Amar’e: Melo Needs to Accept Speedball

SMH at Amar’e.. THE PROBLEM IS DEFENSE!!

He’s so brain washed by all the years with this “coach” that he doesnt realize what it takes to win in the Association.

SMH at Amar’e.. THE PROBLEM IS DEFENSE!!

He’s so brain washed by all the years with this “coach” that he doesnt realize what it takes to win in the Association.

Tommy Dee, telling it like it is.

At least Jim Dolan is happy, he gets 49% more in ticket revenue whether this works out well or not.

why are they talking about offense when the main concern should be DEFENSE?! the offense is not a problem considering they just had 20 3s the game before! Defense will get us to the playoffs

Yeah, those 60 win seasons in Phoenix brain washed him.

Of course his defense, if you can call it defense, is non-existent.

Absolutely correct about Melo’s attitude on full display.
That has to change immediately, otherwise this team will be a disaster.

best line from the article at the end

Understand that the head coach, who is already in over his head trying to figure out the best defensive strategy for this team, knows what he’s talking about on the offensive end.

All this comes down to the Coach who is confused and at sea most of the
time. I can make a long list of errors D’Antoni has made since the start of
the season. But now he is making his biggest mistake by not insisting on
team offense and team defense. That means up-tempo basketball which
melo can fit into very nicely and stubborn man-to-man defense which
the Knicks have the athletes to do. D’Antoni is busy kissing melo’s
toes to protect his job. Before the trade the team lost four or five games
because of the coaching and the same thing after the trade. Stat must take
over this team and tell D’Antoni what to do or we are toast. We are in
disarray right now, it may get worse.

I think because when the Knicks can lure teams into playing uptempo, we are better than they are at. That’s when we get turnovers and cause havoc on defense. The game at Portland was a classic example of that approach. In the D’Antoni system, your offense sets up the defense. You force the other team to play your style.

It’s abundantly clear that this team is below average in a half court defense. An uptempo game minimizes our deficits.

He had Steve Nash doing the coaching. He is one of the best point guards
of all time.

I totally agree with Amare, but he still needs to be in the film room watching tape on how to play D.

Like it or not D’Antoni is our coach, & we should run. But there are times when the ball needs to be slowed down & that’s when the offense should become Melo heavy. This should be the easy part, this is what coach gets paid for. This is the last I want to hear of issues with the offense. Defense.. Defense

Time for Melo to man up…..or I’m changing my icon lol…

Melo is a great talent. So is Amare. They can play any style you want them to. They can also be great defenders if they want to. It all means sacrificing PPG and minutes for wins. It’s very simple. If they are unwilling to do that, then we’re a 500 team plus or minus a few games. Melo’s game is definitely off and he seems to be pressing too hard to make things happen so a change in style will help him. Billups looked the same way last night and really lost the game for us down the stretch with turnovers and awful shot selection despite Melo being bad all game. Amare didn’t look like an elite player even on the offensive end where he had crucial turnovers on a couple pick and rolls (where he couldn’t handle passes than an elite player should) and a few drives (where he ended up with no shot or a bad shot – seems to be the drive and hope for a foul if you get out of control approach which also appears to be a big part of Melo’s game lately). Melo was awful and looked like Will Chandler on a bad night – the difference is that when Will was having a bad night, Dantoni didn’t give him 37 minutes – on a night like that, Melo needs to simply focus on playing D and grabbing boards – he’s a great rebounder when he focuses on it and thats what we needed down the stretch. Toney Douglas has been our best player lately and was great last night – he did everything you’d want him to do to win the game. Same for Shawne Williams. I think Hahn is basically right – our offensive has turned into a half court high post one on one game for either Melo or Amare – its awful to watch – like being at a 16U AAU game. The funny thing about last night is that it was our offense that killed us. The defense was adequate, but bad when it counted and lets face it, we weren’t exactly going up against an offensive powerhouse last night…. Unfortunately, we’re just not that good and our style on both sides of the court needs significant change. We have the talent to be much better, but only if that talent is willing to sacrifice their personal stat line for team success.

All I hear on this blog is D’Antoni’s years in Phoenix.The western conference at that time was mostly run and gun and he had FOUR star players and depth.He would not know DEFENSE if he tripped over it.

we barely beat teams playing antoni’s speed/ gimmick before the trade what makes amare think we’re going to win with it now??
THE PROBLEM IS NOT ON OFFENSE AMARE! get that through your freaking head. Your coach has you playing out of position each and every game, thats what you should be crying about. Your PnR defense is atrocious yet all you can say is melo needs to commit to the speed ball science ball

This is the 2011 version of McAdoo/Haywood…. Talent and bad chemistry…. Scoring & no D,… just a different brand of Mediocrity.

Geez, you would think the brilliantly overpaid deuce bags that run the Garden and supposedly know the game could have foreseen this issue.

Arrogance, Pride, Ego pissed away a young, team on the rise that was fun to watch. It’s been painful to watch this team. Fuck’n PAINFUL!!!!

ITS ONLY BEEN 14 FREAKING GAMES
got dammit some of you knicks fans are going to make me do something i’m going to regret..

Stat is wrong about ssol offense.He does not have the coaches back.He wants to score
30 points again.This will cause a problem with Melo who likes to post up and isolate.I do not hear Stat talking about defense.BYE BYEcoaching staff.

This is all frustrating to say the least…Or I am jus a demanding New Yorker..Why cant we smash inferior teams? Do we play @ their level or what? When I look @ Miami I see a similar team makeup, but I think we have a better bench. But we are not reeling off 6 or 7 game win streaks…And we are not smashing BS teams…Something is def not clicking. I need to see 2 things b4 I die, a cure for baldness and a NYK Ship…Feast or famine is out playing style now… And we def cant stop speedy guards…When the middle collapses we seem to always give up an Off Ree…

The pace and offense have hardly been “plodding.” But yay, now we can REALLY commit to Outscoreya ball.

Great piece by Hahn.

Wow. just…..wow.

if Melo is already complaining about not getting the ball when someone other than he scores, we are in some serious trouble.

