nyk_nyk
All Star
In no particular order...
1. Player personnel - This team is primarily composed of role players. The only players that can be seriously considered as a starters on a good team is Harrington, Lee and maybe Gallo if he ever learns how to move without the ball. Everyone else is best suited as role players. These guys bring a certain value to the team, but they are heavily relied on and usually don't measure up to the opposing teams' talent. It's like our starters are 2nd unit quality and our bench is even worse. Nate and Harrington will put up numbers off the bench but they barely add anything other than that. Our starting PG is 3rd string at best and we have no real center or interior intimidator.
2. Coaching - Dantoni was one of the best in Phoenix but reality has set in and he has been exposed as narrow and linear. His coaching only extends to SSOL and doesn't properly adjust to maximize execution. There is certainly a responsibility of all the players to perform on the court every game, but they don't always do it and it is the coach's job to motivate and or substitute as necessary to create the right chemistry. We all know Gallo's playing time and shots should be increased, but for some reason Dantoni refuses to address these issues. I mentioned above that Gallo needs to learn how to move without the ball. He also needs to be more agressive among other things but this is what practice is for and if Dantoni can't draw up some plays for him them he will continue to hang around the 3pt line all game. I guess that's not a problem since Dantoni never yells at anyone for taking a 3 pointer no matter how awful it is. Dantoni doesn't understand how to win in crunch time either, probably because he doesn't understand the difference between low and high percentage shots.
David Lee is not a center and cannot defend the position let alone his natural PF position. Dantoni continues to stick with this move and it hurts the team defensively. Why not start Darko and limit his shots to put backs and anything right under the basket? It would improve the starting rotation a bit defensively and Lee would still get his numbers. These are just a few of Dantoni's non-coaching moves that should have been explored already. He's recently shortened the rotation which has basically cut all of Hill and TD's minutes. Why? I though the reason we passed on AI was because we wanted to develop our young talent. Coaching staff doesn't have a clue. Mark Jackson would have been a better fit for the team IMO.
3. Too many pending Free Agents - Most of these guys (mostly Harrington) have no vested interest in the success of the Knicks and it shows. You can clearly see that Harrington has no interest in making anyone else look good but himself. These guys are playing for their next contracts and rather show everyone what type of numbers they can put up. Let's be real, although the Knicks suck there will still be teams looking to acquire bench players and we have plenty of them so I don't put much stock in teams not being interested in players coming from a bad team. These guys know the team is heading in a different direction and there isn't room for many of the current players. I don't think guys are playing at their highest level on most nights because they don't feel like Knicks pshycologically. They just wear the uniform but don't have a feel for it like Starks, Ewing or Oakley did. That Sacramento game is a perfect example of how guys just don't care every game.
1. Player personnel - This team is primarily composed of role players. The only players that can be seriously considered as a starters on a good team is Harrington, Lee and maybe Gallo if he ever learns how to move without the ball. Everyone else is best suited as role players. These guys bring a certain value to the team, but they are heavily relied on and usually don't measure up to the opposing teams' talent. It's like our starters are 2nd unit quality and our bench is even worse. Nate and Harrington will put up numbers off the bench but they barely add anything other than that. Our starting PG is 3rd string at best and we have no real center or interior intimidator.
2. Coaching - Dantoni was one of the best in Phoenix but reality has set in and he has been exposed as narrow and linear. His coaching only extends to SSOL and doesn't properly adjust to maximize execution. There is certainly a responsibility of all the players to perform on the court every game, but they don't always do it and it is the coach's job to motivate and or substitute as necessary to create the right chemistry. We all know Gallo's playing time and shots should be increased, but for some reason Dantoni refuses to address these issues. I mentioned above that Gallo needs to learn how to move without the ball. He also needs to be more agressive among other things but this is what practice is for and if Dantoni can't draw up some plays for him them he will continue to hang around the 3pt line all game. I guess that's not a problem since Dantoni never yells at anyone for taking a 3 pointer no matter how awful it is. Dantoni doesn't understand how to win in crunch time either, probably because he doesn't understand the difference between low and high percentage shots.
David Lee is not a center and cannot defend the position let alone his natural PF position. Dantoni continues to stick with this move and it hurts the team defensively. Why not start Darko and limit his shots to put backs and anything right under the basket? It would improve the starting rotation a bit defensively and Lee would still get his numbers. These are just a few of Dantoni's non-coaching moves that should have been explored already. He's recently shortened the rotation which has basically cut all of Hill and TD's minutes. Why? I though the reason we passed on AI was because we wanted to develop our young talent. Coaching staff doesn't have a clue. Mark Jackson would have been a better fit for the team IMO.
3. Too many pending Free Agents - Most of these guys (mostly Harrington) have no vested interest in the success of the Knicks and it shows. You can clearly see that Harrington has no interest in making anyone else look good but himself. These guys are playing for their next contracts and rather show everyone what type of numbers they can put up. Let's be real, although the Knicks suck there will still be teams looking to acquire bench players and we have plenty of them so I don't put much stock in teams not being interested in players coming from a bad team. These guys know the team is heading in a different direction and there isn't room for many of the current players. I don't think guys are playing at their highest level on most nights because they don't feel like Knicks pshycologically. They just wear the uniform but don't have a feel for it like Starks, Ewing or Oakley did. That Sacramento game is a perfect example of how guys just don't care every game.
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