Meanwhile, Charles Oakley is under consideration by Walsh to help big men get down and dirty at the defensive end. Does that mean the Knicks president is unhappy with how easy and how often opponents scored last season? My second question is, how do you teach bringing intimidation and intensity to work every time you get on the court? Oakley also was contacted by Portland officials who suspect it might be good for the team’s health if a trace of his brutish attitude rubbed off on Greg Oden.

Posted by Marv:

if we valued interior defense we would have held onto jerome.

Posted by Nalod:

At least John Starks being a coach is not talked about any more!

Posted by VDesai:

If the Oak man can't get whip Curry's ass and change his mentality no one can.

Posted by Cosmic:

Oakley could help players who want to improve. He can't help players that are either unmotivated (Eddy) or unable (Lee) to attempt what he did on the court as a defender.

It's a nice thought but you can't just put Eddy in Charles Oakley's hands and wind up with a dominant defensive player. The player has to really want it and also have the skills to do it. Otherwise you won't see much if any improvement and any improvement you do see wouldn't last long at all.

It's just reality.

I'd still like to give Oakley a shot but he can also be quite abrasive and when the player isn't improving he's likely to get on their case and that would then have a negative effect on the team.

You can guide people but you cannot change them. Those that change wanted to all along and just needed the guidance. Curry isn't one of these guys. Lee IS one of these guys but you can't teach skills such as defensive awareness and defensive mobility - two things Lee clearly greatly lacks to the point of "lost cause".

Well put. I want to bring in Oakley as a coach to set the example of the defensive mindset our players should have. Lee might be able to our-rebound Oakley these days, but I think Oak would put a little hurting on him in the process. I don't think Nate would ask for the opportunity to dunk over Oakley in the dunk contest. I think Oak would foul him hard mid-dunk-- just out of habit. If Curry, Danilo, Chandler et al took anything from Oak, it would be an improvement.