This sulking is eerily marbury-esque……

GOODNESS SAKE!
If i see shawne williams / amare front court playing down the stretch again i’m going to pull my freaking hair out..
those 2 have shown time and time again that they’re both INCAPABLE of guarding a screen and roll yet ANTONI NEVER ADJUSTS AND takes one of them outta the freaking game..
I’M TIRED OF THIS CRAP ALREADY…GET THIS HEAD COACH THE **** OUTTA MY SIGHT..
Bring me somebody that’s going to make this thing work on the defensive end. Somebody that’s going to utilize defensive schemes instead of “hopes” and “prayers”

antoni’s mentality is hope that shawne wiliams/amare are able to guard the screen and roll…and when they cant he gives ALL THE FREAKING CREDIT TO THE OTHER TEAM…
WILL FREAKING BYNUM AND CHRIS WILCOX KILLED US LAST NIGHT!

you hope thats what it becomes. smh@ you

amare needs to get roasted as well…he shouldn’t be considered armed with Teflon …he needs to get criticized for his acumen on the defensive end / screen and rolls

Melo is Marbury with a headband. what is most alarming to me is that everyone is glad to have him out of denver

Agreed. Thought the comparison was neat, though.

yep marbury really took his team to the playoffs each and ever single season…
marbury led his team to a conference championship..

while everyone is roasting melo….amare gets no critism ? wow… i think i’m watching a different game..

Good analysis. The talent is there. D’Antoni needs to figure out how to get the best out of them. It can be done. I am still a believer. Go Knicks

Definitely not a good sign.. Im going to be optimistic and say this is our rough patch and we will get it right.. Even though my optimism is dwindling by the minute

The emergence of Me-lo has begun. Dude isn’t wrong on his account. He is a player that needs the ball in hands to be fully effective. Never understood why some people don’t want to accept this. High volume shooter/scorer with a low player efficiency rating. This isn’t a Kobe, MJ or Lebron type of player that can say hey, you guys score and I am going to lock down the elite wing player and just distribute the ball. When the trade went down, my thoughts were that Amare would have to try to become that type of player. Unfortunately, Amare can’t lock down players but he is able to get the ball to his teammates effectively. Coach Mike doesn’t have a clue how to handle this mess. But staying quiet is not an option.

Billups is ready for the front office in Denver. He can drain a big shot but is not the same player for 32 minutes in a game anymore.

talking about his attitude don’t want to defend marbury who I can’t stand, but Melo has played with more talent in his time in the league than marbury ever did

Yea. Speedball. That’s the problem.

SMH

*Kanye shrug*

“This isn’t a Kobe, MJ or Lebron type of player that can say hey, you guys score and I am going to lock down the elite wing player and just distribute the ball.”

o_O Yeah, because that happens often lol

yes, but at least he doesn’t sulk…….

Oh yeah

i see a bunch of guys who said trade EVERYTHING for Melo
Calling for DFENSE now???

you make no sense

i criticized Amare in the recep. The piece was about melo.

Amare was really bad on D, but we lost the game because melo didn’t show up

at the time the only team with any real size was the Spurs and they beat the Suns like a red headed step child.

The East is a different brand of ball. you dont win in the East with “Speedball”

The problem is melo sulking when he doesn’t get the ball and letting it effect the other parts of his game.

The honeymoon period is over. i just hope this isn’t the Melo we are going to have to get used to…..

Can we just fire the coach, already?

Agreed

MELO will become the new StankBury

Many of you guys don’t get it. Melo isn’t complaining about getting the ball…from what I heard he really doesn’t like Tony Douglas’ lack of court vision. Melo gets frustrated when Douglas blindly misses open players…Melo actually played good man to man defense last night with the exception of a few times when he lost his man.
The Knicks first problem on defense is defending the pick and roll. And as far as I can remember Lebron is no where near a lock down defender…at best his is a good “fast break” shot blocker but that’s it.
Melo just scored 28 points the game before and now people are labeling him as the problem….insane….get a “basketball” clue

Oh c’mon did you see game 7 of last year’s finals? kobe almost shot the lakers outta the game…he was like 5 for 30…don’t come here saying kobe is all about the team. He wanted to beat the celtics by himself and if it wasn’t for artests miracle 3′s the celtics would have won that game easily…kobe is known to be one of the biggest ball hogs in nba history. he’s a good ball hog but lets call it how it is….he’s never seen a shot he didn’t like. Yes kobe does bring it on the defensive end but let me tell you something the guy mopes just as much or more than any star player i ever seen.

now on lebron….have you watched any heat game this season? the guy has literally killed that team in about 10 games with his poor decisions during crunch time…
yet in your post you never included that , why? oh because melo is the new scape goat and the easy target when there’s turmoil..

Many of you guys don’t get it. Melo isn’t complaining about getting the ball…from what I heard he really doesn’t like Tony Douglas’ lack of court vision. Melo gets frustrated when Douglas blindly misses open players…Melo actually played good man to man defense last night with the exception of a few times when he lost his man.
The Knicks first problem on defense is defending the pick and roll. And as far as I can remember Lebron is no where near a lock down defender…at best his is a good “fast break” shot blocker but that’s it.
Melo just scored 28 points the game before and now people are labeling him as the problem….insane….get a “basketball” clue

That is a problem but is it a bigger problem then amare’s lack of rebounds and all around energy on the defensive end?
I know i harp on amare alot but he’s THE BIG MAN! He’s the last line of defense…he’s suppose to be the anchor on D …yes we know he’s playing outta position so why doesn’t he tell antoni to not play him at center on D?
If his game is not on point on D then you can say good bye to this team winning consistently

what would that solve. he will be fired if this keeps up, don’t worry.

But we will have the same defensively indifferent “superstars”

and we will then be subjected to watching melo hold the ball for 20 seconds while he decides what to do with the ball…….great…..

true, we are the equivalent to NFL run and shoot team melo and stat can only influence a game by scoring they are not lebron, or kobe, who can effect a game in 4 ways scoring, passing, rebounding, and defense it’s important this summer to find the right pieces that mesh with stat and melo

“In the D’Antoni system, your offense sets up the defense. You force the other team to play your style.”

