or so some would say I am sure there are still detractors (haters).
Steph had 20 & 12, shooting 6 for 8 from the field and 8 for 8 from the line. He was 0 for 1 from 3, but thats good he shouldn't be shooting so many 3's.

However, the point must be made that his game tonight was in many ways no different than his game on most nights. He begins the game looking to get others going. Timmy gets his shots, Allan gets his shots, Kurt gets his shots. He takes what the defense gives him but mainly tries to get others involved early on. Depending on whether or not others are hitting their shots, in the 3rd he either has to turn it up to level 20 (if we are down) or (if we are up or just playing well) he can continue mixing in his scoring with that of his teammates. Good Job Steph, and good job everybody else.

And there are several other major problems with this team:


Tonight, Some learned what many of us already knew:
JYD should have been starting a long time ago.

So I have several points:
1. We should RUN whenever possible
If the knicks were to run more, we could have games like this far more often. We had 26 fast break points. It gets guys going and it gets points from guys who aren't skilled one on one players, like Nazr, KT, Ariza, JYD, and the new crippled H20 (basically everyone besides Steph & Craw)

2. Our half court offense sucks whatever it is.
Pick and rolls aren't the only thing we could be doing, Lenny! Nazr shouldn't ever have the ball more than 12 feet (foul line distance) from the basket unless it is a rebound. We need something more motion oriented involving some pick and rolls of course, but we should be exploiting the athleticism of Ariza, and JYD and Tim Thomas. Lets do some picks and motion and passing and-whadduyaknow-maybe KT is open for the 20 footer (he hit 2 tonight) or maybe Allan is open for a 2 or 3, or maybe because those guys are open, somone is forced to switch and JYD or Ariza or Tim can cut to the basket for an easy 2.

3. Coaching
We want and need a coach who can get the most out of our players on both sides of the ball and that obviously isn't Lenny. However, we need the best guy available who IMO is Phil Jackson. But, unless Phil sees the potential for a championship, I don't see him signing on with us. Which brings me to my last point.

4. Steph & Craw
Have definitely proven they will be a winning combination. Crawford can score on his own, he just has to learn that that doesn't mean he has to try to every time he touches the ball. He should learn from Marbs how to pick his spots. Used wisely, he should be able to put up his same numbers at the right time, playing about 30-35 minutes a game. With them, we have a young core that we can build around for the next 4 to 5 years. With Craw they can't double Marb's to kill our whole attack.

5.Personnel Changes
Portland scored 50 points in the paint tonight. FIFTY!!!!!!!! That is ridiculous and on most nights to let your opponent score 50 in the paint and shoot 55% means losing. We know that already so how do we stop that? That group we had out there tonight with JYD, KT, and Nazr is as good as it gets for us on the boards. That is our biggest and best rebounding lineup and it says something that a team with really only one good post up big (Zach) can get 50 points in the paint. We need help with our intensity, but we also need help personnel-wise. KT and Nazr are not agile or athletic enough to do what we need them to do to be a force in this league. They cannot intimidate or physically prevent teams from getting in the paint. They also cannot really score in the paint except for put backs. We all know we need low-post help that is not currently on our roster.

We can trade for players and the only players i would say are untouchable are Steph, Craw and to a lesser extent Ariza. I say this because Zeke probably wouldn't trade Craw, definitely not Steph, and maybe not Ariza. H20's contract makes him virtually untradeable, but everyone else is for sale in my mind and in Zekes mind too (IMHO, of course).

That means we have:
Kurt Thomas (good player, reasonable but lengthy contract 4 yrs)
Tim Thomas (big expiring contract nxt yr)
Penny Hardaway (huge expiring contract nxt yr)
Mike Sweetney (potential & rookie contract)
Bruno Sundov (nice potential & small contract)
Moochie Norris (expiring contract nxt yy)
Allan Houston (? player, huge contract 2 years left)
Nazr Mohammed (good player, reasonable expiring contract nxt yr)
Vinn Baker (role player, veteran, small expiring contract nxt yr)
Jamison Brewer (potential, rookie contract)

I am not sure if we have both the lower level and mid-level exception.
i am also not sure of how many picks we have.
But If we could post the answers to what exceptions we have available, and how many picks we have, i think we should all start putting this info together (using the list of Unrestricted and restricted free agents that was posted earlier if we could get it in this post that would be great thanx) and making some hypothetical moves and have the guys on the board vote for who has the most realistic trade/sign & trade/off-season acquisition proposal to make our team a championship level team using this year and next. I think thats what many of us do anywayz, so why not make a contest out of it?










[Edited by - Killa4luv on 01/10/2005 03:01:05]

[Edited by - Killa4luv on 01/10/2005 03:02:16]

what a waste of space

Posted by Killa4luv:

Posted by playa2:

what a waste of space

A knicks fan in love with Vince Carter. In love with bashing the knicks. I'm happy that you finally realized that your existance on this planet was nothing more than a waste of space. THe real question is what are you gonna do about it!

I can see by your name "YOU NEED LUV" man you need help.

Posted by Killa4luv:

Posted by playa2:

what a waste of space

A knicks fan in love with Vince Carter. In love with bashing the knicks. I'm happy that you finally realized that your existance on this planet was nothing more than a waste of space. THe real question is what are you gonna do about it!

ignore playa. Good post.

Posted by raven:

back to the topic, steph played a perfect game.

Of course, when guys are hitting shots, his assists rise, and he isnt forced to do too much.

So did he have a perfect game, or did the team simply did so much better than for once he looked as good as he really is ?

Both. I think he took what the defnse gave him early on and guys were hiting shots. He played perfect and the knicks played excellent on offense. Defense is another story.

It really begs the question, if he can get 12 assists playing with a bunch of role players with limitations, imagine how many assists he would average on a team like Phoenix?

what about baker's meeting? I found that pretty interesting to see leadership coming from him. Nice.

Yeah it is nice on the one hand. But on the other hand he shouldn't have had to do it. We have 3 captains, but I feel like Steph should be the teams leader and it is his job to step up if there is a problem. I still think Steph needs to mature more. But his game has matured plenty so hey, I'm not mad.

What will be our next moves though? With crawford hurt Zeke may chalk up all our deficiences to that and not make a move this year. I hope it aint so. Unless hes got a bigger plan.