it's 11 games into the season!!!

Wilkens has got to first get the team identity going before he can get consistent minutes for Sweetney and Ariza. Wilkens has got his hands full enough with figuring out what to do with TT and now Houston than he does getting Sweetney minutes.

As a coach you first want to get Marbury in the right frame of mind - passing and running the offense over shooting. Then you want to make sure Crawford melds well into the overall game plan too. Defensive intensity is also very important. Get the rotations right (Penny, PG, JYD, Sweets, Ariza, Houston). Finally, when all of the above is kinda set or figured out, you concentrate on specifically getting Ariza and Sweetney minutes.

And those minutes for Sweets and Ariza have to be with purpose, you can't just put those guys in at any old time and expect them to produce. You have to put them in against the right teams at the right times against the right defenses. You don't give 15-20 minutes a player (or whatever minutes) just cause you are trying to develop him, you have to do it in the right way.

Look, Wilkens is also trying to win games, and I would say that over the first 20 games, that's a little more important than getting Ariza and Sweetney minutes. It just is... Imagine if Wilkens came out the game and was like 2-8 or 3-9 but was playing the young guys lots of minutes. The NY fans would just be KILLING him. Isiah would be calling up the Czar and all the vets would be angry.

It's a balance.

Martin I agree 100%. The KNicks do a few things right, but you can tell when teams take them out of their game they kind of fall apart. When things arent going their way they dont adjust well. Our problem is we really only do one thing very well, and thats pick and roll. So when the jumper isnt falling we dont have much to fall back on. We do get to the line more, but its not something we can fall back on. Obviously defense isnt either. I think a lot of these areas will improve as the play together more and more.