Dantoni's philosophy works well with Lin's game, but not with Amare and Melo, with TC in the game. If we take Tyson out of the equation, we become a horrible defensive team and its just a poorly constructed team. Phil Jackson needs players that can post up, which is part of the triangle, and can hit the 12 foot jump shot. I just don't think it would work with ATM, as only Melo has the ability to post up. He hasn't been able to get good post position because Amare and Tyson, takes that room that Melo needs to be a threat. This was why he was so upset in Chicago, when Fields had the chance to post up Melo up but was scared to get a TO. Melo does have a right to be upset with that play but the way he showed it on the court made him wrong. All this losing and pressure that the media brings with playing in NY is magnified. Melo has done this with TD last year, and put on these tantrums throughout his career. It doesn't help that Chandler isn't a shooting threat at all, while Amare has struggled for majority of the season with his shot, and his lack of moves/skills. Neither is a post up threat, which is horrible, actually not acceptable.
We have no identity, especially with our starting lineup. The spacing is horrible and our starting lineups do not mesh. Our players are predictable and we have no counters and horrible or no adjustments made, with Dantoni and his stubborn ways. Chandler, Iman, and JJ playing together would make us a B+ defensive team, while our offense would be pretty bad. Sad to say, JJ is very important to our defense with his good foot work and length. He might not be a good rebounder, shot blocker, and not a scoring threat but he plays great help defense. Even though they are not scoring threats, together, these guys are multiplied on the defensive end, they LISTEN to the coach and play TEAM basketball.
Making our 2nd unit the scoring and shooting threat. Novak has shown he is one of the deadliest sharp shooters in the league, I have ranked above Kyle Korver, Belinelli, and Redick, while we will probably lose him this summer in FA. At his age, this is his best chance to make a good contract, worth at least the full MLE.
He might not be very skilled or have a true position but he is great at SHOOTING. And to finish the games, Dantoni should rotate his bench efficiently, putting the players that work well together and are playing well, to finish the game. Instead, Dantoni is willing to play Iman, Lin, Duhon, Felton or whoever, throughout his career, and ride them till they have no more gas in their tank and increase the chance of injury. Having Lin and Iman playing 30+ minutes in a row, totally kills their stamina, isn't efficient, and lowers their productivity on the court.
Melo needs to have players so spread the floor for him, so he can actually post up. When match ups allow us to have him play at PF, he would be able to use that as a threat, with TC helping him on the other end. Melo is very strong and actually has problems defending shooters much more. That has been our biggest struggles, as he isn't able to get good positioning, which is Melo's greatest strength and ability.
3/14/2012 8:50 AM