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Power Rankings

by Tommy Dee on November 18th, 2010 at 11:13 am

Via Sports Illustrated (Knicks 24th)

Finger-pointing in Amar’e Stoudemire’s direction seems inevitable. A thin-skinned star stripped of his pick-and-roll partner became the supposed savior-by-default in a basketball mecca that is also a crucible of media scrutiny. And after Sunday’s home defeat to Houston extended the Knicks’ losing streak to five, Stoudemire told reporters, “We don’t have that sense of urgency.” But it is Stoudemire who is losing the urgent battles for position in the paint to fire-hydrant physiques like Kevin Love and Chuck Hayes. The career 54.2 percent shooter is down to 45.7 percent this season. And it may be just a 10-game sample size, but it’s worth noting that the Knicks’ defense yields 8.6 more points per 100 possessions when Amar’e plays compared to when he sits.

Uh, that’s because he’s been playing the 5 far too often. Can someon give me one of those nerdy basketball per whatever stats stating how many points they give up with STAT at the 4 and Moz or Turiaf along side please?
  • grahambo86

    Power rankings have been and always will be overrated. Just a way for the sports world to get fans talking.

  • http://WWW.REELTALKBLOG.COM @reeltalkSHAKES

    wow, Idk how they can put all the blame on Amare, he along w/ Fields and Ronny have been our most cosistent players. I guess they don’t see what WE ALL SEE, and that it’s Felton that gives him the ball to early and to far from the basket to get those easy pts he was getting w/ Nash in Phx.

    But I do agree that Hayes, Love, and Landry should not be putting up the #s they are…He does need to slow them down a bit. But I do love moving Ronny into the starting lineup, that should certainly slow down the opposing biggs a bit.

  • neberenz

    Still supporting my theory we should at least tried to get shaq, amare would be at the 4 all game shaq/turiaf. I know hes just trying at a title run but would of been nice to see in my opinion

  • http://WWW.REELTALKBLOG.COM @reeltalkSHAKES

    Where do they have the Nyets ranked? just curious to know…

  • Rome1988

    its working lol

  • BASEline LANEdrive

    So yeah, Amare’s not averaging the 30 pts per game we wanted him to average. Defenses are collapsing on him, and we need the rest of the team to step up to free him up.

    We know that.

    Amare is getting used to a new PG who chemistry with is needed cause Amare isn’t a “take you off the dribble” or “back to the basket” scorer.

    He’s a finisher.

    Does this mean he’s not worth his $100Mil? Maybe so. But is Bosh worth HIS money right now? Nope.

    That whole level of “sub superstar allstars” are overpaid cause they’re good but not good enough to necessarily carry teams to a chip. They need another player comparable or better to win (ie: Pau Gasol)

    Most players actually aren’t worth their money but I REFUSE to believe this team would be any better with Lee instead of STAT.

    As much as Stat isn’t the greatest defender, he’s better than Lee (except for rebounding). Lee didn’t even TRY to block shots.

  • JP

    Great post.

    I can’t stand that Randolph is getting buried on the bench. This kid may have more upside than anyone on our roster and we’re not giving him a chance to develop.

    This team is not going anywhere significant this year, developing our young talent is more important than wins. Let’s not get shortsighted just because we’ve been bad for so long and we are desperate for success.

  • http://WWW.REELTALKBLOG.COM @reeltalkSHAKES

    +1 couldn’t agree more.

  • Mal

    we should at least tried to get shaq,

    I dont know if _Antoni would have signed off on Shaq? Did he really want him in Phoenix, I’m not sure, does anyone know? Amare at the 5 is not good, but he will at least block/attempt to block shots which D Lee hardly ever tried.

    I wish we had a true pick and roll point guard and be able to bring Felton off the bench as the change of pace guard.

    It was great to get a win, I was worried in the first quarter. To get the win vs a better atheletic team who seems to have some dissention going on BUT who cares we got our own problems. There are pieces on that team I wouldnt mind having, plus they have size and bruisers.

    Gallo played pretty good he needs to keep being aggressive to get to the line. Timmy had a bad game but I think he needs minutes to play, is AR in _Antoni’s doghouse, we all know he could be in no man’s land for a long time when it comes to _Antoni.
    Fields is still chugging along good for him, Felt did okay, Ill Will but TD is still struggling but playing D and love Rony’s heart

  • ImAGirLSoWhat

    We’re all aware that TD has been playing with a sprained back, right?

