If we don't see progress on the defensive side of things over the next month or 2 while we wait on the offense and Baron, we should be worried. IMHO that will be the telling point for Amare, Melo, and MDA. Getting JJ and Shump back will help on that front, but Chandler, Amare, Melo and team as a whole can take steps on defense without those 2.

For now that will be a measuring stick I use to gauge the next months.

nixluva wrote:What I notice is that there are breakdowns from guys like Balkman, Walker etc. Those backdoor plays by the scrubs on these teams we've lost to are a result of Knick players not keeping track of their man. Ellis or Kobe starts driving and guys don't see the ball AND THEIR MAN. That role player slips behind the defense and WHIP a pass from Ellis or Kobe right to a guy at the basket. It's happened over and over. TD, Fields and Bibby have not been able to keep their man out of the paint. So Chandler has to cover up for so many breakdowns and this leaves us vulnerable at the basket and lessens our rebound chances.

I do believe that eventually they'll get a real rotation and develop more chemistry. More importantly we'll get some players back that can defend better too.

+1 These guys are being outplayed/outsmarted by mediocre players. It seems they try hard and play physical, but somehow lack court awareness.

nixluva wrote:The one good thing is that all the little breakdowns are fixable. This defense has been great in spurts but late in games it falls apart. One thing I noticed is that the rotations are strange and as such there's no defensive chemistry. I think not having Jared and Shump in the mix makes a big difference. Jared is a glue guy on D and Shump helps a LOT in the backcourt defensively. I can't wait to see if Lin can help out a bit. He's got to be more agile than Bibby! Bibby looks like a human crab minus the lateral quickness.

+1 Good defense includes both athleticism and court awareness/bball IQ. Lin has both, and stopping penetration would do wonders for keeping Chandler and other bigs out of foul trouble and rotation mismatches.

the defensive effort seems to be like the whole team is playing like toney douglas right now - everyone is trying too hard and overplaying everything. smart teams or smart players are waiting for the knicks to overplay a double or a trap or a pick and roll and making an easy pass to score.

i don't agree that it's a lack of effort. i actually think it's misplaced effort or overzealousness. if they dial it back a little bit and play a more patient version of the defense they're playing, i think it'll be okay.

i actually wonder if having a dedicated "defensive assistant" in woodson is leading to their defense being needlessly over-complicated.

i think the struggle between woodson (and the powers who put him in place) and d'antoni is going to be one of the major behind the scenes storylines this year. it'll be interesting to see if it bubbles over into the games or at least the beatwriters' awareness.

i think the struggle between woodson (and the powers who put him in place) and d'antoni is going to be one of the major behind the scenes storylines this year. it'll be interesting to see if it bubbles over into the games or at least the beatwriters' awareness.

holfresh wrote:Another question is how does a team totally buy into defense when the head coach hasn't bought in himself...You haven't seen players pulled out of game for missing assignments...You don't see time outs call because of defensive lapses...

Bingo! This is why it might be time for a coaching change. MDA doesn't seem to hold his players accountable on both ends. How many times do we see the same players committing the same mistakes and are not removed from the game or are being coached-up and taught to improve on weak areas? Amare is still dribbling the ball out top way too much and continues to turn the ball over. This has been going on since last year and not one time has Amare been benched immediately after he does this. If MDA is too afraid to bench his star player, what in ther world is going on in practice that Amare continues to make the same bone-head plays. We watched the rookie coach Mark Jackson bench Monte Ellis for turning the ball over on concsecutive plays (No, I'm not saying Jackson is a better coach, but its all about accountability).

The same standard should hold true on the defensive end. Missed defensive assignments, or lack of effort should be punishable by taking away the players minutes. The problem with this idea is that MDA has never shown the cojones to do such things. If its not in MDA's make up, we better make sure the next coach of this team is a hard-ass who will hold players accountable. It might be time for a voice/philosophy change.