crzymdups wrote:

fwk00 wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

nyknickzingis wrote:

SocraticBallin22 wrote:

nyknickzingis wrote:

crzymdups wrote:This feels like it could be a season turning win.

Noah needs to stay on the bench. (Maybe Lance Thomas too?)

Lance fits in well - but he's a stretch 4 as well in my book. Not quick enough at 3. I like him a ton at 4. At full strength this would be my rotation

Porzingis (28) Willy/O'Quinn/Plumlee (20)
Melo (30) Thomas (18)
Kuz (28) Lee (20)
Rose (32) Holiday (16)
Baker (24) Jennings (24)

Had we known all this from season start, and worked this plan from training camp, I fully believe we'd be top 4 in the East. Did people see how easy it was for Rose to get baskets with good spacing? How many open 3's are generated when you have players like Rose, Jennings, Melo who can draw attention. It's a travesty we're 19-24 because talent wise this team is only weaker than Cleveland and Toronto in my opinion.

I agree with most of this, but NO WAY Baker gets 24 minutes a night and splits time with BJ. Also, Holiday and Lee need a bump in minutes.

Baker is tough as hell. I'm telling you, watch what he did defensively. He took complete pressure off Rose to defend Thomas. He is a decent outside shooter and runs the offense the way Horny wants. Rose can go into full time natural shooting guard mode. Chemistry with Kuz and Baker as starters is very good. And I want to develop players like those for next season. Don't care much about Lee getting extra minutes or Holiday, as Lee is a vet who has maxed his potential and Holiday could be lost in free agency (altough I would love to keep him).

LOL Baker had 4 fouls in 11min, -9 in +/-.

CLee played 38min and guarded Isaiah Thomas most of the second half and almost had a triple double 9pts 8rebs 7ast, +18 in +/-.

I mean... c'mon.

Baker's mission was very different from Lee's. Baker [and Plumlee] were out there to put a hard defensive body on their cover. Isiah would have gotten those fouls on whoever was playing him. At least Baker made him work and work harder in the time he was on the floor. Isiah's reputation was as a fourth quarter messiah for the Celtics. That didn't happen tonight and you can give partial credit to Baker for that. Plumlee also disrupted Isiah's shots throughout that second half.

Baker is an excellent role player prospect - that's all he has to be to stick around. Putting him down because he's not Magic Johnson is idiocy. He's a very nice player to have for specific needs [say tough defense]. And Baker took a lot of responsibility off of Rose's shoulders tonight. The result was tangible.

I never said anything negative against Baker. I like him just fine. He did a good job as a role player and I made a thread several days ago saying Lee should come off the bench.

I was responding to this:

"Don't care much about Lee getting extra minutes or Holiday, as Lee is a vet who has maxed his potential and Holiday could be lost in free agency (altough I would love to keep him)."

I'm a Holiday fan but Lee is too much of a tease - inconsistent from game to game and seemingly ineffectual for his time on the court. Good game tonight though. Jennings played very well for a change. Under control.

Lee and Jennings both seem to create chemistry problems, IMO. Both very expendable.

I do strongly feel like Melo's minutes should be reduced. The # I have mentioned in the past is 30 mins. Kuz is a real keeper and looks great the more we see him. I think most are very high on Willy.

Time will tell. Great win. I dont think Noah is anything the problem same say. We have a softish schedule coming up.. looking forward to seeing what this yields

fishmike wrote:I am not sure this is sustainable. Knicks played with desperation and it showed. Celtic played like its the middle of Jan. Horford missed every shot and did not impact the game with his size at all.

I do strongly feel like Melo's minutes should be reduced. The # I have mentioned in the past is 30 mins. Kuz is a real keeper and looks great the more we see him. I think most are very high on Willy.

Time will tell. Great win. I dont think Noah is anything the problem same say. We have a softish schedule coming up.. looking forward to seeing what this yields

for small ball teams, i think we now know we can have KP (5), Melo (4), Kuz (3), Rose and baker, and that Willy and Plumlee can contribute

For bigger opposing front courts, Noah will be more important

As an aside, before people go off the deep end on Phil again, please re-check this last draft. Phil did better with two undrafteds (Baker, Plumlee) and a stash (hernangomez, in second round) than many teams did this year with multiple picks. Then you throw in Holiday who almost was universally considered a throw in on the trade -- probable to be cut etc. He is doing the important stuff well. Even on the coaching side of things -- sure it's frustrating -- but it's not like Thibs or Vogel is lights out, messiahs

The celts used to have a mantra that it's not as important who starts as who finishes. Hoping Jeff is drilling that into this team

What I would take from Houston and other top scoring teams is their spacing. Which is what we have done more recently with 4 out, 1 in. Many teams use that now and we should be jumping on that wagon. Our talent is suited to play a style where Rose has freedom to get into the paint and not crowded. If he is crowded he should have the players outside able to make shots.

Another thing, with Willy, Melo, KP, I wouldn't want to abandon the post up play completely. When Rose is out, we should go to post ups more often. Although again, with the spacing of 1 in, 4 out, Sort of like what Dwight Howard was doing with the Magic many years ago.

That is part of what clicked last night. When Rose was in, he was given the ball to drive and run his plays. When he sat, we went more to Willy and dumped the ball in the post more often. The spacing remained consistent and spread out well. I liked that. Even if Melo gets more plays like Willy got (With KP out on the 3 point line as a 5), it will be much more effecient, in my opinion. The key to virtually everything on offense it seems is spacing. Can't run anymore 2/3 stuff. Has to be 1/4.