5-28.

Given the competition in Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and even Atlanta... it promises to be a bumpy ride for the next two seasons. Minimally. Draft picks and free agents may dance in our collective heads, but the fact is that gathering the best available talent only guarantees that those acquisitions will require time to get acquainted and learn to trust each other, man for man.

Uncle Phil knows this.

During 2014, he has already noted which players can think in three dimensions and which players are stuck in playground habits. Not simply on offense, but primarily on defense. As his mentor, Red Holzman, said, "on offense you do what you want, on DEFENSE you do what I want."

Chants of "Dee-fense" started in the blue seats, before ANY other arena or stadium in the nation, for a reason.

Now, while we prepare to shut down Melo in 2015, and activate (cough) Andrea Bargnani from his strained whatever, please... let this season be over ... and over the next 2-3 years, please go get me some fierce big men to protect the basket, and some guards who can guard.

Defense.

Phil needs to take the time machine back to the glory days of 1970
and use that team as a template for future acquisitions.
Man, I miss those days.....

We don't have to worry about other teams. We only need to worry about establishing a core that can compete for a title one day. That means getting a top draft pick and using the cap wisely to build a CORE. Not an entire team all at once but just get that core base that can be built upon. If we end up with a kid like Okafor and can add a good young FA guard that would go a long way towards setting the team in the right direction. Then we continue to develop some of the kids we've been drafting and it starts to really form a solid team for the future. It doesn't have to all happen immediately.

misterearl wrote:nixluva - it never happens immediately.

From where our beloved NYKnicks stand at 5-28, it will require three to five years to crawl back to .500 basketball. Given the erosion of Carmelo Anthony's knees , one draft pick (Okafor or Tim Duncan) will NOT make a difference. That coveted draft pick will need to be a stone cold lock, devoid of any personal issues, mature enough to make the underclass leap to the professional ranks and mentally tough enough to handle being the next "savior" in New York City.

That is asking a lot of a twenty-something.

misterearl wrote:Bonn1997 - there is no dark side or light side. There is only the orange and blue side. Everything else is counterfeit.

This idea that having nine expiring contracts only means there will be nine guys wearing "Hello, My Name Is..." tags on their jerseys next November.

Let's take a quick trip in The Wayback Machine. Set it for 1965, and let's check our Knicks roster that produced a 30-50 record. The roster included Dick Barnett, Walt Bellamy, Emmette Bryant (who could play a lick), Tom Gola, Johnny Green, Howard Komives, Dave Stallworth and a dude named Willis Reed.

To nixluva's point, there was already core of at least three players in place (Barnett, Stallworth and Reed) who would play significant roles in the championship years from 1968 - 1973. It was a beautiful thing. The transactions that followed were orchestrated with a bit of patience (Bradley, who left for Rhodes) draft luck (Frazier and Russell) and a masterfully perfect trade (Komives and Bellamy for DeBusschere).

That required three years WITH a core.

How many years of patience will it require, without a core, given our star player is on the verge of shutting it down for the season?

The truth will set you free.

Truly, a UK classic line..I may need to highjack this in some form or another, Earl!!!

nixluva wrote:Who the F cares what the record is? IF this team never gets it together and continues losing there's no penalty for this. For years people have been clamoring for this team to start over and pretty much that is going to happen. Sure we've got Melo but despite what others want to say that's not a bad thing. It means the cupboard at least has something on the shelf. Most important thing is that finally we actually have our 1st rd. pick in the very year when we have our worst record. If that continues then it's all good for the Ping Pong balls. Then you pair that with the fact that we have a ton of expiring contracts and really there's nothing but good that can come of this bad season.

We don't have to worry about other teams. We only need to worry about establishing a core that can compete for a title one day. That means getting a top draft pick and using the cap wisely to build a CORE. Not an entire team all at once but just get that core base that can be built upon. If we end up with a kid like Okafor and can add a good young FA guard that would go a long way towards setting the team in the right direction. Then we continue to develop some of the kids we've been drafting and it starts to really form a solid team for the future. It doesn't have to all happen immediately.

yeah we finally may get a top pick in a weak draft, woop de doo!!

Trade these losers before the deadline, I'm paying pretty payment for NBA league pass, and i can't really enjoy watching my team sink to the worse in the league, maybe in the history of the NBA, and some of you think Fisher is all of a sudden going to become a decent coach in 10 months just because he has better players. The only way I see that is if he get an ELITE Pg, and scrap the triangle for the most part.

misterearl wrote:Bill Parcells had a point. Might as well lower expectations in The Garden of Good and Terrible, and get with the reality of being 5-28.

