The Knicks have been following the same script as the Miami Heat as they try to build a championship contender. But the Dallas Mavericks might be a better model, for reasons that go beyond their 105-95 Game 6 win and 2011 NBA Title.

What can the Knicks learn from Dallas?

Miami can be beaten
That’s not insignificant. The Knicks are setting themselves up to battle with the Heat and
Chicago for the top of the Eastern Conference for the next five years or so; it’s good to know that your biggest rival isn’t invincible (Like, say, Jordan’s Bulls).

Defense isn’t the only thing that wins championships
The opening games of the Finals – with scores in the '80s and '90s – painted a pretty grim picture for the Knicks’ championship hopes. But as the series wore on, Dallas’ advantage on the offensive end became more and more apparent. The Mavs won the series in large part because they had a go-to scorer – Dirk Nowitzki – that no one on the Heat could stop.

Carmelo Anthony is a different sort of player than Nowitzki – ‘Melo doesn’t have that one un-guardable move like Dirk’s off-balance step-back jumper – but he has a similar ability to take over games.

Defense is about team and system
Nowitzki isn’t much of a defender. Jason Kidd was, once upon a time. But that time is long past. Jason Terry? As a defender, he’s a pretty good scorer. JJ Barea is far too small to guard… well, just about anyone.

So how did the Mavs slow LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh?

Personnel helped – defense-first players like Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson really complement Nowitzki and Kidd nicely. But Dallas also plays a system that makes the most of their strengths and covers some of their weaknesses, employing the zone more than any other NBA team.

And after watching that defense turn one of the league’s most feared scorers into a passer and jump-shooter for much of the Finals, it seems reasonable to expect that quite a few teams will be going to school on Rick Carlisle’s zone this summer.

Experience counts
Young talent is crucial to the development of any NBA team. But the Mavericks’ title run was driven, in part, by contributions from veteran players, many of whom are well past their basketball primes.

Kidd (38) just became the oldest starter on an NBA Championship team since Wilt Chamberlain. Shawn Marion was a huge disappointment in Miami and Toronto. Peja Stojakovic didn’t play much in the Finals, but he helped the Mavs get that far, and against the Heat, he was replaced in the rotation by Brian Cardinal (who was – very briefly – a member of the Knicks last season).

The Knicks have several roster spots to fill for next season, and obviously the upcoming draft will be crucial. But don’t rule out players like Anthony Carter and Roger Mason Jr. as part of the team’s future.

Talent comes from unlikely sources
JJ Barea doesn’t have a typical NBA player’s resume. He played college ball at Northeastern and bounced around in the Puerto Rican pro league before signing with the Mavs as an undrafted free agent. But he didn’t stick with the team immediately – he spent lots of quality time in the D-League before earning a regular spot on the Mavs roster. But he was a key player throughout this postseason.

The Knicks will be looking to add more big names to the roster. But the players that arrive at Madison Square Garden via the team’s new relationship with the Erie BayHawks, or the free-agent camps held in Greenburgh last week, could play just as big a role in their title hunt.

The Knicks can move up a lot this summer depending upon what they do and it was good to see the Mavs approach, which would be easier for the Knicks to duplicate than the Heat. It may not be possible to squeeze another All Star on this roster for big money. The Knicks can find good role players in the draft and FA's that they can afford and put together a balanced team. This team is always going to be a good offensive team, but if we can really step it up on D, then I think we can pass the teams in the East. The Bulls and Heat aren't as far ahead as it might seem. The Heat are capped out for the next 2 years, so we have to make this draft and FA market count. Then we'll have CB's contract coming off to further improve the team.

Perhaps against another team they win the finals.

We learned you can "Beat the Heat"!

nixluva wrote:

Nalod wrote:Heat Still beat Bulls and still reached the Finals.

Perhaps against another team they win the finals.

We learned you can "Beat the Heat"!

The Bulls weren't ready for prime time. They were really good, but more of a regular season hero, than a real Championship level team. I don't think that it will be impossible to rise up to the level of the Bulls and Heat. We have to really hit a home run this offseason, but it's not impossible. We may not do it in the exact same way as those teams. I think both teams are setup to be great defensive teams and OK offensively. We have a much better offensive team, but not close on defense yet. We know that the Knicks are gonna go out and try to upgrade the bigs and defensive talent on the team, hopefully a two way PG too.

So what are you saying?

Im saying for all the Heat's failure they came within a hair of winning on talent alone.

What we have learned is Dirk's and Terry's failure FIVE years ago burned inside and drove them.

Dirk emotionally grew. he was MVP after, and resigned with his team. Jet got a Tatoo before this season of the trophy!
Most thought Lakers, Spurs or Thunder would make finals.

I don't see Carmelo rising to this level until he really really wants it. Just my view on him. Kind of like Lebron, he loses but he will still make $50 mil this year, and next, amaze people, and everyone around him will love him and tell them they love him.

Melo has crazy ability and would hope he works on his fundamentals so he does not rely on his quickness like Bigg Dogg and Glen Rice did. Otherwise at age 30 he'll be average.

Failure to close it out taught Dirk and Terry.

Failure to reach the next level taught Carlisle.

Failure to keep his mouth shut and starphuch taught Cuban.

Mavs were fortunate to make it back and did well with the opportunity. Miami just played not to lose. Played in fear.

The Three in Miami took pay cuts to do it there. That I give them credit.

They only signed three year deals I thought. We got long term lock in with our two.

"We need a home run off season"...............Dude, ain't that the truth!

But what looms? Bulls will be better? Orlando got talent, ATL got talent, Sixers could reformulate with assets and Im sure others can rise too.

