:afro:
With all the so-called sports "analysts" repeatedly bashing Isaiah Thomas in typical New York "kick a man when he's down and stomp on his nuts for good measure" fashion after another bad season, I could see with all the crazy trade ideas and fantasy free agents that my fellow fans are starting to feel the effects. New York is "second guess city", a place where you can go from being a genius to a moron in the same season. I remember when the Knicks were 16 and 13, and all the columnists and analysts praised Isaiah for resurrecting the Knicks. Then after the rash of injuries and bad play, he became the laughing stock of all GMs. Somehow though, I am optimistic about next year. Yes fam, y'all can save this post and come at me , but I think Isiah will bring the Knicks back to respectability. Here's why-
1. Most sports talk show hosts bash Isiah for trading Mohammed. I didn't have a problem with it, because even though Mohammed was productive, in the games that I WATCHED, he consistently got beat down the court and was late on defensive rotation, leading to him often getting benched. Check his minutes. Most of his points came off of putbacks, and at center he only averaqed less than one block per game. And another thing, what stats don't show is how many times he WAS ABUSED IN THE PAINT by any starter 6'11 and over with any kind of post game. I lost count of how many times teams so easily got into the paint and dunked with him in the vicinity. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY HIS PRODUCTION with the Spurs. I saw him constantly getting beat even in the finals. With the mid-level exception, we will get a free agent center who along with Frye should solve our shot blocking problems.
2. In most of the Knick losses, the opposing teams played zone defense to take away Marbury and force us to shoot jumpers. The problem was we didn't have good coaching and consistent outside shooting. With q Rich, eventhough his shooting percentage was down last year, we should beat the zone because you cannot leave Q-Rich open, he lead the league in 3 point makes, and can also post. Those of you who hated the k Thomas trade, I liked it because K thomas on offense was a one dimensional jump shooter who at the 4 could not post up. On top of that, he couldn't run the floor very well, you can almost count on one hand how many fast break points we got in each loss. We could could do a sign and trade and get a guy like Swift, or move Frye to the 4(he can run and shoot threes) which would allow us to break the zone. We had no problem scoring when teams played us one on one, so now that we added some more size and another shooter, we'll score more easily.
3. The draft- I like the addition of Nate Robinson more than Frye. All you have to do is envision Robinson, Crawford and Ariza coming off the bench (maybe Lee or Frye) and you got mad energy and defensive intensity. trust me, barring injury, if we keep our young guys we'll have one of the most exciting benches in the league. Last year b4 all the injuries we had a productive bench, but this year, our rookies along with Ariza will be scary. Isiah is turning this team into a running squad, with in today's NBA with the zone D is essential. Our young guys have the potential to be something special.
4. Quit all the trade talk about Marbury- I would trade Marbury only for young talented size including draft picks if we are indeed rebuilding. If we cannot get that, keep him. He is virtually unstoppable, can score on anyone at will, and is only 28. With the right coach, he'll even play defense. In fact, him and Crawford were good at playing the passing lanes, and looked bad last year cause we had no shotblockers. Most guards get beat off the dribble but have the luxury of help defense. We had none. He's labeled as a shoot first point guard, -I don't buy into media labels, they never let a guy shed a negative image until he wins a championship anyway, then somehow he becomes Jesus- he only averaged 13 shots a game and still put in 8.5 assists on a jump shooting team. The kids a beast, surround him with talent, then we see what we do with him from there.
5. Lastly, When Isaiah first came aboard, we had a terrible, unwatchable starting five. And everybody in the media said there was no way we could get any talent anytime soon with all the bad contracts. I do remember Isaiah saying he would have to trade to get players that he could trade, so all of his moves I have no problem with, cause he is really tryting to improve the product on the court. As opposed to a GM that would sit there and do nothing. Eventhough it has not translated on the court yet, I think he is still in the process of getting what he wants, a running team that could also defend. He's only been here a year and a half, and most good GMs don't turn a bad salary cap strapped franchise around until at least 3 years. So give the man another season or two before we run him out!