Optimism: Should we or should we not have it?

New New York

Quiet Storm
In years past we have always ended the season with a lot of hope and promise and saying "wait til next year" but Im sensing that's not the vibe with the season ending. The sense is that our best opportunity as slipped by.

I get this feeling certainly, I mean after all there has been countless articles about our age and every key old player (Sheed, Kidd, Camby) gave us nothing in the playoffs for various reasons.


But, I'm optimistic! Here's why.

1. There are a couple of role players we are gonna bring back that I think will be huge!: Copeland will be back and will be playing for a contract, look for his D to improve this off season too. Kmart will be back and with a full training camp I like what he will bring. Priggs would be great and do not sleep on Q Rich

2. Shump: remember that playoff experience we all cried about him missing last year because of his knee? Well he got it! Shump was huge in our last game against Boston and Indy, those are huge confidence boosters! He has regained form on D too! He is over that huge psychological hump (I know from doing the same thing) that comes with this injury, it takes about 6 months after being cleared to be comfortable again and Shump is there...again all he needs to do now is just continue to rehab it to get it back to full strength

3. 3 million dollar exception: our core is locked up with Melo,Stat,Tyson,Felton,Shump, this may or may not be our starting 5 opening night, yet it represents a nice foundation to build around. Now players like Kmart and Q Rich get the vet minimum, Copeland and Pablo get Qualifying offer, then 3 million is a nice chunk of change to add a role player. This is not superstar money but its steady contributor money. Backup Center?

4.Continuity: This is huge! Felton is not out to outplay Lin anymore, that battle has been either won by him or is simply done being discussed, either way its a plus for us. Raymond is 1 more season removed from Portland too so no trying to put that to rest. We do not have to cap for major moves and that is good, the past 3 seasons it has been about making pieces come together and coach adapting to players, Players know each other and Woody!
 

metrocard

Legend
Felton is overrated and plays too many minutes. He isn't the answer at PG, not even the best fit for Melo. We need a future PG badly.
 

erivera

Benchwarmer
shumpert is the key to our future. it'll be interesting to see if next year he can get his numbers up and maybe be a 15 pts, 7 reb, and 5 ast guy.
 

uber

Benchwarmer
1. There are a couple of role players we are gonna bring back that I think will be huge!: Copeland will be back and will be playing for a contract, look for his D to improve this off season too.

How sure is this? I think it would be huge for us to have him back for another season.
 

DrB

Benchwarmer
In years past we have always ended the season with a lot of hope and promise and saying "wait til next year" but Im sensing that's not the vibe with the season ending. The sense is that our best opportunity as slipped by.

I get this feeling certainly, I mean after all there has been countless articles about our age and every key old player (Sheed, Kidd, Camby) gave us nothing in the playoffs for various reasons.


But, I'm optimistic! Here's why.

1. There are a couple of role players we are gonna bring back that I think will be huge!: Copeland will be back and will be playing for a contract, look for his D to improve this off season too. Kmart will be back and with a full training camp I like what he will bring. Priggs would be great and do not sleep on Q Rich

2. Shump: remember that playoff experience we all cried about him missing last year because of his knee? Well he got it! Shump was huge in our last game against Boston and Indy, those are huge confidence boosters! He has regained form on D too! He is over that huge psychological hump (I know from doing the same thing) that comes with this injury, it takes about 6 months after being cleared to be comfortable again and Shump is there...again all he needs to do now is just continue to rehab it to get it back to full strength

3. 3 million dollar exception: our core is locked up with Melo,Stat,Tyson,Felton,Shump, this may or may not be our starting 5 opening night, yet it represents a nice foundation to build around. Now players like Kmart and Q Rich get the vet minimum, Copeland and Pablo get Qualifying offer, then 3 million is a nice chunk of change to add a role player. This is not superstar money but its steady contributor money. Backup Center?

