I was a big supporter of the trade but i've come to the realization that at the core, Melo is a street-baller who isn't going anywhere. But hey he got his 27 points!

crzymdups wrote:

martin wrote:

SlimChin wrote:Melo came out to make a statement—that he was going to bounce back from a poor shooting performance last night. didn't matter if he played defense or not—just get his points. and he set the tone for the rest of the team—everybody get their shots, Melo's running the show. no ball movement, iso plays and NO DEFENSE. Tyson Chandler looked disgusted going into the lockers at half time.

I was a big supporter of the trade but i've come to the realization that at the core, Melo is a street-baller who isn't going anywhere. But hey he got his 27 points!

for me, this is why when anyone described Melo as an super star or someone who makes guys around him better, it was laughable. Pretty much same with Amare. They are very good 1-dimentional players. Nash and MDA's offense highlighted exactly Amare's strengths and Karl feed Melo in ISO and let the rest of the team defend and scrap for balls.

Both coaches maximized their players and now they are being exposed in a big way in front of NY's media.

Both of those guys can certainly carry an offense for long stretches in games and for weeks at a time, no doubt. But winning? A how different story.

yep. this is true.

i think the knicks have the pieces to build a winning team around amar'e OR melo. but you can't have both on the same team and expect to play playoffs level defense or team ball.

one of them needs to go.

how nice would it be to trade melo for gallinari straight up at this point?

I would take that trade in a heartbeat.

martin wrote:

SlimChin wrote:Melo came out to make a statement—that he was going to bounce back from a poor shooting performance last night. didn't matter if he played defense or not—just get his points. and he set the tone for the rest of the team—everybody get their shots, Melo's running the show. no ball movement, iso plays and NO DEFENSE. Tyson Chandler looked disgusted going into the lockers at half time.

I was a big supporter of the trade but i've come to the realization that at the core, Melo is a street-baller who isn't going anywhere. But hey he got his 27 points!

for me, this is why when anyone described Melo as an super star or someone who makes guys around him better, it was laughable. Pretty much same with Amare. They are very good 1-dimentional players. Nash and MDA's offense highlighted exactly Amare's strengths and Karl feed Melo in ISO and let the rest of the team defend and scrap for balls.

Both coaches maximized their players and now they are being exposed in a big way in front of NY's media.

Both of those guys can certainly carry an offense for long stretches in games and for weeks at a time, no doubt. But winning? A how different story.

They have been winning there whole careers..all of a sudden they come to the knicks they don't know hoow to win..

HugeKnick4 wrote:This is my first post on this forum. Let me come clean...I was a HUGE Knick fan for years and then stepped away after unwatchable basketball became the norm. This year I finally was re-energized by Jeremy Lin. I just happened to watch the first Nets game and it was the most incredible performance I ever saw from a "scrub" at the end of the bench. That peaked my interest and I was revitalized. Turns out the Knick franchise was revitalized as well. The next 2 weeks were the most memorable sequence of underdog performances I have ever witnessed in sports. I kept thinking it would end...but game after game it continued. I have watched every minute of every game since. One thing is CLEAR to me. Lin and Melo CANNOT play at the same time. Melo seems tentative, as well as Lin. While I am a HUGE Lin fan...I understand that he is not as good as his incredible run. That being said, it is clear that he has Superstar Character and a Clutch Gene that becomes dormant when Anthony is on the floor. Today Lin and Melo both pooped the bed.

martin wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

martin wrote:

SlimChin wrote:Melo came out to make a statement—that he was going to bounce back from a poor shooting performance last night. didn't matter if he played defense or not—just get his points. and he set the tone for the rest of the team—everybody get their shots, Melo's running the show. no ball movement, iso plays and NO DEFENSE. Tyson Chandler looked disgusted going into the lockers at half time.

I was a big supporter of the trade but i've come to the realization that at the core, Melo is a street-baller who isn't going anywhere. But hey he got his 27 points!

for me, this is why when anyone described Melo as an super star or someone who makes guys around him better, it was laughable. Pretty much same with Amare. They are very good 1-dimentional players. Nash and MDA's offense highlighted exactly Amare's strengths and Karl feed Melo in ISO and let the rest of the team defend and scrap for balls.

