12-13: Do you foresee another year of chemistry issues?

[Crazy⑧s]

For the Knicks last season, chemistry and continuity were standout issues. The lack of cognitive coexistence between $40M+ of big 3 and its supporting cast was torturous to us all. The first 3 weeks of the season being an absolute farce, and incredibly disappointing.

Some blamed Mike D (I), others Douglas, others STAT, others Melo, others others.

After experiencing the woes of a team whose MO looked like it had been extracted from a park lavatory last season, we're presumably all a little apprehensive about going in to next season without the cohesion required to strike hard and early on the ever improving Eastern conference.

Let's not forget, BTW, that with the exception of Chandler, it was the absence of others that brought out the best in Lin, STAT and Melo, our 3 most pivotal contributors. Chandler, again, not included. He was the pillar of strength and consistency all season.

Let's exclude Lin from the conversation for now, and bring him up if he is inevitably(?) re-signed.

Any concerns for this Knick team's cohesiveness going in to next season?

Who will truly be the leader, and will they have the gaul to rein in all these vets, superstars, punks (JR) and question marks (Felton)?

It's quite the pool of talent and experience, but put it down to a prediction before it all unfolds before us.

Does this team have cause for concern after another makeover? Let us know why you either agree or disagree.

[MeloforMayor]

Frontcourt. That's where our foundation as a team lies and chemistry issues between our big 3 of Anthony, Stoudemire, and Chandler have been well documented. It will be interesting to see how Woody plays with the roster in order for our frontcourt to produce at max level. In particular, the 2 man game of STAT & Melo MUST be established for us to even get to the second round.

The cohesiveness between Melo, STAT, and TC will ultimately make or break our season.

[blahwoop]

Felton is a concern because he was fat and out of shape. To the point where he lost his starting job because of it. He should mesh well with STAT but that was in D'antoni's system. Can he do the same in Woodson's system? He should have a chip on his shoulder for being fat and useless in Portland, so hopefully he'll be ready this season. His ceiling is limited

SG??? JR Smith is usually better coming off the bench because his shot selection isn't always great and that could f up the flow early in the game.

SF - Melo should be in shape and hungry to disprove all the doubters. d'antoni is gone and he can play his style of ball. he's goin to carry this team but is it enough?

PF - STAT..too many question marks here. can he mesh with melo or is he just physically incapable of being productive anymore?

C- Chandler. He'll continue to be who he is + with camby and thomas. he should be healthy and well rested for the post season.


The biggest question marks are still there. I thought that the key to their success next season would be their PG LIN. If he could move up to the next level and get Melo and Stat to mesh while able to get into the lane.

PG is still an issue even with Felton but at least we know what the max upside of Felton will be and it won't be much. My prediction is that he'll be very avg but not good enough to solve the melo stat cohesion problem.

Stat and Melo meshing together to get max effectiveness. I don't think it will happen but if it does great. If it doesn't and Stat isn't effective they can use KT or Camby to at least bolster their defensive presence and let melo dominate offensively.

Bench - Frontline is deep but the backcourt is still a little thin. Kidd is old but should put up some useful minutes. Hopefully Shump will be back and be the same player he was. JR Smith is still unpredictable and Steve Novak is still too one dimensional.
They'll produce in the regular season and win some games. In the post season it will depend if JR Smith gets hot and I don't expect Steve Novak to be effective in the post season.

I'm going to go the safe route and say the Knicks will be a 5-6 seeder next season and 2nd round playoff exit. The Knicks improved their bench with vets. Their PG upside potential is gone though.

[MeloforMayor]

Frontcourt. That's where our foundation as a team lies and chemistry issues between our big 3 of Anthony, Stoudemire, and Chandler have been well documented. It will be interesting to see how Woody plays with the roster in order for our frontcourt to produce at max level. In particular, the 2 man game of STAT & Melo MUST be established for us to even get to the second round.

The cohesiveness between Melo, STAT, and TC will ultimately make or break our season.

[Knicks4Life_1985]

Nice post Crazy8. : Front Court :

I believe the 3 vets at PG we picked up ( Felton , Prignoni, Kidd ) are savy enough to realize they do not have all season to mesh. As you stated the way we opened last year was a joke and took a toll on the team for a great portion of the season.

They will find ways to get Swish , Novak , Amare , Chandler the ball in scoring position. Carmelo Anthony is now the new Lebron. He will work hard this offseason to put the crap from last year behind him and come in focused this year after bringing gold back.

The main point of my rambling is with a full camp this team is going to be Spurs like. Mike Woodson is cut from a similar cloth as Greg Pop he will demand this unit to work together or changes will be made. No more go , go , go , go ( i liked him but ) if you don't play how coach wants when your at practice you wont have a chance to screw up in the game.



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[Jinki£s]

Chemistry with our back court is being looked over. Our starting and backup PGs are new. They've played with some of the team in the past, but for the most part this is a newly put together team. Felton's weight and past season is a pretty major concern. The #2 spot is still a mess too. Who's starting at shooting guard?!

[clumsy]

Amare. He doesn't fit in with this team. If we are all in on Melo we need to trade Amare. His skill set doesn't complement the rest of the team.

[VeryGundy]

Chemistry will be a major issue. I am still trying to figure out Dolan's off-season plan. Clearly Nash was plan A. That didn't pan out. I don't think Felton was ever plan B. Why did we pick up Kidd if we weren't going to re-sign Lin? smh. Our backcourt situation doesn't instill much confidence.

