The Best Way to Play These Cards..........
This is my first post on the Knicks forum.........
And I will admit, I'm here solely because of Jeremy Lin..... I have never been more addicted to an individual player. My team happens to be the Clippers, and they're now playing even worse than the Knicks.:boohoo:
First some observations......
As some here realize, Carmelo is a one-on-one clearout type player. I personally think he should be on the floor whenever Jeremy Lin is off the floor. The times they are on the floor, the team should mix plays through Lin and plays through Melo. But because Melo is passive off the ball, it becomes so much easier for the defense to converge on Lin. So these players should only be together against less-than-stellar defensive teams. The only time they should be on the floor together is at the start of a game, or if they need a big basket late.
The one thing nobody talks about in Jeremy Lin's game is his defense. I think this is the one part of his game that made "Linsanity" possible. (Steve Nash gets great offensive numbers, but his teams still lose because he can't play defense.) He does get a lot of steals, but he also alters a lot of shots, and is an above-average on-the-ball defender. He seems to be learning fast in fighting through screens. The only time Tony Parker had trouble driving to the basket was when Lin was guarding him. (Which I find surprising because Parker had no problem with Shumpert.) He was the only Knicks player that played decent "D" against the Spurs. My only worry about Lin as a defender is he should maybe play less pressure early, to avoid foul trouble.
I think Lin's weaknesses are curable...... Weak left hand, tends to shoot cold early (his shooting gets better late in games), and sometimes tends to look down when in traffic, losing sight of open players. But again all fixable.
And finally, we need a backup center whose purpose is to disrupt things in the paint. Harrellson is not quite that player, and should not be shooting three point shots.
Starting lineup: Lin, Stoudemire, Shumpert, Carmelo, and Chandler
First bench rotation: Novak or Fields for Shumpert, Jeffries for Carmelo, Harrellson for Chandler.
Second bench rotation: Baron for Lin, Carmelo or JR Smith for Stoudemire.
Second half and leading: Same as starting lineup. Maybe play Fields instead of Shumpert.
Second half and trailing: Jeffries or Novak instead of Carmelo.
Second half small lineup: Lin, Davis, Shumpert, Novak, Jeffries.
Crunch time offense: Lin, Carmelo, Novak, Shumpert, Stoudemire.
Crunch time defense: Lin, Shumpert, Jeffries, Davis, and Chandler.
Play Carmelo as much as possible whenever Lin is on the bench.