Where will the minutes go????

the knicks roster as it stands now has 17 bodies. most people (myself included) expect or hope desperately that jerome james and dan dikau will be gone before November. now with that being said we still have a lot of talent 1-15. where will the minutes go???

in my head i've broken it down as such: marbury, crawford, q rich, zach, and eddie curry will start. then off the pine in order of talent will be david lee, nate robinson, balkman, fred jones, and jared jeffries. those are the guys i think will be apart of the 10 man rotation. however, jeffries hasn't shown me anything in his time with the knicks and im not confident he will stay in the regular rotation.

now we got mardy, malik rose, d nichols, randolph morris, and wilson chandler.

i think mardy and fred jones will battle it out for the opportunity to be 2nd guard off the bench because the only person that will effect nate robinson's minutes is nate robinson. he has shown so much improvement over the summer i cant see him not getting at least 25 minutes per game.

if randolph morris isnt ready for major minutes the knicks might look a little small at center when curry goes to the bench. balkman and david lee could play some center but malik rose should get a chance to stretch his legs a little.

d nichols looks like the next glen rice to me. he's a big 2 guard that will get his minutes when they need some outside shooting or if jeffries has another lackluster year. wilson chandler's playing time will also depend on jared jeffries' performance.

wow we are stacked with talent. what are your theories?
 

Kiyaman

Legend
I posted this already but it belongs in this Post.

Alot of Knick-Fans seem not to acknowledge that Hustling David Lee compliments C-Eddy Curry on bothsides of the court, especially Lee's hustling defense because he is not a good one on one defender he is a help defender. Which Knick-Fans is not used to seeing since the daze of Knick Coach Pat Riley, giving strong hustling Anthony Mason the majority of Oakley & Larry Johnson playingtime to make it to the FINALS.

I just hope the offseason surgery was a success for Mardy Collins, where he could pickup some speed when moving without the ball on the break and be a finisher like Balkman, Chandler, and Nichols showed in the summer league games with Nate pushing the ball up court at a fast-tempo.

This season Nate & Collins got the chance to be the 3rd and 4th string guards in the rotation. I can wait another season for Collins short jumpers to become accurate, but he need some speed in his movement when without the ball.
Mardy Collins 6.6 frame is supposed to be the Knicks finisher on the majority of there fastbreaks this season.

What scares me about the Knicks Chemistry this season is the tandem of "Curry & Zach" both needing a defensive frontcourt player alongside of them to defend the oposition scorer.

EXAMPLE: Lambeer had Rodman, Kareem had Rambis, Olyjuwan had Horry, Shaq got Haslem, Rasheed had Ben, Big Z got Gooden. We all know that Duncan only want a defensive Bigman alongside of him to play the C/F-position.
Who do the Knicks have to defend the (C/F) PAINT area for 30 minutes a game with Zach & Curry getting above 30 MPG?

What is on President/Coach Isiah Thomas mind by getting Two Bigman that has a NBA career of not playing defense (Curry & Zach).
And to top it off Head Coach Isiah Thomas are going to Start these two defenseless players together in the frontcourt at the beginning of the season to get off to another embarrassing start of the season.
Or will Isiah notice this halfcourt offensive frontcourt disaster in Training-Camp and the Preseason games and have an injury POP up to either Zach or Curry before the regular season start which would be O.K. with me (because we only need one scoring Bigman in the starting lineup however, cruchtime is different we could use both then)...

P.S. The Knicks Starting Lineup at the start of the Regular Season should automatically be Teammates that know each other talents so they could turn on the aggresive part of their game early together. PG-Marbury, SG-Crawford, SF-Q.Rich, PF-Lee, C-Curry. All 5 (Starting) players will be going into their 3rd season together and should be able to lead this Knick-Team into a .500 season (or more) with the depth they have comming off the bench.
Making Zach Randolph a 17-10 player off the bench alongside of defensive player Swingman Balkman 12-7 with Nate Robinson 12 points and 4 to 5 assist would make a decent 8-man rotation that can take the lead early in the majority of their games so other players on the roster can get some ample playingtime. This 8-Man rotation have to be played consistently together for the first 20 games so all 8-players know their duties before each game.

I would rather see a 2nd Unit Frontcourt lineup of C-James, PF-Zach, and SF-Balkman at the start of the season with Nate & Collins or Nate & Nichols in the backcourt.
This Knick Team should start using the 4 to 5 of C-Jerome James hard fouls on oponents in each game this season. And give Demitris Nichols a chance to show off his decent Peremeter Defense at the SG position so our small PG wont be taken advantage of.
 

Trin_Starr

Starter
If this season is the knicks' time to shine - then I don't foresee the rookies getting much PT unless the game is a blowout or we have injuries.

Yup - we are stacked with talent and that will create tons of mismatches. It is up to Isiah and the coaching team to realize how to take advantage of that.
 
I agree that a lot of the young guys will not get much playing time barring injuries. I see the starting five as Curry,Randolf,Q-Rich,Crawford,and Marbury I see the reserve five in order to position Morris,Lee,Balkman,Nate,Collins with Fred Jones, J. Jeffries, D. Nicholes, and W. Chandler fighting for any playing time. I dont see J.James or D.Dickau as a Knick in 07-08 and I don't think M.Rose will get off the bench and may also be baught out.
 
