But otherwise, I think you’re spot on (and so does KB, as he quoted your post in the piece above!). The Knicks really do not seem to have a system, and it is frustrating as all hell to watch.

I never said the Knicks have talent or that Zeke has done a good job as President of Basketball Operations or coach. I said that he’s done a good job in the draft, both in Toronto and NY. That’s why I said your comment was off-base. If there are any Isiah supporters on this thread, I’m not one of them.

People aren’t just trying to find positives about Zeke because they like his smile. They’re trying to look at the situation as impartially as possible, rather than just saying Zeke hasn’t done a good job overall therefore everything he does/says/is is terrible.

Drafting is one of many aspects of Zeke’s job, and I think by most standards he’s done a good job in the draft relative to his contemporaries. You can admire his drafting and still say he’s done a terrible job running the Knicks.

“Zeke knows his draft picks can?t start,and so they are subs on a terrible team”

Tracy McGrady has made 7 All-Star teams and been named to 6 All-NBA teams in his career.

Marcus Camby’s had 3 consecutive all-defense selections, and is the reigning DPOY.

Give Lee, Balkman, Robinson, and Chandler some time and while none might ever win an MVP award, I think they’ll all be pretty good players (certainly all 3 have shown good progress for their experience levels).
Again, relative to what was available when Zeke has picked he’s been very impressive. That doesn’t mean he’s a good GM or coach or anything else besides drafter.

“by the way Ted, your analysis of ?the problem? with the Knicks misses the real problem: lack of Defense.”

The context of that post was the Knicks only managing 82 points/100 possessions against what was the league’s worst defense coming into the game. I absolutely agree that the Knicks’ defense is next to nonexistent, but I was addressing their offense.

I also welcome you to re-read the posts on this thread, you will find apologists who think Zeke’s drafting prowess is to be admired. Do your homework before you call somebody ignorant, you just show yourself to have blinders on.

Zeke’s very first move to bring us “talent” was to bring in Marbury — a loser, a selfish player, a guy who doesn’t play perimeter D, a guy who misses a lot of shots. That was the beginning of the move to “talent.” Zeke promised a quick turn-around. Zeke doesn’t take full responsibility for losses — “this one’s on me” is code for saying all the other losses aren’t.

Plenty of guys on this board try to find positives about Zeke. Not one of Zeke’s draft picks starts…what does that tell you? Even Zeke doesn’t think they have the talent to do it…except Mardy…and now after two woeful performances, he got benched…and the only reason Zeke started him was to “punish” Marbury (Zeke’s words). Zeke knows his draft picks can’t start,and so they are subs on a terrible team…enough praise for these guys, they ain’t getting it done. Period.

That’s exactly right. No motion offense. Just a lot of isolation plays.

And it is nearly impossible to play d without a 5 who can block shots and defend the pick and roll.

It’s also pretty hard to play O with two bigs who can’t pass at all, yet dominate the ball. Randolph and Curry have 14 assists between them in 17 games.

It’s so rare to see either of them even make simple basketball plays, like a give and go. I mean to be totally honest, I don’t think I can remember Curry ever having made a nice pass to someone cutting to the basket. Ever. Maybe a few dishes around the basket here and there, but the guy never hits open cutters for easy baskets. It’s sort of amazing really.

When you have two players who can’t pass, it’s pretty hard to run a motion offense….

“Can we finally shut up all the people who think Zeke is so great at finding talent???

Hey ? HE DOESN?T WIN.

All those apologists who point to his drafting prowess just don?t get it: He is a loser, his players are losers.”

I’m not sure who you’re referring to as Zeke apologists. It is possible to draft well and still be a bad GM. Your comment seems completely off-base and ignorant based on the posts on this thread.

Hey — HE DOESN’T WIN.

All those apologists who point to his drafting prowess just don’t get it: He is a loser, his players are losers. The stat that really matters is Ws…while Zeke has been on the scene, the New York Knicks have a stack of Ls…

I also love Zeke’s comment after the game: this one is on my desk.

Hey Zeke: THEY ARE ALL ON YOUR DESK!!!!!! Love how he tries to look magnanimous while shirking his responsibility for the other Ls… he is such a lowlife slug.

To me, the problem is that the Knicks have no structured offense. They’re in the middle of the pack in terms of pace and overall they just don’t seem to have a game plan. I have nothing to back this up and your points about the fast pace playing to the Knicks’ weaknesses make sense, but I just think that if another team comes in here and says we’re going to slow things down, take advantage of all of our possessions and make the Knicks work as hard as we can on their possessions (say Detroit) the Knicks are just as screwed as if GS comes in and says we’re going to run all night. Those teams have a plan and have tried to get talent suited to a certain style.

The Knicks’ entire offense has revolved around isolation and two man plays for years. It seems to me like their attitude towards building a team is: we’ll just get the most “talented,” “athletic” players and let them play. The attitude of the coach, interestingly enough, seems to be the same. So I guess the playground mentality of the players is not particularly suprising, especially because most of them played the same way before they got here.

Until their orgnaizational game plan is something other than a “power offense” where 3 players on the court at any time are trying to score 1 on 1, or 1 on 2, or 1 on 5 but have absolutely no ability or desire on D, and then 1 or 2 guys on the court is out there as a defensive presence (I mean, really, is one second year PG on the court for his D going to help an otherwise pathetic D? If one guy is going to be such a presence that he turns your whole D around it should probably be your 5, although maybe Balkman can reach the Gary Payton, Ron Artest, AK level of perimeter defender who dominates the game), the Knicks are going to find most NBA teams exacerbating on most nights.