I like what I see from Melo. Just got done watching a replay of last night's opener and was gonna comment on the post-game thread, but I might as well do it here. Disagree with Reggie's comment that Melo had no legs in the 2nd quarter. He looks fine to me physically. He's executing all his moves quickly & decisively with power and no hesitation. Was hitting the glass too last night..Shot's just not dropping right now. It happens..I thought he looked better last night than in Milwaukee. Remember the first few preseason games--he looked amazing. Couldn't miss...He'll get back there. Going through a little rut right now. He'll find it. Having said that--sure, why not work with BK? Personally I think all our players should utilize all the former stars available to them that are around the team--H2O for shooting; LJ for post up offense drills (might help Porzingis in particular develop his interior game more quickly--Hakeem the Dream is really the man I want KP to learn from as soon as the Knicks can manage it. Hopefully he's still for hire in the offseason. I'd like to see the Knicks foot the bill here too. LJ could help O'Quinn too); BK could probably help all the small forwards, not just Melo (would probably be honored if asked--just not sure King's in shape enough and physically able to do so anymore, tough). You can never learn too much..
I thought RoLo looked great last night. Tyson Chandler is the guy I can't help but compare him too. Still not crazy about the money we gave him but lb. for lb., I honestly think Lopez might be a better player. Chandler was all oop, dunk and offensive putbacks. Other than that, he had no confidence offensively. Zero. Add to that, the excuses he made for everything and his propensity to criticize everything & air out dirty laundry to the media--I soured on him quickly. 
I probably wouldn't have made that deal with Dallas (just couldn't justify taking back Calderon's contract) but I can see why Phil wanted to unload him.. RoLo's actually got more offensive skill to him than Chandler. There was a long stretch there in the 2nd half where he didn't play. Not sure if it was foul trouble or what, but when he's got it going, he's gotta be out there. I thought he looked a little awkward on the offensive end in that last preseason game @ Boston but last night he was much sharper and played with more energy. Outside of giving Horford too much room to shoot the ball at times, I thought he was great last night. Would've liked to have seen him play a little more. RoLo/O'Quinn is a tandem I'm curious to see a little more of.
Speaking of O'Quinn, he's gotta look for his offense a little more. I want him to be more of a focal point. He's such a good passer but when he turns and squares up his defender, he's looking for the pass more often than not. That's great, he's certainly got the knack for it, but look to take that jumper too. Back and forth on KP starting over O'Quinn but I think in the long run it's probably the right move to try and fast-track KP and just let him go through it trial by fire, but I'd also like to see O'Quinn establish himself a little more on the offensive end when he gets in there. He had a double-double last night and nearly had one in Milwaukee--those came with ease pretty much. With a few more shot attempts, he's 15/10, maybe even close to 20/10. I wanna see this guy get more shots up.
Can't wait to get Afflalo back 100%.
10/30/2015 12:19 PM
