Beyond that, I think he’s decent coach. They won as much as you’d expect, with the talent on board (and whose fault is that?), slowed a bit by injuries. I think he’ll play the best players, for the most part. The test will be what he does with Crawford…

As for Marbury – who do you expect to play the point? Nate is a shooting guard… Collins not only can’t shoot, he can’t run a team… so, forget about Marbury. He is what he is. Next year he’ll be trade bait, and for now, he’s the best we have.

Wow – am I actually saying I think he’ll make it to his THIRD year as a head coach?

I guess so.

Weird.

I would love to see Richardson and Balkman, or Jones and Balkman or even Chandler and Balkman to give us a lot of defense at the 2 and 3.

Crawford can be an above average offensive player (like his one year under Brown) and has the talent to be much better than that, but it does not matter because his defense is terrible. And not just sometimes but always. Bad defenders can be tolerated if their offensive game is excellent but at best Crawford’s offensive game was good (under Brown) and at his worst horrible. Crawford has no place on this team and we need to trade him and focus on defense and cosistancy from the 2 position even if it is less explosive.

At the point guard spot we need to start Marbury, at least until Robinson shows he can run a team full time or Collins develops an adaquate midrange jumper.

So I say a rotation of Marbury-Richardson-Balkman with Nate and Jones backing them up is the best group. That way we have at least two good defenders on the court at all times.

Owen – I believe that Isiah will last the year and probably more because he seems to have Dolan in his pocket. The only way Isiah gets fired is if we really really struggle which I do not see happening.

Plus even if we do struggle I am sure Isiah will be able to blame injuries again anyway. Sadly I think we better get used to many more years of Isiah.

Oops– I meant his 4 year anniversary (it only seems like 5…)

Of course, I would love to see him fired. I’ve been saying that since the Anucha case ended.
But the guy has always been willing to do anything to win. And he doesn’t have the luxury this year of showing patience in Marbury and Crawford and Curry if they revert to form and play me-first, or stupid basketball.

Season, maybe– but I don’t think he’ll be back next year…

I think the Knicks will go 6-9 in November, and in December will crawl up towards .500. During that time the appeal will be heard. If he wins it, he’ll stick all year. If he loses, I think he’ll be dismissed.

I think this years Knicks are going to be a lot like last years Knicks. Basically a .500 team once they mesh, but it will endure another sloppy start. The team was unable to go on any kind of a winning streak last year, losing to the like of the Bobcats when streaks could have been had.

In the spirit of wagering, I’ll say Isiah is gone after 20 – 25 games, right around his 5 year anniversary…

I could care less about offensive opportunities for these guards. They should focus on enabling the bigs. Both Marbury and Crawford shoot at about 40 percent. Randolph, Curry and Lee are shooting 47 percent, 57 percent, and 60 percent, respectively, which means they should get the majority of the touches.
Crawford and Marbury should be shooting only to keep the defense honest,and when they do it should be slashing plays to either break the D or draw fouls.
The problem is their defense is so bad it undermines the entire team.

So, you go with the high-percentage scorers, Curry, Randolph and Lee (60 percent shooter), give Q his shots from the perimeter.
If Marbury and Crawford aren’t shooting that much, and they shouldn’t at 40 percent, then you need Robinson, Q and Jones playing some D and distributing.

One of my favorite lines I’ve read on KB.

Though I also like this one too:

“He?s also the Knicks best defender against Yao Ming.”

Man, Yao made Curry look like a cockroach defending him last year. I’ve never seen any one struggle so hard on the defensive end. The effort was there, he just couldn’t find a way to stop him. Then Nate jumps up and blocks him, adding a punch to the face in the process…

INHO Balkman is definitely better than Ariza, despite what PER says. The difference in rebounds between them per 48 is bigger than the difference in ts%. And Balkman had the second best +/- in the league last year after Bowen.

Brown got the most out of Crawford. I don’t think Isaiah is capable of that. After Crawford shot what he shot in preseason, his response was that Crawford should shoot more. ;-)

How about some action on whether Isaiah survives the season, Caleb et al? I say no. Was very interested to see the Stern’s comments in the times today. Very harsh. Maybe we could do an over under on how many games he coaches this season. 60?

Lol, that could blow up in my face.

I want the Knicks to win, of course, but my penchant for schandfreude is running strong. I have to say I am pretty upset by everything that has transpired. The part of me that wants Isaiah gone, it’s been having a field day. I hate to admit this, I expect flames, but 30% of me wants the Knicks to struggle enough this year that Isaiah gets fired.

:-) That’s what you could call an open request for vituperative debate…