nixluva wrote:This team isn't going 0-82 this year and despite the bad start the team still has the ability to come back from seemingly impossible holes. My guess is that at some point this team gets it's act together and plays well enough to stave off the media hounds. They don't have to be great just mediocre would be enough this year.

They also have the ability to fall into seemingly impossible holes against mediocre and bad teams in games that should have been extremely important for them to win. Losing to the Bobcats after being destroyed and embarassed on opening night despite their comeback was ridiculous. Putting themselves in a position where it was almost impossible to win in their home opener after two embarassing losses is not ok and the sign of a team with alot of problems. I have enjoyed watching their comebacks and overtimes but they have been put in a position as a team where they needed to respond at the start of the game and they have not been able to do that. What is going to happen when they play a club that is competing for the championship or at least will win 50 games?

Where I think the team dropped the ball is that it could've had Allen Iverson for a season. I still think that's indefensible when everyone else on the roster is, at best, slightly above mediocre

JohnWallace44 wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:It's no surprise, this team is bad. But I don't see how you can make this team better. I mean, who could the Knicks have traded for? Richard Jefferson?

Where I think the team dropped the ball is that it could've had Allen Iverson for a season. I still think that's indefensible when everyone else on the roster is, at best, slightly above mediocre

That's giving these guys way too much of a pass. There were plenty of opportunities to improve without effecting the cap.

This team just needs something that it can count on. Hopefully Gallo and Al Jr can bring consistent output so MikeD can build from there.

I'm not giving them a pass. Please, tell me what these "plenty of opportunities to improve without (a)ffecting the cap" are because I'm not too certain they exist.

fishmike wrote:would this be an example of a new topic or interesting discussion you were ragging on other posters for not bringing to the forum? We get it... Knicks didnt draft who you wanted. Shouldnt we be focusing on why Gallo's offensive outburst doesnt mean anything?

I hear you Fish... I know my posts are getting old. Just venting about this team that we all have the great privilege of supporting.

My point in this particular post is that the front office and the coach have gotten a pass to this point, but from the tone of the media's questions and the articles after the last two losses, I feel like its about to get ugly. We've seen this before... many times before. The media and the Garden fans can get so critical that it starts to feed itself and the ownership is forced into a decision. The team looks completely unprepared to play NBA level basketball. Someone has to be accountable. If they can't play 7SecondsOrLess basketball and win, then they should be playing a different system. Only a couple of these guys will be around next year, so its not like you're stunting their growth or something. If you're going to stick to it just for the sake of it, then you're really betraying your fans.

That's the key for me. As a fan, I feel like the GM and the coach are not really interested in what happened last year or what happens this year. It makes us look like an even worse franchise and I feel, less likely to be able to sign a difference making FA.

A key example of the problem is that everyone on this board keeps on complaining about the volume of threes taken and specifically the way that we get those threes. That comes down on the coach for obvious reasons. There should be a different strategy for average shooters. To me though, it really comes down on the GM. You watch Phoenix or Golden State and essentially the same system looks a lot different. Why are they getting better looks? Why is there better high-low action?

Watching us play, its three things.

1) We don't have an NBA caliber starting point guard. Duhon is probably the 50th best PG in the league. He can't get into the paint, and thus cannot create opportunities to kick out to players on the wings, and the wings are then taking threes that are more contested than they should be in this system.

2) We don't have a natural shooting guard. What's a natural shooting guard? Someone who can shoot from the outside, but can penetrate and get to the line for you, especially when the offense bogs down. If you have Nash for a PG, then you can have Wilson Chandler as a SG without a problem. He doesn't need to be able to create his own shot that much. When you have Duhon as a PG, then it is critical that your SG can create on his own.

3) We don't have a player who can make plays in the post on their own. This basically eliminates any high-low action, and especially does when you take into consideration #1 and #2 above. Darko can at least pass from the post. If he can stay on the floor, that would be something to exploit. Lee scores on second opportunities or perfectly executed pick and roll plays, but not on his own.

Now, call me crazy, but if you don't have a talented post player, or a top 30 PG (starting quality), or a shooting guard then... you might be a bad GM. If Briggs was the GM we'd have two of those (Derozan, Blair). Its not really brain surgery to fill the needs of your team.

I don't know... same old complaints, just annoying to watch for years as a fan.