But the frontcourt will decide NYK's fate. The tandem of Melo & Stat is the heart and soul of NYK. If they can dominate, we have a chance. If not, we're going to be bitching about another year of rebuilding. IMO, I don't think Melo and Stat will ever be able to play together. Melo needs ball in hand to be effective and Stat needs a PG to run PnR to be effective.

Like I said, I never understood any of the moves Dolan made but the man is a billionaire. He must know more than all of us.

[BIG APPLE SPORTS]

I really think without the Lin publicity that the team can focus more and Ray Felton is a pass first guy along with obviously Kidd, But i can see stretches when Amare and Melo will be cold and we will not have no other player to step up and make shots for us.

JR? NOOOOOOO.

Novak? In spurts.

Shumpert? Not capable yet.

Kidd? ...

Felton? Not that kind of player.

Chandler? Needs PG to score.

So the thing we are going to miss is not so much chemistry but a band-aid for when Amare and Melo are not having their best games. With Lin gone IDK who is going to take that role as our legit 3rd option.

[blahwoop]

Chemistry will be a major issue. I am still trying to figure out Dolan's off-season plan. Clearly Nash was plan A. That didn't pan out. I don't think Felton was ever plan B. Why did we pick up Kidd if we weren't going to re-sign Lin? smh. Our backcourt situation doesn't instill much confidence.

But the frontcourt will decide NYK's fate. The tandem of Melo & Stat is the heart and soul of NYK. If they can dominate, we have a chance. If not, we're going to be bitching about another year of rebuilding. IMO, I don't think Melo and Stat will ever be able to play together. Melo needs ball in hand to be effective and Stat needs a PG to run PnR to be effective.

Like I said, I never understood any of the moves Dolan made but the man is a billionaire. He must know more than all of us.

not if inherited all of it from his father.

[KingStarbury3]

I think we know what to expect from almost every single player on the roster....Stat however, is the one wild card in my opinion. Will he be healthy, will he be able to stay healthy, how effective is he at this point? Hes the X factor, if he can give us 22 and 8 we'll be in good shape. But im not counting on that

[clumsy]

Chemistry will be a major issue. I am still trying to figure out Dolan's off-season plan. Clearly Nash was plan A. That didn't pan out. I don't think Felton was ever plan B. Why did we pick up Kidd if we weren't going to re-sign Lin? smh. Our backcourt situation doesn't instill much confidence.

But the frontcourt will decide NYK's fate. The tandem of Melo & Stat is the heart and soul of NYK. If they can dominate, we have a chance. If not, we're going to be bitching about another year of rebuilding. IMO, I don't think Melo and Stat will ever be able to play together. Melo needs ball in hand to be effective and Stat needs a PG to run PnR to be effective.

Like I said, I never understood any of the moves Dolan made but the man is a billionaire. He must know more than all of us.

Pretty obvious what he's doing.

He's adding 3 pointers around the perimeter and rebounders/defenders in the middle. He has made our team much slower, so we have to play 1/2 court now. This all Very strongly helps Melo's game. 3 Point shooters help melo get spacing (even if they are chuckers), cuz even he passes when people are wide open. Kidd and Felton can both shoot 3's decently. Defenders to cover up the inadequacies of our other players in Kurt + Camby.

Amare is a crap defender, and crap rebounder, that excels in Transition Offense and P&R. He's not a post player that would work in 1/2 court. He has no role on this team.

[VeryGundy]

Pretty obvious what he's doing.

He's adding 3 pointers around the perimeter and rebounders/defenders in the middle. He has made our team much slower, so we have to play 1/2 court now. This all Very strongly helps Melo's game. 3 Point shooters help melo get spacing (even if they are chuckers), cuz even he passes when people are wide open. Kidd and Felton can both shoot 3's decently. Defenders to cover up the inadequacies of our other players in Kurt + Camby.

Amare is a crap defender, and crap rebounder, that excels in Transition Offense and P&R. He's not a post player that would work in 1/2 court. He has no role on this team.

This has always been Melo's team and I really have no issue with building around our only superstar. But I don't see how Kidd and Felton will be on the court at the same time. Neither one is a SG and both play subbar defense.

As for Stat, you said it all.

[skisloper]

I think Dolans entire plan was to pick up veterans to have leadership who still have 2-3 years of gas left in the tanks.....The PG from spain is 35 so has experience......Kidd was there to teach LIn and maybe spanish dude....

Now we are screwed because if LIN was in the plan from day one these other pick ups were relative to that situation....now we have Fat Felton and Drunk Kidd....

why oh why are we cursed with Drama....DOLAN DOLAN DOLAN

[AmareForPresident]

Last year we had chemistry issues because we had TD running the point, then we finally caught a break with Lin and the team was on a roll. There have been many posters that have criticized Felton's shot selection but with this team he won't have to score as much and will get a lot more open looks. He can do what he does best- passing. We all saw his chemistry with STAT the last time he was with us and now he will also have Melo, Chandler, Novak, and Smith to pass it to. Jason Kidd might be old but he can still be a floor general and get everyone involved, plus he has a lot of experience from his NJ days and the Mavs championship run in 2011. I have a lot of confidence that Felton/Kidd/Prigioni can get the job done. Felton can only thrive with this team and under the guidance of future HOF J-Kidd. And who even knows if Lin is gone yet, we still have till tomorrow to match the offer sheet.