I'd make the shakeup tonight -- what better game to do it than tonight against the kid's former team at home? You don't think AR would be excited, appreciative and up for that challenge? I do...Perform the experiment tonight in the hopes of kickstarting this kid. If he came out and had an impact, you keep that lineup and never look back...He wasn't great again last night but just his presence alone on the boards, ripping down rebounds with ease and taking off up court, not to mention what he's done in the past when he's into it & proper motivated, shows me we need to start channeling his talent in our favor. When you get right down to it, I like Mozgov but you can't convince me that as an undrafted rookie Timmy deserves to start for the NY Knicks above Anthony Randolph..It hasn't been like Moz has been some dynamic force in the beginning of these games anyway---he's been a non-factor for the most part..And if it comes down to Amar'e bitchin' about not wanting to play 5, TOUGH COOKIES...I happen to think we'd get much more out of Amar'e playing 5 -- first off, I think there's many better PFs in the league than 5s so the individual matchup would clearly be more in his favor most nights..Second, it should force him to play closer to the basket and with that the hope would be to start seeing higher % offense closer to the rim and increased rebounding (not to mention it would give Ray the big target to hit much closer to the hole)..If Amar'e's really a team captain, he'd embrace this move & not complain about it --- at the very least he should be open to trying it and see how it goes. Hey anything to win games man. You use any advantage at your disposal to get the job done. Period..I'm really surprised we haven't seen that frontcourt alignment yet (not once from what I've seen so far, going back to game 1 in pre-season), esp. considering MDA's not the most conventional coach around anyway...I haven't heard it but I believe some of you guys that have mentioned it -- Amar'e may have come out and said he doesn't want to play center somewhere along the way..Strange considering both Mike & Amar'e saw the success STAT had firsthand when he played 5 in PHX for a stretch. I don't really care where he wants to play --- it's where the team needs him to play (and how to play which is better than what we've seen so far), esp. if it involves kickstarting a young player that could be making a big difference for us..

Bottom line is this -- remember the AR that threw a couple of emphatic slams down on Yao Ming in the same game? Remember the AR that swatted Tyrus Thomas' dunk attempt in Chicago and ran down the court for a score? Remember the AR that scored 40 in a summer league game? Remember the kid that was super aggressive for GS his rookie year when he was finally called upon? Yeah, we need that guy. He's the wild card for us that we desperately need to get right if we're gonna turn the corner..He's the key..The quicker he can take that next step, the better off we'll be. And if somehow it doesn't work out, we'll all know we tried. He's regressed badly so far as a Knick and we need to get him straightened out.

Bottom line is this -- remember the AR that threw a couple of emphatic slams down on Yao Ming in the same game? Remember the AR that swatted Tyrus Thomas' dunk attemped in Chicago and ran down the court for a score? Remember the AR that scored 40 in a summer league game? Remember the kid that was super aggressive for GS his rookie year when he was finally called upon? Yeah, we need that guy. He's the wild card for us that we desperately need to get right if we're gonna turn the corner..He's the key..The quicker he can take that next step, the better off we'll be. And if somehow it doesn't work out, we'll all know we tried. He's regressed badly so far as a Knick and we need to get him straightened out.

Where has any of that been, AR is playing like he is fresh out of HS...But im going to give felton some of the blame, dude can't run the PnR, and the spacing is horrendous. Any time a player recieve's a pass and is call for an offensive foul, thats the passers fualt. Feltons passes have been to late or to early...He's not making any one better, and as a matter of fact, he's making Amare and some of the other bigs look ridiculous..

Would like to see a change in philosophy the Knicks rely to much on three point shooting. Knicks need to take Gallo out of the starting lineup and need to become more of a mid range team. Gallo has zero mid range game.

The lineup that I would like to implement:

Felton g
Chandler sg
Mozgov c
Amare pf
Randolph sf.

I want to put a heavy emphasis on mid range game. And completely take away three point shooting to where if given take it, but try your best to pass it up for a better interior opportunity.

I do not like depending on the three point shot that is a hit or miss game and to top it off it really means the team lacks an execution style of basketball. The way I was taught basketball was to look for the highest percentage shot and if you end up jacking a three that meant you didn't execute the plan of highest percentage shot it was fail even if the three was good.

i'm in agreement that our season hinges upon randolph. if he takes a step forward, whether it be just staying healthy, or improves his shot selection while maintaining his rebounding/block rates, we can write our ticket to the playoffs.

FistOfOakley wrote:this current team is way short on rebounds and our only hope is that randolph gets serious minutes. douglas is not going to keep up his pace and mozgov is not the answer, at least yet. randolph has proven, in limited duty that he can beast it on the boards and we got a flash of that in the bucks game.

i'm in agreement that our season hinges upon randolph. if he takes a step forward, whether it be just staying healthy, or improves his shot selection while maintaining his rebounding/block rates, we can write our ticket to the playoffs.

Have we dismissed Gallo as the season hinges on player. I know I have dismissed him. If you are relying on three point specialist then the Knicks are in trouble.

Vmart wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:this current team is way short on rebounds and our only hope is that randolph gets serious minutes. douglas is not going to keep up his pace and mozgov is not the answer, at least yet. randolph has proven, in limited duty that he can beast it on the boards and we got a flash of that in the bucks game.

i'm in agreement that our season hinges upon randolph. if he takes a step forward, whether it be just staying healthy, or improves his shot selection while maintaining his rebounding/block rates, we can write our ticket to the playoffs.

Have we dismissed Gallo as the season hinges on player. I know I have dismissed him. If you are relying on three point specialist then the Knicks are in trouble.

Agree somewhat..I don't view Gallo as the 2nd banana on this team or anything close to an all-star..That doesn't mean I'm dismissing him -- I think he's a useful component. In fact I wouldn't even remove him from the starting lineup. I'd keep him out there because like some of you guys have mentioned before, I do like his shooting stroke as a big weapon that opens up things for Amar'e inside...It could also open things up for Randolph as well. I'd continue to start Gallo and hope for the best..The big move I'd make however would be AR for Moz.

5 - Amar'e
4 - Randolph
3 - Gallo
2 - Fields (I'm not changing this as long as Chandler continues to embrace the 6th man role & excel off the bench)
1 - Felton

All I ask is that I see this configuation once before Donnie & Mike ever decide to break it down and go after a big-time guy like Melo in a trade..I don't ever wanna look back on AR and say "what if" you know? To me you go out of your way to do whatever's necessary to pave the way for this kid to succeed. If he starts playing better, regains his mojo and starts showing the flashes he's shown in the past, we're in much better shape. Between Gallo and AR -- with AR there's always the potential & ability to have a much bigger impact on a game with his versatility whereas Gallo, if he's hot like he was the other night against Chicago, he'll help, if not, he's not much of a factor otherwise as we saw last night..AR, if right, can go out there and get double-figure rebounds and 4 blocks even on an off-night offensively..That's if we can get him straightened out..Big difference is Mike's shown full trust and committment to Gallinari--he's one of his starting forwards and he's not going anywhere..I would like to see Randolph afforded the same exact opportunity..We give him that, maybe we finally start to see the player we traded for. I think it's worth a shot--to me, it's the shakeup move to make right now. I'd start him tonight against GS.