5-28.

Given the competition in Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and even Atlanta... it promises to be a bumpy ride for the next two seasons. Minimally. Draft picks and free agents may dance in our collective heads, but the fact is that gathering the best available talent only guarantees that those acquisitions will require time to get acquainted and learn to trust each other, man for man.

Uncle Phil knows this.

During 2014, he has already noted which players can think in three dimensions and which players are stuck in playground habits. Not simply on offense, but primarily on defense. As his mentor, Red Holzman, said, "on offense you do what you want, on DEFENSE you do what I want."

Chants of "Dee-fense" started in the blue seats, before ANY other arena or stadium in the nation, for a reason.

Now, while we prepare to shut down Melo in 2015, and activate (cough) Andrea Bargnani from his strained whatever, please... let this season be over ... and over the next 2-3 years, please go get me some fierce big men to protect the basket, and some guards who can guard.

Defense.

The seats are no longer blue. Things change.

misterearl wrote:The seats are no longer blue. Things change.

Nalod - Things change. Some precious few things are forever.

Dee-fense wins championships.

knicks1248 wrote:

nixluva wrote:Who the F cares what the record is? IF this team never gets it together and continues losing there's no penalty for this. For years people have been clamoring for this team to start over and pretty much that is going to happen. Sure we've got Melo but despite what others want to say that's not a bad thing. It means the cupboard at least has something on the shelf. Most important thing is that finally we actually have our 1st rd. pick in the very year when we have our worst record. If that continues then it's all good for the Ping Pong balls. Then you pair that with the fact that we have a ton of expiring contracts and really there's nothing but good that can come of this bad season.

We don't have to worry about other teams. We only need to worry about establishing a core that can compete for a title one day. That means getting a top draft pick and using the cap wisely to build a CORE. Not an entire team all at once but just get that core base that can be built upon. If we end up with a kid like Okafor and can add a good young FA guard that would go a long way towards setting the team in the right direction. Then we continue to develop some of the kids we've been drafting and it starts to really form a solid team for the future. It doesn't have to all happen immediately.

yeah we finally may get a top pick in a weak draft, woop de doo!!

Trade these losers before the deadline, I'm paying pretty payment for NBA league pass, and i can't really enjoy watching my team sink to the worse in the league, maybe in the history of the NBA, and some of you think Fisher is all of a sudden going to become a decent coach in 10 months just because he has better players. The only way I see that is if he get an ELITE Pg, and scrap the triangle for the most part.

We won't know if this is a weak draft for a few years. It's a good year to stink when we actually have a 1st rd pick. We have cap space too so I don't know why anyone would be down about the team's future with all these options to improve the team. We're not in as bad a place as it looks right now.

misterearl wrote:Bill Parcells had a point. Might as well lower expectations in The Garden of Good and Terrible, and get with the reality of being 5-28.

5-28.

Given the competition in Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and even Atlanta... it promises to be a bumpy ride for the next two seasons. Minimally. Draft picks and free agents may dance in our collective heads, but the fact is that gathering the best available talent only guarantees that those acquisitions will require time to get acquainted and learn to trust each other, man for man.

Uncle Phil knows this.

During 2014, he has already noted which players can think in three dimensions and which players are stuck in playground habits. Not simply on offense, but primarily on defense. As his mentor, Red Holzman, said, "on offense you do what you want, on DEFENSE you do what I want."

Chants of "Dee-fense" started in the blue seats, before ANY other arena or stadium in the nation, for a reason.

Now, while we prepare to shut down Melo in 2015, and activate (cough) Andrea Bargnani from his strained whatever, please... let this season be over ... and over the next 2-3 years, please go get me some fierce big men to protect the basket, and some guards who can guard.

Defense.

Papabear Says

Misterearl don't rush the years. At my age every year count and I'm not wishing time to go fast. I'll just watch a movie and root for another team like a west coast team. Chris Paul's team

"The Knicks entered Thursday’s games with the third-worst defensive rating in the NBA.

In the last five games, the Knicks have given up an average off 33 first-quarter points. That number wouldn’t be a problem if they were scoring at the same clip. They haven't been.

Eight minutes into the Knicks' last five games, they’ve trailed by an average of 10 points. The opposing shooting guard -- often guarded by Hardaway Jr. -- has averaged 11 points in the opening eight minutes of the last two games. That’s not good." -ESPN