The Starting Lineup Has NOT Been Named

littleed511

Rookie
NY Post Writes: The Knicks' starting five is not set and Thomas said it won't be, until at least opening night.

"Even after opening night, there still could be some changes," he said, adding there could be changes the first 15-20 games. "Really, it's about building a team."

Thomas refused to call any player a lock to start.

Marbury-Francis-Jeffries-Frye-Curry

This is what we should expect the starting lineup to be. Francis makes too much money to come off the bench. Frye starts by default cause there is no better PF. Expect Crawford in the game in the 4th QTR and Francis on the bench. It'd be nice to see Jeffries and Lee sharing minutes in the 3 spot.

Friday night will be our first glimpse of the '06-'07 Knicks. Let's beat those freakin Nets!
 
First of all I think we need to name a starting line up and stick with it. We cant afford changes during the first 15-20 games. Finding the right lineup is what preseason is for.
Second there is no such thing that if a player is making a lot of money he should deserve to play. Lets take a look at last year- Penny making 16 mil. there was no shot in hell that he should play. Same with this year with Roses(both Jalen and Malik) Neither deserve to play. Lee and Jefferies are better options at SF then both roses being that they stress defense and hard work. And at the SG position we have seen how clutch Crawford has been.
 

littleed511

Rookie
Francis Playing Time

It's not that I think Francis SHOULD start because he makes too much money to come off the bench...It's that Francis WILL start cause he make too much money to come off the bench...it would make the knicks look worse than they already do if the media had the chance to make fun of the knicks because they're the only team to have a 16 million dollar player on the bench.
 
Thw only reason i am going to say francis should start is because if he doesnt he will have no desire to play at all and would have a negative and non caring attitute. At least Crawford and Robertson could accept the role of coming off the bench and add fire power and good shooting, however i dont think francis would be able to handle that role, thus sparking a negative attitue which would be detrimental to the team.
 

MSGKnickz33

The Gold Mac
Its hard 2 chose between crawford and francis cuz crawford was arguably the best knick last year and hes got a couple of inches on francis. I would still go with francis cuz as mentioned the money hes bein paid
 

donchris

Next season, keep waiting
Last year was a bad year. You can't get a fair view of any player on the team. It's very possible that Jerome James is a solid Center and shot blocker but we can't tell by his play last year because he really didn't at all. When he did he looked fat and off balance. That's what happens when there is no consistancy. Moving along. Francis didn't get a fair shot last year. He was aquired via trade to rot on the bench or possible to replace Marbury. (That's doesn't make much sense to be being that they are virtually the same player but very little of what Brown does makes sense.) So the view of the average Knicks fan is that Crawford deserves to start due to his play in the last 4 games of the year when the Knicks sucked and he shined, right? Defense is an issue and will continue to be BUT no one can stop Marbury or Francis one on one. Yes there are taller guards but it's a team effart to stop Wade and James with all teams and it will be with ours. Francis deserves a shot. If he fails we've always got Crawford/Richardson.
 
agree with you on francis point- its not his fault nor marbury. But what you said about James' potential to be a solid shot blocking center- what have we ever seen in his career to ever suggest that.- was it his 2.3 pts ppg or his 1.7 rpg come on this guy doesnt deserve anyone sticking up for him.
 

sxmarbury516

Benchwarmer
i think it would be best to start marbury and crawford in the back court. francis might make good $$$ but i think crawford proved worthy of starting these past few years. then we have francis to step in when marbury gets tired. francis will keep that fast paced tempo isiah will be playing (he just needs to learn how to cut back on the turnovers). nate and collins prolly wont be getting the minutes they deserve until something is done with this jam @ the guard position. nate will be used to give us a spark when were down and collins will be used to shut down an opposing guard thats on fire. i hope q-rich gets his share of minutes because now with the knicks not playing LB's style i think Q will find his rythm again. the fast pace he played in phx is the way he has to play to be effective.

i really think isiah should consider starting lee @ the 3. he started every game during the knicks 6 game win streak. he shows the most hustle out there. i would let frye and jeffries battle it out to start the pf. frye should also be ready to backup curry @ center. or else we have a decent but inexperianced paul miller. so our front court is pretty flexible. q-rich could play the 3. david lee could play the 3 or 4. jeffries can play the 3 or 4. frye can play the 4 or 5. and lets not forget about ronaldo balkman. im excited to see what he does. im hopin to see some big minutes for him.

as of now my line-up would look like this...

pg- marbury
sg- crawford
sf- lee
pf- jeffries
c- curry

back up
pg- francis
sg- q-rich
sf- balkman
pf- frye
c- miller

then we have nate and collins come off the bench for the reasons i said b4.

what do u think...
 

donchris

Next season, keep waiting
HUH? You'd start Jeffries over Frye? I suppose that's an option but the great thing about bringing in Jeffries is that we'd have 6'11 guys at the 5,4, and 3 spots (Curry, Frye and Jeffries). I also like David Lee and know he is capable of starting but Jeffries has the Defense and height advantages. Frye they say has bulked up so we may see an improved player capable of handling both positions. I'd still start him at the 4.
 

nixon7

Benchwarmer
Does not matter

All this focus on the starting lineup is misplaced anyway.

Alledgedly this team is going to run, and its strength is depth, not its starting five, whomever they pick.

If 10-12 players are all in the 18-30 minute range per game, who really cares what the starting lineup is? If anyone is playing 40+ minutes per game, then nothing has really changed, and do not expect better results.
 

sxmarbury516

Benchwarmer
@ 1st i had frye starting but the reason i switched it is because frye doesnt play much defense. jeffries and lee starting next to each other would be a great way to improve our defense.
 

brooklyn_baller

Benchwarmer
This how what I think the starting lineup should be:

PG: Stephon(obviously)
SG:Francis
SF:Richardson
PF:Frye
C:Curry
6th:Crawford
7th:Jeffries
8th:Lee
9th:Jalen
10:James(injured)
 
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