4.Continuity: This is huge! Felton is not out to outplay Lin anymore, that battle has been either won by him or is simply done being discussed, either way its a plus for us. Raymond is 1 more season removed from Portland too so no trying to put that to rest. We do not have to cap for major moves and that is good, the past 3 seasons it has been about making pieces come together and coach adapting to players, Players know each other and Woody!
Depends on your goals...IF it's win the East FINALS ..I doubt it. If the KNICKS get through ROUND 1 it will be great. In the BIG PICTURE. The BULLS with DENG , and ROSE playing in the play offs they would be a better challenge to Miami than Indiana is and Indiana was better than the Knicks with a healthy Chandler and a healed MELO. This year with all the stars lined up we won the Division , had 2ND seed and got past the first round. I don't see better than that for next year...Chandler healthy brought NO OFFENSE, thinking about our back court against Miami or Indiana is laughable. We all love Prigioni's effort if only he could drive for any points in the paint and there he's a ZERO...there are 10 PG's in the NBA better than Felton and then KIDD should as Camby should RETIRE but they won't. That's pathetic. Copeland will improve and be another TREVA ARIZA..no more no less. He will be 30. So I am not optimistic about improving on this year at all. Q Rich BTW would be in his 12 year. You my friend must study up and what takes to the ECF and WIN....the retirement of LEBRON...for one thing. Notice I won't comment on STAT until his health issue is resolved. Woodson does what Melo tells him as he saw how CHRIS PAUL got rid of Vinny DELNEGRO and the Nets back court star got rid of Avery Johnson.
 

Wargames

Starter
Knicks just to shore up their depth and make another run for it. Right now it really is about continuity and depth going forward. Idk if we can be contenders but the Knicks can build an identity and winning culture and come 2015 (I called this back in 2010) we can make moves to really compete. That year we might be able to get a max and a full MLE player to add to a knick roster that should be playoff worthy and have better overall chemistry.
 

Rob Low

Rotation player
There's a good chance Cope doesn't come back. His agent said he wants to get paid and someone will offer him more than the vet minimum. It's gonna be Shawne Williams all over again
 

New New York

Quiet Storm
Felton is overrated and plays too many minutes. He isn't the answer at PG, not even the best fit for Melo. We need a future PG badly.

I cant say enough how I would welcome an upgrade at this position if it presented itself, but it is not as necessary as many people think.

Felton was our most consistent player throughout the playoffs


more than a PG we need a 2 way PF! We need a PF who can grab boards and/or block shots and are not a liability on the offensive end.



affordable options

1.Lamar Odom
2.Elton Brand
3.Jermaine Oneal


Long shots

1.JJ Hickson
2 Paul Milsap
3. Earl Clark


For PG's I would love simply to add Billups to fill in for Kidd
 

NewYork

Benchwarmer
Although the Knicks' offense isn't a problem, the offense has to be spread out in order to pull everyone into the gave defensively. If everyone is involved on offense rather than giving the ball to one guy and just watching him, we'll never get past as far as we got this year. The offensive is too predictable. Look at Lebron's and Wade's assist numbers. They're at 7 and 6 per game respectively. Melo needs to make the offense less predictable and average about 5 assists per game. That would round out the Knicks offense significantly. Melo has the ability to be top scorer every year but the Knicks will never go anywhere if he keeps that mentality. He needs to sacrifice that for the whole of the team. Lebron has become a true leader and involves everyone in the game. Will Melo ever learn that aspect of the game? I hope so. If Stat would become involved offensively I'm sure he would also be up to play defense. I agree Stat needs to learn the defensive schematics as well. He would have to learn to pass the ball out when he is double teamed down low because he won't be able to last too long with his rough inside play even if he is able to get those extra points through free throw shooting. Felton just needs to improve his shots because he is a decent PG, has the speed, can drive into the lane and kick out and has good court vision. It seem like when Tyson was struggling in those playoff games the team wasn't able to boost his morale by passing the ball to him more and letting him have a go against Hibbert. It was almost like letting Hibbert just gain in confidence and letting Tyson just shrivel away and not giving him any trust or opportunity to get one on Hibbert. It can be frustrating for a player.
 

