I still think it's a bad move on their part of letting him go and replacing with Felton and Kidd but they're actually doing well so far. 4-0 with good wins against Heat and the Mavericks. I understand the sample size is small so don't know if they can keep it up or do as well in the playoffs, but it's interesting to see them do this well when they started last season so poorly.
I dont think it's that surprising...Kidd has a ton of experience and is a good leader. Another year together means more familiarity and should mean better play. Novak also gained a ton of confidence.
Ya, if Kidd does nothing else but get Melo to buy into a team concept, this could be a decent team. But the Knicks are doing well for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with Lin like the fact they are relatively healthy at the moment. I still think they are going to settle into a middle playoff seed and be out either in the 1st or second round assuming the teams above them don't have any major injuries.
Kidd is definitely a better and more experienced player than Lin (now at least) so they aren't going to suffer as much. But the problem is that long term, they made a bad decision. They could have traded him for better assets if they didn't want him in the future. The biggest issue for them is they have a win-now mentality, but their team simply isn't going to beat the best in a series. They basically traded their future for a good team that won't go all the way.
Long term , bad decision, short term, even Felton is a better fit. But the real crux has always been getting Melo and Amare to fit, wait till he comes back, I'm gonna lov it.
Not a good sign if your best chance of winning is to have your $20M player come off the bench b/c he can't play with your other $20M player. Regardless of on court performance, Lin was an asset and they gave him up for free. Who cares about luxury tax when their window is these next 2 years (and its the Knicks).
Melo's been pretty awesome. He did very well next to Billups too, so I can't say it's very surprising. It seems like he's a guy who needs someone to lead him, but his pride gets in a way if it's not a hall of famer Kidd/Billups type. Amare, Shumpert, Camby are out.
Amare being out is a blessing for them right now. Watch when he comes back they go on a losing streak, unless one of Amare or Chandler come off the bench.
Woodson is a great regular season coach but when it comes to playoffs, he will be totally clueless and outcoached. He still holds the NBA record on the losing end of most lopsided four-game sweep in NBA playoff history, when his 4th seeded Hawks swept by 3rd seeded Magic (25.3/game).
The biggest surprise to me has been that Raymond Felton - was a borderline all-star for the Knicks two winters ago - was traded to Denver in the massive, roster gutting Carmelo Anthony trade - played in Portland last season where he was more or less terrible and hated by fans - is now back in New York playing at a high level like nothing ever happened What?
Not being a Felton hater or anything. Based on his offseason conditioning and his work ethic, Felton's performance will regress. Wouldn't surprise me if Prigioni becomes Knicks starting PG later on in the season.
Melo and the team was playing really well under Woodsen even from last year. In the playoff they just suffered from injuries, however it would have been hard for them to win against the Heat even if they weren't. They have a lot of the same players back (Melo, Tyson, Novak, JR, etc.) back. I don't believe Melo had a problem playing with Lin as some people think.
Amare is out, so better defense, better spacing. They're also shooting an incredible % of threes, which can't last statistically.
That's been the knock against him. But we'll see if he can win a series this season. He's done an exceptional job of getting players to buy in, play defense, and improve over the offseason. He had young, inexperienced teams in atl, so that was certainly a factor. NYK are an experienced team. I think they can win a round in the playoffs.
No reason for them not to play well. They upgraded at the PG spot and Deepened their roster pretty much at every position.