And the Heat could have a good offseason also!

My point? Lets get to 50 wins and thru the first round with a balanced balanced roster together mostly one season then we can evaluate MDA properly and see what our assets look like.

Gonna be a lock out most likely. We might not have that full season. A short camp, a short season? Worked in 99' but that was then.

Knixkik wrote:I am still comfortable with Billups at the PG, who is still as good as Kidd, if we have a better PG off the bench. The hot name out there that should be available and a great fit is Ramon Sessions, who is on a longer, but very reasonable contract. We really need to just add a couple of two-way players and a strong defensive center. It would be hard to find someone as good as Chandler, but finding a niche center who fits is key. Someone like Kwame Brown, who isn't an attractive name, but is worth taking a chance on for a one-year deal is the way to go. Also, i believe going into next year we have a great chance to be better than Chicago. Rose had an unbelievable year and Chicago was sort of the flavor of the month. I don't believe they are as good as most people think. We should be a top team in the east next year alongside Miami. Chicago, Boston, and Orlando will all be there, but i think we have a great chance to be better.

Great points. My problem comes with Kwame Brown on the one year contract. I just don't think that he'll be available and that we need a better solution for our center position.

that having a homegrown star on your roster is crucial.

that defense matters.

hmmmm...

nixluva wrote:What I learned is that the PARTS HAVE TO FIT! It's not enough to just have great talent. The Celtics fit together PERFECTLY. The Heat not so much. It doesn't show up in the regular season all the time, but in the finals it really was on display. The Heat issues with closing out games are a reality. It's based in the makeup of the team. The Mavs made sense. They have clear roles and natural positions so guys aren't doing things that aren't natural to them.

We've got to solidify the C position and get STAT away from playing C. The Mavs are deep with vet talent. In fact the overall quality of their players is fairly high and everyone gets to contribute. With the Heat it's mainly the big 3 doing everything and that takes away from the effectiveness of the Heat attack. You really don't have to worry that much about anyone but the big 3. On the Mavs they get good contributions from a lot more of their roster and it makes them more difficult to defend. The Knicks can copy that aspect of the Mavs, by adding capable role players as opposed to cheap scrubs. We have to raise the overall quality of the support around STAT and Melo. I'm not saying it's easy, but that's the task.

to your point, nix: how do you feel Amare and Melo fit together?

was i the only one that noticed how only one of them could have a good game? didn't seem like they could both thrive together in the small sample we saw.

martin wrote:

eViL wrote:

nixluva wrote:What I learned is that the PARTS HAVE TO FIT! It's not enough to just have great talent. The Celtics fit together PERFECTLY. The Heat not so much. It doesn't show up in the regular season all the time, but in the finals it really was on display. The Heat issues with closing out games are a reality. It's based in the makeup of the team. The Mavs made sense. They have clear roles and natural positions so guys aren't doing things that aren't natural to them.

We've got to solidify the C position and get STAT away from playing C. The Mavs are deep with vet talent. In fact the overall quality of their players is fairly high and everyone gets to contribute. With the Heat it's mainly the big 3 doing everything and that takes away from the effectiveness of the Heat attack. You really don't have to worry that much about anyone but the big 3. On the Mavs they get good contributions from a lot more of their roster and it makes them more difficult to defend. The Knicks can copy that aspect of the Mavs, by adding capable role players as opposed to cheap scrubs. We have to raise the overall quality of the support around STAT and Melo. I'm not saying it's easy, but that's the task.

to your point, nix: how do you feel Amare and Melo fit together?

was i the only one that noticed how only one of them could have a good game? didn't seem like they could both thrive together in the small sample we saw.

For me, too small a sample, especially without Billups (lead PG) for most of the time.

i hope you're right. i guess only time will tell.

Just two quarters, thats all, yet its huge!

Ok, about Melo and Amare, the key here is really who is in charge?

Melo or Amare?

Neither, its Billups! He is really the key, the stir that mixes, the QB, the Alpha dog, in short its his team.

Melo and Amare need to do more off the ball. AMare has shown he can rebound and block shots. We need a big to protect him and let him be a weak side threat.

We pick up the defensive rebounding Melo can get some nice easy looks on the wing on the break. I hope Melo is running this off season.

eViL wrote:i don't disagree with your observations. i guess my take is that none of the players we're discussing are particularly good at playing off the ball (the way a ray allen or a jason terry is). thus, for all the variance in their skill sets, neither pairing is a good one since the ball can only be in one player's hands at a time. melo seems most effective when he can iso and pound the ball until he pulls up for a shot. amare seems most effective when he's bulldozing through the lane. i think wade and lebron run into the same issues with wade being their melo and lebron being their amare.

don't entirely disagree with this but how about this take.

I think a large part of playing off the ball has to do with how the offense is set up and also the skill-set of your players. Ray Allen and Jason Terry have much different roles than say Amare. You don't run Amare off of screens and have him take passes at the 3-point line to make a decision about shooting and/or diving to the rim.

However, you can have Amare start a set in the corner on the opposite side of the action and swing to the high post; the Knicks did this repeatedly late in the year and it is effective as it draws a PF/C type guy out of the lane. I would say that this is about the same as having a SG play off the ball.

You can do this with both Amare and Melo because they are good outside shooters for their respective positions (Melo only really showed confidence in his 3point shooting in NY).

Contrast: With Wade and LeBron you WANT to force them to take outside shots, that was the whole defensive scheme with Dallas. Their (Wade, LeBron) forte is taking the ball to the rim and 1) getting close look or 2) getting fouled or 3) passing to wide open teammate.