We are a deep team

C- Mitchell
PF- Randle
SF- Knox
SG- Barrett
PG- Smith Jr.

For the now:

C- Portis
PF- Randle
SF- Morris
SG- Ellington
PG- Payton

Thats a decent shooting team to start. Not saying this is how the season ends

smackeddog wrote:
c- Taj
PF- Randle
SF- Morris
SG- Portis
PG- Oakley

HA!! Good one! I am not sure Oak can handle the Point - swap him with Randle.

All I know is NY has 15 players that all can and probably should be rotation players. That is a big difference from last year.

PGs - Payton 24, SMith 24, Ntilikna, Allen
SGs - RJ 20, Trier 20, Ellinngton 8, Dotson
SFs - KNox 20 , Morris 28, Iggy
PFs - Randle 35, Gibson 15
Cs - Robonison 24, Portis 22

I think Fiz will play 10/11 a night to start the year. Allen, Ntilikina, Dotson, Iggy will likely be fringe players, IMO. Iggy and Frank will battle for minutes.

Trier will likely outplay RJ and Ellington.

I think it would be wise to put RJ on a "maintenace" schedule - meaning that his miuntes are increased slowly over the year and he "rests" every 10-12 games when Either he doesnt play or plays very little.

Gibson will sit regularly as part of a "maintenance" schedule. That way NY can find minutes for Iggy in a small ball lineup or increas Knox's time on the court.

I think Iggy will force time with his hustle.

Fizdale will have a hard time handling playing time and keeping everyone happy and engaged. The benefit is that he has all sorts of players to mix and match and all seem to be NBA level players. No longer big minutes going to Hicks, Jenkins, Garret, etc...so that is a good thing.

Starters:

Payton
Barrett
Morris
Randle
Robinson

5. Mitch, Portis
4. Randle, Taj
3. Morris, Knox, Ellington
2. RJ, Trier, Dotson
1. Payton, DSJ, Frank

We are very deep. It's like we picked a bunch of players, threw them on the wall, and see who will stick.

As far as player development, I think most of that will come in practice and off court meetings / hangouts.

I can see this team getting some wins against better teams. Our bench should be the deepest and healthiest in the league. If a team is top heavy and need some solid role players, I'm sure they have the knicks on their short list. These guys are primed candidates for a championship team.

blkexec wrote:I feel sorry for Fitz....He's a good coach and good person, but I think the FO set him up to fail. We added some good players, don't get me wrong. But if there's no obvious pecking order, I can see Fitz spending majority of the year, trying to find the right combination. And once we start losing, everybody will point at Fitz. Hope he gets it right early, and sticks to it, regardless of the noise. For example, Nate Robinson said he likes the knicks free agents....Doesn't mind missing out on the big fish. Then he says Trier (the seatle native) needs to start. I think he needs to find a Lue Williams role off the bench. But this is a small example of people will try and coach for Fitz. Lets hope he can block the noise out and put a winning combination on the floor.

5. Mitch, Portis
4. Randle, Taj
3. Morris, Knox, Ellington
2. RJ, Trier, Dotson
1. Payton, DSJ, Frank

We are very deep. It's like we picked a bunch of players, threw them on the wall, and see who will stick.

As far as player development, I think most of that will come in practice and off court meetings / hangouts.

I can see this team getting some wins against better teams. Our bench should be the deepest and healthiest in the league. If a team is top heavy and need some solid role players, I'm sure they have the knicks on their short list. These guys are primed candidates for a championship team.

I think its pretty simple:
Morris and Randle are the forwards.
Portis vs. Mitch to start at the 5
Payton vs. DSjr to start at PG
SG and bench spots should be wide open

I think Morris really helps. You have a pair of versatile forwards in Randle/Morris who play a hard physical brand to start with. This is what Fizdale gets paid for and he should be hyped.

smackeddog wrote:I like how everyones acting like Frank no longer exists

There are tons of scenarios where Frank gets in the middle of it. Fizdale took the kid to games last year. They like Frank plenty. He's gotta do stuff on the court. I do hope the national team gets him some burn and helps

smackeddog wrote:

fishmike wrote:

smackeddog wrote:I like how everyones acting like Frank no longer exists

I still have high hopes for Frank and would not be surprised one bit if he had a breakout season. That being said he's coming off an injury plagued season where he played very poorly. Gotta show to be seen.

There are tons of scenarios where Frank gets in the middle of it. Fizdale took the kid to games last year. They like Frank plenty. He's gotta do stuff on the court. I do hope the national team gets him some burn and helps

Yep, frank with a 3pt jumper is all we need, but I just don't think he's going to get the chance

I feel like the lone Frank supporter in Knickland.

Starting 5
PG-Frank
SG-Barrett
SF-Knox
PF-Randle
C-Mitch

Bench: Trier, Portis, Payton, Morris, DSJr, Dotson

11 deep

I think DSJr gets moved for a first rounder.