jon abbey: that’s two people you’ve called arrogant, which I think maybe you’re mistaking for confidence in one’s own opinions on certain topics.

FWIW, I don’t remember a single other Knicks observer, pro or amateur, talking about how individual turnover percentage of the new players was going to result in such a marked improvement for the team from year to year. ruru nailed that one so far, from 29th last year to 1st currently…

ruruland himself said this: “I don’t normally come off as arrogant as I have lately. I’ll do my best to refrain from indulging myself at others expense.”

which is perfectly understandable, he’s been banging the drums alone for a good six months here.

having unwavering confidence in your opinions is cool; expressing it in an arrogant manner is not.

jon abbey:
has someone put together a montage of Melo’s new blocked shot technique, where he somehow swats it before the other guy gets it above his shoulders? there have been at least a handful of memorable, abusive ones.

I was surprised he didn’t foul the other players. It should be easy to protect the ball while you are getting it up there, i thought they were careless.

ruruland: Your Harden analysis is spot on. I’ve watched every minute he’s played, and the Rockets roster is not built around Harden’s talents, similar to the Knicks poor construction with Melo under MDA.

Asik is really a horrible finisher who has the irrational confidence bug. The Rockets supporting case is void of above-average shooting sans Delfino, who should be starting instead of Parsons.

Harden is an amazing transition, very good pnr player and lethal off-ball. But all the great scorers in this league have the versatility to get theirs in other ways when defenses take away say, pnr.

Harden has a limited tool set in isolation to make things easier at times.

i agree with this for the most part. though i feel houston’s roster is far from a finished product (at least in context to a “core”)as after the melo trade and then last year. its not like you have 3 supposed great players (melo, amare, chandler) then its on the coach to make it work regardless whether it make sense. lin and asik are upside type players who need to develop. then harden who needs to adjust to being a number 1 option (who i assume wasn’t expecting going into the season). houston’s roster will change quite a bit in the next couple years. the knicks are who they are far the most part. 2 different type of scenarios.

houston does need a good dive man on the pick and roll. i have stated my affection for asik but he does have serious problems catching the ball. his finishing has been a slight bit better the last couple of games and his TS is creeping up. though he seems surprised sometimes when the ball is passed to him. not a good sign. he is so fun to watch on defense though and has a 21% total RB percentage playing high minutes. and he has cut his fouls down. i see improvement. we will see

Sounds like Phil Jackson might take that Laker job. If he does, you have to hand it to him- he only takes the job when he knows he has the most talent and highest chance for success. When he doesn’t have the talent, he leaves

It really is hilarious, especially since his possible new deal seems to suggest that he can take off games and let his assistants coach some games so Phil doesn’t have to travel so much. It is good to be Phil Jackson!

Juany8: I simply can’t imagine Harden playing as well as Melo has these past few games, even his first 2 games were offensive masterpieces only, he wasn’t defending worth shit. I’m going to defend Harden here though, right now the main offensive weapons on this team are easily Lin and Harden, and both of them rely almost entirely on pick and roll and good spacing to be effective primary options. The sad truth has been that Patterson and Asik have been pretty poor pick and roll partners. Patterson just can’t really do anything well other than pick and pop, and Asik can’t catch the ball lol.

The Rockets really need a big man who can set a pick and roll hard to the rim to draw attention. It’s too easy for teams to simply trap Harden or double him when he makes a move, and he really hasn’t responded well to that kind of pressure. I’m sure it doesn’t help that he’s never played near this many minutes per game in his career, or endured this level of physicality and contact. It’s going to be an adjustment for him, especially after everyone took notice with his first 2 MVP level performances

Your Harden analysis is spot on. I’ve watched every minute he’s played, and the Rockets roster is not built around Harden’s talents, similar to the Knicks poor construction with Melo under MDA.

Asik is really a horrible finisher who has the irrational confidence bug. The Rockets supporting case is void of above-average shooting sans Delfino, who should be starting instead of Parsons.

Harden is an amazing transition, very good pnr player and lethal off-ball. But all the great scorers in this league have the versatility to get theirs in other ways when defenses take away say, pnr.

Harden has a limited tool set in isolation to make things easier at times.

