Z-Bo and Jamal

Why did both fail in New York?

Z-Bo just lifted Memphis over the Spurs in a fantastic playoff series. He's putting up 20-10 for years, a true double double machine, good jump shot, good at posting up and a determined competitor.

Jamal Crawford, won 6th man of the year award in Atlanta last season and had a fantastic playoff series vs Orlando. He absolutely killed them as a 6th man, hitting jumpers, threes and attacking the basket. He even dished out some nice assists.

Yet when both were 'our' players we failed miserably. In 2007-2008 we won 23 games all year....23!!

We also had D.Lee and Starbury, unbelievable we didn't make the playoffs with that roster. We didn't even come close. We should have been somewhere around 5th seed with those players.
 

RunningJumper

Super Moderator
Was thinking about this.

Randolph really matured. Also, he knows when to pass now, and makes nice passes too.

Crawford is doing great.

Makes me wonder how Lee and Randolph would be together now, or Amar'e and Lee, what a beast front-court that would be.

Who knows. While I'm happy with our situation now, would have been great to have them play like this for us.
 

miked1958

Rotation player
agree

Was thinking about this.

Randolph really matured. Also, he knows when to pass now, and makes nice passes too.

Crawford is doing great.

Makes me wonder how Lee and Randolph would be together now, or Amar'e and Lee, what a beast front-court that would be.

Who knows. While I'm happy with our situation now, would have been great to have them play like this for us.
Yes ZR is making us all very sorry we lost him. Lee to. But Zac is putting up HUGE Numbers in pts,rebs and even in steals and assists. Wish we still had him
 

OGKnickfan

Enlightened
As I said for years, during the Isaiah era, we needed a center. The Hawks have Horford, who, though undersized and only averaging 1 BPG for the regular season, is willing to challenge shots and play help-D.

The Griz have a terrific center in Marc Gasol: he rebounds, plays great help D, can block shots at an impressive clip, is a willing passer, etc.

We, on the other hand, had EC, who wouldn't play D if his life depended on it. And DLee was MIA on any sort of defense: blocks, help D, whatever, he is a cancer on D.

So that's it... you can have great players forever, and Jamal was actually more explosive while on the Knicks, than at any other time since, and Zach (while improved) was still a great scorer and rebounder while on the Knicks, but if you don't give them a big that will control the boards and help them on D, it's a wrap.
 

KingCharles34

All Star
I think OGknicksfan summed it up, none of them play any defense. And Marbury only played around 20 games that year because of a foot injury and because of Isiahs antics
 

Blumatic

Rotation player
Well look at all of their jerseys. They are all playing for different teams. Its chemistry. Its the group of players. Everyone knew that we had talent on that team. But all those guys were ball hoggers and scorers. Randolph is on a team that plays defense so it hides his inability to do so. But he rebounds well. Same with Crawford. He was teh starting 2-guard here. There he comes off the bench.

Even if we went to the playoffs, that team was wiining no championship anytime soon. Then mangement would have signed all those guys to long term contracts and we would end up being like Atlanta. No thanks.

We set up nicely now.
 
Zach is a much different player than he was before, now he passes the ball more and has turned into a leader and rebounding machine. Jamal played his best here, i remember days when he would just go off. But he has horrible shot selection. But the biggest reason why it didn't work was because of Marbury and Curry.
 

SSj4Wingzero

All Star
Z-Bo wasn't a bad player for us, but he was awful on defense and Marc Gasol wasn't here to save him in NY.

With Crawford the difference is he was expecting to be a starting-caliber player for us - over in Atlanta he's an explosive scorer off the bench. He was just as good with us, problem was we needed him to do more than provide that scoring spark and it didn't seem to be there
 

KingCharles34

All Star
I dont think ZBo has really changed his game like some of u are saying, he was a beast in NY too. He just has a better group of teammates now and a better coach. i cant believe Memphis is doing all this without Gay (no homo)
 

KBlack25

Starter
I dont think ZBo has really changed his game like some of u are saying, he was a beast in NY too. He just has a better group of teammates now and a better coach. i cant believe Memphis is doing all this without Gay (no homo)

This.

Z-Bo was pretty good in NY - he was just paid too much for too long, and keeping him around meant no Amare (and prob. no Carmelo)...we wouldn't have had a real shot at any of the 2010 guys keeping ZBo.

I'm actually surprised the amount of Z-Bo support on here though, I thought my dad and I (and ESPN Writer Bill Simmons and his friend Joe House) were the only people on earth who were Z-Bo fans. Guess not...
 
