The Knickerblogger guy was pretty down on the team. Not much of a defense mounted by him. You would think he'd mention how good Fish looked getting the kids to pick up the Triangle in SL. Fish seems to have a great disposition and intellect for the Game. Phil has given Fish great help and experience on the bench as well.

I will say that I think the questions and negative takes they had about the offense were the least compelling. All this stuff about Melo as a stretch 4 at the same time forgetting that most of his career he's been a 3 and quite effective. Just cuz Melo is in the Triangle doesn't mean he won't have the ability to get a lot of catch and shoot and 3pt shots. Melo is going to be playing the MJ/Kobe role in the offense. Did they have problems scoring from everywhere just cuz they played in the Triangle?

To say the Knicks don't have talent is and INSANE comment. They may not have a lot of defensive talent, but in terms of scoring the ball, the Knicks are VERY talented. The Raps and other Atlantic Div teams we will play 16 games against will be seeing a team that has much more bite than the team they faced last year. This team has a good amount of legit shooters in an offense that creates a lot of good shooting opps. Since the ball and players will be moving a lot more than teams are used to seeing I think it will help this team to be much more efficient.

Now the real issue is the defense. I will say this. Felton and Jose is pretty much a wash. Neither is gonna be suhtting down PG's. I actually think Prigs and Larkin will hold their own defensively. As for replacing Tyson's defense, I actually don't think we'll be at a disadvantage. Jason, Dalembert and Cole can defend just fine. They can use Acy as a ranging help defender somewhat like KMart. We still have Shump and hopefully the other young guys can be coached up on D. THJ said he was really focusing on D and learned a lot from Thibs. Lets hope that is true and we see an improved THJ on D.

The question is how will Fish have the team defend this year? I doubt they'll do the amount of switching that Woody did. Not on that level. His lineups will be critical as well. It's gonna be very interesting to see what scheme they'll use. Will they use any zones?

knicks1248 wrote:They also forgot to mention that nobody on the team was in support of the switching defense that lead to so many mis matches it, that it wasn't even funny at all, in fact it was pitiful.

It's funny how these so call basketball analyst only look at stats to determine how good a team really is. They never take into consideration all the outside drama that can defeat a teams will, energy, and mental aspect.

Like when amare lost his brother, felton and his marraige, tyson and his moms, coahes on the hot seat, trade rumors.

They had more hopes for the raptors when they had Rudy gay, all of a sudden they get rid of Gay, everyone one in basketball nation thought the raptors were in full rebuilding mode. But what happen was the team started playing toghether, and they able maximize there skills in a perfect system that suited there talent.

You don't tell shaq to play SG and kobe to play center, then wonder why such a talented team is suffering.

Thats why I like phils philosphy, he doest take racing tires and put them on hummer and wonder why the hummer doesn't ride like a race car.

nixluva wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:They also forgot to mention that nobody on the team was in support of the switching defense that lead to so many mis matches it, that it wasn't even funny at all, in fact it was pitiful.

It's funny how these so call basketball analyst only look at stats to determine how good a team really is. They never take into consideration all the outside drama that can defeat a teams will, energy, and mental aspect.

Like when amare lost his brother, felton and his marraige, tyson and his moms, coahes on the hot seat, trade rumors.

They had more hopes for the raptors when they had Rudy gay, all of a sudden they get rid of Gay, everyone one in basketball nation thought the raptors were in full rebuilding mode. But what happen was the team started playing toghether, and they able maximize there skills in a perfect system that suited there talent.

You don't tell shaq to play SG and kobe to play center, then wonder why such a talented team is suffering.

Thats why I like phils philosphy, he doest take racing tires and put them on hummer and wonder why the hummer doesn't ride like a race car.

Excellent post!!! I will add that this is Phil's world. He has been bringing in his people who know how he does things and can bring that same atmosphere and teaching to the Knicks. We haven't seen this team with this level of coaching and cooperation from the Prez on down. We've mostly seen dysfunction.

is the baby mama the cause of the losing or is losing the cause of the baby mama drama? that's the question we have to ask ourselves,

the two are twins in the tumble to the basement,

team sucked, you're gonna have players pistol whipping, guys falling sick and being reckless in the club when the team sucks,

TripleThreat wrote:

nixluva wrote:To say the Knicks don't have talent is and INSANE comment. They may not have a lot of defensive talent, but in terms of scoring the ball, the Knicks are VERY talented.