I’ve been saying this since midway through the first season he got here, it’s how he played in Phoenix. Luring teams to play your style is hard to guard against during a season, but once the playoffs start and you face more disciplined, defensive and efficient teams that doesn’t fly. Not to mention when facing his offense in a 7 game series it is a lot easier to figure out and this time he won’t have Steve Nash to improvise and make split second decisions on the fly offensively.

This was _on Nelson’s philosophy as well and it got him 3 Coach of the Year Awards, but 0 Finals appearances.

Not to start anything but the Nuggets getting to the WCF had more to do with the fact that Billups was there IMO. Before that the Nuggets were one and done wonders. As Billups’ productivity decrease so did the team overall effectiveness.

Like it or not D’Antoni is our coach

Does he have Tenure?

He likely has about 20 more games in that position.

Marcus Cousin was released by the Jazz.

You can’t judge him on one game.

Defense was adequate? we gave up a 11 point lead inthe fourth quarter.

how is that adequate? you cant just look athte PPG and come tot he conclusion that we played defense because the othr team scored less than our average PPG/Against

the defense is far far far from adequate

Listen, I hate to keep throwing cold water on this subject, but the Knicks are only slightly better now than they were before the trade.

People dramatically OVERRATE Points Per Game and underrate scoring efficiency (TS%). The gap in natural talent between Melo and Gallo is still fairly large, but Gallo played infinitely smarter and was able to score his 16 points much more efficiently than Melo does his 25. Melo has been replacing Gallo’s points less efficiently and taking the rest from elsewhere. So those extra points are hardly contributing anything to the bottom line. Until that cold hard fact sinks in people are never going to understand the problem. Unless Melo totally overhauls his game and turns himself into a highly efficient scorer that is willing to move the ball and only shoot when he has a great look or can draw a foul he’s not adding much if anything.

Sure, overall Melo is an upgrade over Gallo, but not by that much the way he’s playing now.

Sure Billups is an upgrade over Felton, but not by much (despite his poor play coming back from injury)

But in that trade we also weakened our bench and defense considerably by giving up a solid two way player like Chandler.

If we were a 43-44 win team before the trade we are a 47 win team now. That’s it.

The reason the trade sucked is that if we just would have been patient, Gallo and Chandler would have improved and made us a 47 win team or better next year anyway. But we’d still have Randolph, Mozgov, and the picks we gave up for other potential longer term upside and we’d still have Curry’s cap space to keep Chandler and add another serious player next year. The future was bright and unlimited.

Now we have a very overrated player signed to a max deal that doesn’t fit into the system, doesn’t play defense etc…who is already showing signs of moodiness and disruption to the team and coach. We also have much less cap flexibility gong forward, fewer picks, and to be quite frank a less likable player than Gallo/Chandler/and even Mozgov.

It was a horrible trade. I tried my ass off to explain that to everyone for months, but now it’s too late.

The upside for the Knicks is the Atlanta Hawks (a 50 win team or a little better). They’ll add a few pieces and get better next year, but they’ll be capped out, have no picks, few assets, little upside, a horrible defense and never get out of the 1st or 2nd round until we break up the team and rebuild in 2016. It’s that bad.

I for one didn’t sign on to become a 50 win team that can’t make it out of the second round! But that’s our upside from here.

The Melo trade undid all of Donnie Walsh’s hard work and all our suffering in one big stroke. Sorry, but it’s true. I can’t even watch anymore. I watch the Knuggets and am trying to figure out a way they can trick Dolan into giving them Fields too. Dolan or Walsh, whoever made the decision, screwed up badly.

and kobe didn’t win a championship if it waasn’t for gasol joining him…
kobe was barely making the playoffs after shaq left….

Melo sulking, not playing hard and being upset when his teammates score is a much bigger problem than Amares defensive deficiencies…….

melo’s attitude can permeate throughout the entire locker room…..

All thats missing is the white towel over his head while sitting on the bench.

The game was still in hand down the stretch….we were also up 15 going to the 4th …
the problem was amare LET CHRIS WILCOX GO INTO MOSES MALONE MODE!
I’m not happy with melo’s frustrations however i’m a logical fan and I see things with sharp analytical eye. And what i saw last night is amare totally get dominated by chris wilcox…i saw amare and shawne williams look like headless freaking chickens against screen and rolls…i saw amare basically take plays off on defense…

Amare not being on point on defense hurts us more than Melo having a bad game offensively and or sulking…

did you read the article?

it said melo is upset when people other than he scores. that is beyond selfish….

“Melo gets frustrated when Douglas blindly misses open players” he doesn’t get upset when he misses players…..he gets up set when he misses Melo….

So Melo is Starbury now huh? Did he get a coach fired? Did he get involved in a lawsuit? Did he fight in the locker room? Did he sabotage a season? Did he force teammates out? Way to be total turn coats.

Carmelo’s defense last night >>>>>>>>>>>> Ama_’e defense.

Reward the guy who’s hustling (he had a few nice defensive plays and then never saw the ball at the other end), that’s what point guards do. Unfortunately, Billups is at less than 100% and pressing right now and the only hot hand Toney can find consistently is his own. Is Carter still sick? It might be time to dust him off for a look.

There’s no excuse for sulking though, voice your opinion. Demand the ball in the next huddle instead of having terrible body language about it.

Also, Shelden should have never gone to the bench in the first place, he played well for us in limited action and he’s the only physical guy we have on the team besides Carmelo (offensively of course, but he has shown flashes of being physical on defense and on the boards). He never played himself out of the rotation imho.

Speedball is not the answer, it’s a band-aid.

