs and for only 2 years, I could've lived with that. After watching this first game, I don't know if that's the case now. I know he had the 10 rebs. and a few assts. but man he looked lost out there which is hard to believe because this system is free-flowing with no real restrictions & designed to make everyone look good especially the orchestrator. It's early & you gotta give him more time but he really looked terrible. Very sloppy with the ball. Forget backup, he didn't even look NBA-caliber tonight. He seems to be a pretty good spot-up shooter from deep when he gets his feet set though with very good form, so that's a plus I guess.
(2) I know Craw had a few assts. himself but he's gotta find a way to have an impact on the game w/o dominating the ball and putting up 20 shots - and I just don't know if he'll ever do that. Coming off the 20 pt. season last year this is pretty much his team right now. Scary how when you put Craw in a wide open, share the rock type of system he doesn't seem to raise his game. If you put the ball in his hands and let him create for himself he'll put up points but it's not what the team needs. Again, I know it's early and it's only time before he'll put up some of his big scoring games, but I tell ya, in a game where everyone participated tonight, he looked as lost as Duhon out there. No excuses, he's been here and he's played with our core guys, Duhon hasn't. He should go and look at tape of someone like Jason Kidd maybe and find out how to have an impact in the backcourt w/o taking 20 shots.
(3) They just don't have good outside shooters. Low % shooters, the lot of 'em. Volume shooters, Craw and Q. I know we're limited cap-wise on what we could've added, but low risk guys like Jaycee Carroll and a big athletic swingman like a Gerald Green would've been perfect and both were available. Absolute no-brainers. Both were affordable young role players that have the chance to be a lot more provided they're brought into the right system and are developed properly. Carroll's a better player than Roberson (Roberson's a practice player, I think Carroll could be a better version of Eddie House myself -- youtube this kid Carroll, think about how we shot the ball from deep last night, then tell me if we couldn't have used a guy like that). As soon as the Nets cut Jaycee we should've scouped him up and cut Roberson on the spot. And Green's such a better option than Houston moving forward. I know it's crying over spilled milk now, but I still say Walsh could've done more to reshape this roster on the cheap and he had options. We're a team that should be taking chances on guys like that. I even liked JR Smith for us (over 12 ppg in 19 mins. last season, 46% overall, 40% from three), even though he would've cost a little more than these guys. Another guy we could've gotten IMO especially when you take into account the fact that he's from the area (played HS ball in Jersey), the Nuggets left him out there twisting in the wind for the longest time and that had to have frustrated the **** outta him, plus we wound up having dialogue with Denver anyway (they wanted and got Balkman). We couldn't have put something together for this kid and resigned him for a similar deal to Duhon's years-wise? Pay the kid just don't give him that 3rd year but tell him he's in the plans once we ink that FA in 2010/2011. Gerald Green's very similar to JR Smith only not as polished at this point but would've cost NOTHING and Donnie didn't even show any interest in him. Watch, I betcha Smith really comes into his own this year, Carroll plays awesome overseas and will be a factor in the NBA for someone soon, and Green has an impact with the Mavs. So many missed opportunities for Donnie to re-tool the roster sensibly. I don't get it....
(4) Still no interior defense to speak of and again, broken record I know, but nothing was done to address the problem and Donnie had a pretty good option in Justin Williams available. Affordable, athletic, 6'10", 260 lb. defensive-minded energy guy (he's up about 20-30 pounds from when he joined the league - I haven't seen him in a while but that's gotta be all strength and muscle, I have a hard time seeing him adding all of that weight just for the hell of it, not when he's trying to earn a job and stay in the league) who can rebound and block shots. 11 & 11 with 5.4 blocks in his senior season at Wyoming then something like 12 & 12 with over 3.5 blocks when he got a run in the D-league a couple of years ago (I think he went 5th in the D-league draft that year). He should be on this roster instead of Malik Rose. He could've had an impact and addressed a huge need for league-minimum money. I was listening to Don Nelson talk about his team the other day and he failed to mention this kid's name once during a 10 min. interview. When he talked about his bigs, all he mentioned was how he planned to get Andris Biedrins more mins. this season and he talked about Ronny Turiaf being his main backup and possibly playing both at the same time for stretches depending on matchups. No mention of Justin Williams. Yet another guy Walsh could've added on the cheap that made some sense and didn't. If I'm Walsh I'm monitoring that situation and if Golden State cuts him, which I think they will, he should grab him and then discuss a buyout of either Malik or Jerome James. Oh I forgot, Donnie doesn't do buyouts.....
(5) Small thing I noticed - when Toronto came quick to double our distributor late in the game is when we needed to be super aggressive but weren't - they needed to ram it right down the Raptors' throat to close out that game - at least get to the foul line. Tonight in the 2nd half, from what I remember, only once did they attack that the right way. Lee took it strong right down the middle for a uncontested dunk and I was like, there you go, beautiful. That's how they need to attack that. The Raptors were scrambling out there a lot in the second half trying to double our guards out high and instead of driving the ball we settled for long jumpers - and most of the time they were contested because the Raptors did a good job rotating and covering. Shouldn't have happened, we had 3 ballhandlers out there on the court to close the game. Maybe we were getting tired, but Toronto was the one playing a back to back, not us. Lanes were wide open when they were scrambling and the Lee drive from the key right through the block for the two-handed dunk was the only time we took advantage. We double, other teams swing the ball a few times and take care of business. We get doubled, we run the clock down and wind up settling for a bad shot or turn the ball over. And it's been that way with this team for awhile now. If we attacked that better we would've won that game last night...


[Edited by - finestrg on 10-09-2008 12:43 PM]

OK, just reading that Golden State waived Justin Williams. I knew it - they had too many bigs over there in place already (Biedrins, backed up by Turiaf, Wright, Anthony Randolph, Harrington). Williams probably saw the writing on the wall and asked out early to give himself a chance to catch on somewhere else. If Donnie doesn't pick this kid up tomorrow then orchestrate a simple buy-out of Malik or Jerome James he's just not doing his job.