Juany8: I don’t think Anthony has been a consistent superstar in this league, and has certainly shown many legitimate causes for criticism throughout his career. I also thought that even floating a 60 win possibility was a little ridiculous, especially since you thought Amar’es injury would actually hurt the team instead of help it like it has. You can’t be in favor of EVERYTHING the Knicks do

1) You are absolutely correct that Melo has deserved criticism at times in his career. Given all of the times I’ve both acknowledged those issues and helped provide some context for them, I find it odd that people try to pigeon hole me to this caricature as an absolute Melo apologist. That’s simpl never been the case.

2) I haven’t supported everything the Knicks have done, namely not re-signing Lin!!! I was also one of the people talking about trading Amar’e for a possible Okafor/Ariza package or perhaps Wallace and filler.

Now, that was back when I thought the Knicks were keeping Lin nd woulld therefore have what we all thought would be a second high-usage consistent scoring threat (which it turns out Lin probably isn’t).

My point was that the risks with Amar’e defensive tendencies override the offensive potential in a new situation because of diminsihing returns.

Now, even when I was talking about trading Amar’e (however unlikely I don’t need an explanation for this) I also said that you could be missing out some great upside because of what Amar’e displayed when Woodson became coach.

All of the things people didn’t think Amar’e was capable of defensively he did. It was the first time in his basketball career he had played with a real defensive coach.

That’s an incredibly important point as we move forward this season. His offense will be essential in the playoffs.

jon abbey:
the next 15 games look like maybe the toughest stretch of the season, 11 on the road and almost every one seemingly tough. we will know a lot more about the non-Amare/Shumpert incarnation of our boys after that. ruru, what’s your current call for the record after 19 games?

and I don’t think it’s small sample size in any way to point out that I’m pretty sure that primary option Carmelo Anthony never had as bad a four game shooting stretch all of last year as primary option James Harden has had the last four games combined (23-71). Harden’s assist/turnovers have been brutal since the MVP level opener also, 3.0/5.2 the last 5 games.

I simply can’t imagine Harden playing as well as Melo has these past few games, even his first 2 games were offensive masterpieces only, he wasn’t defending worth shit. I’m going to defend Harden here though, right now the main offensive weapons on this team are easily Lin and Harden, and both of them rely almost entirely on pick and roll and good spacing to be effective primary options. The sad truth has been that Patterson and Asik have been pretty poor pick and roll partners. Patterson just can’t really do anything well other than pick and pop, and Asik can’t catch the ball lol.

The Rockets really need a big man who can set a pick and roll hard to the rim to draw attention. It’s too easy for teams to simply trap Harden or double him when he makes a move, and he really hasn’t responded well to that kind of pressure. I’m sure it doesn’t help that he’s never played near this many minutes per game in his career, or endured this level of physicality and contact. It’s going to be an adjustment for him, especially after everyone took notice with his first 2 MVP level performances

ruruland:
I also really like the fact that now that people are waking up to the things I talked about months ago, you have to strawman me to make it seem as though I’m still somehow a delusional Polyanna.

So, when I said the Knicks could win 60 games if things go right, and all of a sudden that seems somewhat conceivable, now I apparently said the Knicks were locks to win 60+ games and win the championshi

Also, Juany’s attempts to separate himself from me in all of these posts to appear more credible is really the kicker considering my accuracy.

Ruru, you seem like a smart guy and I agree with a lot of your perspectives on basketball (for instance, I thought the Jason Kidd that played for Dallas 2 years ago when they won the ring was the perfect PG for this team) However, it’s become blatantly obvious that you’re not simply discussing your opinions on a forum but instead making a very clear case for one perspective. You write freaking pages about assisted attempts and have very clear and direct research for all your points, research I’m sure you didn’t just happen to do as you were typing our a post.

Since it’s become pretty clear to everyone that you have SOME kind of agenda, even if it’s not something shady (I think you’re trying to display your ability to construct and argue a point in a journalistic and professional fashion, but what the fuck do I know) I feel compelled to make it clear that while I like Anthony and this Knicks team, I don’t think Anthony has been a consistent superstar in this league, and has certainly shown many legitimate causes for criticism throughout his career. I also thought that even floating a 60 win possibility was a little ridiculous, especially since you thought Amar’es injury would actually hurt the team instead of help it like it has. You can’t be in favor of EVERYTHING the Knicks do