THE VERDICT IS IN: Part 2

Red

TYPE-A


With an overhauled New York Knicks squad we can consider this a new season, maybe 2010-2011 and a half.

My quick observations include:

1. Scoring

Coach had this offense 2nd overall at 106 points per prior to the trade dead line. This over-haul will undoubtedly maintain that pace and conceivably could surpass that mark. As I've said before we can score with the best of them, but it will be hard for teams to deal with our extra added offensive dimensions such as:

* Chauncey Billups a true floor leader and general
* Carmelo Anthony arguably the best scorer in the game. He just stared down Lebron and dropped 27... again
* Amare Stat draws fouls with the best of them. Amare has to incorporate using his back to the basket more. He shouldn't be taking players off the dribble as much. He would commit less offensive fouls, while continuing to draw fouls, and have better passing lanes for outside shooters.
* Our bench is deep, and we have a solid compliment player in the starting line up Landry Fields. Fields may be either hurt, or trying to fit in. His game could be more aggressive and efficient as we should have grown accustom to by now.


2. Our chemistry and gel time is much quicker with these veterans (some former teammates and some friends off the court). Our deal really was Chauncey and Melo, no throw in talk necessary.

3. Our defense really only has to accommodate our offense. We are currently 27th in the league in points allowed at 105 and change per. We have just added 6'11" Jared Jeffries. At the least he is a 6 foul defender, something greatly needed. With his familiarity of the systems he should fit right in.


4. Our bench is deep so our rotations and match ups should be better. Coach is using Anthony Carter and also giving guys longer rests. This will be paramount come playoff time.

So I'll cut through the bull sh*t. The real difference is our BASKETBALL INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT. Our team can rival ANY TEAM in the league in terms of knowing where to be, spacing, decision making, etc... This is where the real difference will be seen. We have negated the mistake, turnover, poor decision prone tendencies, and this can't be overstated. We will no longer beat ourselves. And we can have confidence quality ball will be on display for the seeable future
.

Before we could bet any team if the chips fell right, but we could also lose to any team on a given night. Now NOT any team can beat us.

I expect the Eastern Conference Finals This Year...


and I won't complain if we don't get there, promise.

 

KingofNy

Starter
Really??? With what bench? Our bench scored 13 points tonight. 13 points. They we're lucky to hit the rim on their shots as most barely made it there. We have big problems that Walsh made terribly worse. We'll be lucky to win a few games in the first round. Seriously.
 

MusketeerX

Rotation player
Really??? With what bench? Our bench scored 13 points tonight. 13 points. They we're lucky to hit the rim on their shots as most barely made it there. We have big problems that Walsh made terribly worse. We'll be lucky to win a few games in the first round. Seriously.

The team will get better with time. We need better defensive rotations and greater depth. Jeffries will help, but still need a pure center. It really depends on who we play in the first round. Large front courts will give us trouble. We'll be lucky to win 2 against Orlando. We will maybe push Boston to 6. Think we can go 7 with Bulls and Heat.
 

smokes

Huge Member


With an overhauled New York Knicks squad we can consider this a new season, maybe 2010-2011 and a half.

My quick observations include:

1. Scoring

Coach had this offense 2nd overall at 106 points per prior to the trade dead line. This over-haul will undoubtedly maintain that pace and conceivably could surpass that mark. As I've said before we can score with the best of them, but it will be hard for teams to deal with our extra added offensive dimensions such as:

* Chauncey Billups a true floor leader and general
* Carmelo Anthony arguably the best scorer in the game. He just stared down Lebron and dropped 27... again
* Amare Stat draws fouls with the best of them. Amare has to incorporate using his back to the basket more. He shouldn't be taking players off the dribble as much. He would commit less offensive fouls, while continuing to draw fouls, and have better passing lanes for outside shooters.
* Our bench is deep, and we have a solid compliment player in the starting line up Landry Fields. Fields may be either hurt, or trying to fit in. His game could be more aggressive and efficient as we should have grown accustom to by now.


2. Our chemistry and gel time is much quicker with these veterans (some former teammates and some friends off the court). Our deal really was Chauncey and Melo, no throw in talk necessary.

3. Our defense really only has to accommodate our offense. We are currently 27th in the league in points allowed at 105 and change per. We have just added 6'11" Jared Jeffries. At the least he is a 6 foul defender, something greatly needed. With his familiarity of the systems he should fit right in.


4. Our bench is deep so our rotations and match ups should be better. Coach is using Anthony Carter and also giving guys longer rests. This will be paramount come playoff time.

So I'll cut through the bull sh*t. The real difference is our BASKETBALL INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT. Our team can rival ANY TEAM in the league in terms of knowing where to be, spacing, decision making, etc... This is where the real difference will be seen. We have negated the mistake, turnover, poor decision prone tendencies, and this can't be overstated. We will no longer beat ourselves. And we can have confidence quality ball will be on display for the seeable future
.