Both coaches maximized their players and now they are being exposed in a big way in front of NY's media.

Both of those guys can certainly carry an offense for long stretches in games and for weeks at a time, no doubt. But winning? A how different story.

They have been winning there whole careers..all of a sudden they come to the knicks they don't know hoow to win..

i guess it's how you define winning. I am talking about what Kobe and Jordan and Wade and LeBron and other superstars are doing: Playing team ball, playing defense all the time, sacrificing your game, making other around you better. Like that. Doing ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to win.

Another spot on comment. LeBron made huge sacrifices this year. He often goes down to the post and kicks out...to open up the whole floor. More importantly...he actually plays defense.

8missedYet wrote:

limpidgimp wrote:

HugeKnick4 wrote:This is my first post on this forum. Let me come clean...I was a HUGE Knick fan for years and then stepped away after unwatchable basketball became the norm. This year I finally was re-energized by Jeremy Lin. I just happened to watch the first Nets game and it was the most incredible performance I ever saw from a "scrub" at the end of the bench. That peaked my interest and I was revitalized. Turns out the Knick franchise was revitalized as well. The next 2 weeks were the most memorable sequence of underdog performances I have ever witnessed in sports. I kept thinking it would end...but game after game it continued. I have watched every minute of every game since. One thing is CLEAR to me. Lin and Melo CANNOT play at the same time. Melo seems tentative, as well as Lin. While I am a HUGE Lin fan...I understand that he is not as good as his incredible run. That being said, it is clear that he has Superstar Character and a Clutch Gene that becomes dormant when Anthony is on the floor. Today Lin and Melo both pooped the bed.

I'm the same. I couldn't watch the Knicks until Linsanity started. That was an exciting time. It wasn't so long ago, but seems faraway already.
Lin is weird when Melo is on the floor. It's not just that his Clutch Gene goes dormant, but he's not super competitive and hungry like his opening run in February. Instead, he takes the ball up the court like in a perfunctory way and passes it on, often to Melo, not trying to drive and work the PnR. It's almost like he wants all the media attention on him to go away, and ends up stepping out of his old I'm-just-going-to-play-ball. His decreased turnovers don't mean **** if that means less penetration from him.

I am in the same boat. Iso basketball is not fun to watch. Even if the Knicks lose, I rather see team basketball. Lin has lost his aggressiveness.

Again..this is the entire issue. This is where Statistics blur reality. When Lin was aggressive, driving the paint, getting assists, and yes having more turnovers...the Knicks were WINNING! Why? Because the entire floor opened up. Even on his missed layups...follow-ups occurred because defenders were out of position. Kick-outs happened because defenders were out of position. During that entire magical run...the opposing teams defenses were bewildered. Now...he calmly dribbles the ball up the floor...picks up his dribble too early, and is nowhere near as aggressive. Why? MELO. He is not the same player. It is 20% that he is on scouting reports...80% Melo/D'Antoni.

limpidgimp wrote:HugeKnick4, nice post about stats blurring reality.

To give the benefit of the doubt for tonight, maybe D'Antoni didn't think we could win this one with Chandler out, so he spent the game trying some weird combos of players on the floor. There were some weird combos tonight.

Tyson and JJ is all our defense is... Srump and Jorts can defend men-to-man but team defense is what wins the NBA game.
Melo and Stat are at the bottom on NBA in defensive department. If just for defense they are D-League worthy players at best.

Nalod wrote:Last nite it seemed MDA took a seat and said "Phuck it, do it your way and lets see"!.

IN the box score Melo seemed to have an good nite. Stat also. Shooting % was good.

On the court its a different story. Nobody picked up Parker. There was no help. Melo was just going to be melo.

This is the why the Nuggs did not cry upon his departure.

Melo can do it. We have seen it in stretches but working without the ball is hard work.

We see that MDA does wonders with his "Scrub" players. Players that are hungry and not former divas can play.

The fun is leaving again.

Bullseye...