Time to gel? . . . Really?

Hi folks,

I`ve just finished watching last nights game on my international league pass. One of the commentators made a very valid point in the first quarter and I was wondering what you all think.

We keep hearing that we need time to gel, time for Tyson Chandler to settle, time for Melo and Amare to gel. However, the point well made was that out of the five players starting last night only one of them was a new player. I know that Melo came just before the deadline last season but should we, they, whoever, be using a lack of time to gel as an excuse for our shambolic performances thus far this season?

Of course it will take time for Chandler to make an impact, we also have a new look bench with a couple of rookies and a new defensive coach. I am undecided as to how I feel about this one. So, I will hand the question over to those of you who have more knowledge and experience in these matters.

Is the time to gel an excuse to hide the fact that we have the worst coach in the NBA? Or is time to gel and adapt a legitimate arguement. Personally I don`t think things will improve until we sack our joke of a coach but that`s just my ever so humble opinion.

I look forward to hearing of your thoughts.

Happy new year from merry old England.

There's definitely a lot more to do than just acquaint Chandler with the team.

Out of our starters from last year there are 2 remaining. Fields and STAT. Melo was only a starter on our team for 20-30 games and Douglas was a bench player.

In total we have Shumpert, Bibby, Novak, Chandler, Balkman, Harrelson, Jordan, Lin, and eventually Baron Davis to incorporate into the team. After a non-existent summer it's going to take some time.

I still think we should fire D'Antoni and just get the team going under some proper leadership because a coaching change is only going to unsettle things further. Get it out of the way now while we still have time to do something special this year.

You could put 5 players who have never met before on a court and play unorganised ball that is better than whatever "strategy" we saw in the Lakers game.

For example any decent point guard can read a defense and look for a weakness. Try a drive and dish, that doesn't work? Use give and go's, pick and roll/go. Simple sets that 13 year olds can grasp.

Also, gelling has nothing to do with how Tyson Chandler can consistantly miss baby hooks close to the basket. I know he's a defensive player but that should be a 7 footers bread and butter. Also the ability to hit one isn't dependant on knowing your teammates.

One area they do need to work on is how to exploit the double team when it comes to Melo and Amare, the rest of the team spaces so poorly and sometimes they just stand in a way so that the defender is between them and the ball. They just need to move more.

Obviously there's more issues they need to work on, but it just pisses me off talking about it.