Wondering if anyone else sees some similarities to what is happening with the Knicks now as compared with the early 1990s.

In 1990-91, we finished 39-43 and were a bitterly underachieving team, coached by Stu Jackson (who got fired early in the year) and John McLeod.

That team had a 28-year-old Patrick Ewing and a 27-year-old Charles Oakley up front, but a bad backcourt and no clue overall.

The next summer we hired Pat Riley, and he immediately turned the Knicks into a defense-oriented, hard-working team. Hi first year, we won 51 games and played the Bulls ultra-tough in a second-round playoff loss. The next year we lost to the Bulls again, this time in a tough East finals. The next year we came within a win of a title.

We did it with older point guards past their prime, and an imperfect but gutsy shooting guard named John Starks, who was a fan favorite. And, of course, we did it with a terrific frontcourt.

Sound somewhat familiar?

The point is, I cannot help but think that if we make some savvy personnel moves this summer and, of course, hire the right coach, we could be a great team next year.

Tyson is a nice addition and he compliments Amar'e but Amar'e and Carmelo do not compliment each other at all. They are the same player who play the same style of basketball and so far none of them has changed. They are ball-stoppers, not ball-movers. And in a system predicated on ball movement (and let's be honest, any offensive system is) that is a recipe for failure/underachievement. One will have to change his game to compliment the other or we're going to have to seriously consider trading one (particularly Stoudemire) this summer.

You can call me all the names in the book but so far (counting last season) these guys have not looked comfortable playing together at all. They are playing their best when one isn't on the court with the other. how are we going to succeed this way? I'll give it this season to see if anything changes but if we're still playing this way in the playoffs then not only will we go nowhere but we'll have to make a drastic change in personnel. And not just in coaching.

Childs2Dudley wrote:One difference is that Ewing and Oakley were perfect compliments to each other and everyone else besides Ewing were role players.

Tyson is a nice addition and he compliments Amar'e but Amar'e and Carmelo do not compliment each other at all. They are the same player who play the same style of basketball and so far none of them has changed. They are ball-stoppers, not ball-movers. And in a system predicated on ball movement (and let's be honest, any offensive system is) that is a recipe for failure/underachievement. One will have to change his game to compliment the other or we're going to have to seriously consider trading one (particularly Stoudemire) this summer.

You can call me all the names in the book but so far (counting last season) these guys have not looked comfortable playing together at all. They are playing their best when one isn't on the court with the other. how are we going to succeed this way? I'll give it this season to see if anything changes but if we're still playing this way in the playoffs then not only will we go nowhere but we'll have to make a drastic change in personnel. And not just in coaching.

I agree that they don't seem to compliment each other, meaning Stat and Melo. But I don't agree that they're the same player.

Melo can create his own shot from the wing. Amar'e is pretty useless unless there is a lot of ball movement and someone is setting up a shot for him.

The problem, I think, is that Melo seems to thrive in a traditional slow it down system and Amar'e thrives in a more wide open system based on movement and he has benefited a lot over the years from playing small ball, where he is able to use his quickness to get by big centers.

I think the addition of Baron Davis helps make Amar'e a LOT more useful and valuable and productive. I think Melo will be fine with Baron, too, but not sure it makes a huge difference in his game.

The problem I see is - I don't see Melo and Amar'e playing well together even with a great PG. But it'd be nice to see what the team looks like with a real distributor at the point. Melo and Amar'e have never had that together, in about 45 games. I don't consider Billups a true point guard, even.

Baron is. So I think it's worth being a little patient and seeing what they look like with Baron.

If it doesn't work with Baron, I'd consider trading Amar'e.