Getting melo back in the lineup

[Marsh01]

I hear people, pundits all making comments about how getting him back will help with defense, rebounding. I think we miss him the most on the offensive end. We are essentially playing 4 vs 5 on offense for most of the game. I'm not saying fab is wilt chamberlain offensively but he does play an important role and we are really hurting with him out.

I think you will see the offense run much better with him back in the lineup.

 

[RF2044]

I hear people, pundits all making comments about how getting him back will help with defense, rebounding. I think we miss him the most on the offensive end. We are essentially playing 4 vs 5 on offense for most of the game. I'm not saying fab is wilt chamberlain offensively but he does play an important role and we are really hurting with him out.

I think you will see the offense run much better with him back in the lineup.

Agreed--he's not a big scorer, but he's the best [and only] low post scoring threat we have. And his size forces defenses to play us more straight up, which opens things up on the perimeter for shooters, and he sets good screens. Don't underestimate the difference that even a tiny bit of extra room makes for shooters.

The offensive balance is much better with Fab in the lineup, even if it isn't literally balanced in terms of his scoring output.

 

[iommi]

Melo will be a huge help on offense in a myriad of ways:

Pick and roll...he's a threat.

Alley-oops... He usually can catch. He and Scoop have good chemistry.

Setting picks. In '03, Forth was great at the high screen. Melo can be too.

He is a space-eater. On offense, teams cannot slack off. They have to guard him. That will open up things for our shooters.

I can go on...

 

[DNABB5]

It is both. After the UC game, we were discussing his loss as a screener at the top of the key. I love BMK, but is way easier to run around a maple than a redwood, know what I mean? A lot of Dions drives were afforded by the Big Fella getting in the way of a would be secondary defender.

For the D, a point was made earlier about drawing charges....

 

[Flacusian]

Melo is the straw that stirs the drink. His impact is felt on both both ends of the court. The psychological edge it is going to give back to the team can't be understated either.

 

[Ryand877]

I hear people, pundits all making comments about how getting him back will help with defense, rebounding. I think we miss him the most on the offensive end. We are essentially playing 4 vs 5 on offense for most of the game. I'm not saying fab is wilt chamberlain offensively but he does play an important role and we are really hurting with him out.

I think you will see the offense run much better with him back in the lineup.

Agreed but...is he back in line up? Some say yes...others say no. when can we expect an announcement?

 

[longislandcuse]

This thread is so on point. He will help our offense so much. Sets huge screens, takes up a ton of space, is capable of converting on the pick n roll, offensive rebounding and has a low post game even if it is somewhat limited at this point. That low post game however, is something I think he can develop before the tourney assuming we get him back soon. You can see the difference like night and day between our offense with Fab and w/out Fab.

 

[Knicks411]

I think the offensive rebounding will be huge, in the 3 games he was out, we got only 25% of our misses. For the season we get 37.2%, and Melo gets about 15% of our misses when he;s on the floor.

 

[SmilinBob]

I like Fab on both ends as well. Without him SU is a doughnut on offense and 5 guys can cover 4. I believe that Christmas will be able to flash and take advantage of pick and rolls but he still has to fight through the frustration and keep battling when he is open and doesn't get the ball. The defenses have to respect Fab on offense and their big guys can't roam as much as they are now and a big reason why the lane has been closed for many players, especially Waiters and Joesph.

 

[44cuse]

And his size forces defenses to play us more straight up, which opens things up on the perimeter for shooters, and he sets good screens.

This ^^^^^ is spot on.

44cuse

 

[cpatrocks]

They are a better team in all aspects with Melo on the floor. Period.

 

[BlackSquirrels]

I think the offensive rebounding will be huge, in the 3 games he was out, we got only 25% of our misses. For the season we get 37.2%, and Melo gets about 15% of our misses when he;s on the floor.

IMO this is the major factor. Not only does Melo grab the rebounds, he's also more of a threat than his replacements to immediately score after grabbing the board.

 

[cspades99]

I agree with all of this. And he's also a big catalyst for starting transition plays with his blocking and general presence. He creates steals for the guys up top when drivers realize they can't reach the tin.

 

[arrow2arinzesknee]

I think its a split on being more important on defense and offense.

Obviously the presence underneath on D is huge, the blocks and boards to say the least. Not to mention the two turnovers on charges he forces a game.

But the last three games his impact on offense is more apparent than I think we realized. This thread is spot on.

He sets large screens at the top of the key giving the guards an extra second or two to react, for Dion especially this is all he needs to get to the rim and get his game going. Then there are the open alley-oops which forces a defender to stay on him at all times.

really small sample size but with Fab 79.95 ppg, without 63.3 including 3 of the 4 lowest totals this year!

 

[longislandcuse]

I think its a split on being more important on defense and offense.

Obviously the presence underneath on D is huge, the blocks and boards to say the least. Not to mention the two turnovers on charges he forces a game.

But the last three games his impact on offense is more apparent than I think we realized. This thread is spot on.

He sets large screens at the top of the key giving the guards an extra second or two to react, for Dion especially this is all he needs to get to the rim and get his game going. Then there are the open alley-oops which forces a defender to stay on him at all times.

really small sample size but with Fab 79.95 ppg, without 63.3 including 3 of the 4 lowest totals this year!

Also I felt Fab was really starting to get going on offense before he missed those 3 games. We seemed to be looking for him and he was really impressing me on the pick n roll dives to the hoop.

 

[arrow2arinzesknee]

Also I felt Fab was really starting to get going on offense before he missed those 3 games. We seemed to be looking for him and he was really impressing me on the pick n roll dives to the hoop.

I think if he stays and gets consistent with that 10-15 foot jumper he will be unstoppable

 

[weedsportwarriors]

It is not a coincidence that the last three games we have only scored 58, 60 and 63 points and shot only 30, 25 and 20 percent from long range with Fab on the sideline. He is a legitimate threat down low to score. The defense has to sag off of the shooters to help with the down low threat with Fab in the line-up. As Arrow2 states,
"He sets large screens at the top of the key giving the guards an extra second or two to react, for Dion especially this is all he needs to get to the rim and get his game going. Then there are the open alley-oops which forces a defender to stay on him at all times."

He makes the guards that much better when he is in the game. I miss his presence on the defense but after looking at the whole picture I think we miss him more on offense.

This is my first post after finally deciding to login to the site. My son and I have been reading all the posts since the start of football and thought it was time to include some of our thoughts from Sunny Land O Lakes, Fl; just north of Tampa.

 

[AZOrange]

It is amazing to me that a little over a year earlier, the thought of a thread like this would have just seemed dumb. Can we all agree now that JB and staff know how to "develop" players and the quick yanks and heated exchanges are not always detrimental to that?

 

[arrow2arinzesknee]

It is amazing to me that a little over a year earlier, the thought of a thread like this would have just seemed dumb. Can we all agree now that JB and staff know how to "develop" players and the quick yanks and heated exchanges are not always detrimental to that?

I was at the Cincinnati game last year at home, Melo played his best game of the year to date at that point. He hit a 17 footer foul line extended and kissed it off the glass, and then hit a baseline jumper later on, unfortunately he couldn't maintain, but right there you had the idea that he had the talent and it was up to the coaching staff to get it out of him. anyone who complains about JB needs to look around, even at other "elite" coaches

How's Jay Wright doing this year? even when we miss the tournament, we are either outright screwed, or have close to 20 wins and are a last 4 out kind of team, when is the last year we struggled to have a winning season?since 1980 we have only had two seasons not with 20 wins!