Let me get back to guys using their fouls. I mean, Amare had to step away or who was coming in? Shelden Williams? He had to stay out there and he couldn’t afford to go as hard as he could defensively. A good bench player or two can make a difference in the way a guys stats look and, more importantly, in the success of the lead players on a team, both offensively and defensively.

The only player that was worth the risk, truly, was for LeBron. Beyond that, I wouldn’t trade Stat for a CHANCE at someone else except maybe D12.

That is also because I believe both these players have played either in a wholly offensive scheme or because they were the primary scoring option. I believe with time and a training camp, these two players will feed off each others’ need to win. They are both in their prime now and understand what winning basketball is about. I think both of them could improve defensively for the Knicks to move beyond being a .500 team.

They both have the swagger to make the Knicks a winning basketball team. They both have the max contracts that dictate you must win. They don’t need to worry about averaging 25 a game being paid 18 million a year. Short of getting Howard, Paul + Amare or Melo, I actually want to see how much of their “defense wins” talks become reality.

Our Knicks will be fine with an offseason and a training camp to gel for the upcoming season, if there is one…

http://www.theklowntimes.net

Count Zero:
@9

This doesn’t even make sense. Zeke? Is that you?

Do you honestly think someone is going to trade some good role players, draft choices (low-mid 1st round) and $10MM+ of expiring contracts to take on STAT’s contract? If they did, that would actually be fair value wouldn’t it? More likely you will either get draft choices and one or more dog contracts to match Amare’s, or valuable players with no picks.

More to the point, trading an all-star for picks is what you do when you want to rebuild. So you are saying we should just throw in the towel on everything we did the past three seasons and re-enter rebuilding mode? Not likely…

Easy, fella, no need to call someone Zeke. Is there a worse insult in the world?

I think you misunderstood my point. I was saying if it is determined that Melo and Amar’e can’t coexist and one needs to be moved at the trading deadline (which was the scenario put forth before me), there is no need to seek out fair value in the trade market for Amar’e because there is fair value for him in the free agent market. With Amar’e off the books we’d have cap room to sign two max free agents this summer, i.e. Paul and Howard. And the picks would be to help build a supporting cast at low cost, which would be vital if you assembled a big three. That’s hardly rebuilding.

Also, you’d be trading an All Star with a 3.25-year contract at that point, so I don’t think he’d lack interest. I think his injury concerns were greatly overblown as he has proven quite durable when not attempting ludicrous dunks during warmups.

Again, though, we are talking nuclear options. I’d rather let the two play together and see if it can work. But if you wanted to be heartless, the Knicks could easily dump him for picks and expiring contracts at the deadline and then go for a more compatible big three of…

I don’t think passing ability would be sacrificed if you switched out Bilups for Melo. I’d rate Melo’s passing ability higher than Billup’s and their willingness to pass out of a screen at about the same; more than that, I happen to think Melo’s one of the most talented passers in the league, he can make every single pass, from the crosscourt pass for the corner three, to a one-handed whip pass from the post, to a pocket bounce pass off a screen, he’s a very gifted passer…which makes his low assist numbers even more frustrating. A passer of his caliber should not have zero 20 percent or higher assist rates this deep into his career. His mentality needs a medium-sized shift from not trying to go on a scoring spree all the time.

Even if he’s not passing much, Carmelo would benefit from getting a little more space with a screen. Sometimes it’s a grind for him to get past his man off an iso so that even when he finally does, the help has had time to get into place and make his shots at the rim difficult. Getting even a slightly more clear path to the hoop should help his paint scoring efficiency.

John Kenney:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ec61f8a82f/kobe-bryant-on-the-nba-lockout

so funny. he gets a ton of Kobe’s mannerisms

Ha Ha!! “I held it a little longer” lol

so funny. he gets a ton of Kobe’s mannerisms

I think the Knicks can work on a bunch of plays to score a ton of points. The Stat/Fields give and go worked pretty well. I also think if you had a defensive assistant and a true “we’re trying to win a championship” environment, you could get at least average defense from Melo and Stat. In the playoffs, you’d want better than average defense overall so you’d need your other 3 playing pretty well with a good system.

Question: whatever happened to boxing out in the NBA? It just seems to have died.