Amare's strength is quickness and well, strength. He forces his way into the lane and puts up difficult shots which he is often able to make. These are not really good shots, but he's good at making them.

However, in games like the one against Houston, he was being guarded well, and had 5 TO's and shot 11-21. Better the 50% but its still 10 misses and most of them were bad shots.

He goes to the lane, the whole team collapses to help and he shoots a bad shot. When the whole defense focuses on him he should kick it out. Maybe that first pass doesn't go to the open man, but the ball swings and someone is open. He HAS to do that more if we are going to perform at a high level and win.

That will make teams think twice about doubling and tripling him, which will in turn make it easier for him to score.

AnubisADL wrote:Amare is who he is going to be for the next 4 yrs of his contract.

I agree. Too many people have the fantasy attitude that if you just work hard enough you can do anything.

yes, has lost the ball (turned it over), but actually, check the advanced stats...his assist% has went up a lot of points this year.

i've seen him make some decent passes.

maybe the past few games (i haven't seen a few of them) he's been poorer, but most of the year i can't say i agree with you here.

Killa4luv wrote:I've noticed this for a while now.

Amare's strength is quickness and well, strength. He forces his way into the lane and puts up difficult shots which he is often able to make. These are not really good shots, but he's good at making them.

However, in games like the one against Houston, he was being guarded well, and had 5 TO's and shot 11-21. Better the 50% but its still 10 misses and most of them were bad shots.

He goes to the lane, the whole team collapses to help and he shoots a bad shot. When the whole defense focuses on him he should kick it out. Maybe that first pass doesn't go to the open man, but the ball swings and someone is open. He HAS to do that more if we are going to perform at a high level and win.

That will make teams think twice about doubling and tripling him, which will in turn make it easier for him to score.

okay, now reading some of this i have more to say...

A) they may seem like difficult shots, (if you are referring to his drives to the hoop from the high post) which they are, but that is his strength. it's like saying dudes who can cross folks over using their skill and quickness are taking difficult shots. i wouldn't call it "forcing his way" since that's his game. When he goes to the basket the players are ALL OVER HIM, there really isn't room to make such a pass, unless he's some kind of point guard with great vision...or maybe lebron james...who has size and vision. amar'e's vision is above average for a big man, imho.

B) A guy shoots 50% from the floor in a game I can't really go crazy, even with the mistakes. That's a good %. Yes, he may take some "forced" shots, but that's the good we see with the bad, and often he can do well. I just don't see the expectation of major improvement here. If we relied on him a bit less, with a more reliable 2nd option, maybe we wouldn't worry so much about this.

C) Piggy backing of part of the last point, I'm not so sure you want him to be a better passer, as much as an elite PG passer. Because I don't see such a thing from many bigs in the NBA...or call me crazy.

Killa4luv wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:Amare is who he is going to be for the next 4 yrs of his contract.

I agree. Too many people have the fantasy attitude that if you just work hard enough you can do anything.

I can't tell if ur joking or not, but becoming a better passer out of double teams is alot easier than say, developing a solid 20 ft jumper, which he has been able to do. I think its just a matter of the coaching staff making it a point of emphasis.

Yeah, I'm sure no coach tried that in his 10 year career. They should have just made it a point of emphasis.

Killa4luv wrote:I've noticed this for a while now.

Amare's strength is quickness and well, strength. He forces his way into the lane and puts up difficult shots which he is often able to make. These are not really good shots, but he's good at making them.

However, in games like the one against Houston, he was being guarded well, and had 5 TO's and shot 11-21. Better the 50% but its still 10 misses and most of them were bad shots.

He goes to the lane, the whole team collapses to help and he shoots a bad shot. When the whole defense focuses on him he should kick it out. Maybe that first pass doesn't go to the open man, but the ball swings and someone is open. He HAS to do that more if we are going to perform at a high level and win.

That will make teams think twice about doubling and tripling him, which will in turn make it easier for him to score.

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:I've talked to other people about this. Amare's best passing this season has been to Fields who he's developed a chemistry with. Someone else point this out to me and I think it makes sense: Amare pretty much makes up his mind on whether he's going to pass or shoot before anything happens. So when he makes up his mind to take it to the hole, he's pretty much not even thinking about passing even when it should be easy to figure out "Hey there's like 2-3 guys on me, someone must be open".

Sometimes this results in him putting up a shot, getting his own rebound, and putting it back in or scoring over a double/triple team or getting fouled. Lots of times it leads to him getting stripped or blocked. I'd prefer to see him move the ball as that's when our offense is at it's best when everyone is moving off the ball and the ball is moving.

Bippity10 wrote:I think Amare's problem is that he doesn't mix up his moves enough. He's able to use those quick, bully drives against most big men because he's quicker then they are. When he runs into a guy like Hayes who can keep up with his quickness and has the hands to strip the ball from him he needs to mix up his post moves. Maybe slow yourself down and back a 6-6 guy down and shoot the hook shot over him. Those drives on Hayes clearly were not working and yet he kept going to the well over an over again. He's done this a few times this year.

I was thinking the same. Get good post position. Maybe get a screen on the opposite post to get good position when you cross and just shoot over these short guys from 6 feet out.