Mozgov And Varejao

I agree that his rebounding is a bit of a concern, and needs to improve. That said, he does a very good job boxing out, and Amare/Randolph will grab a ton of rebounds playing next to him. I don’t think he will ever be a 10 rebound guy, but hopefully he can develop into a 6 or 7 rebound per night player. Obviously not this year, but in the future. His inside scoring is better than I expected, and he is going to fit right in offensively. We all know how much D’Antoni loves to run the P&R, and that is clearly where Mozgov excels. He sets great screens, and is very fast for a 7-footer. He also has nice touch around the glass, and he plays to his size. That block on Rose had to excite Knicks fans, even though they called it a foul. I don’t think we have seen a play like that from one of our guys in years. He needs to work on his shot, his rebounding, and avoiding fouls, but I was very encouraged with what I saw. When we first signed him, I was thinking he could be a good bench player. After watching him in the tournament, I think he could be our starting C of the future. He has a lot of potential, and is still fairly young.

He looked good today and a couple of his fouls were imo ticky tack.

Especially that block on Rose for his 4th foul, that was all ball.

As a Knicks fan I would definitely take a Varejao type player. Mozgov does seem to be a better offensive player than Varejao is.

During today’s USA Russia match up WojYahooNBA tweeted: Shouldn’t be too surprised Russia hanging despite inferior talent. Blatt isn’t good, but great coach. One of best 2 or 3 in Euro.

Don’t you love media judgement arbitrage?

The russians were hanging in the game until mozgov went to the bench with his 4th foul, which was a nasty all ball block.

in terms of comparing him to varejao, lets not forget that varejao excelled playing alongside lebron. im curious to see how he does this season. not having watched mozgov I wonder if he could develop the p/r shot like Kurt Thomas did. kt in his last couple of years with the Knicks had morphed into a pretty reliable midrange scorer off the pick.

Repost from Melo thread:

If Bulls wanna give up the farm for Melo go ahead. I rather not budge and wait til after the season or get him via trade very VERY cheap say curry chandler and 2 future picks ( i know Denver would laugh at this offer). My point is i would rather not give up the farm for him and wait till the free agency. Lets see who else is a potential FA next year? I would try and bring in Tyson Chandler for about 9-10 mil per, i would try and snag Al Horford and Marc Gasol but doubt either team would let them go or at the 2 i would look to bring in J Rich or Redd ( i would do a incentive laden deal) . Or if Az prove to be healthy and productive i would just resign him to play the 2. It doesnt end if we dont get Melo.

PS I am a fan of Melo i would like to have him here but not at the expense of AG gallo Chandler and picks.

If moz turns out to be vajero (spl) for 3 mil id be happy with that.

TD- Why is my comment waiting moderation? i don’t think there is any curse words or anything

+1 on the “nasty all ball block”

Have to love the energy and fearlesness he has shown in this tournament.
At 7’1″ 270lbs, the rest will take care of itself.

Relying on MD to teach Moz is a lost cause! We need better bench coaches who can help teach the things MD feels he is to good to bother with, I still say Mike Brown would be perfect for this team as a bench coach!! He turned the Cavs in to the top defensive team in the NBA. He can be the ying to MD’s Yang and help a guy like Moz get better. To bad MD’s ego is more important to him then what is in the best interest of the team.

If he can get 9-10 boards per 36, he’ll be extremely useful. If not he’ll be Eddy Curry minus the extra 50 pounds and lack of motivation.

Anderson Varajao to me is HE IS JUST A HUSTLE PLAYER WITH HEIGHT! if he didn’t have that size he would be nothing imo….Now with Mosgov, the guy is non stop moving, He runs the pick and roll so well and he can really finish with having a decent left hand that he uses a bit to…He Needs to work on his post game But with his Jump Shot, You can tell He has great form on his jumper which is something they can work with, look at D lee He had no J from 8 feet out so we get Mosgov to workout with whoever helped d lee, and I Believe Mosgov can be very productive in this system…O and also HE NEVER GOES FOR PUMP FAKES HE IS ALWAYS ON HIS FEET STANDIN STRAIGHT UP going for the blocks…he is extremely active.

Varejao > Mozgov.

“He doesn’t appear to be well-coached by the Russian team, because he looked a bit scatterbrained on the court today, but that will change once he puts on the Knicks uniform”

Man, this Russian coach must be really bad. LOL.

Exactly, with the work coach I think he can pan out well for the Knicks. He definitely needs to work on his rebounding & jump shot game, but I too did notice he doesn’t go for pump fake shots. Maybe all we need is just the right centers coach for him to work with.

I meant to say with the right coach working with him, he can be a good ball player. And his Post up game needs some working on forget about the jump shots nts.

I don’t think that MD will be teaching Mozgov anything.

