SeeWhyDee77: Well..Amare is not actually getting benched.

When I say that I mean since he hasn’t played yet and our start to the season has put his starting spot in question. He should always get starter’s minutes..but on this team maybe not paired with Melo as much

Hubert Davis: Strongly disagree.Why would you want to disrupt the starting 5 for Rasheed but not for Amar’e?

It’s one thing to ask Amar’e to come off the bench because the first unit is playing at an extraordinary high level.It’s another thing entirely to bench him for Rasheed Wallace.

Well..Amare is not actually getting benched. Starting Sheed gives us more size and defense. He also spreads the floor more as Stat is most effective in mostly the same spots as Melo. Also there are no screen and roll or pick and roll issues with Sheed in there. Besides..Sheed isn’t gonna be counted on for big minutes. Think of it as the same thing with Kurt starting..only more effective and a few more minutes. Now would be the time to do it if Stat really is willing to accept coming off the bench. I think it would work for those reasons and it would save Tyson from being the only big out there and hopefully keeping he and Melo from wearing down as quickly/often. More so…a healthy and in game shape Camby helps Amare as well.

SeeWhyDee77:

I think Woody should start Sheed once Stat gets back.

Strongly disagree. Why would you want to disrupt the starting 5 for Rasheed but not for Amar’e?

It’s one thing to ask Amar’e to come off the bench because the first unit is playing at an extraordinary high level. It’s another thing entirely to bench him for Rasheed Wallace.

Frank: we will have 12 guys that actually deserve to play real minutes

True, but realistically, over an 82 game season, one or two guys will be out at any given time with various minor (hopefully) injuries or illnesses. Already, in addition to Shump and Amare, they’ve had to deal with Chandler’s knee, Sheed’s foot, Kidd’s back and Brewer’s finger — which is why depth is so important. Too many good players is a great “problem” to have…

Tough to squeeze everyone in there, however, there will be injuries all along. I think it would be interesting to pair Kidd at the PG with Shump at SG. Shump can try a lot of the ball handling, and if in trouble, there’s always kidd there. On the defense, Shump would defend the better of the opponent’s guards. I’d like that STAT come from the bench, because it would make it easier for woodson to play the lineups, however, the best lineup would be Felton / Kidd / Melo / STAT / Chandler, and should finish the games.

I also double-check Amare schedule to be back around mid-December. It’s not imminent. Knicks still have 9 games play till Dec 15th. If team kills it (7-2), it would hard swallow changing starting lineup up.

Frank: I think you leave the current starting lineup intact – as multiple writers have noted, Felton/Kidd/Brewer/Melo/Chandler are absolutely killing other teams.A second unit of Prigs/JR/Novak/Amare/Rasheed or Camby might really be better than a lot of 1st units in the league. I know Rasheed has been bricking his 3s, but presumably he will start shooting somewhere close to his career rate (which still isn’t great) – which means Prigs+Amare running PNR with 3 shooters on offense, and on defense we have a good big protecting Amare.

I think that will work as well but I’m just a little worried about Melo primarily at the 4 all season where he’s gotta worry about Boozer-West-Smith-Humphries-Nene(if healthy)-Davis-Mullens-Bargniani in the east alone on a pretty much nightly basis. I’m not worried about the skill sets of those guys, but at some point u gotta think that coaches will find a way to use that size against Melo. Atlanta starts 2 guys that are roughly 6’9″ 240 so maybe their size is not as much of a factor. I dunno…either way Woodson has options that should work whether Melo’s at the 3 or the 4