if the knicks sneak into the playoffs, they can easily win a first round series against any team not named the miami heat, chicago bulls included. The season doesn't really mean much as long as Amare and Melo, or Melo and (whatever new star they get for amare) can gel together before playoffs. If they miss playoffs- good news for the rox
There are a few reasons for them not lighting the league on fire. The Knicks are an incomplete team (lack of quality starters and bench). The two stars they have are too similar (Offense, no D, not creators). Coach. And no PG. Let's quasi-compare them to Miami. The Knicks have a really crappy team if you go beyond the top three or four guys. A lot of people harped on the Miami Heat for fielding a Big 3 + nothing else but the Knicks are mind boggling worse. At least the Heat had (in theory and before injuries) Miller and Haslem. What do the Knicks have? Fields? They need time to acquire decent fill ins. It also doesn't help that Melo and Stat are cut from the same cloth. They don't play defense. Stat is not a great rebounder. Melo is not a great creator. This is obviously not the case for Miami who have three players who can play D, rebound and two who can are good passers. The Knicks were so adamant in getting stars they forgot to check if they can co-exist with each other and play within the system of the coach. Mike D needs a point guard to run his system. The team needs a PG to lead this team. To know when to give the ball to Amare and when to not give it to Melo. Melo does not not necessarily fit with whatever system they have. And to add to that, this is Mike D. He doesn't exactly prioritize defense in the first place. Probably doesn't matter much since he has Melo and Amare. The Knicks should have bypassed Melo and aimed for a star PG and competent starters. They also overpaid Amare but that is a whole other issue. Can they make it work? Maybe with a good PG and a lot of hustle/defensive players and a new coach.
No selfless players on that side. Everyone is trying to make a name for themselves and it just doesn't work. Melo is obviously number one, but everyone else is just kinda there. When Melo sits the team is just comical. Chandler made a huge mistake, and Amare is just unimpressive. He cannot carry a team by himself, although he believes he can. I am stunned at how Bibby and Davis think that NY is the place to be. It's just a sad state of affairs for them...
They remind me of an older and more talented version of the Kings, which have fail all over them. Tyreke/Cousins with no legit PG and a bunch of 2nd and 3rd string players. Team has only ISO for offense and nothing for defense. The Knicks "older brother" version of Tyreke and Cousins. They have more experience, but they are not wiser from that experience.
really? do you think they would beat the bulls in the playoffs?? I dont even know if they can beat boston in the playoffs. they will win 1 or 2 games, but not more that.
You need more than 3 good players to compete. Especially when those 3 are lower end stars in the first place.
Decent comparison. Rockets started 6-11 that year. Its when they added Bob Sura and got Charlie Ward and Tyronn Lue out of there that they got better. Same thing needs to happen with NY needing a decent POINT GUARD. Maybe Baron Davis can have an old veteran point guard "Sura effect" for them. Or maybe NOT for Rockets benefit :grin:
What he said might still be true. Toney Douglas the starter played WORSE. Mike Bibby even worse than that. Shumpert was plenty mediocre. Lin leads by default over the suckage.
I did, and this is his first solid minutes. He said he has never practised/played with Amare or Chandler.... So all things considered, nerves and all, he did well IMO. He played better with the guys he runs with, ie Jerome Jordan Got into the lane pretty easily and defends well. Give it a few more solid body of games before a final verdict is put in
I love this name, "Sura effect". I don't think Baron Davis has the same effect. Since Blake Griffin and the Clippers and the Cavaliers still were pretty bad with him. Billups was making the "Sura effect" on the Clippers, when CP3 was sitting out games due to injury. It's interesting to see compare the effect of team wins by B-Diddy and Billups.
Simply put, this Knixies team was assembled with no plan other than 'let's get marquee names'. Dolan needed to make his 'splash' when Miami Thrice all said 'no dice' to MSG thus the uninsured contract for an almost superstar level talent with questionable knees. Dolan orchestrated the unbalanced Melo trade, Chandler was a 'trade' for Chauncey that made sense in some world maybe/somewhat/somehow. The MSGers will fire D'Antoni and hire Phil Jackson. Then...what? He is the zen master, after all. And they will continue to assemble pieces (look for the returning CBAers from Denver and AB).
^^^^ That's basically the point, they were hoping for Bron, Wade, CP3 or Deron. Then realized they won't get any of these superstars and instead of taking their roster and adding key pieces they thought "waaah *****, we're the Big Apple, we will lose our fans if we don't get two stars for MSG. We gotta hand out all our money for Melo, he's the last star available." All about marketing and idiotic dreams.
This actually worries me a bit. We need them to suck, but not suck as much as they have lately, to the point that it almost becomes worth it to tank to a top 5 pick. They are picking at 8, but only a loss away from #5...
