Per Woj : Melo expected to come off the bench

Wok says he is expected to come off the bench. For me, this is really waist preseason is all about. Incorporating new plays, players and rotations and figuring out what works best.

 

Q: You’ve talked before about how it’s water under the bridge between you and ‘Melo, but it’s a different thing when you’re working together again. So what’s your perspective here?

A: “Well, at different points of people’s careers or lives or circumstances, things are different. … In New York, when they gave away half the team (to Denver in the February 2011 trade that brought Anthony to the Knicks) and everybody expected us to win a championship, it really wasn’t realistic. It put a lot of pressure on everybody, and it kind of burst the pipes. I think this is totally different. We’ve got a team that is a whole bunch of veterans that really, we’ve got one thing in mind, and that’s to win a championship, and we have the possibility. We never had a blow-up before, so it’s not he wanted to play a certain way and I kind of wanted to coach another way.

“Back then, there wasn’t even analytics. I was going by my gut, and he was going by (his) gut, and it’s just, you know, styles clash. And I think now, things have changed and everybody is playing the same way. I think it’s a lot better fit and I think we have a really good chance to be really good.”

Q: How do you see him fitting in?

A: “The style that we want to play, and we go through that process, it kind of sorts itself out. It’s like USA Basketball. If you’re committed to doing it, and committed to, ‘OK, this is how we’re playing, and then when it’s your turn it’s your turn, but if it isn’t then we’re still within these guidelines.’ Then the more talent you can have, the better the guys are, the better the team is going to be. Look at Golden State, how they had all those guys and you fit in (Kevin) Durant, I mean if you are committed to a certain style, and everybody is committed to the team, it works itself out. ...

“It’s like having Chris and James together (last season). It was relatively noneventful …and I think it’ll be the same thing. ... We’ve just got to make sure we don’t get too far away from taking threes and layups and foul shots. It’ll be a little bit of a learning process. But again, if everybody is committed, then I have no doubt it can work. Whether we can all get it to work? We’ll see.”

Q: You mentioned Team USA, and his role on the national team has always been the thing people pointed to when they debated the best version of ‘Melo. I know he might not like that narrative, but there’s obviously some truth there.*

A: “Yeah, and again, it’s all relative. And I don’t know how it’s all going to work out. We’ve got eight or nine players that fit in, pieces that we’re going to try to win a championship (with). I can’t tell you today how that’s going to look. But again, if we have everybody on board, pulling in the same direction, it’ll be better than what we had.”

Q: People assume that when you lose Trevor (Ariza in free agency to Phoenix), and you have someone with ‘Melo’s resume at that spot, you slide him into the starting job. But you have options there. How do you see the rotation?

A: “I don’t know, and that’s something that we’ll have to work out. All I know is that we’ll try different combos — preseason, early season, and the good thing is that with analytics and with gut feelings and coaches and players, we’ll figure out what is the best way to play. And again, if everybody is on board, then it’ll be, ‘Hey, this is where we’re the best. This is how we can win the championship.’ I don’t know yet, but we’ll make sure we get it right as good as we can.”​

 

That quote from the article no longer appears in there. Says he’ll compete for a starting role during practices. Did it say that before and now it’s updated/corrected?

 

and so we see that analytics saves the day

 

Melo's gut got MDA fired. Melo has more gut than MDA. Fat Melon confirmation.

 

Mike D still said he's not sure lol don't celebrate just yet. That's the right approach. Hard to say where he fire best before he even gets in the court with them

 

Been saying this for awhile now. As long as he remembers how to play USA basketball then he will be fine. Also he should start the game as it doesn’t really matter anyway. If you think that you really don’t know basketball!!

 

I think this is bang on, and Melo replaces the bench role that Gordon had.

 

Fixed... for all the Melo haters!

Hit the block for them one more time!!

 

Which does raise the question...How did we get PJ in the first place, and can we do that again.

 

P/O hoops, in particular, is a chess match w/counter moves. Execute the counter best and you execute your opponent.

 

The bait n switch. Knew itbwas fishy

 

Fat

 

Gordan will not start bro

 

WOJ has been slipping for a while. If I had to bet money on it, I would put ALL OF MY MONEY on Melo starting. Period.

 

Huh melo.is one of the greatest iso players of altime. Thats literally the only thing he did his whole career other then okc

 

Also u telling me he cant iso curry iso west iso looney? Iso Livingston. Its sppt were he can be effective. U guys are thinking creatively

 

It just makes the most sense currently. But like i said bring in bazemore then yes him to the bench

 

He doesn't have to ISO only, but when he does, he can ISO anyone on that team, short of Green.

I'd rather get him in some Pick n Pops with our HOF PGs. He's never done that before, and that will be a new role to try. If Ariza and Ryno can do it, Melo can do it much much better.