ClutchFans Game Thread: Knicks @ Rockets 10/4/2016 (PRESEASON)

Couple of pointers from my couch:

Ryan Anderson can go ahead and shoot 50% from 3 this season. He's going to get open looks all game long.

Ariza no longer needs to try to be the team's 3rd best player behind Dwert and James. He doesn't need to be a scorer. He doesn't need to be the best defender. He just needs to be what he really is, the glue guy.

Speaking of just playing within himself and sticking to the roles given....Brewer looked like a real player. With Gordon around, Beverley can focus back on hounding points. Capela just rollin to the rack. KJ being an athlete. Even Dekker looks like a playmaker.

James didn't even look like he was trying. 19/6 at the half. Efficiency, thy name is greatness. Don't cover me, I score. Do cover me, I assist. We are going to witness greatness this season! MVP candidate for sure.

Crowning nothing and no one.....did anyone else see Jalen Rose declare the Knicks lottery bound? I was like damn dude, 2nd preseason game really?

 

Like what I am seeing from kj's defense

I don't know if you noticed but his defense on Rose was spectacular and I think he even blocked him once.

 

Ryan Anderson looked really good shooting over 50% on 7 made threes. Wouldn't want Beasley at all over Anderson even factoring in his 20 mil price compared to Beasleys 1.2.

And Gordon is paid 14 mil a year not 6. Nene is really cheap tho so ya all in all it evens out.

But ryno is one of if not the best stretch fours in the league he's perfect for James as is Gordon and nene. If these 3 stay healthy around harden we will win 50+ games and challenge for that 2-4 spot no doubt in my mind.

Clips are going to take a step back they have been trending down for a few years now. Cp3 is old and I wouldn't be shocked if they don't win 50 games this year. They really struggled at the start of the year last season. Also Blake griffin body seems to be breaking down every year with the way he plays I don't see that changing it's only going to get worse.

The rockets have a real chance to be the second best team in the west this year and be the big player next summer for any FA they want.

 

Ryan Anderson looked really good shooting over 50% on 7 made threes. Wouldn't want Beasley at all over Anderson even factoring in his 20 mil price compared to Beasleys 1.2.

And Gordon is paid 14 mil a year not 6. Nene is really cheap tho so ya all in all it evens out.

But ryno is one of if not the best stretch fours in the league he's perfect for James as is Gordon and nene. If these 3 stay healthy around harden we will win 50+ games and challenge for that 2-4 spot no doubt in my mind.

Clips are going to take a step back they have been trending down for a few years now. Cp3 is old and I wouldn't be shocked if they don't win 50 games this year. They really struggled at the start of the year last season. Also Blake griffin body seems to be breaking down every year with the way he plays I don't see that changing it's only going to get worse.

The rockets have a real chance to be the second best team in the west this year and be the big player next summer for any FA they want.

 

I don't see how we regret keeping him on...kid can flat out ball!

 

Waive Prigs & Ennis. Keep Payton.

 

You apparently didn't see how clean the Prigs & Nene P&Rs were in the last two games.

Prigs will stay.

 

I like the way Nene sets his screens, rolls to the basket hard. He may not be slowing down in the age department, but he still works hard, and can still put the ball in he basket if given a good feed down low.

Capela worries me a 'bit but I don't see many other options, besides he still extremely young. I know we can't say that forever, but for now it's true.

Man, when Anderson starts to get it going, look out. The post up faders, the 3 balls, Harden must be in shock.

I try not to get excited in a pre season game, but I put a check mark by most most things I was looking for, an offensive system, a better defensive system, a more comfortable Harden, and better shooting.

 

Can we really be exited about this performance when in a nutshell it was just a very hot shooting night. They are still barraging threes like the previous 2 seasons its just that this one game they actually hit them. This team is still way too reliant on the 3.

 

I watched a little of the game with the Knicks and we look strong. Hopefully with a better coach this season we can make a good run in the playoffs.

 

The differences I noticed, are the quality of 3's, mixed in with Andersons fader which is reliable for him, and easy alley oops/low post buckets.

Of course we will always be a team that shoots a high number of 3's, but what kind of 3's? Contested corner 3's from Brewer? Or open 3's from shooters like Anderson/Gordon?

A huge problem last year was the "Waiting until the shot clock was at 3-4 and passing it over to Ariza for a contested 3." This pre season the 3's are being taken within the play, instead of being a last resort.

 

This.................is wtf......

I hope this current Pringles/KJ/Anderson/Nene/Brewer lineup plays exactly 0 seconds in the regular season

 

What I REALLY liked was the defensive coach, big dude and don't even know his name yet, who they miced at half time to talk about how great our 70 plus points were. He cracked me up and got my attention with his dead pan: "Yeah, our defense was ok but we've got a lot to work on..." or something like that...dont think I'd wanna argue with him on that point...hope he gets a lot more screen time...go roxs

 

Wow! It's preseason, sure, and it was the Knicks, but this game calls to mind the quote Clutch has on the Front Page from JVG. An offensive juggernaut! I just hope the defense doesn't end up being awful. That, and luck with the "I" word.

