A team grows in Crooklyn

[Fireball Jr.]

You do realize they haven't played in the Meadowlands for quite some time, right?

Two years in Newark, just a little literary license.

 

[Room 914]

A couple thoughts on this discussion:
1. Who on the Knicks is bad defensively? The only two that have real been that bad in the past is Melo and Novak and possibly Felton. Everyone else is pretty good defensively, and Melo has improved a lot.

Pretty good? Or average? To me their is a difference, and when your best player like Carmelo isn't above average, you usually will have defensive problems. LeBron is clearly Miamis best defender, but Wade and Battier are also above average. Boston has Bradley, Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo all of whom are well above average.

Chandler is their only "Elite" defender and when you fill the rest of your roster with average or below average defenders I don't think it's a good fit to win a title. Kidd and Felton are decent, but not scaring guards in the east. Camby and Thomas aren't bad, but their ancient. You can go through the roster, but I just don't see enough above average defenders to make them a legit contender. Just my thoughts.

 

[Melancer46]

Kidd is still a damn good defender. Ronnie Brewer is an elite defender. Melo has been pretty solid this year. Felton is probably average at best. Chandler is elite. JR is average or sometimes above average when he has his head on straight.

They were a top 5 defensive team last year despite Melo, Amare, and Lin all being god awful defensively last year. Defensively, they've improved on last year. Just had a couple games recently where the other team couldn't miss and the Knicks lost their heads a bit, but overall, they're an above average defensive team at worst.

 

[Knicks411]

I think it speaks to how important a great defensive big man is that they were the 5th best defense in the league last year. As I said before, they are middle of the pack right now, but they have 2 terrible efforts recently, before which they were in the top 3 or so. I expect them to get the defensive rating back to the top 7 or 8. They were one spot behind Miami last year defensively.

And yes, Brewer is definitely close to an elite defender. And Shump was well on his way before he got hurt.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

My one question on the Knicks...how does Woodson manage the egos when everyone is healthy? Which guard is happy to not play minutes anymore?

 

[Room 914]

Kidd is still a damn good defender. Ronnie Brewer is an elite defender. Melo has been pretty solid this year. Felton is probably average at best. Chandler is elite. JR is average or sometimes above average when he has his head on straight.

They were a top 5 defensive team last year despite Melo, Amare, and Lin all being god awful defensively last year. Defensively, they've improved on last year. Just had a couple games recently where the other team couldn't miss and the Knicks lost their heads a bit, but overall, they're an above average defensive team at worst.

I'm sorry, but I cannot take you seriously with this post.

The Knicks were a top 5 defensive team last year?

 

[Melancer46]

I'm sorry, but I cannot take you seriously with this post.

The Knicks were a top 5 defensive team last year?

They were at least borderline top 5; yes. I'm not even a Knicks fan. That's just common knowledge. It was talked about all the time last year that they were one of the top 5 defensive teams in the league last year after Mike Woodson was hired. Statistics show the same thing. They were a borderline top 5 defensive team.

 

[Knicks411]

I'm sorry, but I cannot take you seriously with this post.

The Knicks were a top 5 defensive team last year?

They were 5th in the NBA in defensive efficiency. That's including the time D'Antoni was there.