talent wise - we're on par with them yet they're 10X better.

man, everybody crashes the boards, and they all hustle on defense.

good, fun team to watch.

i hope we somehow make a miraculous turnaround like that next season.

except they have ray allen and rashard lewis. we just have Marbury. We desperately need to improve the talent level of this team through this draft..

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by gunsnewing:

except they have ray allen and rashard lewis. we just have Marbury. We desperately need to improve the talent level of this team through this draft..

no rashard, no vlad rad - yet they're still taking it to the spurs.

one game. whoopty F'N Doo! lol

This season:
Ray Allen played 78 games
Rashard played 71

I'd say 78 games with Allen and 71 games with Rashard makes them a much better team than the Knicks.

It is impressive that they are playing hard without rashard and Vlad though you're right.

The fact that the Knicks don't play hard and don't have as good a coach as Seattle is a problem but the biggest problem is that our talent level is no where near the level of Seattle. We have no frontcourt presense they have Rashard. That is the MAJOR difference between the two.

Posted by EnySpree:


#1 Jerome James is not Shaq but he is a true center. The way Jerome James is playing he would kill the Knicks.
#2 Craw is not Ray Allen. Ray is under control at all times and simply doesn't let his team down. He has been a leader too. Check the bench everyone is quiet when he speaks.
#3 Tim Thomas is not Rashard Lewis. Rashard is not even seasoned and has been green at times.....but he still is 2 notches above Tim Thomas.

That's enough to get by.

The Knicks have the same amount of big bodies to throw at you that Seattle does along with Ariza, Penny and Jermaine Jackson.

The big advantage the Knicks would have is Stephon Marbury. Ridinour is the little engine that could but Marbs is like Amtrak meets "Pimp my ride".

We'll get there guys....we deserve it....we are due.

Wasn't Jerome James the target for criticism all season. That is why so much attention is now being focus on his recent level of play. I think he is just playing for a paycheck much like Dampier in the 03-04 season. Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen pretty much was the story for that team and the coaching of Nate (who I thought would have been a better choice for COY).

Posted by djsunyc:

talent wise - we're on par with them yet they're 10X better.

man, everybody crashes the boards, and they all hustle on defense.

good, fun team to watch.

i hope we somehow make a miraculous turnaround like that next season.

I dont know if we have the same talent level. they have much better balance, they have two great wing players, their back up guards are all good--heck daniels could start for a lot of teams, they have a lot of rugged beef in the middle, not crp either, guys like fortson collison evans james ptapenko. Not one player is great, but its the sum of the parts as they interject with the team. I will agree with anyone that James is just so -so, but that so-so clogs the lane for 20+ minutes a game. they have talent like radman off the bench. i think what turned them around is the combination of the beef in the middle, more toughness with rebounding and Lewis stepeed up his game.

think about how bad we would be cring if we had one guy out, right now they are 2-2 in the west against the spurs with lewis and radman out. they won 52 games in the west and without injuries would have been close to 60. i would say its a poormans version of the bulls two all-star wing players surrounded by the right pieces. heck even damien wilkins was huge at points during the year, like he showed tonight. no bruno sundovs on that team--everyone can help.

Wasn't Jerome James the target for criticism all season. That is why so much attention is now being focus on his recent level of play. I think he is just playing for a paycheck much like Dampier in the 03-04 season. Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen pretty much was the story for that team and the coaching of Nate (who I thought would have been a better choice for COY).

I agree about James. This is a guy who's career averages in scoring and rebounding are 4.9 and 3.5. He is a good shot blocker. The moral of the story - let's get Nate if he's available.

Posted by djsunyc:

ridnour, allen, daniels, wilkins, james/collison

is on par with

marbury, crawford, tim, sweets/malik, kurt

What about Rashard Lewis? He doesn't count? Having 2 all-stars makes a huge difference. Then you're okay with role players at the other positions.

The difference is that they have gritty, tough, and most importantly DEFENSIVE MINDED players. Nate's a great coach and Seattle is the perfect example of how a team overachieves -- do the little things and play defense. The Knicks on the other hand are the perfect example of how to underachieve -- don't play defense and have never won a thing. Why do you think JVG was able to get a team made of Ward, Houston, Spree, LJ, Camby to the playoffs every year when Camby played half the games and LJ could barely move due to his back. They played tough, slowed the game down, and won the close games due to defense.

Look at guys like Ridnour, Fortson, Daniels, and Collison. These guys are animals and are doing everything possible to scrap wins. They did it all year, which is why they had such a great regular season. When you are playing great defense and doing the little things all the close games seem to fall your way -- which is so much different from us where we lost something like 30 games by 7 points or less.

Collison knows how to play the game -- no plays are called for him but his presence is felt when he gets the tip ins or the offensive rebounds. He plays good defense and is tough. I was so impressed when Tony Parker beat his man, got into the lane and couldn't even get a shot up because Collison fouled him hard. Collison made no intention to hurt Parker, but he hit him hard enough to make sure Parker thinks twice about going into the paint again. That is what Riley and JVG preached which is what made the Knicks so tough in the 90s.

Ridnour is so impressive too. He hustles and plays defense. In game 4, he missed a shot, Duncan go the rebound, brought it down to pass and the next thing he knew Ridnour stole it back from him.