Well KBlack:

Stats don't lie and Z-Bo's stats are among the best of them for years. He might not have a ripped body like Amar'e or great lift like J-Smooth, but he can certainly play the game and he's rebounding and scoring machine.
His offensive game is actually pretty multidimensional, he can post up, shoot 15 footers, spot up on the elbow or even shoot the occassional 3.
He's very physical on offense and his heavy body helps him to shrug defenders of. His rebounding instincts are great, a 10 rpg guy ever since he entered the league, with no leaping ability - shows you how smart and tough he is on the boards.

I like Z-Bo, only thing that stinks is his defense, though he's improved it in Memphis, but still not what you'd call 'good'. Apart from that, top player.

The same with Jamal, his ball handling skills are the best I've ever seen in the league beside White Chocolate. His shake and bake moves are absolutely legendary and a joy to watch, plus he can go off for 20-30 ppg on any given night - starting or as a 6th man. He's a liability on defense though and his shot selection is terrible most of the time. Still a great player in his own way.
 

lilman_bklyn

Rotation player
Crawford and Randolph didn't just become talented. They were talented when they played with the Knicks. Zach was a double double machine with the Knicks, and Crawford was Crawford. The thing about hen the guy were in NYC is that they were never in a system which could utilize their talents. Walsh came in and instead of trying to get a coach who could coach the talent that was on the team, he instead traded them for cap space. I said that the time that the Knick could have traded for much more. But that was years ago and whats done is done... But I hate when people act as if these guys weren't producing numbers when they were with the Knicks.
 
Anyone watching the Grizzle Thunder game... Zbo is continuing to be a beast... Grizzles play extremely hard and share the ball..this is fun..
 

KingCharles34

All Star
This.

Z-Bo was pretty good in NY - he was just paid too much for too long, and keeping him around meant no Amare (and prob. no Carmelo)...we wouldn't have had a real shot at any of the 2010 guys keeping ZBo.

I'm actually surprised the amount of Z-Bo support on here though, I thought my dad and I (and ESPN Writer Bill Simmons and his friend Joe House) were the only people on earth who were Z-Bo fans. Guess not...

Im not gonna lie, i fukkin love ZBo. Dudes still one of my favorites and i felt bad for him in NY, having to play with so many garbage ass players.

Anyone watching the Grizzle Thunder game... Zbo is continuing to be a beast... Grizzles play extremely hard and share the ball..this is fun..

They gotta real nice team now breh i cant believe their doing this without Gay (no homo).

Anyone remember that thread where we ranked the best powerforwards? Alotta you's had Zbo low on the list, some even put David Lee ahead of ZBo. Thats fukkin disrespectful to the game of basketball
 
They gotta real nice team now breh i cant believe their doing this without Gay (no homo).

Anyone remember that thread where we ranked the best powerforwards? Alotta you's had Zbo low on the list, some even put David Lee ahead of ZBo. Thats fukkin disrespectful to the game of basketball
Yeah man.. don't remind me son..:barf:
 

KBlack25

Starter
Im not gonna lie, i fukkin love ZBo. Dudes still one of my favorites and i felt bad for him in NY, having to play with so many garbage ass players.

Word - I feel that. He just in NY was in a position not to succeed - but let's be honest, dude put up 20/10 in NY - how much more can you ask from your PF, really?
 
Z-Bo going for 34-10 against Perkins!

Memphis look excellent as a team. Not one guy shying away.

My second favourite team right now. Tony Allen is a beast, Z-Bo is playing at an All-Star level and Marc Gasol looks better than Pau right now.

I also like Conley, nice young and athletic playmaker.

Man I wish we could have played with the same heart, energy and IQ against Boston.

Credit to Lionel Hollins, I thought he was a clown when he booted Iverson in 2009, but I gotta admit he's doing a great job in Memphis.

Fire D'Antoni, hire Hollins, trade Billups for Conley and sign Gasol as a FA lol
 
Z-Bo going for 34-10 against Perkins!

Memphis look excellent as a team. Not one guy shying away.

My second favourite team right now. Tony Allen is a beast, Z-Bo is playing at an All-Star level and Marc Gasol looks better than Pau right now.

I also like Conley, nice young and athletic playmaker.

Man I wish we could have played with the same heart, energy and IQ against Boston.

Credit to Lionel Hollins, I thought he was a clown when he booted Iverson in 2009, but I gotta admit he's doing a great job in Memphis.

Fire D'Antoni, hire Hollins, trade Billups for Conley and sign Gasol as a FA lol
Yeah their my 2nd favorite team to watch too. I can really see them eliminating OKC since they match up so well with them.
 
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