I personally think it's going to happen if the Knicks don't turn it around

It's that simple.

I am maybe as pessimistic as anyone about what Phil did in the off season. Too early for that kind of conjecture. But trade deadline, if we're still on pace for 20-35 wins, then absolutely, Melo would be foolish not to consider a trade. But will it be Phil making the trade, or will he be gone?

The drop off in second unit, without a go to guy, has forced JH to put either Melo or KP in second unit. Which I'm in favor of so as to not fall too far behind. But the ultimate goal is to have our starting 5 gel and bench to improve and become self sufficient. Which i think will happen.

The game plan is not to see who has the better match up for the night and go with that. That's exactly what they did last night when melo ripped off 14 straight points.

knicks1248 wrote:GS has four 20 point scorers on their team that can easily avg 20+ shots per game. Melo is a scorer, why on earth should he take less shots is beyond belief.

The game plan is not to see who has the better match up for the night and go with that. That's exactly what they did last night when melo ripped off 14 straight points.

false reasoning: you are arguing from theory to make your point, meanwhile the average shot distribution for curry is 18, durant 17.6, thompson 16.5, with both curry and durant being far more efficient than melo. thompson had a very slow start.

was melo merely a "scorer" those 25 games last season? dad melo was an all-around player, with emphasis on passing and assists.

i do agree about matchups though, but by that reasoning kp6 should be touching the ball more than melo going forward since he has a mismatch every time down the floor.

Chandler wrote:When Melo becomes a secon option and not a ball hog team will thrive and he and everyone else will be happy

It's that simple.

Yeah well his ball hogness won the game for us last night.

Papabear wrote:

GoNyGoNyGo wrote:Melo had a great run last night in the 3rd quarter. It reminds you how good he can be and is. However, it was all iso offense for him. He just does not seem to be able to fit into a motion offense. He needs time to set up his defender for his move and shot. While he does that, the team is stagnant.

I am beginning to think he should be on the 2nd unit. Let him be instant offense. I know its crazy but he has been here 5+years with as many different coaches and we still see the team look sluggish and stagnant more often than not. He is the only constant in the last 5+ years.

Last night after he single handedly got the team even, the bench of Jennings, Sasha, Willy, Kuz with KP took the game over.

Papabear Says

Second unit? You might as well say he needs to be traded. The day Melo goes on the second unit none starting games he will be traded. Phil Jackson will be gone before that happens. And by the way so far Phil is not that good of a GM. He could have gotten Thibs but he didn't. His ego was too big.

This will always be up for debate. Phil has made some mistakes but when you look at the overall picture, drafting KP, getting us a healthy cap, retaining (and adding) draft picks, and taking low-risk chances on guys like Rose, Jennings, etc that don't sacrifice the future, he has done a better job than anyone in recent years. He has broken the cycle that gets us in trouble and built successfully for the future without tanking.

Chandler wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:

Chandler wrote:When Melo becomes a secon option and not a ball hog team will thrive and he and everyone else will be happy

It's that simple.

Yeah well his ball hogness won the game for us last night.

it's this kind of thinking which gets us in trouble. He hits 4 or 5 shots in a row and we say he won the game. We forget he was like 3 for 10 or 11 or whatever before that

and from what I saw we won the game when we had our euro team on the floor moving the ball

IMO we're a much better team when others are setting the tone and we have Melo as an outlet. His pounding the ball into the floor kills momentum, team motivation etc.

In the begining of the game. Melo was clearly and I mean clearly looking to distribute the ball. He had 0 points in the first quarter and majority of his limited amount of shots were from catch and shoot. And we were getting our asses kicked.

I prefer Melo play this way regardless(looked to move the ball). But he was forced to resort back to I so ball due to what seemed like no energy from the team. But now the question is does this success make him believe this is the answer which could backfire. Unless he is having one of those months.