JrZyHuStLa wrote:Realizing how good this team can be always takes me back to that 6 game losing streak early in the season. Those losses to PHI, MIL, GS, MIN, HOU, and DEN all should have been winnable games. But I think that can be forgiven from fans as a period where the players needed time to get to know one another and build the chemistry they have now.

a few things with this

A. The Knicks record if they started with this line up from the start of the season would be 22-8

B. When the fans started shouting fire Dantoni @ He heard them.

C. At that point he said F it Im playing the way I want to and go to hll with the projects or guys who have just scked

We are better than 18-12 yet I know our bench isnt up to par. To add a couple of good players to our bench on the cheap--I hope were able to do that. Id like us to use 9 as much as possible. I know some people think I'm pit of line--but I think if we can get the right players for our bench we cant compete for it all this year--or atleast have a chance. I do not want us to run the team anymore with Carmelo A holding up possible other gigs.

CrushAlot wrote:I think the Knicks play a lot better when they have some rest. The last two games the starters were not worn out like in the Miami game. If D'Antoni can use his bench effectively to get guys rest and keep their minutes manageable this team should go a long way.

The thing is can D Walsh spice up the bench? Can he help MDA and the Knicks by bringing in some impact players for those bench minutes?

CrushAlot wrote:
I think Walsh has brought in guys in the past that he thought would be great fits and they never got playing time. He might need to have a strategy of acquiring guys cheaply that D'Antoni has already played and is comfortable with. Two guys that come to mind would be Duhon and Kurt Thomas. I don't think that is the way to build a team but I think he is working with a coach that is only successful with guys that he has a comfort level with.

Good point (about Walsh bringing in players only for D'Antoni to ignore them)- I'd say yes to Kurt Thomas (but there's no way the Bulls would trade him), but hell no to Duhon- fair enough if he was on the league minimum, but his contract is ridiculous- how he managed to get that much and for that many years after the way he played for us, I'll never know.

I think D'Antoni will play players he's not familiar with- I think he decides whether to play people based on a) effort and b) brain power- as long as a player gives it their all AND plays unselfishly and reasonably smartly, then he'll give them a good chance, so I guess if Walsh is looking to aquire players he needs to bare those things in mind.

Edit: Shawne Williams. :-)

Anyone that comes in one of those 3 exit.

Keep that in mind. Is duhon upgrade over Douglas? Is Kurt upgrade over turiaf? If not then keep looking.

At this point it's play out the year and pick up melo (or trade our DNP-CDs for him)

Our coach only plays 8...PERIOD.

Keep that in mind going forward.

BRIGGS wrote:

JrZyHuStLa wrote:Realizing how good this team can be always takes me back to that 6 game losing streak early in the season. Those losses to PHI, MIL, GS, MIN, HOU, and DEN all should have been winnable games. But I think that can be forgiven from fans as a period where the players needed time to get to know one another and build the chemistry they have now.

a few things with this

A. The Knicks record if they started with this line up from the start of the season would be 22-8

B. When the fans started shouting fire Dantoni @ He heard them.

C. At that point he said F it Im playing the way I want to and go to hll with the projects or guys who have just scked

We are better than 18-12 yet I know our bench isnt up to par. To add a couple of good players to our bench on the cheap--I hope were able to do that. Id like us to use 9 as much as possible. I know some people think I'm pit of line--but I think if we can get the right players for our bench we cant compete for it all this year--or atleast have a chance. I do not want us to run the team anymore with Carmelo A holding up possible other gigs.

We need a backup pg that MDA trusts enough to play 12-15 minutes a game. He can then reduce Felton's minutes down to 32-33 per game and use Douglas as a backup SG exclusively. We then should sign Earl Barron (who at this point is probably better than the Big Russian) and cut Roger Mason. These two moves would give us all the bench balance that we need as we have plenty of SG/SF types.

We have shown that we can compete against just about anyone, so the question remains do we enhance the bench or gut the starting lineup to get Melo? No matter how you slice it, Denver is gonna want some major pieces for melo. That is just the way it is. Now if you add Melo you also need to make sure you enhance the D somehow, cuz he's likely going to make it weaker not only due to who we give up, but he isn't a good defender himself. However, conversely we should be even more potent offensively. Now when you send Amar'e to the bench you'd still have Melo in there to focus your offensive attack. That will make us on par with the Heat in that regard.

martin wrote:

nixluva wrote:I think we have shown that this team is one of the better teams in the league. The Miami game IMO was just a great team catching us at our weakest. We simply ran out of gas. I think Miami does some amazing things on D and it catches teams by surprise the 1st time you face it. Unless you have a team with multiple guys that can get their own shot, the Heat D is gonna give you problems.

We have shown that we can compete against just about anyone, so the question remains do we enhance the bench or gut the starting lineup to get Melo? No matter how you slice it, Denver is gonna want some major pieces for melo. That is just the way it is. Now if you add Melo you also need to make sure you enhance the D somehow, cuz he's likely going to make it weaker not only due to who we give up, but he isn't a good defender himself. However, conversely we should be even more potent offensively. Now when you send Amar'e to the bench you'd still have Melo in there to focus your offensive attack. That will make us on par with the Heat in that regard.

Just to be clear: All things being equal (injuries, etc) IMHO I think the Knicks are in the second echelon of teams in the league.

Miami, Boston, SanAntonio, Dallas, LAL, and maybe ORL would be my first level.

Utah, Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans, OKC, Denver, NY all a half step below.

NY may be able to sneak some games against most any first tier team, but no way in a 7 game series.

Oh yes, i'm not saying we're in the elite level, but I do think we're a 2nd tier team. The question now is what is the correct move to make in order to make the push up into the Elite level. I know that the 2 schools of thought are to enhance the roster with a Big and PG/SG or to go after Melo and hopefully fill in the gaps left after making the big trade.

Since we're not in any particular rush right now, we have the advantage of continuing to see just what we've already got. I tend to lean towards adding Melo, simply cuz for the future that would set us up to be an elite team even if we don't get there this year, due to the cost in players. Over time if your core is Amar'e, Melo and Felton, you're gonna be an Elite team IMO.

Then you have kind of what Orl did, which is to add a lot of really good players and be a team that is deep and talented. Just how good they'll end up being is hard to say, but I like what i've seen of them. Would we have a similar improvement going that route? Just how good could we expect to get doing that?