Am I the only one who isn't that impressed with Chandler's D? Specifically his weakside help D. Maybe he's trying to limit fouls but I feel like he's a step late all the time.
3 point shooting is going to come back. It is well below average now and will eventually stabilize slightly above average. Smith, Kidd will find the range so will Novak. Brewer is doing exactly what he did last year and Copeland was going to come down to earth no matter what was expected. Now instead of Kidd taking the 3, it's Prigioni. Instead of Felton driving in the paint, it's Prigioni. Instead of Sheed coming in with the backups, it's Thomas and Camby who can't spread the O. Our perimeter defense is bad, Shump will come back to fix that. We never boxed out, rebounding has been a problem. Free throws, Chandler is in a slump which is a big problem. Chandler has been less aggressive, not sure why. I'm thinking he's trying to limit fouls. The main problem is that Amare coming back is helpful offensively with the second unit, but the rebounding and defense we need from him, well it's never been seen before. See Melo was a kid who could play defense, but chose not to. You would see him lock down Lebron whenever he played him, but lazt defensively the rest of the year. Amare is a player who never had to play defense, so this is all new to him. He grew up and played chasing the ball and going for blocks. He isn't used to pick n roll defense and doesn't have good rebounding technique. Now I think over the course of the seaosn, he will be able to work on this and Woodson will put him in lineups where he isn't the anchor on defuse, it will be Chandler or Camby or Wallace.
Kidd wasn't brought in to be a starter. We are asking a lot from him early on while Shump is out. While he is not the same defender 1 on 1, he is still very good at helping. We are asking a lot of old men to play like starters. This was never the goal or intention. When we are able to go back to our 8-9 man rotation, things will be better. I will take the 4.5 game lead we have in the Atlantic right now with an injured team. Amare will EVENTUALLY start. That is a reality we will all have to acknowledge. So lets break down what our full rotation will look like assuming all players are healthy come Mid Feb/March. PG - Felton SG - Shump SF - Melo PF - Amare C - Chandler Rotating will be Kidd, JR, Wallace, and Novak. Sprinkle in Pablo and Copeland here and there. Don't see them playing much. Ideally, and this is what the Heat like to do with LeBron and Wade, is rotate Melo and Amare separately. 2 of them should never sit at the same time. While they both can start, I would sit Amare early. JR generally comes in early. Melo should always play the entire first quarter. So, move shump to 3, let JR play is usual 2, and move Melo to the 4 where he is a match up nightmare for every single team in the NBA. Second quarter Melo sits to start off, you sit felton and let Kidd run the second unit with Amare, Wallace and Novak. Novak should get very limited playing time because hes useless on the defensive end, but he will almost always play against second unit players so that wil help. Now Amare also gets his touches and the spacing as well as defensive presence will still be there. Melo is going to play hurt all year. Amare is back as we all know. Still the worst defender in the league. Rasheed injury has actually been a major impact.
Can Knicks play like this every night? If Amare can hustle and play defense like this, I don't care what he does offensively.
Amare had the misfortune of playing for Dopetoni for a lot of years. Give him another two weeks if magic Woodson tutelage and he'll be an above average defender too.
Same tendency. Forgot about the beginning of the game, only turn up the defense in moments, don't really take opponent seriously.
Celtics coming in Monday night. Dear god please may the Knicks beat the pulp out of them and humiliate those assholes to set the tone for the next 5 years
Regular season is only important up to a certain extent. I do not see the Knicks blowing the Heat out in the playoffs should they face off. However, the Knicks match up very well against the Heat. I am more concerned with the Bulls. All they need to do is hang around until they get Rose back, which will be right in time for their playoff push. Knicks are set for an important match up today against the Celtics. They are also a problem team. I am also hearing rumors of a major multi team trade. This will involve the Celtics, Lakers, Kings (perhaps some more teams not too sure). It will move Cousins to the Celtics, and Gasol to the Kings. Lakers in turn will get some depth. I hope this does not happen.
YES! KG is so frustrating. I still love this line from Shump on KG "So I dunked on him and got a tech" I really don't see the trade rumored happening. The Kings and other teams get nothing in return while LA and BOS get the spoils. It's the same type of trade scenarios that all big market teams say they can do, but rarely if ever pull off.