Kobe for sure went into me vision then made an adjustment where he got the ball to Gasol in game 7. Kobe hasn’t mope around for awhile (probably since the 07-08 season). Lebron has been jacking up shots since joining Miami which isn’t his game. I think that has more to do with pressure of the “Decision” and the fact that he doesn’t want the Heat to lose. But he has also made the adjustment in the last few weeks of picking his spots. These guys are capable of drawing back and readjusting. Melo isn’t that type of player. He is a scorer. His main mentality is to score at any option. He adjusted for a short period on the Olympics team, I’m just not convince he will able to do that for the duration of a NBA season. He said he is willing so who knows. You can say that you are willing to take 10 less shots publicly but it is another matter to actually be ok with doing so. Just by his body language you can tell he isn’t there yet.

i saw it with my own eyes in Indiana man. his body language has been terrible for the last 5 or 6 games. he just stops playing if he doesn’t get the ball when he wants it. its pathetic…..

I believe that D’antoni’s system can work. It needs a PG with a motor, long athletic wings and guys that can hit the open 3. With that said this roster is baron of the SSOL type players.If im D’antoni I go back to SSOL just to go out on my own terms. This team should hire Mark Jackson and fill the bench with defensive minded bangers and 3pt shooters. I’d like to see them use their 1st rd pick on a PG because Id rather stay flexible than get a guy like CP3 with a bad knees and a game predicated on speed .

Defense is the problem, but it’s not D’Antoni fault.

Amare and Melo do not play good defense and never have. We also gave up our best versatile two way player in Chandler. As average as Gallo was defensively, at least he tried and was getting better.

This is not on the coach. It’s the players! We brought in players that don’t defend.

Melo was busting his tail on defense….
he had a great defensive game for his standards…

yes melo sulking is a concern but its been 14 games with the knicks…14 FREAKING GAMES! ok it hasnt been half a season yet …

Amar’es defense has killed US ALL SEASON. His deficiencies on D hurt us more than anything else i can think of.

I hate to say this because I really like Chancey Billips, but…..they were playing more of a speedball game when he was out and the team appeared to be more successful. Like I said, I hate saying it, but it’s tough to ignore. No surprise that Amar’e is pushing for speedball, he plays his best that way. I’m just not sure I can see Chauncey constantly pushing the ball. Something to think about…The knicks have to make a decision on him soon.

Gallo couldn’t string together 2 straight games consistently but yet now that he’s gone he’s all of a sudden this hall of famer…really? he was a chucker from 3 but his fans never berated him about it…
Chandler wasn’t going to get resigned
felton was a stop gap…ok thanks come again

if it wasn’t for shawne williams getting suspended , would moz even have gotten off the bench?

Randolph barely played…

I have news for everyone, D’Antoni’s Suns teams were NOT that bad defensively. They were somewhere in the middle (like ranked 13th or 14th). The reason they gave up a lot of points was because they played fast and there were more possessions per game, but in terms of points per possessions (the true measure of defense), they were not that bad.

The whole idea that he doesn’t teach defense is Charles Barkley idiocy.

I think _’antoni brought some his old Suns fans with him here.

he did force his way out of a good situation, and is already complaining while here for three weeks give him some time for the other stuff he’s only 26

Its both. the team looks confused at time on D, but they also look like they aren’t giving enough effort or are just making mistakes.

Its the coach AND the players really…..

If the Knicks don’t make the cut come playoff time, can they wrangle an invitation to the N.I.T. ?

Gallo score 16 point per game PERIOD on average and was improving at age 22. All players have fluctuations around average from game to game. Randolph was long term upside. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t playing now.

They say these things because its the ” cool” thing to do now. They need to find a scapegoat so they choose melo since he’s the easier target. Its taboo around these parts to go after amare because he came first. Which is ridiculous if you ask me..
He’s suppose to be our anchor on D and he’s been worth less than a dollar on that end..

The Jeter/A-Rod analogy is inapt on so many levels, but apart from that, the coach has to assert himself.

i don’t know what game you were watching. melo’s d sucked for most of the game….

You are so right, that it hurts my gut to read your post. While I originally thought Melo to the Knicks was a no-brainer (at any cost), I am now coming to realize that it may turn out to be a monumental blunder. I want to give it more time to work, but it’s awfully hard to like Carmelo. He’s like a cancer cell that has just started multiplying. We know how that can turn out.

No excuse for sulking, ever! But.. I think it is ridiculous how few touches Melo got last night, particularly in the first half. It is also ridiculous that DA keeps sitting him for extended minutes at a time. Melo is the second best offensive talent in this league and you have to get him going early, you can’t treat him just like “another” guy. In that case you really may have stuck with just the “other” guys. SMH

Randolph is barely playing for the lowly wolves and barely played with the warriors. lets face it he’s a 6’11 gerald green that coaches have to only play sparingly..his basketball IQ is absolutely awful …you complaining about him should void you of commenting on this blog

now on gallo…i think gallo is what he is. until he improves his post up game he’s basically turkoglu with more ft’s..
sorry his lack of atheltiscm and speed will prevent him from ever reaching super star status..

i pressed like on starksoakmase by mistake..

clyde and breen mentioned melo’s D all through out the game..
dude stop it already…

It is the overall stubborness of D’Antoni to not use defense-only players that irritates me the most. When we need a rebound, why is Sheldon Williams on the bench? He puts his boy Jeffries out there, who is a good defensive player with horrendous hands to grab boards. Let’s not forget Fields was on the bench then too. AWFUL

i like him.

Why don’t you ever post this after a blowout win ?

A. Couldn’t sign Chandler & Melo

B. Felton was getting ran out of NY on this site pre-trade. Me & like 3 guys came to his defense.. That’s it

C. I liked Gallo, but you’ve gotta give to get.

D.come on .. AR … You hated AR

F. MOZ should have never been in the trade. The trade should’ve happened a week earlier. That’s the only thing I didn’t like.

But like I said, why don’t you post this stuff after blowout wins?

the only hot hand Toney can find consistently is his own.

line of the day/

To Gallo and Chandler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiOcVWQY2bc

I reminisce for a spell, or shall i say think back
22 years days ago to keep it on track
The birth of a child on the 8th 23rd of octoberFebruary
A toast but my granddaddy Dolan became sober
Countin all the fingers and The toes
Now i suppose, you hope the little black boy Carmelo grows, huh

What’ has he complained about to the extent of Marbury?

If Melo says nothing he has no fire. If he talks he’s complaining. Knicks fans are ridiculous sometimes.

