When we were on that winning streak he was averaging a benign 3 a game and shooting lights out. last few games, he's been shooting under 50% with lots of turnovers. he makes things much harder on himself than he has to by forcing a lot of shots. when he puts the ball on the floor it's gonna get stripped a lot. that's just what happens to all big men.

and the reason i think this is happening is because they are running a lot of high elbow iso's with amar'e. there are just too many times when he gets it there and he holds it for 3 seconds obviously looking for an open man and when he doesn't, the shot's going up. when he shoots, it's usually fine but when he puts the ball on the floor bad things happen. he's not a good passer because he doesn't want to. he just can't.

anyway, our defense is going to be erratic but in order for us to take the next step organically then we're going to have to move away from running the high elbow iso and running a lot more pick n roll. i also like bringing amar'e off a screen because he's turned himself into a really great shooter and his man is usually out of position for a rebound. anything that prevents amar'e from dribbling too much.

just thought i'd start a non-melo related topic.

FistOfOakley wrote:
just thought i'd start a non-melo related topic.

not trying to be obnoxious, but this is why i think you need a guy like melo who can create his own off the dribble and draw the d. Amare has an amazing fist step, it's the key to his explosiveness, but he needs the space to get it. that's why i see him best as a second offensive option even if he'd score more than the primary offensive threat much of the time. he needs the ball in position and with space.

He's a turnover machine this year - probably trying too hard, to do everything by himself.

A second banana like Melo would probably help- but then Melo would make up for the turnovers himself.

I don't think we can have success in the post season if our star player is averaging 4 TO per game. And then Felton too who often puts up 5 in a game- 2 guys turning it over a combined 10 per game- that is ugly.

Paladin55 wrote:

BlueSeats wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:
just thought i'd start a non-melo related topic.

not trying to be obnoxious, but this is why i think you need a guy like melo who can create his own off the dribble and draw the d. Amare has an amazing fist step, it's the key to his explosiveness, but he needs the space to get it. that's why i see him best as a second offensive option even if he'd score more than the primary offensive threat much of the time. he needs the ball in position and with space.

I don't think Anthony's game is so much different from Amare's. He is a midrange shooter who can go to the basket, too. He would not open up the floor for Amare, IMO.

Melo can score anywhere on the floor. That's not to say I'd camp him out on the perimeter, it's to say he can never be backed off of, and that degree of attention is distracting to a defense. It's similar to how much better the Spurs are when Ginobli is healthy, and the way defenses are befuddled by the combination of Lebron and Wade. You can even look at our team and the way we're at our best when Chandler and Gallo are putting it on the floor and taking it inside.

Having one guy in the high post and four guys camped on the perimeter is not the definition of an efficient offense, IMO.

BlueSeats wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:

BlueSeats wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:
just thought i'd start a non-melo related topic.

not trying to be obnoxious, but this is why i think you need a guy like melo who can create his own off the dribble and draw the d. Amare has an amazing fist step, it's the key to his explosiveness, but he needs the space to get it. that's why i see him best as a second offensive option even if he'd score more than the primary offensive threat much of the time. he needs the ball in position and with space.

I don't think Anthony's game is so much different from Amare's. He is a midrange shooter who can go to the basket, too. He would not open up the floor for Amare, IMO.

Melo can score anywhere on the floor. That's not to say I'd camp him out on the perimeter, it's to say he can never be backed off of, and that degree of attention is distracting to a defense. It's similar to how much better the Spurs are when Ginobli is healthy, and the way defenses are befuddled by the combination of Lebron and Wade. You can even look at our team and the way we're at our best when Chandler and Gallo are putting it on the floor and taking it inside.

Having one guy in the high post and four guys camped on the perimeter is not the definition of an efficient offense, IMO.

isn't that pretty much what both the Spurs and Knicks run? With Knicks it's mostly either 2 guys on elbow or Amare/Felton with 3 wide; with Spurs it Duncan and Parker and the other guys wide.

Both offenses are the most efficient in league.

dallas has run this for years with lots of success and that's because dirk is truly special in that he can put the ball on the floor and find an open man or get off a decent shot all without turning the ball over.

amar'e for all his talents is not that kind of player. as far as scoring goes, that's probably his one weakness.

BlueSeats wrote:

martin wrote:

BlueSeats wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:

BlueSeats wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:
just thought i'd start a non-melo related topic.

not trying to be obnoxious, but this is why i think you need a guy like melo who can create his own off the dribble and draw the d. Amare has an amazing fist step, it's the key to his explosiveness, but he needs the space to get it. that's why i see him best as a second offensive option even if he'd score more than the primary offensive threat much of the time. he needs the ball in position and with space.

I don't think Anthony's game is so much different from Amare's. He is a midrange shooter who can go to the basket, too. He would not open up the floor for Amare, IMO.

Melo can score anywhere on the floor. That's not to say I'd camp him out on the perimeter, it's to say he can never be backed off of, and that degree of attention is distracting to a defense. It's similar to how much better the Spurs are when Ginobli is healthy, and the way defenses are befuddled by the combination of Lebron and Wade. You can even look at our team and the way we're at our best when Chandler and Gallo are putting it on the floor and taking it inside.

Having one guy in the high post and four guys camped on the perimeter is not the definition of an efficient offense, IMO.

isn't that pretty much what both the Spurs and Knicks run? With Knicks it's mostly either 2 guys on elbow or Amare/Felton with 3 wide; with Spurs it Duncan and Parker and the other guys wide.

Both offenses are the most efficient in league.

It's what all teams do to start an offense, but it's not where you want everyone to end up. You'd get no rebounds and shoot below 40% if you did.

Remove Field's cuts, Felton's penetrations, Chill's slashing, Gallo getting to the line, etc, and you'd have our 3-8 start. Not efficient.

oh gottcha, YES. Those additional things are very important.

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:Melo MeloMelo. MeloMelo?

Melo

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