BigBlueAL:
Sheed is still out tonight, still no word on Melo.

Melo will play.

Also keep in mind that, by the end of the season STAT was starting to get his legs and timing back. I really think his jumper will be much better than it was last year, when he was coming off six months without playing due to a bad back, the death of his brother, etc.

One of the links ruru linked to had percentages of his buckets that were assisted. Amare’s at rim percentages were best the higher percentage of them were assisted. I think this goes to show that more important for him than bench/starting/melo/no-melo etc. is ball movement and decent point guard play. As long as isolation play is kept to a minimum and players do their jobs screening, moving, cutting, etc, I don’t see how Amar’e's TS % is less than 580, even if he’s not a hundred percent.

I predict that when all three of Chandler, Melo and STAT are together there’s a lot of “horns” sets with STAT and Chandler at the elbows and Melo playing more on the wing. Since his three point shooting is unreal on catch and shoots this year I don’t see this as a bad thing. This can also lead to a Chandler or STAT handoff/short pass to Melo game.

At the very least, with Felton out, I think we’ll see more Melo led hand off/pick and rolls.

Amar’e typically has a ftrate that’s significantly higher than any of the minutes/shots he’s replacing.

the Knicks rank 23rd in fta.

Obviously, you can’t expect Amar’e to replace all of the bad shots the Knicks currently take with good shots.

But I think it’s pretty clear that Amar’e skill set fills the voids in this offense.

How often have we seen the Knicks being unable to generate a good shot near the rim and settle for a contested 2?

There’s no reason to expect those good 3s to discontinue with Amar’e in the game, he is the kind of player who needs to be accounted for at all times — they may increase.

Also, outside of Melo, Amar’e is far and away the best post-up iso shot creator on the team, which should help a lot on those wasted possessions.

But the most important thing is how Amar’e fits into the continuity offense. I think it’s pretty obvious with the ball movement and the middle pnr attack he has a chance, especially with Felton back, to get back to the +600 ts Suns days.

Anyone who has Synergy, go back and watch all the offensive possessions with Brewer in the game, and then watch all of the “cuts”Amar’e has gotten the last 3 years.

You’ll notice that there is actually a great potential synergy between the ways teams aren’t defending Brewer (because of roll and 3pt threats) and the way Amar’e has scored flashing from the weakside on middle pnr action.

Before I get back to work (and then get back to finishing up my Amar’e piece) check out the NBA leaders in points in paint:

http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/points-in-paint-per-game

Obviously that’s not possession adjusted, but still glaring.

Check out Amar’e in terms of paint scoring compared to other great paint scorers:http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Amare%20Stoudemire

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=LeBron%20James

http://hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Dwyane%20Wade

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Andrew%20Bynum

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=James%20Harden

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Russell%20Westbrook

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Dwight%20Howard

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Blake%20Griffin

By volume and efficiency, Amar’e is as great a downhill, at the basket force as anyone in this league not named James or Howard…..

Also, consider this:

Raymond Felton has a usage this year that’s about 7 percent higher than at any point in his career, and 10-12 percent higher than where he can be his most effective.

JR Smith has been most efficient in his career at about 22-23 usage Right now he is creeping up to 25.

The Knicks shoot a lot of 3′s — that is great. But they also shoot an inordinate amount of long 2s –http://hoopdata.com/teamgl.aspx?team=NYK

Amar’e will shoot his fair share of jumpers, but when we look at shot distribution, he will shoot a much higher percentage of his shots near the rim than the players shots he’s likely to replace.

This is about the minutes and shots Amar’e is replacing.

Right now, Brewer is a -3.8. the second worst number on the team.

Novak is a -2.9 averaging a career high 25 mpg. Novak is not a 25 mpg player.