Abasi:

The Knicks can be a 45-win team (as currently constituted) if Gallo stops his disappearing acts and D’Antoni decides to address the defensive issues. The knicks just can’t afford to let opponents score at will on the paint.  

I think the defensive issues aren’t b/c the coach isn’t ‘addressing’ them. One, Turiaf’s been their best defending big, and he’s hurt again. Two, the players who could be their 2nd/3rd best interior defenders have been the most disappointing — namely, Mozgov and Randolph. They’ve both been so godawful on the offensive end (not just ‘bad’ or ‘below average’, truly putrid) that having them play extended mins is impossible.

If we were to do a Melo for Fields and Gallo today, the Knicks would begin to lose by scores of 195-182, with 34 wins at the end of the season.

Fields has the potential to become to become a more productive David Lee – he represents the future (so far).

The Knicks can be a 45-win team (as currently constituted) if Gallo stops his disappearence acts and D’Antoni decides to address the defensive issues. The knicks just can’t afford to let opponents score at will on the paint.

Garson: after watching Fields … i think its harder to replace a glue guy like him, then finding a player like melo.that being said.. i would NOT trade gallo and fields for melo. We are finally seeing a fluid , ball moving offense in which 6 players are avg 10 or more points. We are seeing more instances where felton is finding amare either curling to the basket or in a position to throw it down.The fact that we still have one more max contract to add is very promosing… trading a guy like fields, that does not need the ball would hurt our team.  (Quote)

that being said.. i would NOT trade gallo and fields for melo. We are finally seeing a fluid , ball moving offense in which 6 players are avg 10 or more points. We are seeing more instances where felton is finding amare either curling to the basket or in a position to throw it down.

The fact that we still have one more max contract to add is very promosing… trading a guy like fields, that does not need the ball would hurt our team.

njasdjdh: rama, you must really hate Felton (as well as a lot of guys on that list) to have Kidd as high as you do.  

Are you serious? I’m tempted to go all Ted Nelson on you and drop 12 or 13 question marks. He’s definitely in the twilight of his career, but he’s still a better PG than Ray, both by the eye by the numbers – assists being the most important for a PG:

http://www.nba.com/statistics/player/Assists.jsp?league=00&season=22010&conf=OVERALL&position=0&splitType=&splitScope=GAME&qualified=N&yearsExp=-1&splitDD=

He makes passes Ray couldn’t even imagine. Do you not recall him taking a very average Nets team to the Finals (KMartin, RJ, Kittles for God’s sake) not once but TWICE?? Not even Nash could take that group to the Finals. Hell, Nash couldn’t even take the Suns to the Finals, and they had a significantly superior team. His scoring is down, but he has the top Assist/TO ratio in the league, is boarding solidly (ranked in the top few PGs), and is a leader in steals – an indicator that his D is still passable (so to speak). He’s one of the all-time best PGs.

Frank, you’re right about Curry’s D. You’re also right that we’d all take him in a minute over Ray. But the point (again, so to speak!) is the same: whether you put Ray 9th or 15th, we’ve got to be happy with him.

http://www.82games.com/1011/10GSW2.HTM#bypos

Don’t get me wrong – I’d trade Ray for Curry in a heartbeat. But the fact that we’re talking about him as being somewhere in the top 1/3 of PGs right now is GREAT.

massive: Could it be true that Gallo is already one of the NBA’s best offensive basketball players? His 92.4% from the stripe is good for 3rd in the league, he’s 2nd in the league in turnover percentage (6.4%), his offensive rating is good for 7th (126.2), he’s 10th in the league for Offensive Win Shares (1.6) and he’s sporting a TS of .598. Albeit this is only through 17 games, but I think he’s a lot better than the eye would tell you.

My issue with this is that many of these statistical measures do not punish you for disappearing for long stretches at a time. Regardless of his good TS, low TO-rate, Gallo definitely disappears for quarters or even halves at a time.

The Honorable Cock Jowles: I’d rather take Fields’s absurd TS% than Marion’s high shot volume. The difference of .114 in TS% is the difference between your average player and an All-NBA first-teamer. Even though Marion’s got him beat in all other areas (and you’re right that I was a bit hyperbolic there), Fields’s efficiency is out of this world.  

Ah, the old David Lee discussion. An impossible decision between high-volume average efficiency and low-volume high efficiency since they rely on each other. Hard to win with a whole team full of 13.7 usage guys. Each team probably needs a Marion AND a Fields in order to be special. In his current incarnation Fields is a great 3rd-4th option on the court — question is whether he can take the Lee step and become a 2nd option sort of guy. Right now he is playing off Felton and Amare (and doing it VERY well).