THANK GOD!
Somebody that actually watched the game!
Melo’s was struggling on offense but the guy was playing the best defense i’ve seen from him since he came to the knicks. There were some lapses on D here and there but i say 90 % Melo was on point on D.

Amare? NOPE. He was once again atroicious on D. He took a lot of plays off on D. Ben Wallace was about to drop 40 on him in the 1st quarter. ridiculous.
I also notice he barely communicates on D , all i see him is basically day dream on that end…
its frightening how bad of a defensive player he is. You can afford for your wing players to be average to below average on D but not THE BIG MAN.

Both Melo and Billups have seen from the jump that MD’s “system” sucks. Especially Melo. He sees a flawed coach who is stubborn and has no clue how to win games. He also sees a coach who plays only “his guys” and no one else.

It will only get worse. Bring in Bill Laimbeer!

great post.. should be bronzed.

I thyink what _’Antoni misses the most is a point guard who can just dribble around like a globe trotter drawing defenders and magically finding an open player.

In watching Nash play that is what he does best.. And when he is left open he is a dead eye shooter. Based on what we’ve seen these torturous 2 plus years becoming mor and more apparent that Nash WAS the offense in PHX. I use to think he didnt deserve those MVPs.. now i take it back.

Again I repeat, only Knicks fans jump out of the window after 14 games. Wow. SMH at some of these comments.

lovethoseknicks only post after losses …people need to realize that. they have agendas and it doesn’t make sense for them to post when we win…
so they stay in the cut waiting quietly for the losses

this is a team that was basically put together on the fly without a training camp and Billups has been injured for most of the games since the trade…this is clearly a work in progress but the fact that we have a 6-2 record against winning teams show that we have the potential and trade or not it wasn’t like we were going to win a title this year anyway…the goal for this year is to get to the playoffs and see what we can do…next season when we have a complete roster with a legit big man or 2 and a training camp then we can truly start to judge this team…and all those killing the trade after 14 games just remember that we are now in better position to win a championship in the future and while i loved all the players we gave up in the trade…we were destined to be a mediocre to good team…nothing more…this was a risk that had to be taken and while defense and rebounding is the biggest concern…we are 1 big man away from solving that problem….Amare and Shawne Williams cannot be our big men in crunch time and if D’Antoni can’t understand that then he is not the man for the job and Donnie needs to see that because we have a better foundation of players than many other teams….patience is a virtue guys…i know we want to see our team win every game but more times than not a bad loss is better than a bad win esp in the regular season so we can learn from it…this week we had 3 of those while its not looking good its better they get their reps and make the mistakes now so come playoff time we can be at our best…if we do not learn from our mistakes it is clearly on the coaching staff for not holding the team accountable

did you watch the Suns last year? Amr’e played pretty good defense under Gentry.

Did you watch Melo against Kobe? that was pretty good D there.

they both have world class ability. If they arent using it on both ends it’s up tot he coach to get it out of them.

Even Alan Hahn is coming around to the fact that _’Antoni is “overmatched” on defensive strategy.

Did we have defense before the trade? didnt think so

Did that come from Melo’s mouth?

I know I sound like a broken record but this is the line up I want to see. (maybe if I post it enough it will come true)

Billups
Fields
Melo
Amare
Shelden

TD
Walker
Extra E
Turiaf
————–

Again, I don’t feel JJ deserves to play so many minutes (or at all). He can’t do anything offensively, he’s just awful, he’s a train wreck with the ball in his hands, & his D is overrated, it does NOT make up for his lack of offensive awareness(dunk the ball). How many times must we see Billups & company look at JJ like he’s the kid in the park that doesn’t know what he’s doing on the court (offensively). D’Antoni has too much love for the guy.(The Legend of Earl Barron would’ve been a better pick up)

Any way, why is it that JJ got a chance yet Shelden rots away on the bench. We all know Shelden isn’t the longterm answer but why cry for a C when we don’t play the one we have.

Also, what did Walker do to lose his minutes ? I know he got injured, but he never got a chance to get his minutes back. Walkers numbers aren’t amazing I just feel he’s a better option over Mason, he can get to the rim & his defense was improving right around the time he lost his minutes.

Walker/Shelden > Mason/JJ

I know these seem like minor moves, but they could go a long way.

*before anyone sites Barron’s stats with the Bucks, please look at Mozgov’s stats with the nuggets, point is different teams use players different ways. We had a need, If Barron were our starting C getting 21 plus minutes he would be putting up some decent to good numbers.

you have been against the trade for many months.You love Gallo,admit it.you love the coach admit it.This trade was not done to immediately win a championship.A large part of the deal hinges on the next free agent we sign.”the BIG THREE”.Besides Stat-Melo-Fields everyone else is expendable.

To compare Carmelo to Stephon is just ridiculous. Carmelo Anthony is one of the top 10 players in the league, and an offensive force. This nonsensical whining about his “attitude” is complete BS-frankly, if Carmelo is being guarded straight up by Rodney Stuckey while looking to post up, he should be annoyed when he doesn’t get the ball. Why should he be looking for Shawne Williams or JJ in that situation? I would hope that the “offensive genius” we have for a “coach” can eventually figure this all out.

Hey guys, off topic: I was watching the Duke game yesterday afternoon and was kind of impressed with their center (Plumlee). I’m not much of a college basketball guy and would like to know your thoughts about him. Is he going to be eligible? And if that’s the case is he a good prospect? It seemed to me like he’s a good rebounder, has good size and moves well on the court.

I totally agree Sheldon should play…he’s a big body that can at least bang down low and get rebounds….the guy showed he can be lebron light just last week so i don’t understand why he isnt getting PT…lol…D’Antoni is delusional if he thinks during crunch time he can get away with Shawne/Amare 4/5…Amare is not a good defensive player but at least hide that by playing someone else down that can instead of thrusting Amare into a position where he has to be the major defensive presence…thats just setting up for disaster

Don’t toy with me, Big. I’m preparing myself for the Apocalypse

He had FOUR star players in Phoenix.Talk about the almost 3 years in New York.
He does NOT even KNOW defense so how can he teach it!We have been talking about no defense all season…so do not blame loud mouth Barkley(a Knick hater)

One good thing about last night: Mason continued his good shooting. Bad thing: He only played 16 minutes, and Fields only played 21.