Before we could bet any team if the chips fell right, but we could also lose to any team on a given night. Now NOT any team can beat us.

I expect the Eastern Conference Finals This Year...


and I won't complain if we don't get there, promise.


I always enjoy your posts even if I don't agree with a lot of them. This one I agree with (mostly) and it's really well put.

Seriously we have 2 of the best players in the league in their prime plus a big time big shot veteran PG still one of the top 10 in the league without question. We obviously lack size and hopefully can fill that void and our PG situation is questionable but Carter and TD both do the main thing you want from your roleplayers DEFENSE.

It's no surprise our bench is not scoring much right now these lineups are totally new and these guys have no time to sort things out yet. You think the team is focusing on getting everyone gelled together? No they are focusing on getting Billups/Stat/Melo working like a well oiled machine first and foremost.

Honestly I love this team right now and another thing people should keep in mind is very few teams are ever totally competent at every position. As far as complete teams go there are not very many in the league I would say the Lakers and the Celtics probably have the only rosters where they have 2 complete lineups.

Teams like Miami, Orlando, Chicago all have holes in their squad. It's not that big a deal to have holes. However when the hole is big men/rebounding it needs to be filled. As for PG I think we're fine.

And well, ECF is a long way away buddy I'll still be very happy if we pass the first round. That's the only part I don't agree with :smokin:
 
The problem we have is that we blow hot and cold on defense.

Some games we are awesome (vs Chicago @ the Garden, in Miami, vs OKC @ the Garden)

and most games we are terrible on defense.

Offense has never been a problem and will never be a problem with this coach and these players.

It all depends on defense. If we can pull a string of 7-8 great defensive games together we could go to the Finals with these players (Cleveland did it with a weaker roster in 07).

We all know that ain't gonna happen, so we'll probably lose to Chicago in round 1.

Our depth is ok.

Everything depends on defense. The sad thing is we have seen how good we can be when the players really want it.

My hope for the playoffs is that they will actually try hard because there is no reason for complacency (no Cleveland, Sacramento or Minny).
 

TR1LL10N

Hannibal Lecter
I dig this this thread and agree! It's a welcome change from the negativity that permeates this forum. I think it can go either way to tell you the truth. We could see a magic run like 99 or an epic fail in the 1st round. It all depends on the chemistry we can develop over the next month.
 

Red

TYPE-A
I always enjoy your posts even if I don't agree with a lot of them. This one I agree with (mostly) and it's really well put.

Seriously we have 2 of the best players in the league in their prime plus a big time big shot veteran PG still one of the top 10 in the league without question. We obviously lack size and hopefully can fill that void and our PG situation is questionable but Carter and TD both do the main thing you want from your roleplayers DEFENSE.

It's no surprise our bench is not scoring much right now these lineups are totally new and these guys have no time to sort things out yet. You think the team is focusing on getting everyone gelled together? No they are focusing on getting Billups/Stat/Melo working like a well oiled machine first and foremost.

Honestly I love this team right now and another thing people should keep in mind is very few teams are ever totally competent at every position. As far as complete teams go there are not very many in the league I would say the Lakers and the Celtics probably have the only rosters where they have 2 complete lineups.

Teams like Miami, Orlando, Chicago all have holes in their squad. It's not that big a deal to have holes. However when the hole is big men/rebounding it needs to be filled. As for PG I think we're fine.

And well, ECF is a long way away buddy I'll still be very happy if we pass the first round. That's the only part I don't agree with :smokin:

Thanks.

I figure we can only improve from here. Really how many teams in the East can say they have two of the best top scorers in the league?

And if what they say is true, our coach should put us ahead of most teams if he lives up to the chronicled positive aspects of his.

I'm tired of this waiting and future anticipation game. First its been 35 years since a chip, 10 years of irrelevancy, 5 years since a playoff, and 2.5 years of wait til' coach has the right pieces. Then its wait til we get CP3 next year, we can compete, then wait til' D12 etc, etc...

No! I see the window open now. BOS is older, slower, and less deep. MIA and CHI are still new, and we have shown an ability to win against them in a mock playoff atmosphere none the less. ORL has size and experience but are fairly new and had trouble containing us at times.

We obviously now have the minimum to compete. Coach D'Antoni should have enough moxy and experience to get us over the top.
 

Red

TYPE-A
I dig this this thread and agree! It's a welcome change from the negativity that permeates this forum. I think it can go either way to tell you the truth. We could see a magic run like 99 or an epic fail in the 1st round. It all depends on the chemistry we can develop over the next month.

If we were good enough to be a solid 6th, adding one of the best players taking into account what we lost (i kind of feel Melo = a combo of Gallo and Chandler more or less production wise), and Billups and JJ

after we gel a bit, we should conceivably be playing like a 4th seed. A 4th should be able to win a series. Then maybe with some luck and garden influence we get it done.
 
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