I'm going to walk past, right now, your constant flip flopping on the Knicks defense and defensive potential ( one true sign of a relentless myopic homer is that they will defend their favorite team and it's current players absolutely, even if those defenses start to contradict each other)

The basic talent test in any sport is take your current roster. How many players would start on a contender's roster?

So the past few years, it's the Spurs, Heat, Thunder and Pacers. Maybe we throw in the Clippers and Warriors in there for good measure.

Melo clearly would be a starter on any of those teams, bar none.

Anyone else? Dalembert is now best suite as a reserve. The Thunder kept Thabeet over Aldrich. There's a reason why Smith and Acy were available. Calderon is a very good reserve on a contender, not a starter. STAT is, at best now, a 5th big man in a contenders rotation. I'd argue Byron Mullens, who isn't desirable, is much more of an asset than Bargs ( at least Mullens can change a game by bombing threes and his cheap contract reality wouldn't break your cap) Would JR Smith, the knucklehead, start for most contenders? No.

On a baseline level, all NBA teams have talent and some good players on their rosters.

On a CONTENDER level, CONSIDERING A CONTENDER, the Knicks only have one player who would be a starter for a contenders roster, and that would include massive workarounds considering certain weak points in his game.

Do you really want to mince words? '

The Knicks do not have the talent they need to contend. Period. Every team has some level of talent on the roster.

Do you remember when Chris Rock did a comedy act pointing out people who proclaim, "I take care of my kids" like they should win a medal or get praise for it. As Chris Rock says, you are supposed to take care of your kids ( he added also "you low expectation having mother ****ers")

Lots of fat women in America ( no shortage of them) get angry about the word "average" Because Americans have gotten so damn ****ing fat, the average chick waistline in America is growing. But the word "average" makes those women feel better, like they are in the middle of the pack when in reality, they are obese. You know why people mince words? To make something appear like it's better than it really is in reality.

The Knicks are not where they need to be. But one day they can be. Trying to mince words and rationalize why they COULD be better than what their baseline will probably bring isn't dealing in reality.

You guys that jump on me are a trip. I've been very consistent about the Knicks defense. I've NEVER said we have great defensive talent. What I have said is that they can find a way to play better defense. They demonstrated that in stretches last year but the lack of consistency was a problem. Because we have some players who struggle defensively you can't just throw certain groups out there and expect good D. Some combinations are AWFUL. That said we have made some changes to the roster that should help make it possible to play lineups that can defend decently. Not top of the league but good enough to win games.

It's the same thing with talking about the talent on this team. Just cuz your test of a teams talent is to see which of our players would start on a contender doesn't mean that's the only gauge for if you have talent on your team. That's STUPID IMO. It's entirely possible for a team to play at a high level even if you wouldn't take their best players over another teams best players. Again this isn't about do we have the best talent in the NBA.
Do we have talent that should allow this team to win games? YES!!! It's more important that the players we have can execute the system we're going to be running. I think we have the talent to do that at a high enough level to win games.

You guys do the same thing with the expectations on wins. Who the hell is talking about the Knicks being a contender??? With you guys if we talk positively about the Team you think we're saying they will be in the Finals. How about just being a decent team that has a chance to win it's division? It's not an all or nothing proposition. Each team has a ceiling and this team doesn't have to play well below that ceiling as the did last year. It's entirely possible that they are able to reach their ceiling this year.

jrodmc wrote:

TripleThreat wrote:

nixluva wrote:To say the Knicks don't have talent is and INSANE comment. They may not have a lot of defensive talent, but in terms of scoring the ball, the Knicks are VERY talented.

I'm going to walk past, right now, your constant flip flopping on the Knicks defense and defensive potential ( one true sign of a relentless myopic homer is that they will defend their favorite team and it's current players absolutely, even if those defenses start to contradict each other)

The basic talent test in any sport is take your current roster. How many players would start on a contender's roster?

