Novak is not useless. The way he affects games is so interesting without touching the ball. Without Felton his impact goes down, but when Felton drives, you ever wonder why the guy guarding the corner never hedges in to help out the PG? It's because Novak is chilling in the corner and the one thing they are told is not to leave him. You know why doubles are so hard to do on Melo? Because they guy covering Novak is not supposed to leave him at all. But when he does to do a proper rotation it leaves Novak open. If he sticks to Novak like told, he gets burnt by Smith or Kidd getting an open shot. And of course when we run a play for Novak, it usually involves a Tyson or big man screen. This means the paint is wide open because the book on Novak is to pressure once he catches causing Chandlers man and Novaks man to fight over the screen . That also doesn't include his surprisingly average defensive ability. A lot of opponenets decided to go 1 vs 1 on him. If you do this before the defense is set, you burn him. If you do this with the defense set, you usually take a long two or a contested shot by Chandler. Novak is a good piece to have. No reason to trade him just to trade him. Also of course his value goes up when we have Felton and Shump back.
I have to disagree. Teams will not double Melo when we are playing Felton, JR, Amare, and Chandler. Felton will be running pick and roll with Chandler and Amare. Novak's offensive 'abilities' do not out weigh his defensive inabilities. This makes him moveable. Now that Amare is back, especially down the stretch, you will rarely see Novak playing along side Melo. On offense, Novak is a statue, a piece that does not move. I don't ever recall seeing the Knicks run offensive plays for Novak. He is incapable of coming off screens. Again, he is a catch and shoot player - all players like him are trade bait pieces. Plus, id much rather have Gasol over Amare, and if Novak is the player that will make the Lakers bite, I am all for it.
The thing is I don't think Novak is enticing enough so I don't want to just dump him. YES!!! If practice goes well today
Fasting is very different from starvation. Only sensationalists are painting it that way. From what I read his diet was mostly liquid but included fruits and vegetables, so the claim of starvation or not eating is false. Technically that's not even a fast, it's just a strict diet.
I heard. May be a very big loss. Mainly because of his size, toughness, and defensive ability. Hes a gritty player. I don't even think we have the funds to sign Kenyon Martin.
Sheed will be back. They're just going to be very conservative with him until late in the season. I like Novak and love what he brings to the team, but if you could shed Amare's contract and bring in Gasol at just the additional cost of Novak, it's a no brainer. And I'm not even a huge Gasol fan but just his contract alone it makes sense.
anything to get amare off the court. His reduced offense can't compensate for his ineptitude on defense and how he breaks the flow of the team
Exactly. If the Lakers were to say, throw in Novak. I would not hesitate. Now this may all be a pipe dream, but, for conversation sake, this is a great move for both parties. Gasol is also a much better rebounder, something we still need help at.
Al Iannazzone @Al_Iannazzone Rasheed Wallace and Woodson disputed a report that Wallace's season could be over due to his left foot. "I'm gonna be back," Rasheed said.
^^^ Maybe this is the opposite of typical Knicks PR with injuries. Usually they start slow saying "bruised pinky" and it goes to fractured hand. Maybe this is opposite, "done for the season" means day-to-day?
NICE!! Hopefully its a good first game. Or should I say, Melo puts on a show. Look forward to watching the bigs match up
