I don't know, I know the Celtics series was hard to stomach, but watching the Heat play tonight, I just came away convinced that the Knicks could beat the Heat in a series right now.

I'm excited for next season. Bring it on!

Childs2Dudley wrote:

holfresh wrote:Add a guys like Ibaka and Ray Felton to this team and we are a tough out...We have two studs that are mentally tough and good ballers..I really don't think the Knicks are far away...Give us a training camp and a couple of pieces...Coach has to coach D tho.

You know the team played some really good D in the 1st 2 games of the Boston Series. We just ran out of gas given what we had left and the level of competition. When this team has the proper size and depth to go up against the elite we'll see a much better performance. It's not like the team never played D, it just takes more than one or 2 guys to really defend. We don't have a roster full of bigtime defenders. I trust that Donnie is gonna do everything he can to fix that problem. It's gonna be very interesting to see what he can accomplish.

The thing is this team isn't as far off as some may think. The right additions can make a HUGE difference right now. Melo by himself almost won a game, imagine if we can add just a few good pieces.

I think the Knicks will fare much better against the Heat next season. The Knicks match up pretty well defensively with the Heat's big guns - at least as well as anyone else does. Melo can score on Lebron, he's proven this again and again. Amar'e is flat out better than Bosh. Wade can be contained more and more as he gets older (he's the oldest one of all these starts, already 30 and has been injured the most over his career). I'm not saying there isn't work to be be done, there is plenty, but I think the core of the team - Amar'e/Melo/Billups/Toney/Landry/Shawne - will be good to go against the Heat.

Knixkik wrote:We need to be better than Miami at the PG and C positions. We are better at the PG already, we just need more depth. We are better at the PF position, and can match up well at the SF position with Melo against lebron. The only position we will never match up well is the SG position, but i'm fine with that. There is real opportunity to become as good or better with these improvements though.

Melo is no LeBron. Not even close.
And our PG/SGs are not just miles away but simly old or non-PGs.
Bosh is no Amare but his health in not a question.
Both teams have week supporting cast.
We need major upgrades to compete with any good teams.
And getting this with all luck in the world will take min 2 years.

knickstorrents wrote:We are using the same strategy as the Heat, except our players aren't as good, and we are paying our players more money.

How exactly can we beat the Heat?

Last time I checked, players play the games, not salaries.

And for those saying Melo is not as good as Bron... I might agree, only why has Bron so rarely beaten Melo?

crzymdups wrote:

knickstorrents wrote:We are using the same strategy as the Heat, except our players aren't as good, and we are paying our players more money.

How exactly can we beat the Heat?

Last time I checked, players play the games, not salaries.

And for those saying Melo is not as good as Bron... I might agree, only why has Bron so rarely beaten Melo?

Salaries DO count because there's a cap. It's a resource that needs to be managed. It only doesn't matter in MLB, in which case a starphucking strategy is viable.

knickstorrents wrote:We are using the same strategy as the Heat, except our players aren't as good, and we are paying our players more money.

How exactly can we beat the Heat?

That's the best way to put it. Only on a Knicks' message board would this thread even be taken seriously.

crzymdups wrote:

knickstorrents wrote:We are using the same strategy as the Heat, except our players aren't as good, and we are paying our players more money.

How exactly can we beat the Heat?

Last time I checked, players play the games, not salaries.

knicks1248 wrote:

arkrud wrote:

Knixkik wrote:We need to be better than Miami at the PG and C positions. We are better at the PG already, we just need more depth. We are better at the PF position, and can match up well at the SF position with Melo against lebron. The only position we will never match up well is the SG position, but i'm fine with that. There is real opportunity to become as good or better with these improvements though.

Melo is no LeBron. Not even close.
And our PG/SGs are not just miles away but simly old or non-PGs.
Bosh is no Amare but his health in not a question.
Both teams have week supporting cast.
We need major upgrades to compete with any good teams.
And getting this with all luck in the world will take min 2 years.

Make shots ( which will stop their abilty to get out in the open court) protect the paint ,you beat the heat 9 out of 10 times.
Rose shoooting 40% on 25 shot attemps won't cut it. The bulls have suspect perimeter players and miami finally relize that. They defended the bulls the same way they bulls defend them…force jump shots...

...and like Westbrook, Rose is showing that he is not yet the kind of "PG" who can make the guys around him better, especially when his offensive game is being stymied.

Paladin55 wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

knickstorrents wrote:We are using the same strategy as the Heat, except our players aren't as good, and we are paying our players more money.

How exactly can we beat the Heat?

Last time I checked, players play the games, not salaries.

And for those saying Melo is not as good as Bron... I might agree, only why has Bron so rarely beaten Melo?

The money we are paying our guys limits our roster flexibility and ability to compete for the better FAs on the market.

Their two stars are two-way players, and in Bosh they have a perfect complimentary player to benefit from the attention James and Wade get. Give them a couple of rugged defensive/rebounder players and a few guys who can hit the 3, and they are sitting in pretty good shape for a number of years, barring injury.

The money the Heat are paying their core plus Mike Miller severely limits them. Wade is aging and has a long history of injury. It's no lock the Heat will stay healthy and they have no options to improve via salary cap.

Once again, the Knicks will have max cap room in 2012.