 

Well, yeah. SORT of like last year, but with new firepower.
Ryno, Gordo and Nene are proving to be great additions. Even if it IS preseason.
Isn't that why we got them? And so far, it's clicking

We're actually running an offensive system and looking like a real team.
We shouldn't be excited?

 

Well obv if Anderson can hit 3s at 50% consistently then he'd be worth every penny of his 20M contract. But he won't be this hot every night, and the only reasons the Rox aren't regretting this deal are because he also convinced Gordon to sign and Nene signed for vet min. We all agree if you combine the 3 it's a very good investment, but my problem is we locked Anderson up for 4 years and I don't know if Nene is ok with 4 years playing on vet min. Nene right now is on a good will signing similar to what Josh Smith did, but after this year lots of teams are gonna see he still a lot left in the tank and may offer him a lot of money next year which we won't be able to afford. Also stretch 4s have a history of doing well in the regular season and totally flopping in the playoffs, look at LMA, Kevin Love and even Anderson himself etc. these guys look so smooth in the regular season but play like crap in the playoffs because the D gets so tight they can't get their shot off and their bad D get exploited. The only stretch 4 I know who is worth max money is Dirk, but he is an aberration in general stretch 4s suck in the playoffs.

In 2-3 years Capela will also be out of his rookie contract and that guy will totally demand a lot of money too, we could end up letting our other bigs go because we're paying Anderson franchise player money. So honestly I'd rather just have Beasley and his dirt ass cheap contract here and just upgrade other parts of the roster, for example if we got Bazemore like we wanted or paid Nene a reasonable contract and locked him up for more years that would've been better use of the cap IMHO.

 

Well that's when you start building a team around him, when he's not yet ready. That way your team will suck and you can get foundational pieces who will grow with him like what GSW, OKC and now Minny are doing. In 5 years guess what, Me-lo and Rose are gonna be has beens (Rose already kinda is) and Kristaps is gonna be in his prime and realize he has no one else good on his team. Look at Blake Griffin, he has the exact same problem LA should've built around him instead the Clippers built around CP3 and now their team are full of old guys on the decline or about to decline, deandre jordan's the only other main guy below 30 and he is dumb as bricks.

In contrast look at what the Rockets did with Harden, they made it clear it was his team and tried to get guys near his age like Parsons and Lin when a more stupid FO would've focused on 30+ players who would help 1-2 years and then become albatross contracts (aka Amare Stoudemire on the Knicks). Even if they were trying to compete they still tried to develop rookies instead of trading them for vets in order to maximize Dwight's limited window. Now you look at the roster and see that Harden, Gordon and Anderson are all near the same age and in their prime, and all their rookies have already seen some development and are ready to contribute instead of being raw as **** and totally useless.

Porzingis is a nightmare matchup, he should be playing like Ryan Anderson on offense and he should be given the Tim Duncan treatment on defense (meaning he plays PF and NYC gets an enforcer at the C spot to bash people around) to minimize contact on his body. Instead, NYC makes him play C as the "new york wall" and they have him blocking a charging Capela one play, then keeping up with Ryan Anderson the next. It's ok now because Kristaps is still young but as the years go on banging against no names like Harrell every night and then trying to run with stretch 4s are gonna take a toll on his body just like what happened with Yao, Shaq, Dwight, and basically every dominant franchise center. Nobody will remember guys like Harrell but as the contact with guys like him accumulate Porzingis' body will deteriorate over time.

 

RA missed 17 games last year and during the times when he was healthy...
6 games with 30+ pts
15 games with 20+ pts
7 games with < 10 pts

Out of 65 games played, 30% of the time he was a huge contributor to his teams offense.
The second highest scorer we had last year was Trevor at 12.7 ppg. RA averaged 17.0 ppg.

He may not be a penetrator or low post guy but he is a great addition to our offense. Additionally, did you see how much space beard had when he drives? It because of the Ryno effect.

 

I'll have to disagree there where you build a team when he's not ready right now. If you are accepting losing then yes I would say that's probably true but the fact that they have melo who is still no matter what people say an all star caliber player that doesn't give them that option. Regardless of what people think about the NYK they are still trying to put a good team out there. In 5 year KP will just be entering his prime. There's plenty of time for him to blossom and hes off to a pretty good start

Why would the LAC build around Blake when throughout his tenure hes needed CP3 to actually become the player he is. In fact, Blakes development should very much be credited to CP3. There's no mistake there. The only mistake they've made was to never to address the 3 spot. Oh not to mention signing guys like Lance Stephenson