New New York

Quiet Storm
Depends on your goals...IF it's win the East FINALS ..I doubt it. If the KNICKS get through ROUND 1 it will be great. In the BIG PICTURE. The BULLS with DENG , and ROSE playing in the play offs they would be a better challenge to Miami than Indiana is and Indiana was better than the Knicks with a healthy Chandler and a healed MELO. This year with all the stars lined up we won the Division , had 2ND seed and got past the first round. I don't see better than that for next year...Chandler healthy brought NO OFFENSE, thinking about our back court against Miami or Indiana is laughable. We all love Prigioni's effort if only he could drive for any points in the paint and there he's a ZERO...there are 10 PG's in the NBA better than Felton and then KIDD should as Camby should RETIRE but they won't. That's pathetic. Copeland will improve and be another TREVA ARIZA..no more no less. He will be 30. So I am not optimistic about improving on this year at all. Q Rich BTW would be in his 12 year. You my friend must study up and what takes to the ECF and WIN....the retirement of LEBRON...for one thing. Notice I won't comment on STAT until his health issue is resolved. Woodson does what Melo tells him as he saw how CHRIS PAUL got rid of Vinny DELNEGRO and the Nets back court star got rid of Avery Johnson.

You my friend must realize what improvement means. You assume that I think the Knicks are going to make it to The Finals next year or that needs to be the standard to achieve improvement...and thats not the case, in fact a 55 win season (two more regular season wins that 12-13) and a trip to the ECF (2 more playoff wins than 12-13) would be a step forward for us.

2nd, how did "all the stars align" for The Knicks

Sheed played well then got hurt and never returned
Stat was hurt most of the year
Shump was out for a while
Felton was hurt
Melo gets hurt before we embark on our toughest road trip of the season, then Tyson gets hurt during that trip and we start that trip off with the news that Stat was out for 6 weeks at least

Knicks got Boston first round who no one wanted in the 1st round.

Kidd has an 0-17 stretch to end the season

Novak took a step backwards

Miami goes on an Epic run that initially overtook us at top of the Conference then pretty much meant we finished no higher than 2nd

oh yeah...our MVP entered the playoffs with an injury, our 2nd leading scorer could not buy a shot, 3 players on our team come down with the flu during EC Semis

This was not a year of aligning stars! Woody coached his @ss off which is why it may seem that way but this was no easy run for our team.

So yeah there is hope for the future!
 

DrB

Benchwarmer
You my friend must realize what improvement means. You assume that I think the Knicks are going to make it to The Finals next year or that needs to be the standard to achieve improvement...and thats not the case, in fact a 55 win season (two more regular season wins that 12-13) and a trip to the ECF (2 more playoff wins than 12-13) would be a step forward for us.

2nd, how did "all the stars align" for The Knicks

Sheed played well then got hurt and never returned
Stat was hurt most of the year
Shump was out for a while
Felton was hurt
Melo gets hurt before we embark on our toughest road trip of the season, then Tyson gets hurt during that trip and we start that trip off with the news that Stat was out for 6 weeks at least

Knicks got Boston first round who no one wanted in the 1st round.

Kidd has an 0-17 stretch to end the season

Novak took a step backwards

Miami goes on an Epic run that initially overtook us at top of the Conference then pretty much meant we finished no higher than 2nd

oh yeah...our MVP entered the playoffs with an injury, our 2nd leading scorer could not buy a shot, 3 players on our team come down with the flu during EC Semis

This was not a year of aligning stars! Woody coached his @ss off which is why it may seem that way but this was no easy run for our team.

So yeah there is hope for the future!
You make excellent points of the adversarial issues the KNICKS faced. I made the point that the stars came together as 1. Thomas plays on a broken foot and we get an unbelievable WIN against Utah I think. Then with season about to come to an abrupt halt as a result of a bulging disc in Tysons cervical spine we sign K Mart who saved our season. So essentially we are saying that adversity was rampant and it was over come. The stars aligned and the result was 54 wins, 2nd seed. My point is we are NOT going to do better than next year. I really appreciate how knowledgeable a fan you are and Woodson was out coached by Vogel for sure. I LOVE WOODSON...he's a players coach but he was piss poor in the last 5 min of game 6. Novak is a liability on defense and KIDD has run his string out....I bleed BLUE and ORANGE and yes loose sleep and become depressed where I see failings. At age 72 I guess my patience with that P%$#k Dolan has worn me out. Nevertheless, I love your input on the forum. Respectfully yours, Dr.B
 

metrocard

Legend
I cant say enough how I would welcome an upgrade at this position if it presented itself, but it is not as necessary as many people think.