In Amare’s summer league interview with Clyde & Mike Breen he mentioned how good it was to be back together with Mike’s coaching staff (didn’t specify Mike though lol). I guess if Amare likes whoever those assistant coaches are then perhaps there’ll be someone around to teach Mozgov a thing or two.

What on earth makes you think Mike Brown wants to be an assistant coach anywhere? Can you tell me the last time two successful head coaches teamed up to co-coach a team? The scenario you describe isn’t being blocked by MD’s ego, it’s not happening because it’s just ridiculous.

If D’Antoni could help Diaw go from useless to most improved and help David Lee go from garbage bucket specialist to borderline all-star, I think he’ll be able to teach Mozgov a thing or two.

If he is Varajao, don’t expect to see him get much time on the floor. Varajao has no real offensive skills and makes up for it with put backs, garbage baskets, and beating his man down the floor. What he does excel at is being an enforcer, hustling, flopping, having Sideshow Bob hair, annoying the other team, creating some energy, and being disruptive on D.

Not sure he is a SSOL guy. He’s the guy you hate on the other team and love if wears your colors.

I can see the Varejao comparisons they are not off-base. If he becomes Varejao I’d be happy with that. Varejao is a serviceable player.

You can play in SSOL as long as you can run and don’t slow down the flow of the offense. Varejao could play for Dantoni. Dantoni has a problem with guys who are iso guys and slow the flow of the offense (read Harrington, Hughes, Eddy Curry, etc).

Dude Mozgov hasn’t even played an NBA game yet.

I don’t get why people think that D’Antoni won’t play a good defender/hustle player. He started Jeffries! That guy is one of the worst offensive players in the entire league. The only reason he was playing was because of his effort and defensive ability. If D’Antoni only starts offensive players, like some people on here think, why wasn’t Harrington starting?

“Dude Mozgov hasn’t even played an NBA game yet.”

Precisely.

LOL

“The only reason he was playing was because of his effort and defensive ability.”

Or it was because they were showcasing him like everyone said when Jeffries was here and gave that as an excuse why Hill, Toney and Darko never saw the floor.

“If D’Antoni only starts offensive players, like some people on here think, why wasn’t Harrington starting?”

If _’antoni actually cares about hustle and defense why was Harrington even playing or he AND Lee getting so many minutes?

Can you name even a single player on last year’s roster aside from Gallo who was a genuine scoring threat *and* gave good effort and hustle on defense?

I mean, you’ve gotta put five players on the floor. Beching Harrington and Lee in favor of Darko and Hill would have for an even more pathetic product you can imagine that.

“Can you name even a single player on last year’s roster aside from Gallo who was a genuine scoring threat *and* gave good effort and hustle on defense?”

I’ll name 2, Chandler and Douglas (he scored 20 a month into the season).

“I mean, you’ve gotta put five players on the floor. Beching Harrington and Lee in favor of Darko and Hill would have for an even more pathetic product you can imagine that.”

How much more pathetic?

2 wins, 5 wins, 7 wins less?

Who cares, 29 wins as opposed to 22 wins? Whoop-de-damn-doo.

Why would Harrington and Lee even have to be completely “benched” their minutes could have been cut though, it would have forced them to play the right way in a contract year. There is no greater incentive than minutes for an NBA player, especially one in a contract year. Harrington had been known as a defender, even a stopper, prior to _on Nelson and _’antoni and if Lee was anything he was a hustle player prior to the current “coach” they both got progressively worse, yet received the lion’s share of minutes.

Terrible “coaching”.

… if you think Wilson Chandler and Toney Douglas, a rookie, were guys than could carry the offense like Lee and Harrington, I don’t know what to tell you. We’re talking about replacing 38 points.

Giving Douglas, Chandler, Hill, and Darko the lions share of the minutes last year would have resulted in EASILY the worst team in the league. Worse than the Nets. And that’s really saying something.

Sad as it is to say we needed Harrington and Lee last year because they could put the damn ball in the cup with something resembling consistency.

My point being you have no basis for comparison.

You can put Varejao on an NBA floor for 35+ minutes a night and not worry about him hurting you, he has the experience and he is a proven player at his position. He also has international experience on a very good FIBA team.

Mozgov is an undrafted rookie from the Euro League who doesn’t even start.

Varejao > Mozgov.

“… if you think Wilson Chandler and Toney Douglas, a rookie, were guys than could carry the offense like Lee and Harrington, I don’t know what to tell you. We’re talking about replacing 38 points.”

I guess you can’t read or choose not to because of your incredible love for Lee, Harrington or _’antoni. I’ll repost.

Why would Harrington and Lee even have to be completely “benched” their minutes could have been cut though, it would have forced them to play the right way in a contract year. There is no greater incentive than minutes for an NBA player, especially one in a contract year.

Maybe I should have “bolded” it for you, try and read it this time.

Hint:

It’s italicized.

Dude he hasn’t played, you don’t know how good he is. Let him play then we can really compare them…