Unless last season was a fluke, Mardy deserves minutes over just about any other guard on the bench. Mardy is actually the type of play making PG we need in the starting 5, but we all know that isn't at all likely to happen. I love what Nate did in the Summer League, but 1 that was just the summer league lets not read too much into it, and 2 even in the Summer League Nate did not look like a true point, I like Nate more as a 2 gaurd who can slide to the point in a pinch. Fred Jones has a game a lot like Nate's I would think that is where the compettition for minutes should be between. But there is no other true PG on the roster besides Mardy I just hope he's ready!

I think Chandler and D Nichols a bench players by default unless they really show something special. Morris is really a PF so I don't see him playin too much. Morris did show promise and could make for a nice peice to a trade package Zach,Morris,D Nichols for Jermaine Oneal and maybe a pick from Indy
is a pretty fair trade for both teams....but that is for another Thread (every fan thinks they're a GM)

We're too Deep as funny as that may sound, and PT will be deterimined on the style of play, the flow of the game, and the type of team we're facing. I see Jefferies logging heavy minutes against Lebron, Dirk and Carmelo because of his D, but no much against a team like Portland or even Detroit who doesnt have one single player needed to be locked down. But Renaldo and Lee will get minutes in games where the Knicks are not showing hustle on defense and shots aren't dropping on offense. Jamal will play heavy minutes when he's hot. It's going to be a interesting season on so many levels, lets just hope it ends a little later than last year.
 
I think Chandler and D Nichols a bench players by default unless they really show something special. Morris is really a PF so I don't see him playin too much. Morris did show promise and could make for a nice peice to a trade package Zach,Morris,D Nichols for Jermaine Oneal and maybe a pick from Indy
is a pretty fair trade for both teams....but that is for another Thread (every fan thinks they're a GM)

I see Jefferies logging heavy minutes against Lebron, Dirk and Carmelo because of his D, but no much against a team like Portland or even Detroit who doesnt have one single player needed to be locked down.

OMG!!! what is with u people and the trades?!?

first of all we dont need anybody. i'd rather have three game changing players in q rich, david lee, and balkman than one in ron artest or jermaine oneal. and wat would we do with jermaine if we already have zach. why sacrifice talent to get oneal when we have a comparable if not better player under contract.

i say this again: demetrius nichol looks like the next glen rice. when he was on the lakers at least.

and jared jeffries logging heavy minutes against lebron is not something im comfortable with. he is not the one-on-one shutdown defender we all thought he was when he signed last year. if your gonna trade someone TRADE HIM.
 
OMG!!! what is with u people and the trades?!?

first of all we dont need anybody. i'd rather have three game changing players in q rich, david lee, and balkman than one in ron artest or jermaine oneal. and wat would we do with jermaine if we already have zach. why sacrifice talent to get oneal when we have a comparable if not better player under contract.

i say this again: demetrius nichol looks like the next glen rice. when he was on the lakers at least.

and jared jeffries logging heavy minutes against lebron is not something im comfortable with. he is not the one-on-one shutdown defender we all thought he was when he signed last year. if your gonna trade someone TRADE HIM.

Calm down young gunner, I was just making a point of Randolph Morris's trade value, I'm not saying we should neccessarily pull the trigger on that trade, lets give Zach and Eddy a year together to see how it works. The point I was trying to make with Jefferies is that his playing time will be contingent on who's playing the 3, although he is not a lock down defender, he and Q typically are the players who are put on the solid 3's that we face. I've said it all summer lets give Jefferies another shot this season before labeling him a bust.

I do see a lot of Glen in Nichols, or even more accurately Walt Williams. I hope we sighn him he looks like he could be a steal
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Unless last season was a fluke, Mardy deserves minutes over just about any other guard on the bench. Mardy is actually the type of play making PG we need in the starting 5, but we all know that isn't at all likely to happen. I love what Nate did in the Summer League, but 1 that was just the summer league lets not read too much into it, and 2 even in the Summer League Nate did not look like a true point, I like Nate more as a 2 gaurd who can slide to the point in a pinch. Fred Jones has a game a lot like Nate's I would think that is where the compettition for minutes should be between. But there is no other true PG on the roster besides Mardy I just hope he's ready

Mardy Collins is a NBA PG!
What I must recall is the Marbury & Collins Tandem was awful when Crawford got injured, but is was not as awful as the Marbury & Francis tandem.
However, ....... when Marbury was done for the season and taking out of the lineup at the end of the season, I have to admit that PG-Mardy Collins performance was outstanding for a rookie that sat on the bench all season long.
I could put up with a WIN or Lost lineup of PG-Collins, SG-Nate, SF-Balkman, PF-Lee, and C-Morris. Because they are young and learning.
But I can not put up with consecutive loses from Marbury, Crawford, Q.Rich, Zach, and Curry.

The Last two seasons Marbury & Curry (and Crawford) received the majority of playingtime.
So with the addition of Zach Randolph these are the four players that Coach Zeke will want the other 13 players to co-exist with on the court. I'm sure that Coach Zeke will always have one or two of the four players mention above on the court the majority of the time (except garbage time).

Here's the TOPPER, do the four players co-exist together???
 
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