Let's all be real here, if Amare played 5 more minutes, the knicks would have easily won this game...so far no team has stopped Amare in any way.
Positives:
-Amare, Amare, Amare, this guy is a franchise player, he is unstoppable on offense and makes huge plays that fire up the team and make us start scoring runs...that is what he brings. And one great thing is the guy draws fouls, LOTS of them which is something our team lacked last year. He should average over 25 ppg.
-Felton continues to get used to the system and ease into it more and more. He looks comfortable as suppose to the first couple games were he seemed lost. He knows were Amare is at all times and usually looks to him as the first option. He drives more and his shot is usually consistent...and I liked how he started to play really good once Reggie Evans decked him with a screen...he is a tough little dude.
-Landry Fields is so good that I can honestly see this guy starting over Wilson Chandler at the 2. If Mike D is really all about guys meshing together as certain groups then he would see the great chemistry of Fields and Amare. Those two players fed each other beautifully and they are both smart players exploiting dumb defense that we always see in the NBA. Mike D even mentioned the possibility of starting Fields and making Douglas a sixth man with Chandle probably taking over some SF and PF minutes...sorry Randolph!
-Mozgov is still solid but has his moments with bad fouls and no rebounding, but on offense he is very good and is showing his variety of moves in the post. Bargnani owned him tonight because of his outside shot, but the one time Bargnani drove on Mozgov, the Russian swated the ball so in the post he is solid, he needs to practice rebounding, the outside jumper, and perimeter D, and of course limiting fouls.
-Douglas will get huge minutes, we all know this and if Douglas played against Toronto this game would be different since Rautins was a failure at PG today.
-Ronny Turiaf finally shot a jump shot! And made it! LOL
-I cant believe I am saying this but Mason Jr. was pretty good against Toronto. He has just won the chance to get minutes over Rautins but Walker is over both Mason and Rautins. Mason was more consistent with the outside shot and played good defense with some steals and a nice block. Experience usually prevails.
-Billy Walker's aggressiveness is something we need to see more. He kind of reminds me of Gallo. He has a great shot but over shoots it when he can be so much more effective by driving. What Walker has over Gallo is the athleticism to throw down a monster dunk.
-Knicks offensive transition was good but at times was too aggressive were we wound up running on offense when the ball was not even in the Knicks hands...we have to secure the ball before starting a fast break.
-Randolph was more positive than negative but had his bad moments. Randolph became aggressive at the end of the game and had a fantastic block which he has to do more often. I like seeing Randolph get pumped up, he is huge going forward.
Negatives:
-Horrible passing in this game...Rautins and Chandler were absolutely horrible with passes...and Ronny Turiaf at the point doesn't always work out.
-Rautins sucked...he can't dribble which eliminates him from being a PG on this team. He has good court vision but the lack of ballhandling skills makes the court vision useless. He still misses most of his shots and has to learn to be better off th ball. He will be the odd man out now, I am convinced. Fields, Walker, Mason all have the nod over him at SG.
-Team rebounding again was a failure...Reggie Evans got too many easy rebounds, it was embarrassing.
-Not sure if Ewing Jr. will win the spot over Williams but he might because of his defense.
-Chandler was lost in this game. It is very strange that he was so good the first couple of games and kind of failed in the last few...I think Fields might have proven to Mike D that he is better suited at the SG spot than Chandler who is a pure 3 and a good 4.
-I am still worried about Gallo because if he does not start hitting shots consistently then i dont know what we do next. MIke D won't ever bench him so it will only hurt us if Gallo can't shoot consistently.
-Our bench is not as strong as I thought. Only Walker, Fields, Douglas, and Turiaf will make a difference in games. When Amare and Felton are not on the floor, we struggle overall. We need to fix that to make the playoffs.
Positives:
-Amare, Amare, Amare, this guy is a franchise player, he is unstoppable on offense and makes huge plays that fire up the team and make us start scoring runs...that is what he brings. And one great thing is the guy draws fouls, LOTS of them which is something our team lacked last year. He should average over 25 ppg.
-Felton continues to get used to the system and ease into it more and more. He looks comfortable as suppose to the first couple games were he seemed lost. He knows were Amare is at all times and usually looks to him as the first option. He drives more and his shot is usually consistent...and I liked how he started to play really good once Reggie Evans decked him with a screen...he is a tough little dude.
-Landry Fields is so good that I can honestly see this guy starting over Wilson Chandler at the 2. If Mike D is really all about guys meshing together as certain groups then he would see the great chemistry of Fields and Amare. Those two players fed each other beautifully and they are both smart players exploiting dumb defense that we always see in the NBA. Mike D even mentioned the possibility of starting Fields and making Douglas a sixth man with Chandle probably taking over some SF and PF minutes...sorry Randolph!
-Mozgov is still solid but has his moments with bad fouls and no rebounding, but on offense he is very good and is showing his variety of moves in the post. Bargnani owned him tonight because of his outside shot, but the one time Bargnani drove on Mozgov, the Russian swated the ball so in the post he is solid, he needs to practice rebounding, the outside jumper, and perimeter D, and of course limiting fouls.
-Douglas will get huge minutes, we all know this and if Douglas played against Toronto this game would be different since Rautins was a failure at PG today.
-Ronny Turiaf finally shot a jump shot! And made it! LOL
-I cant believe I am saying this but Mason Jr. was pretty good against Toronto. He has just won the chance to get minutes over Rautins but Walker is over both Mason and Rautins. Mason was more consistent with the outside shot and played good defense with some steals and a nice block. Experience usually prevails.
-Billy Walker's aggressiveness is something we need to see more. He kind of reminds me of Gallo. He has a great shot but over shoots it when he can be so much more effective by driving. What Walker has over Gallo is the athleticism to throw down a monster dunk.
-Knicks offensive transition was good but at times was too aggressive were we wound up running on offense when the ball was not even in the Knicks hands...we have to secure the ball before starting a fast break.
-Randolph was more positive than negative but had his bad moments. Randolph became aggressive at the end of the game and had a fantastic block which he has to do more often. I like seeing Randolph get pumped up, he is huge going forward.
Negatives:
-Horrible passing in this game...Rautins and Chandler were absolutely horrible with passes...and Ronny Turiaf at the point doesn't always work out.
-Rautins sucked...he can't dribble which eliminates him from being a PG on this team. He has good court vision but the lack of ballhandling skills makes the court vision useless. He still misses most of his shots and has to learn to be better off th ball. He will be the odd man out now, I am convinced. Fields, Walker, Mason all have the nod over him at SG.
-Team rebounding again was a failure...Reggie Evans got too many easy rebounds, it was embarrassing.
-Not sure if Ewing Jr. will win the spot over Williams but he might because of his defense.
-Chandler was lost in this game. It is very strange that he was so good the first couple of games and kind of failed in the last few...I think Fields might have proven to Mike D that he is better suited at the SG spot than Chandler who is a pure 3 and a good 4.
-I am still worried about Gallo because if he does not start hitting shots consistently then i dont know what we do next. MIke D won't ever bench him so it will only hurt us if Gallo can't shoot consistently.
-Our bench is not as strong as I thought. Only Walker, Fields, Douglas, and Turiaf will make a difference in games. When Amare and Felton are not on the floor, we struggle overall. We need to fix that to make the playoffs.