Good for Roger. I wanted to cut him. His defense doesn’t impress me, but at least he’s played a little bit of it.

Amazing how you guys can turn an article about Carmelo disrupting the team on a foundational level to the point where the team leader is openly criticizing him while Carmelo embarrasses teammates and whines about A SCORING PLAY GOING TO SOMEONE WHO ISN’T HIM…

And turn it into yet another D’Antoni bash-fest and Carmelo suckfest. This is Marbury 2.0 and fans are falling for it again. You are the people who deserve Isiah, Eddy, Steve Francis, and another 10 years of humbling. Looks like the last round didn’t take.

Which Plumlee? There’s two of them. The one that had 13 boards?

Sheldon though is really a career stiff who has never done anything in the NBA. The fact that we are all clamoring for him to play is more of an indictment on how bad JJ and Turiaf are.

Are you saying that some people here should lighten up?

soon there will be some new sneakers debuted at the garden.

The carmelo anthony “ALL ALONE” series”

“melo, youve got the words “All Alone ” scribbled on the sneakers, whats that about?

“yeah, i got my man Steph M to help me out with the design. i think it came out nice. i mean its one of those things where what you think it means could or could not be what it means… it keeps people guessing you know?” -Carmelo A.

dude, what are you smoking? Marbury forced himself out of Minnie, then out of Jersey, then he wasn’t welcome in Phoenix any longer. His entire career he caused problems wherever he went. Melo led Cuse to a championship, he was Denver’s best player for the entire time he was there. Denver DID want to keep him despite everything Karl is saying. He is NO Marbury. When you get a player of the caliber of Melo, you don’t just plug him into your system like a role player. You ADJUST to get the most out of him. It is on the coach.

Yeah, that’s the one. The starter I guess.

Besides the lack of D teaching.

Here is the problem with Dantoni, with Melo especially.

He has a stubborn set time and rotation where he takes players out every game, minus foul trouble of course.

He never takes effect things like is the team rolling at that point Maybe i should leave them longer until they slow down?

Nope. 3mins left in the qtr, Amare is out, no matter what. Start of the 2nd 4th qtrs, Melo is out no matter what.

And no matter how well or poorly the team is doing, he sticks to the set time of bringing them back in.

Sports esp basketball is a feel thing, not a set methodical stubborn thing.

And as i have stated before, Melo is a rhythm shooter, he CANT be sitting in the bench for 20 real time minutes twice a game and be expected to have it.

Im sorry who ever does not think this man needs to go and go soon, is just blind.

MIles Plumlee

four stars? not really. Just Nash and Amare were “stars”. Don’t call Marion a star.

right on.

Well maybe one off the problems is that Amar’e is the “team leader”. Team leaders give a damn about defense. Team leaders who play the power forward position don’t allow themselves to get dominated off the glass by Chris Wilcox. Instead of worrying about Carmelo, maybe Amar’e needs to take a look in the mirror and be more concerned about what he’s not doing himself.

Agreed

I like when Has and Biggie slap each other on the back with their comments. Especially when it is about putting the blame on the coach instead of their precious Melo.

Aw, Melo isn’t the two-way player that we thought he was, let’s blame the coach. Aw, Melo had a bad shooting night, let’s blame the coach. Aw, T Doug and Jeffries are out there playing defense, but Melo won’t do the same, even though he is paid so much more- it’s D’Antoni’s fault, though! Melo is a selfish isolation player, but that is also D’Antoni’s fault!

Lame.

I agree with Amare.

Anthony bolted for the team bus and refused to speak with reporters afterwards, but Stoudemire hinted that certain players were not fitting into coach Mike D’Antoni’s free-flowing offense.

“We’ve just got to buy into Mike D’Antoni’s system,” he said. “That’s the way we’re going to win. We’ve proven that it works with the team we had before the trade. And it can work with the guys we have now.”

Yea I like Gallo. So what? Melo is obviously the better player, but you would never see Gallo sulk when his teammates score. He would congradulate him……

Just because I don’t hate the coach doesn’t mean I love him.

“A large part of the deal hinges on the next free agent we sign.”the BIG THREE”.”

You’re gonna be waiting for a long time.

We can have a “big eight”, and it wouldn’t matter unless the stars play hard. it’s that simple…..

What is the common denominator in all of those?

MIKE DANTONI.

Yeas, Steph was a problem everywhere he went, but at least he put up #s when this dope comes here, they stop.

There is a way to sub and treat stars and there is a way to do the same with bench role players, and Dantoni does not know the difference.

He subs Melo exactly the same way he did Gallo, and they are 2 totally different players.

“The carmelo anthony “ALL ALONE” series”"

Funny stuff

It just baffles me how melo is the scapegoat all of a sudden when it was him and AMARE that wanted this duo to happen. For Amare to not get any share of the blame during these losses is absolutely unfathomable…
people act like amare has been here for YEARS! the dude is fresh outta PHX ….

Here’s something that’s been baffling me ever since Amare got here. Why is he so bad guarding the P&R? Dantoni’s teams run it exclusively. He should have plenty of practice and knowledge of the intricacies of the P&R. How can a player, let alone a whole team, be so inept at guarding something they practice constantly? Teams that don’t rely so heavily on the P&R trap us constantly, and we can’t guard it without switching EVERY TIME! SMH

lol, It’s kind of funny yet kind of tragic. We already have our 2 big guys fighting though the papers and not getting along well with our coach at all.

No one on here really has any right to complain, with the exception of a very few people everyone on here wanted this. Well, we got it now. We got two one dimensional superstars who don’t play defense and don’t pass the ball, and both need the ball to score. We got no flexibility left, no depth, and absolutely no chemistry so far. Could this chemistry develop? Yeah, but we’re running out of time and barely limping into the playoffs is not a recipe for success.