So the past few years, it's the Spurs, Heat, Thunder and Pacers. Maybe we throw in the Clippers and Warriors in there for good measure.

Melo clearly would be a starter on any of those teams, bar none.

Anyone else? Dalembert is now best suite as a reserve. The Thunder kept Thabeet over Aldrich. There's a reason why Smith and Acy were available. Calderon is a very good reserve on a contender, not a starter. STAT is, at best now, a 5th big man in a contenders rotation. I'd argue Byron Mullens, who isn't desirable, is much more of an asset than Bargs ( at least Mullens can change a game by bombing threes and his cheap contract reality wouldn't break your cap) Would JR Smith, the knucklehead, start for most contenders? No.

On a baseline level, all NBA teams have talent and some good players on their rosters.

On a CONTENDER level, CONSIDERING A CONTENDER, the Knicks only have one player who would be a starter for a contenders roster, and that would include massive workarounds considering certain weak points in his game.

Do you really want to mince words? '

The Knicks do not have the talent they need to contend. Period. Every team has some level of talent on the roster.

Do you remember when Chris Rock did a comedy act pointing out people who proclaim, "I take care of my kids" like they should win a medal or get praise for it. As Chris Rock says, you are supposed to take care of your kids ( he added also "you low expectation having mother ****ers")

Lots of fat women in America ( no shortage of them) get angry about the word "average" Because Americans have gotten so damn ****ing fat, the average chick waistline in America is growing. But the word "average" makes those women feel better, like they are in the middle of the pack when in reality, they are obese. You know why people mince words? To make something appear like it's better than it really is in reality.

The Knicks are not where they need to be. But one day they can be. Trying to mince words and rationalize why they COULD be better than what their baseline will probably bring isn't dealing in reality.

Hey do you mind if we use this post later as defense of why Melo has no help?

Timmy Jr not getting any burn on any of those teams?
JR is what, 16th man off the bench on any of those teams?
Shump just purely sucks now, is that it?

The key to even-handed, realistic, knowledgeable hate is to start your player comparisons with Dalembert and finish with Bargs. Perfect.

Then throw in the fat lady sings analogy for good measure.

Yeah let's just skip everyone else and go right for Dalembert. Also I loved how Calderon is not a starter on a contender he's just a reserve. He started for Dallas who took the Spurs to 7 games. Clearly they had no shot against the Spurs in that series and it was all on Jose who should've come off the bench.

Never mind the fact that Jose had an Offensive Rating of 120. Felton had an Off Rating of 103. They both stunk defensively but Jose was a +8 and Felton a -8 per 100 possessions.

GustavBahler wrote:Interesting read. I disagree that Melo playing the 3 is a bad thing, doubt he would have had his shoulder issues last season if he wasn't playing the 4. His catch and shoot game was a small part of Melo's repertoire, so its not like there will be a steep drop off. Also overestimates Indy, Brooklyn, Detroit IMO.

He's right that our defense could be an issue, but good D is more about effort than anything else,and hopefully a new coach will get more out of the team than Woodson and his obsession with switching.

Chandler had some games where he played good D and others where he played the matador. Also threw his teammates under the bus, so good riddance. Same with Felton, even if his D was better than Calderone's. Overall a bit too pessimistic IMO. Im confident they will make the playoffs, but from there its anybody's guess.

Melo played PF only the last 2 seasons and every other year he was a SF. I don't see why people are going on and on about his possible move to SF. It's not a big deal in terms of Melo being effective. He did pretty darn well at SF for much of his career. The thing is that he'll be able to use this system to become a better player. Hopefully a better Team Player.

I think in general this team got a pretty bad rap from that article. It's like they completely ignored who is still on this team and that there is potential there with the right Leadership. They tried to make it seem like Phil is just a clown who is taking the money and won't do the work. That's some real hater-aid. It makes it clear that they don't really know what makes Phil tick. His life's work is about taking the game of Basketball seriously and finding ways to make teams better in every facet.