  • swiftandabundant

    First thought. In the long run this might be good for Amare and make him a more complete player, learn how to do a few post moves and one on one action. STAT works hard so you gotta think he’s working on that every day.

    Second thought. How exactly are we supposed to handle AR? I mean, if we play him heavy minutes he’s gonna screw up and cost us games. If he’s buried on the bench, he won’t develop. I’m not trying to point out contradicitons, but Im just honestly wondering how to handle his development. I mean, if you were Dantoni, its not an easy question. His butt is on the line this year and he has to get results. So putting in a raw player (and AR is very very raw) could seriously hurt us. I think its also why you are seeing more Turiaf and less Mozgov. I think Turiaf needs to start. Good things happen when he plays

  • http://WWW.REELTALKBLOG.COM @reeltalkSHAKES

    I will say one thing, and I’m not sure if I’m the only that has noticed this, but THE OFFICIATING THUS FAR HAS BEEN HORRRRRIBLE.

    It’s as though that the refs are soo use to the Knicks sucking, everytime they make a defensive play, clean block or not, their blowing the whistle, late as hell most of the time too.

    And on the offensive end if the Knicks make an aggressive move to the basket and gets whacked and miss the shot, we don’t get a whistle, cause their so use to us missing those shots anyway…lol.

    Only guys that get calls are amare and gallo…

  • http://WWW.REELTALKBLOG.COM @reeltalkSHAKES

    and that was +1 for baseline not JP..lol.

  • Rome1988

    I wish we would use our shot blocking ability to create easy buckets. We have 3 guys who are leaders in the league in that category.

  • Rome1988

    I was not.

  • Rome1988

    I did not want to see his frail body go against Landry and Cousins lol that would have been suicide. They basically man handled Amare, Ronnie, and Chandler for most of the night.

  • Rome1988

    It has been bad, but there is not much we can do. I wish it would be better on both sides it would make the game so much better. These refs are human but they are suppose to be professional just like the NBA players. The highest level of quality. I dunno.

  • Mal

    Yea Cousins, Landry, Darnell Jackson big bruisers and Dalembert a tall fly swatting body and Jason Thompson and Donte Gree tall bodies

  • http://WWW.REELTALKBLOG.COM @reeltalkSHAKES

    @jp don’t you think we wasted enough time the last 2years trying to develop the talents of Will and GAllo, that we need to have a lil sense of WIN-NOW urgency???

    I’d rather bring Randolph, and prb Moz along slowly, since neither can help Now. Give them limited minutes, preferbly garbage time, til they can help and not hurt the team…imo.

  • italian stallion

    There aren’t any clear cut stats that I can find, but I can tell you that with Amare at PF and Turiaf at C the defense has been above average overall and with Amare at PF and Mozgov at C it has been below average.

    I think that says more about Turiaf than Amare.

    Turiaf has been extremely valuable on multiple metrics even though his box score stats are only marginal for a C.

    You can just see how much more effective the team is when he’s on the court. We also played horribly when he was hurt after that good start to the season.

  • http://theknicksblog.com Andrew Smith

    I got the nerdy basketball stats. According to 82games.com, here are our most effective lineups this season…
    Offense – Douglas-Chandler-Gallinari-Amare-Turiaf

    Defense – Felton-Douglas-Chandler-Amare-Turiaf

    Overall – Felton-Fields-Chandler-Gallo-Amare

    Not sure how that makes sense… but just reporting – I’m assuming it has something to do with Landry’s intangibles

  • Mucha

    “Uh, that’s because he’s been playing the 5 far too often. Can someon give me one of those nerdy basketball per whatever stats stating how many points they give up with STAT at the 4 and Moz or Turiaf along side please?”

    +1000

  • HaS

    Shaq + Amar’e wouldn’t equal ring and that’s what he was looking for. He could have gotten more money to play elsewhere, but he wants to catch up with Kobe who has 5. No way he signs with the Knicks (who are very far from a ring at the moment) AND rejoins Mike who really had no use for him in Phoenix.