We got Melo sulking on the court, we got Amare being a total bum on defense, we got JJ in our starting lineup, and our bench is so AWFUL that we have to beg for the likes of Shelden Williams and Anthony Carter to play. Not to mention that several teams have already said Denver is playing the best basketball in the NBA right now.

But guys like me, Starksoaksmase, and several others are crazy for questioning the assets we gave up in the trade, for “letting role players get in the way of acquiring a superstar”, for questioning how well Amare, Melo, and our coach would fit together. Anyway, still completely support trading for Melo, but as I’ve said for a while I was not too happy about the final trade. It had Dolan’s stupid fingerprints all over it.

“Carmelo’s defense last night >>>>>>>>>>>> Ama_’e defense”

I would use a lot less “>’s” Melo lost his man several times. And he was in position to get the defensive rebound late in the game but Wilcox took it away from him.

” Demand the ball in the next huddle instead of having terrible body language about it.”

After a make? come on……..

It’s what Hahn said he hears in the huddle. And it matches Melo’s body language after someone else on his team makes a shot…..

ds, I always value your posts. But But many of us who wanted this trade at all costs (me) also said that it would take time to develop chemistry. I even posted after the trade saying we will lose some bad games. There are two problems I see and they are not all that related. First one is D and we have all here elaborated on this for months and years. Second is chemistry. More precisely how to work two superstars and a slow PG into a fastball system. Melo is not a role player and DA cannot just plug him into his system. Melo either will get more accustomed to it over time or DA needs to adjust or DA will be fired. My philosophy would be to mold the game after your best player(s). As long as that is not happening, the team will be confused and the roles are unclear. Right now we are caught in this quagmire. Melo is frustrated because he obviously wants to do great here. The guy cares and feels that he could be much more productive. I tend to agree with that.

people seem to not want to realize that chandler wants to get PAID! and i doubt donnie was going to invest in a injury prone guy that played well in a contract year.
Gallo is a good player but he was going to ask for money down the line as well. I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s a good 3rd or 4th piece on a good team. He’s not a bonafied 2nd stud like people thought he was going to be.

felton was atrocious …look at his month to month after his hot start…the guy was not a point guard for us the last month or so before the trade.

moz/randolph barely played …probably good pieces to come off the bench but they’re expendable…

i honestly don’t see the hall of famers that we gave up

Let’s trade Melo for Cory Brewer. But seriously, did the Knicks get anything for AR?

Get rid of Dam’phoni, problem solved.

No being a fiery thing is good. But Melo and Amare to Mcaddo and Haywood is ridiculous after 14 game is ridiculous. After a season maybe but after 14 games is ridiculous. Especially if during the game thread there is absolutely no comments about Melo’s defense. During the win streak nothing about the comparison either. During the game thread all of the comments were about terrible PNR defense. Go and check I’d you want. Then directly after the game there is 50 posts about Melo’s defense when statistically he wasn’t even the worst defender on the team (that was Fields and Jeffries). It seems like the only person allowed to be accountable for defense is Carmelo. We lose it’s all his fault when we had the same defensive problems pre trade. I bet Noone remembers that.

I still think we can be a dominant team with a defensive coordinator or coach

barely limping into the playoffs is not a recipe for success.

according to _’Antoni that is the goal.. Happy daze!!

but seriously.. many who wanted the trade(myself included) also recognized the need for a bruiser or two up front and a few (myself included) didnt want Jeffries anywhere near this team. My fear was that the “coach” would try to plug JJ into the interiour defender/center role when it is clear to everyone (but a few) that we need a banger.

We got the better of the deal. We got the two best players there is no doubt about that. But the problem has been the “Coach’s” inability to put the pieces together.

In the end we really only added three new pieces to a 9 man rotation. Melo and Billups played together and JJ played for the “coach” before. This is NOT rocket science and a “world class coach” being paid elite money should be able to put this together. George Karl (not an elite coach in everone’s eyes) certainly made major adjustments in Denver and is makign it work. the finger always gets pointed back at the guy on the sidelines with the mustache.

I love it man. Keep giving excuses for this team. They get out hustled EVERY single night. Yet we continue blaming the coach. It’s laughable at this point.

U right armand

I’ve posting the same stuff for the last few months without stop.

1. I never really wanted Melo, but if we could get Melo as a FA and let Wilson walk, I’d be fine with that. I wasn’t fine with Gallo, Wilson, AR and Mozgov.

2. I was ALWAYS very high on AR LONG TERM and wanted to give him minutes now to help him develop.

LOL at “putting up numbers.” That’s not what basketball is about. Unfortunately, the guy signing the checks at MSG has the same childish views on the game as so many people in these comments sections do.

AR is very young and raw. His major problem is that he doesn’t know what a good shot is and shoots bad ones too often. But that is a common problem for very young players. He needs time and coaching, but he has the talent to become a very good player. He’s rebounding and doing other things very well in his minutes.

There’s a saying. A broken clock is right twice a day. Sure every once in awhile one or both will play good “D” and then there is the other 80 games.

There’s a saying. A broken clock is right twice a day. Sure every once in awhile one or both will play good “D” and then there is the other 80 games.

With all due respect to Hahn, he was clueless the entire time before the trade about what the impact would be. He doesn’t get it.

With all due respect to Hahn, he was clueless the entire time before the trade about what the impact would be. He doesn’t get it.

You are missing the point. They played pretty good D in Phoenix despite Nash and Amare both being bad at it. D’Antoni’s reputation is worse than the reality because bird brains like Barkley don’t know what they are talking about.

You are missing the point. They played pretty good D in Phoenix despite Nash and Amare both being bad at it. D’Antoni’s reputation is worse than the reality because bird brains like Barkley don’t know what they are talking about.

Sorry, my question was meant to be rhetorical.

“I still think we can be a dominant team with a defensive coordinator or coach”
Not sure I agree with this unless we add additional talent, especially a big presence in the center. Even then, there is still the “you can lead a horse to water…” consideration.

Sorry, my question was meant to be rhetorical.

