BRIGGS wrote:fishmike wrote:There are a handful of players, usually bigs who just take too long for their current team to stick with and end up playing much better somewhere else. Whiteside is a good example of that. Would the Knicks have stuck with him for the 4 years it took to get him going? Tyson Chandler is a high caliber guy that comes to mind also. Jermaine Oneil... you get the idea.
Yep absolutely fishmike--I knew that--there is no doubt about that--some bigs take long developmental time. I knew it then that it would take 2-3 year for him to develop. Were not privy to character of a player or work ethic--I dont know what Hassan's was like--I don't know if he was a bad teammate--the only thing I knew was he had lottery type talent potential. Its hard sports are a now business. I think Philidelphia--the way they are doing things--mightve been a good place for Whiteside at his time of development. They have put no immediate thrust on their drafted players. They are developing, If we look at Whitesides D league stats--my take is he coulkdve been productive like this perhaps as much as two years ago with he proper team.
its tough... you really have to evaluate what is between the ears just as much as their physical tools. You cant succeed on the strength of only one. Derrick Coleman remains one of the most talented player I have ever seen. His problem was between the ears. Then you have bigs like Brad Miller and Ben Wallace.. undrafted overlooked guys who had high impact pro careers.
I guess the only point I can make is you need to have your eyes open for all of them. I mean Wear might be the most dedicated hardest working player on the planet and if thats the case and he stays healthy maybe he has a great pro career. How do you find that out? By creating an environment players can grow and thrive.
That was one of Phil's early points that stuck with me. He said it doesnt matter if he's your highest paid star or the last guy on the bench, the Knicks need a culture where EVERY player can grow and be challenged and progress. Kool-aid there but fingers crossed.
At least we seem to using the Dleague. Maybe Galloway is one of those later bloomers. He's got a 6'9 wingspan, can really shoot, plays D and has the same verticle leap DWade had when he came into the league. We need to find some of these guys who were overlooked but become good NBA players.
THAT is what will turn this franchise around the fastest. When we won the 54 games we did a good job finding role players like Novak and Copeland who overlooked or struggling in their current roles and undervalued. Fingers crossed
"winning is more fun... then fun is fun" -Thibs
1/14/2015 9:46 AM
