Not sure if anyone mentioned it..but why did Shumpert get less than 5 minutes?
He looked lost on the court, wasn't hitting shots, defense was not there, bad floor spacing and ball movement. He just had a bad game. Playing time is determined by performance. * I like shumpert - he just had an off game.
Though I think he would have been much better over Harrellson - who needs to lose 30-40lbs of fat.
Harrelson really does looks like he packed it on. Sluggish is a good word to describe him right now. Partly, he likely just doesn't recovery quickly (from a conditioning standpoint) as well as many others after a layoff -- so the added fat on top of it has made him very sluggish and lumbering.
I'm worried for us because I don't view Amare and Melo as particularly intelligent or unselfish players, and when I look around the league at superstar tandems (or trifectas), the successful ones are ones where they are some combo of intelligent/unselfish (*and/or extremely good distributors).
Rose a very good example to contrast with Melo. Rose dominates the scoring duties for CHI on most nights, is their pure go to scorer (and not necessarily a shooter, just like Melo isn't either).
Yet, Rose's game meshes selfless play and intellgence and adaptability. Melo's does not.
Which is why this isn't even an issue of how many shots Melo is taking. Who knows, really -- the guy can be the most talented scorer in the game, and it's arbitrary anyways to say what he should be and shouldn't be taking in any given game.
The issue is much larger, much simpler, and less superficial -- and it is unmistakable to anyone who watches the games with an objective eye.
Right now we have the equivalent of two max-$ veterans going through a version of rookie/sophomore growing pains and cluelessness, where you're just waiting, as a fan, "for them to take the next step".
I actually want to keep Melo and ride this out w/ him. I think his basketball DNA is one where he isn't a loser, and is able to do what he has to do. He's also young enough, and healthy enough.
Amare doesn't necessarily possess any of these qualities. And looks imminently more replacable. And it is why I think we should look to trade him if at all possible, even if the return is cap space and a pick. It'd help hasten Melo's "growth", too.
nice post! I don't think they team should do any crazy trades though. I think these guys need to be given time to improve on their gameplay - I am seeing improvement ~ it just is difficult to watch us lose like that. I know I and my brothers are just as - or - more frustrated as Lin looked in that one clip.
I think people need to stop saying Melo needs to do the whole game-winning shot thing and other nonsense. He will need the rest of the season to work on his personal game and defense. He also is out of shape. The guy had several injuries that were not addressed until he finally sat out. Anytime a person goes through so many injuries and has to sit out means his health is declining - he couldn't even workout. To get back into decent form - takes 3 solid months, and I don't know about others but - the worry of a new injury or - re-injuring something that he has hurt and not had time to fully mend - is very very possible.
He needs to defer and play as best as he can. If your body is out-of-whack, and your basically out of shape and a healing-injury ridden athlete. All you have left is HEART * Teamwork. Need Melo to become passionate and urge Lin to lead - so he can just work on hitting at a higher % when the ball finds him. And most importantly work on his defensive game/rebounding ~ avoid stupid fouls. (note - I differentiate between hustle fouls and just useless fouls)
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