BRIGGS wrote:Lets give a lot of credit where it is due--the guy has played VERY well--under rated. Not many PG's in the league with these types of numbers AND lets consider that is with Amare being terrible to be honest so far. If Amare was playing well--his as would be 10. The guy has been a steal and I could see a long term relationship here with he Knicks.

I wouldn't blame Amare so much. I think Felton has to get the timing down on the PnR. Felton doesn't trust himself yet with the PnR you can see he tends to by pass the play and doesn't trust the ball will get to Amare. Once he does get the PnR figured out he will easily get more assists.

TMS wrote:he has no idea how to get the ball to Amare in space to get easy baskets... he plays well in the open court fast tempo though... they need to seriously get to work on perfecting the pick & roll.

I agree. Felton has done well with some of his PG duties. But setting up Stat has been sorely lacking. In fact, he is making Stat look bad by getting him the ball too far from the rim, and forcing Stat to deal with double and triple teams. Amare has been putting up some ridiculously lame shots, and it's not entirely his fault. We can see how bad his handle is now, and that he needs a much more attuned PG to set him up.

It would be great if Aare could use this opportunity to be an assist guy for our solid 3pt shooters. I could easily see him getting double-digit assists if he thinks pass when those defensive helpers get on him.

Bippity10 wrote:Ray holds on to the ball too long off the screen. If you watch film of Nash and Amare, the ball is out of Nash's hand almost as soon as he clears the pick. He trusted that Amare could make a play even if he was still relatively covered by the defender. Amare would not hesitate and would just attack the basket. He's so explosive that he does not need to be completely wide open to score at the hoop. Unfortunately you can tell Felton is used to playing wtih less athletic screen men. He's waiting until Amare is wide open before he makes the pass. This is allowing the defensive man time to recover and Amare is forced to create instead of using the slight edge to be able to attack the rim. Hopefully they will figure it out.

i agree. i think once they get their timing down their chemistry will improve.

Moonangie wrote:

In fact, he is making Stat look bad by getting him the ball too far from the rim, and forcing Stat to deal with double and triple teams. Amare has been putting up some ridiculously lame shots, and it's not entirely his fault. We can see how bad his handle is now, and that he needs a much more attuned PG to set him up.

Felton tried to run the P&R where Amare should get it but he couldn't handle the pass and then went back to a high pick and roll with the same results. I was surprised that they both gave up on attempting that play so quickly. Amare and Felton need to do a better job of communicating. At some point one of them needs to say "this isn't working lets try something else", in this case being a low pick and roll.

GustavBahler wrote:

Moonangie wrote:

In fact, he is making Stat look bad by getting him the ball too far from the rim, and forcing Stat to deal with double and triple teams. Amare has been putting up some ridiculously lame shots, and it's not entirely his fault. We can see how bad his handle is now, and that he needs a much more attuned PG to set him up.

Felton tried to run the P&R where Amare should get it but he couldn't handle the pass and then went back to a high pick and roll with the same results. I was surprised that they both gave up on attempting that play so quickly. Amare and Felton need to do a better job of communicating. At some point one of them needs to say "this isn't working lets try something else", in this case being a low pick and roll.

Basketball is a game of habits. If you run a pick and roll one way for 3 or 4 years it's really hard to adapt to a different way of doing things. It's like trying to change the form on your shot, your mind is telling you what to do, but your body may not be reacting that way. Amare is one of the most explosive PF's in the game. If you get him the ball with a slight edge on the defender he's going to just blast past them and make things happen. Unfortunately it appears that Felton is used to holding the ball. Maybe because other big men did not attack like Amare. Maybe because his other big men had horrible hands. Whatever the reason it is a hard habit to break. He's very conservative and not trusting Amare to make the play. QB's in football have this problem too. If you are used to throwing to guys like Joe Blow you get used to waiting until the person is open before you pass the ball. Whereas a guy like Andre Johnson or Randy Moss you can take a risk and throw into double coverage becasue you know they can make a play. But if you've thrown to Joe Blow for 4 years and suddenly are throwing to Randy Moss you may still struggle to take those risks.

I think with time Felton will figure it out. He's not like Nate or STephon where he's going to argue with the coach, or just assume that he is doing everything right and that it's all Amare's fault. I assume Ray will keep making adjustments until he figures it out. And I'm confident that Amare will do the same.