“I still think we can be a dominant team with a defensive coordinator or coach”
Not sure I agree with this unless we add additional talent, especially a big presence in the center. Even then, there is still the “you can lead a horse to water…” consideration.

I agree we need to find a center.

I agree we need to find a center.

lmao @ is carter still sick.

lmao @ is carter still sick.

What I would like to know (I hope you guys can clear this for me) is why this team of ours can one minute show a series of incredible defensive stops. For example yesterday third quarter. And then revert back to their old “not gelling” demeanor and behavior. Does the coaching have to do with this? I’m starting to believe so. Fourth quarter was horrendous

count me as one of the naysayers.
i wanted the guy via free agency IF possible, but i NEVER wanted melo here because he didnt address te problems we have on defense and rebounds.

PLUS i predicted his attitude and his vocal nature (whiner) told you guys he isnt knick material.

AND i told yall that dantoni would be on the hotseat and would HAVE to adjust his principles for melo because with two stars, dantoni will not be allowed to have a losing record.

none of it was hard to see if people take off the blinders.

the pick and roll, if done correctly is just THAT hard to guard against. look no further than phnx when dantoni was over there. 50 win seasons he used to have over there with no problem. it wasnt like the west didnt know what phnx was gonna do when they played against them, it was the same dudes all the time and no one could really stop them EXCEPT the elite teams. thats saying something right there of how effective it is.

the shoe is on the other foot now. im certain dantoni knows what to do against it, but HE isnt the one on the floor. it takes VERY good instincts and quickness. you have to be sharp man.

the news is just stirring up controversy. thats how they sell papers. if there is anything to be angry about it the fact that they wont put the focus back on dantoni.
they were doing okay for a couple of days then they started laying off of the guy.

When they reminisce over Knicks.. my God….

so ill ask again for the fun of it.. if they are both CAPABLE of playing good D then who is responsible for holding them accountable when they dont? besides the posters on TKB.

I bet you think we were a good defensive team with Gallo,Felton,Chandler and Moz.
Will you be on board when this team wins 50+ games or will you still want the traded
players?This trade was for the future of the Knicks.It was not made to bring us a championship this season.Most on this blog want a new head coach.We have a base
for a very good team not mediocrity pre trade.BTW with Melo-Stat-Fields-TD minus Turiaf,Balkman and JJ we will be at 38.3mm next year if we trade Billups.We still will have cap room.

My brother-in-law asked me that the other day. “WTF did you guys get for Randolph?” He threw me for a loop but yeah, if you count it as a separate deal then nada. But let’s join in we got to make sure Donnie is taken care at all cost bandwagon.

Its not every single night stop it.

Last night was the first and i think that was Melos way of staying STOP USING ME LIKE GALLO, I CAN’T BE SITTING FOR 7MINS EVERY OTHER QTR, IM NOT COMING OFF A BAD BACK.

Seriously, if you looked at Melo sitting during time outs he looked pissed.

You think Kobe would stand for that?

NOT A CHANCE.

wow I hate this board and i hate all you lowlifes that hijack every thread with a fire the coach crap. go hang yourselves already

same goes for all the defensive coaches who dont know jack about offense. the game cant be 100 percent defense other the scores would be 23 to 19 final score each night.

yes but hahn is brainless moron so whatcha saying?

buttsore comment

suns were robbed in 07

I agree with amare!!! melo needs to shut his rice and bean eating azz up accept speedball.

Homophobic comment.

You know what they say about homophobes right?

We lost a double digit lead, clearly there weren’t many “makes”.

There are other blogs…

And some good learning disability meds.

Hey HaS… If the dope was say.. umm a diff color and named Isiah, would there be so many backers of him?

Dantoni is just as bad for this franchise as he was in my opinion…

I am impressed with Amare’s desire to lead in NY. At this point there is no choice but for all the players to buy in to dantoni’s system. If there is no belief in it whatsoever, might as well wrap it up.

I am one that wishes to see dantoni go. But I’d rather have him coach his speed basketball system than trying to coach a half court game. And I won’t get into his defensive schemes!

So for now until the end of the season, the players shouldn’t complain but find a way to buy into it and attempt to play the system the best they can.

But next year, I hope to see a new coach.

knicks sucked on D last year an the year before that. Stat And melo were wearing phoenix and nugget uniforms.

we lost the game.

“it wont matter unless the stars play hard”

let me ask you a question: Is the coach at all responsible for the “stars playing hard” on defense? And if not, remind me again, why is he on the payroll?

“it wont matter unless the stars play hard”

let me ask you a question: Is the coach at all responsible for the “stars playing hard” on defense? And if not, remind me again, why is he on the payroll?

how much do you wanna bet knicks defense significantly improves if euro-ball antoni leaves town?

“We”?

Melo does not play for the celtics.

I’m going to definitely agree with you here. The rotation really is bad….Against Memphis at home it was much better…

At the same time, it took D’Antoni about 20 games to find it with the old lineup…

I say if he doesn’t have it down by the playoffs and if we get embarrassed, then we can talk firing him..

Secondly, Melo and Stat are like best friends, they’re not feuding..enough with the controversy happening in the locker room crap.

But I did notice that Amar’e needed to speak up and re-take leadership. This should be his team and Melo should not be his side kick, but more like his first supporter.

Again, i’m not worried about anything right now.

I’m just happy to see that we have enough pieces to make moves and noise.

Next year is when I’ll have my expectations.

All this anxiety and everything sounds like a bunch of rape victims…all scared that we’re going to fail again.

Just stfu and watch the games.

dantino needs to commit to keep amare out the center spot at all times. amare is not a center and is a slender power forward. suns had success last year because they had lopez and frye playing center and amare didnt have to play there at all.

dantino needs to commit to keep amare out the center spot at all times. amare is not a center and is a slender power forward. suns had success last year because they had lopez and frye playing center and amare didnt have to play there at all.

dantonio aint going nowhere dude, you cant judge a coach on this season.

isiah and dantoni is the same sentence calls for IP ban. idiot

isiah and dantoni is the same sentence calls for IP ban. idiot

Losers make excuses.

Losers make excuses.

in MY mind he does!!! smarty pants