Felton was our most consistent player throughout the playoffs


more than a PG we need a 2 way PF! We need a PF who can grab boards and/or block shots and are not a liability on the offensive end.



affordable options

1.Lamar Odom
2.Elton Brand
3.Jermaine Oneal


Long shots

1.JJ Hickson
2 Paul Milsap
3. Earl Clark


For PG's I would love simply to add Billups to fill in for Kidd

Billups is damaged goods.

Why do we have to continue this trend of washed up veterans?

We need a damn answer at PG and C looks like a weak position for us right now with how Chandler preformed in 2013.
 

New New York

Quiet Storm
Billups is damaged goods.

Why do we have to continue this trend of washed up veterans?

We need a damn answer at PG and C looks like a weak position for us right now with how Chandler preformed in 2013.

The best backup and role players are former ALL stars in the league. They accept their role and they no what it takes to win, they are selfless and are not looking to do more than just win either their first or one more title.

Billups would be an upgrade over what Kidd gave us this year.

If we could get 19 solid minutes out him making the vet min than he would be perfect.

Tyson has been our most consistent player the past 2 seasons and he had a bad playoff run but he's still a top 5 Center in this league. Not to mention his struggles on D were a result of that stupid Zone we ran and bad calls, when we went man to man in game 5 he held Hibbert down!

Again not saying I would not welcome an upgrade at PG (or any position) but we did not underachieve this year because of PG play...in fact things went South when Ray got hurt in December. Kidd,Priggs and Felton all penetrated the lane but only Raymond was a threat to finish!

Give me a backup PG of Raymond caliber along with Raymond and we're good!

And Frankly unless we find a steal in the draft we are not going to get an upgrade at the point without parting with Shump and even then it may not happen! PGs are at a premium more now than ever so no way our 3 million exception nabs one so we gotta accept Raymond for better or worst and like I said we just gotta add a solid backup to remain steady at that position because being exceptional at the point is not an option!
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Felton is overrated and plays too many minutes. He isn't the answer at PG, not even the best fit for Melo. We need a future PG badly.

Yes .. we need a starting PG .. who? mystery?
Felton is a decent upgrade backup PG .. that starts do to a injury in the starting-lineup.

Yes .. we need a veteran BIG to backup or start for Amare .. who?
Yes .. we need a young-center to backup Tyson .. who?
Yes .. we need a starting SG .. or we sign JR as our starting SG.

JR elbow to Terry will delay contract talks .. so if we do sign JR? JR must start with Melo.

Shump is our new combo-guard (6th-Man) next season.

Prig & Copeland put in work to earn a 2 yr contract from Knicks or 1 yr with the next team.
Kenyon Martin TUFFness belong on the Knicks next season.

Kidd & Camby are our best frontcourt/backcourt coaches on the bench.
 

metrocard

Legend
Yes .. we need a starting PG .. who? mystery?
Felton is a decent upgrade backup PG .. that starts do to a injury in the starting-lineup.

Yes .. we need a veteran BIG to backup or start for Amare .. who?
Yes .. we need a young-center to backup Tyson .. who?
Yes .. we need a starting SG .. or we sign JR as our starting SG.

JR elbow to Terry will delay contract talks .. so if we do sign JR? JR must start with Melo.

Shump is our new combo-guard (6th-Man) next season.

Prig & Copeland put in work to earn a 2 yr contract from Knicks or 1 yr with the next team.
Kenyon Martin TUFFness belong on the Knicks next season.

Kidd & Camby are our best frontcourt/backcourt coaches on the bench.

Have Shumpert as our starting SG. He's our future. Dude has emerged as one of the best young SG's that we know in the NBA.

I think we need to replace Chandler. Age and his NBA mileage has come to a limit. If we don't unload him now, we will regret it in the future. It'll be a waste of contract and value.
 

petescud

Starter
I think we need to replace Chandler. Age and his NBA mileage has come to a limit. If we don't unload him now, we will regret it in the future. It'll be a waste of contract and value.

I agree. He got more abused by Hibbert then Ewing did by Hakeem
 
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