Mills is taller by an inch but that doesn't make him better. Barea is about two levels above Mills. Barea has been successful and competitive in every league he's been in. FIBA, NCAA, Portsmouth, NBDL, Summerleague, NBA Finals...Barea gets ratchet and is bringing a winning attitude to Minnesota.
Mills isn't established yet. When he becomes establish, then you may think that.
I think that already. Mills actually has proven a lot to me already, at least enough to warrant getting a real shot to play in the NBA somewhere...Standout at St. Mary's, played UNBELIEVABLE against the NBA's best (CP3, D-Will, J-Kidd) a few years ago in the Olympics (tell me that wasn't an eye-opener), looked good the past couple of yrs in Portland when Nate McMillan got around to playing him and he played well in China recently before hurting his hamstring... If he was "established," he wouldn't be available right now. Look at it that way...
How established is Toney Douglas anyway? What has he really proven? Not much as far as I'm concerned. OK, he made a name for himself in college as a defensive player, winning ACC Defensive POY for Florida State, but honestly, that aspect of his game has not transferred over to the NBA. This guy's an overrated player defensively, plain & simple. I've watched every Knick game since the early 80s (pre-Ewing) -- seen every game Toney's played for us --- look back and think -- gimme one game in the NBA where TD's shined defensively. Gimmie one game where he locked down a real good PG. Even a middle-of-the-road PG...I can't think of any man. Not saying he's terrible defensively, obviously he's not--he's adequate, just not the all-world defender he's been played up to be. I don't see it anyway....So what's left?? Not much man...We're looking at an adequate defender with sub-par quickness, sub-par penetration skills, sub-par finishing around the basket (no elevation) and well below average court vision/passing skills. Yeah he can shoot the ball a little but that's not what we really need outta this guy. Of course we need him to knock down open looks and he can do that at least --- but what we need MUCH MUCH more right now is a PG that can push the pace and get everyone else involved first.
I was at the game last night and saw in person what I already know -- Douglas is a good kid that plays hard but he has very little to no idea how to run this team...And it's not like he doesn't have weapons here. Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Iman Shumpert...Outside of a nifty behind the back pass to Chandler to open the game (and I was rubbing my eyes in amazement he executed that play), all the offense these players got (outside of a few more oop dunks from Chandler, some not even assisted by Douglas) was one-on-one basketball. Melo going one-on-one, forcing the issue...Amar'e going one-on-one, same thing...Shump trying to manufacture something outta nothing....All un-assisted buckets coming in the half-court set...Nobody got any easy baskets because Douglas simply can't push the pace/dictate the pace. It's a struggle for him. He just doesn't operate that way...Honestly, with the weapons we have, do we really need Toney Douglas taking 17 shots? Rondo wins games for Boston sometimes taking 5 shots or less..Why? Because he gets 10+ assists with ease..Because he pushes the pace, gets all of their key players the ball in transition and then when that's not there, he delivers the ball to these guys in other ways, knifing down the middle setting up players for easy buckets etc...We don't see that from Toney at all. Dude runs around in circles chewing up clock, then hands the ball off to another guy out high and lets them go one-on-one. I can't bear to watch it anymore. We need a change.
I understand Baron Davis will be back at some point but in the meantime, what do we do? Continue losing games to inferior teams? On our homecourt no less??
How'd DJ Augustin look to you guys last night? Pretty good to me...He didn't shoot the ball well but he did everything else well --- dictacted the pace with his superb quickness and then when the transition game wasn't there, he delivered the ball in other ways, mostly off penetration -- drive and kick, P&R...I think Patrick Mills is just as talented as DJ Augustin. Very similar skill-sets. Call me nuts but I think Patty has even more ability than Augustin...I can't believe they're willing to keep going with TD...D'Antoni wants to say after the game that the offense was fine and that it was the defense that was terrible -- that's true to a point. Defense did suck too..But I still don't like how they're playing offensively. We put up 110 pts on a good % because Melo & STAT are great players that can play one-on-one when nothing else is there..Because Shumpert can obviously play...Because Tyson Chandler can finish at the rim with the best in the NBA when he's being utilized properly...That's what kept us within striking distance for much of the game last night...Not anything TD did..It's a problem man. If D'Antoni can't see it, then management has to step in and do something. Make a minor adjustment. Cut Lin if he's not gonna be given an opportunity and bring in Mills. Let D'Antoni see in person in practice everyday what I already know -- that Patty Mills can play and help them play at the pace I know he's dying to play at.
I'm talking about Mills because he has good talent, plays the complete opposite of TD (unlike Douglas, Mills has the quickness and skill to dictate the pace and get out and run---plus, I honestly believe he'd be just as good a defender and an even better offensive player for us) AND because he just became available. We're not making a trade for a starting PG, not when we have Baron Davis supposedly coming back in a few weeks. They seem content to wait for that and so do I...But why can't we make a minor adjustment to see if we can get better in the meantime? I think we can with a minor move for Patty Mills. Why throw away these games waiting for Davis??? I'm not even saying bring in Mills outta nowhere to supplant Douglas as the starter --- keep Douglas as the starting PG. Just bring in Mills as a backup option and go from there. He's head a shoulders a better player than Bibby and Lin. I know he's a better talent than TD as well but I'd take him as a backup right now and work him in. Bring him in and let him prove to our coach what I already know. Dude's a very good talent and would allow us to at least play at an entirely different pace. I hate to pin it all on Douglas like this but to me, he's the biggest problem.
